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Saturday, December 3, 2011
How To Force a Friendship on Facebook in Three Easy Steps [Facebook]
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Penn State pledges $1.5M for sex-crimes groups
FILE - This Nov. 5, 2011 file photo provided by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General shows former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, who sexually abused a boy more than 100 times, then threatened his family to keep him quiet about the encounters, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 that details new accusations not included in criminal charges against him. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, File)
FILE - This Nov. 5, 2011 file photo provided by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General shows former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, who sexually abused a boy more than 100 times, then threatened his family to keep him quiet about the encounters, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 that details new accusations not included in criminal charges against him. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, File)
Penn State President Rodney Erickson, left, responds to a question as Acting Executive Vice President and Provost Rob Pangborn, center, and Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Simons look on during a town hall forum organized by students at the university's main campus, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, in State College, Pa. The event served as an open discussion between students and the administration about the school's recent sexual abuse scandal, which has resulted in the departures of school President Graham Spanier and longtime football coach Joe Paterno. (AP Photo/John Beale)
Penn State President Rodney Erickson speaks at a town hall forum organized by students at the university's main campus, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, in State College, Pa. The event served as an open discussion between students and the administration about the school's recent sexual abuse scandal, which has resulted in the departures of school President Graham Spanier and longtime football coach Joe Paterno. (AP Photo/John Beale)
Penn State President Rodney Erickson, left, responds to a question as Acting Executive Vice President and Provost Rob Pangborn, center, and Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Simons look on during a town hall forum organized by students at the university's main campus, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, in State College, Pa. The event served as an open discussion between students and the administration about the school's recent sexual abuse scandal, which has resulted in the departures of school President Graham Spanier and longtime football coach Joe Paterno. (AP Photo/John Beale)
Penn State President Rodney Erickson, right, gives his opening remarks as T.J. Bard, president of the University Park Undergraduate Association, and Peter Khoury, president of The Council of Commonwealth Student Governments, look on during a town hall forum organized by students at the university's main campus, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, in State College, Pa. The event served as an open discussion between students and the administration about the school's recent sexual abuse scandal, which has resulted in the departures of school President Graham Spanier and longtime football coach Joe Paterno. (AP Photo/John Beale)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Penn State will donate $1.5 million in bowl proceeds to a pair of groups that work with sex-crime victims, a gesture aimed at healing the school's battered image in the wake of child sex charges against a former assistant football coach.
University President Rod Erickson promised the donation the morning after he and other administrators faced pointed questions at a student-organized town hall forum.
Erickson told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that the Big Ten bowl revenue, which usually goes back to the athletic department, will go instead to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
"This presents an excellent opportunity for Penn State to raise the national visibility of this issue," Erickson said. "Our students and fans are focused on a cause to play for, to cheer for."
Also Thursday, Jerry Sandusky's lawyer said he has not discussed pleading guilty with his client and that the former coach continues to maintain he is innocent of the charges against him.
Joe Amendola said he would consider "possible alternatives" with Sandusky if new charges are filed that involve more victims than the eight boys covered by the 40 pending criminal counts, but that Sandusky has never considered a plea in his case. Sandusky, 67, is awaiting a preliminary hearing.
Amendola said the topic of a guilty plea came up as a "what if" question from a reporter about potential additional charges.
"My answer to the 'what if' question was analogous to saying, if weather forecasters were predicting a blizzard next week, which they are not, I would have to at least consider the possibility of postponing my scheduled trip to Philadelphia," Amendola said in an email.
In another development, lawyers for a young man described in a grand jury report as a victim of sexual abuse by Sandusky said Thursday they had settled a legal action regarding a charity's assets.
Harrisburg attorneys Ben Andreozzi and Jeffrey Fritz said the settlement protected the claim their client plans to assert to the assets of The Second Mile, a nonprofit for at-risk children Sandusky founded in 1977.
"We intend to initiate a civil lawsuit seeking damages from the organizations and individuals responsible for the sexual assaults upon our clients," the lawyers said in a release. "However, our priority at this time is to support our clients, including Victim No. 4, who will be testifying against Mr. Sandusky at the preliminary hearing."
Andreozzi and Fritz said that under terms of the settlement, The Second Mile has agreed to obtain court approval before transferring assets or closing and give their client the ability to weigh in before a judge regarding any distribution of assets.
The Second Mile released a statement calling the agreement a reiteration of its existing legal liabilities and saying it does not include a finding of liability.
