Google Search convicts hacker
A disgruntled ex-employee of a wireless communications company has been convicted after Google Search records showed that he used the search engine to find information on disrupting the company’s systems.
Matthew Schuster began work as a computer technician for Alpha Computer Services in Wausau, Wisconsin in 2000. Schuster provided technical support for a wireless Internet system called CWWIS and also was a paying subscriber to CWWIS for his home.
However, after being fired in May 2003, he used customer information to hack into the wireless network to ensure he had free access to it.
He additionally used Google to search for information on disrupting wireless systems. Searches which were provided in court as part of the prosecution.
It’s probable in this instance that service records from Alpha Computer Service were used, which showed user behavior and searches on their network.
However, it does demonstrate increasing concern over privacy issues, not least the fact that search engines such as Google can assign personal names to recorded behavior, if subscribed to their services.
A recent CNET report on privacy also showed Google do receive requests for personal information from legal authorities but refuses to provide any information on how this may be used.
Overall, it continues to raise tensions that ISP’s are collecting far too much personally-identifiable data, which may work against individual privacy concerns.
Essential Christmas Videos
Ah Christmas. The tree, the stockings, the mistletoe and - of course - the holiday television programming.
Some of my fondest Christmas memories were spent in front a of television watching such classics as the animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or one of the myriad versions of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”.
If you can only watch a few holiday specials, these are the ones to watch in my book:
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Frosty the Snowman
- Santa Claus is Coming to Town
- The Year Without a Santa Claus
If I missed anything good be sure to contact me or add a comment below.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Geek With Laptop.
Silent Star Wars
A long time ago - in a galaxy far, far away… where the Evil Lord Vader ruled the galaxy with an iron fist came a geek-tastic remix of the original Star Wars trilogy into a silent movie:
Solar Powered Bikini Charges Your iPod
Inventor Andrew Schneider has come up with a hot new concept for a Solar Powered Bikini with a USB connector on the hip that lets you plug in your iPod or any other USB-chargeable gadget.
The suit is a standard medium-sized bikini swimsuit retrofitted with 1″ x 4″ photovoltaic film strips sewn together in series with conductive thread.
The cells terminate in a 5 volt regulator into a female USB connection.
Apparently Andrew is working on a male version of this “solar powered” concept called the iDrink that features a greater surface area which equals more output voltage.
This additional juice is used to power a 1.5 amp Peltier junction which cools a single beer in a custom coozy.
Googlewhack
Looking at my post title, you’re probably asking yourself “what is a Googlewhack?” right?
Well according to Wikipedia:
A Googlewhack is a Google search query consisting of two words–both of which must be in Google’s dictionary, and without quotation marks–that returns a single result.
A successful Googlewhack returns ‘Results 1-1 of 1′. Googlewhacking is the pastime of seeking such a result. A person attempting to find a Googlewhack is known as a Googlewhacker.
Sounds like a fun online game don’t you think? Trying to find a pair of words which, when typed into Google, return exactly one web page.
I thought so too and have spent close to an hour trying to find a GoogleWhack without any luck. Boo.
Thanks to Gary Stock, the relentless searcher who coined the term ‘Googlewhack’ back in January 2001, we now have something fun for those times when we don’t want to work but still need to be on the internet looking productive. Yay!
Check out Gary’s site GoogleWhack.com for the rules on how to play and to submit your GoogleWhack.
Have fun and be sure to let me know what you come up with… and if I finally find one, I’ll let you know as well.
Five critical holes patched in Firefox 2.0
Mozilla has patched eight holes, five of them critical, in the new Firefox 2.0 browser.
Release 2.0.0.1 of the open-source browser fixes flaws in memory corruption as well as the way the browser executes RSS, Javascript and CSS code. Similar flaws have also been patched in the older Firefox 1.5 browser.
Five of the eight flaws were rated critical by Firefox, meaning a user would be vulnerable to attack and remote software installation on their machines just from browsing the Web in the usual fashion. Two of the flaws were rated as high, while one received a low security-risk rating.