The Second Mile said earlier this week that its donors should consider giving their money instead to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, the latest sign that the charity may not be around much longer. The Second Mile said its December programs would go on as scheduled, however.
The Wednesday night forum on Penn State's main campus came on the heels of fresh sex abuse allegations against Sandusky, who was accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a young boy more than 100 times after meeting him through his charity.
The state police commissioner has criticized school leaders for failing to do more to alert authorities to the allegations, and Erickson told about 450 attendees at a crowded auditorium at the student union building that ethics would be raised "to a new level so that everyone at the university understands not just the legal thing to do, but the moral thing to do, so that we learn to do the right thing the first time, every time."
Students appeared grateful to get answers more than three weeks after Sandusky was charged Nov. 5, hopeful it would aid in the arduous healing process.
"I think this is a good start for a lot of good things that can happen at the university," said student Andrew Comes, 21, following the two-hour forum. "It's a singularly bad event, but there can still be positive repercussions and good things happening from it."
Administrators sought to reassure students worried about the unintended ramifications of the scandal, such as the reputation of a Penn State degree.
After several questioners mentioned they felt shamed by the scandal, vice president Henry Foley, as part of an answer about the school's top three priorities, told students to focus on academics and to "recognize that none of you are guilty. ... You may feel shame, but none of you are guilty. Just keep doing what you came here to do."
The scandal has resulted in the departures of head coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier. Athletic Director Tim Curley has been placed on administrative leave, and Vice President Gary Schultz, who was in charge of the university's police department, has stepped down.
Schultz and Curley are charged with lying to the grand jury and failure to report to police. They also maintain their innocence and have a preliminary hearing later this month.
Erickson told reporters after the forum that Spanier was on sabbatical and that as a tenured faculty member would have the right to teach if he so desired.
Several students also asked about the treatment of Paterno, who was the only school leader fired in the scandal's aftermath. Erickson said afterward he could not offer a detailed answer because it was the trustees' decision.
He reiterated there was no truth to Internet-fueled rumors that Paterno's statue outside Beaver Stadium would be removed or that the Paterno name would be removed from the campus library for which the Paterno family has donated millions of dollars.
"At some appropriate time down the road, I'm sure there will be an opportunity to also reflect on the many years of service Joe and (wife Sue Paterno) provided the university and the many good things that they've done for Penn State," Erickson said, eliciting brief applause.
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Two men face hefty fine after flight diverts
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) ? BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion suspended two employees on Thursday after their drunken rowdiness forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to be diverted to Vancouver and a court ordered them to pay US$70,699.49 (CA71,757) in restitution.
George Campbell, 24, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, pleaded guilty to mischief on Thursday. They were also given suspended sentences and probation for a year.
"Based on the limited information available at this time, RIM has suspended the individuals involved pending further investigation," RIM spokesman Marisa Conway said in a statement.
Another passenger aboard the plane said Campbell and Wilson were fighting with the flight attendants and it took the entire crew to subdue the men, who were eventually handcuffed to seats on the plane on Monday.
After the jet diverted to Vancouver, the other passengers were put up in hotels overnight and the flight resumed the next day, 18 hours behind schedule.
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Friday, December 2, 2011
AT&T, Sprint say they use key-logging software
Carrier IQ
Carrier IQ is on more than 141 million cellphones, according to the company.
By Suzanne Choney
As news about cell phone key-logging software has gone viral, so, too have denials from some phone makers and carriers about whether they use the software. AT&T, one of the companies that does use the Carrier IQ program, says its purpose is strictly to "improve wireless network and service performance," not to track users' personal data.
Verizon Wireless, the other major U.S. wireless carrier, told msnbc.com, it doesn't put Carrier IQ? "on our phones, nor do we use any Carrier IQ data." Asked whether it uses similar programs from other companies, however, the company has not yet responded.
Sprint is a Carrier IQ customer. But in a statement, the carrier said Carrier IQ software helps:
... analyze our network performance and identify where we should be improving service. We also use the data to understand device performance so we can figure out when issues are occurring. We collect enough information to understand the customer experience with devices on our network and how to address any connection problems, but we do not and cannot look at the contents of messages, photos, videos, etc., using this tool. The information collected is not sold and we don't provide a direct feed of this data to anyone outside of Sprint.
T-Mobile, contacted by msnbc.com, has not yet responded about Carrier IQ; we'll update this post if we hear back. Meanwhile, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and Law, is asking Carrier IQ to clarify exactly what its software can and can't do.
One wireless industry representative, who asked to remain anonymous, said Carrier IQ software is "not an Orwellian plot to gather people's information. It's to help us see if someone is dropping calls, where there are dead spots; it's not to gather people's personal information or to see what you're doing or where you're going."
Still, if the software can do those things, as one researcher contends, there are concerns about whether Carrier IQ is violating federal wiretap laws.
?If Carrier IQ has gotten the handset manufactures to install secret software that records keystrokes intended for text messaging and the Internet and are sending some of that information back somewhere, this is very likely a federal wiretap," Paul Ohm, a former Justice Department prosecutor and law professor at the University of Colorado Law School, told Forbes. ?And that gives the people wiretapped the right to sue and provides for significant monetary damages.?
Meanwhile, Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, said Thursday it doesn't install Carrier IQ on its phones, and doesn't authorize wireless carriers to use the program.
That counters the finding of the security researcher, Trevor Eckhart of Connecticut, who said that Carrier IQ software is installed on many Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones. His YouTube video of the software in action has stunned many as it shows Carrier IQ logging information, including text messages, as the information is tapped onto the phone keyboard. But RIM and Nokia said Carrier IQ is not used on their devices.
"RIM does not pre-install the Carrier IQ app on BlackBerry smartphones or authorize its carrier partners to install the Carrier IQ app before sales or distribution," RIM told Reuters. "RIM also did not develop or commission the development of the Carrier IQ application, and has no involvement in the testing, promotion or distribution of the app."
"CarrierIQ does not ship products for any Nokia devices," a company spokesman told Reuters.
Eckhart says Carrier IQ's software, designed to monitor the performance of a cell phone on a network, is a "rootkit," spying on unsuspecting users. Carrier IQ says it is not.
"While we look at many aspects of a device?s performance, we are counting and summarizing performance, not recording keystrokes or providing tracking tools," the company said in a recent statement. We've contacted Carrier IQ for more information.
The iPhone, too, may have the software on it, albeit in a more benign way (we've asked Apple for comment; none yet, and will update if we hear back). According to The Verge, Grant Paul, aka "Chpwn,"?a "well-known" iPhone hacker, said that Carrier IQ's software on the iPhone:
... may only be active when the iPhone is in diagnostic mode. In a blog post, chpwn confirms that, based on his initial testing, Apple has added some form of Carrier IQ software to all versions of iOS, including iOS 5. However, the good news is that it does not appear to actually send any information so long as a setting called DiagnosticsAllowed is set to off, which is the default. Finally, the local logs on iOS seem to store much less information than what has been seen on Android, limited to some call activity and location (if enabled), but not any text from the web browser, SMS, or anywhere else.
We'll continue to follow the issue. For those "tinfoil hat people," as Gizmodo called them, they're not alone. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, speaking at a panel discussion, said Thursday:
"Who here has an iPhone? Who here has a BlackBerry? Who here uses Gmail? Well, you're all screwed. The reality is, intelligence contractors are selling right now to countries across the world mass surveillance systems for all those products." Perhaps this is merely a first glimpse of what's to come.
Related stories:
Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.
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Turnout High in Egypt's Elections, but Questions About Transition Remain (The Nation)
The Nation -- Cairo, Egypt
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Hundreds of voters waited patiently outside the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo?s upscale neighborhood of Zamalek early Monday morning for a chance to cast their ballot in Egypt?s first election following the ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak last February. Many read newspapers or conversed quietly in pairs as the line inched forward. The faces of parliamentary candidates beamed out at them from campaign posters plastered outside the school walls with the thoughtful, mid-distance stare practiced by politicians seeking office the world over. Voters emerged from the polling booths holding up ink-stained fingers to prove their participation on the first day of Egypt?s nationwide parliamentary elections.
Across the street, a young man stood alone, his hands in his pockets as he stared ruefully at the queue slowly shuffling by. ?I don?t feel pride at all, I feel broken? says Hussein, a 29-year-old working in digital advertising who had not yet decided whether to vote. ?This is not in the revolutionary spirit, this is compliance. This is bowing your head down.??
The scene reflects the broader complexities of Egypt?s first post-revolutionary elections: an eagerness to participate in the democratic process soured by the realities of a deeply flawed transition plan and the heavy yoke of military rule.
Over the past nine months, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces that assumed power following Mubarak?s ouster, along with a political elite largely looking out for its own interests, have created a deeply confusing electoral system designed to elect a parliament that has no clear mandate or authority and one that, many fear, will serve to further entrench the military?s power.
Monday?s elections are the first in a parliamentary poll that will take three months to complete. Nine of Egypt?s twenty-seven governorates will vote in three separate rounds for the People?s Assembly (lower house) and will repeat again for the Shura Council (upper house). Both house are scheduled to convene in March, though under the current constitutional declaration that serves as Egypt?s interim constitution, the parliament will be largely toothless. The Supreme Council is granted the authority to issue laws by decree, appoint the government (including the prime minister) and sign international treaties.?
Voters that went to the polls for the People?s Assembly elections had to make three selections: one list and two individual candidates. The lists are drawn up by parties or alliances and two-thirds of the house seats are allocated this way on a proportional representation system. The remaining third of the seats are open to individual candidates, half of which must be workers or farmers, categories that date back to the era of Gamal Abdel Nasser. The vote calculation process is extremely complicated, baffling even political scientists and election law experts.
While the primary mandate of the incoming parliament is the drafting of Egypt?s post-revolutionary constitution, the process by which a constituent assembly would be chosen has not been finalized. Under guidelines proposed by the interim government in October, the Supreme Council would appoint eighty of the 100-member body while the parliament would select just twenty. The guidelines would also deny parliament the right to review the military budget and allow the army to interfere in political life. The proposal sparked an uproar but an alternative plan has yet to be agreed upon.
More importantly, the elections come in the wake of a new uprising in Egypt, one that reignited in Tahrir Square last week and quickly spread to Alexandria, Suez and several other cities. The clarion call of the renewed revolt is clear: an end to military rule.?
The uprising first erupted on November 19 when Central Security Forces stormed a small sit-in of a few dozen protesters in Tahrir. Riot police beat and arrested those who had set up camp. In response, hundreds of protesters descended to Tahrir in solidarity. They clashed with security forces and forced them to retreat back towards the headquarters of the Minister of Interior. The fighting quickly escalated into some of the fiercest street battles in Egypt since the revolution began.?
For five days?nearly 120 continuous hours?thousands of protesters, most of them young men and women, did battle with security forces. Police used live ammunition, rubber bullets, shotgun cartridges and an astonishing amount of tear gas. Protesters fought back with rocks and the occasional Molotov cocktail. What began as a minor street clash had turned into a war of attrition. Downtown Cairo was transformed into a battle zone with a constant white fog of poisonous tear gas wafting in the air. At least forty-two people were killed and more than 3,000 wounded.?
In a matter of days, the protests grew from a few dozen to hundreds of thousands filling Tahrir Square in what was perhaps the biggest challenge to military rule in Egypt in sixty years. ?The more they kill us, the more we multiply. And that has always been the story of this revolution,? says actor and activist Khalid Abdulla.
Noticeably absent from the demonstrations was the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest and best-organized political group in Egypt. Through its Freedom and Justice Party, the group is expected to gain a large number of seats in the parliamentary elections and pushed heavily for the vote to go ahead on schedule. Their members were out in full force on Monday, clearly visible at every polling station, offering to help voters find their registration numbers and distributing campaign flyers to any passersby.
?The Muslim Brotherhood have a political interest which they are declaring now above demands of this revolution to get rid of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces,? Abdulla observes. ?I say shame on them.?
Thousands of protesters are continuing their sit-in in Tahrir, and many of them are boycotting the elections. They have instead called for the military council to grant full authorities to a national salvation government that could lead the country through its transition. Mohamed El Baradei, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is favored by many protesters to lead the group alongside other prominent politicians and young revolutionaries.
Instead, the Supreme Council on Friday named Kamal al-Ganzouri?a 78-year-old who served as prime minister under Mubarak?to replace interim prime minister Essam Sharaf, who had resigned earlier in the week amidst the violent clashes. In response, several hundred protesters marched to the street that houses parliament and the cabinet of ministers to stage an open-ended sit-in.
On Monday, people in Tahrir stood gathered in groups, engaging in vigorous debates about the legitimacy of the parliamentary poll. ?Democracy means elections, the question is do we believe in democracy or not? The elections are the only way to get rid of the Supreme Council,? argues an old man with the long beard and shorn mustache favored by Islamists. As others debated with him over the authority of the incoming parliament a young man strode in the middle and faced the old man. ?Where were you last week while we were here dying? The Brotherhood and the Salafis have sold out the country,? he says before storming away.
The calls for a boycott are minimal, however, and the turnout across Egypt of the first day of elections has been reported to be high. A few hundred yards from Tahrir Square, hundreds of women lined up inside the Kasr El Dobara Experimental Language School, a women?s-only polling station on Kasr Al Aini street. Standing in the courtyard speaking to voters was Gamila Ismail, an independent parliamentary candidate favored by many protesters in Tahrir square. The week before, she had suspended her electoral campaign in protest of the brutal police crackdown. Ismail is also the ex-wife of Ayman Nour, who ran for president against Mubarak and was subsequently jailed for four years.
?This election is flavored with Tahrir, with the revolution,? Ismail says. She had a failed run for parliament in November 2010, the infamous elections that were heavily rigged by Mubarak?s National Democratic Party and helped spark the revolution on January 25. ?Stepping through this gate in the same place and having a completely different experience is a dream.?
When asked about the call for a boycott from Tahrir square, Ismail says, ?I think boycotting and staying in Tahrir and the parliament are two parallel routes to the revolution. They serve each other. Without the square you can never maintain the freedom and the free space in politics.?
Standing beside Ismail in the school courtyard was 28-year-old Nazly Hussein, an activist with the No to Military Trials campaign. Hussein had been badly injured in her left leg while on the front lines during clashes with police and was walking with a crutch. She had also suffered from slightly blurred vision due to an inflamed optic nerve, the result of being exposed to excessive amounts of tear gas.
?I?ve never voted before under Mubarak and I see no reason to vote now, nothing has changed,? Hussein says simply. ?This parliament has no real authority. The Supreme Council just wants to avoid a real handover of power and I will not be a part of this sham to give them legitimacy.?
Dusk fell and the?Supreme Judicial Committee for Elections announced that voting would be extended for two extra hours in all constituencies to accommodate for the heavy turnout.?For now, it seems, the majority of Egyptians appear willing to take part in the political process laid out by the military council. Others, in Tahrir and elsewhere around the country, are firm in their belief that real change can only come in the streets.
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Crystal Sugar CEO Likens Contract to Cancer | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG
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Relations between management and the 1,300 locked-out workers at American Crystal Sugar Co. reached a new low this week, as recordings were made public of company CEO David Berg likening the workers and their contract to a cancerous tumor.
Speaking to shareholders in North Dakota on Nov. 7, Berg told the story of a friend who had a massive cancerous tumor removed. ?He was sick for a long time,? said Berg.
We can?t let a labor contract make us sick forever and ever and ever. We have to treat the disease and that?s what we?re doing here.
?Berg later repeated his cancer analogy, saying,
At some point that tumor?s got to come out. That?s what we?re doing.
Listen to some of Berg?s comments here.
Workers responded to Berg?s remarks with outrage. Sarah Gust, a 40-year employee at American Crystal, remarked,
The fact that Dave Berg would refer to our union, our contract, as a cancerous tumor is deeply offensive to me and many of my co-workers. Some of us have had cancer or have lost loved ones to cancer. It?s a tragic, devastating disease. And that?s how Crystal Sugar management sees our union. I tell you, this just shows how much respect Dave Berg and the management have for us workers.
Workers at American Crystal in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa have been out of work since management imposed a lockout on Aug. 1, after workers rejected the company?s final contract offer by a more than nine-to-one margin. The company hired replacement workers and says it is moving to the next phase of its ?contingency plan? by offering wages significantly below those of locked-out workers.?The employees are members of seven locals of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM).
?We?ve seen Dave Berg?s true colors. He is determined to treat contract negotiations as a disease, a tumor to be removed,? said John Riskey, president of BCTGM Local 167G.
We?ve said from the start that we want to negotiate, as long as management comes to the table with reasonable proposals, and not the same take-it-or-leave-it ultimatums.
Workers and the union plan to hold?a press conference Dec. 1 to coincide with the company?s annual meeting and to meet with Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Saturday.
You also can contribute to the Sugar Beet Workers fund to help workers during the lockout. Make checks out to: Minnesota AFL-CIO, 175 Aurora Ave., St. Paul, MN 55103. In the memo line, print ?BCTGM Lockout 2011.?
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Source: http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/11/30/crystal-sugar-ceo-likens-contract-to-cancer/
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