NY appeals court green-lights remote storage DVR

NY appeals court green-lights remote storage DVR
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday, August 4th 2008, 3:12 PM
In a decision sure to affect millions of cable television subscribers, a federal appeals court Monday gave a green light to Cablevision Systems Corp.'s rollout of a remote-storage digital video recorder system.
In overturning a lower court ruling that had blocked the service, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the judge wrongly concluded that Cablevision, rather than its customers, would be making copies of programs, thereby violating copyright laws.
Tom Rutledge Cablevision's chief operating officer, called the appeals court decision "a tremendous victory for consumers." He said it would allow the company to make DVRs available to more people, faster and less expensively than would otherwise be possible.
Cablevision's next-generation technology would let any cable subscriber with a digital cable box store TV shows on computer servers rather than on a hard drive in their home.
The new Cablevision system was challenged by a group of Hollywood studios that claimed that the remote-storage system would have amounted to an unauthorized broadcast of their programs.
Cablevision, in arguing that control of the recording and playback was in the hands of the consumer, had relied on a landmark 1984 Supreme Court case which found Sony Corp. did not break copyright laws by letting viewers use videotape recorders to record shows for personal use.
A lawyer for the Hollywood studios did not immediately return a telephone message for comment Monday.
In its ruling, the appeals court said it did not see much difference between the user of a VCR and the user of a DVR.
See--http://harlemblogosphere.blogspot.com

US Border Agency Says It Can Seize Laptops

US Border Agency Says It Can Seize Laptops
Agam Shah, IDG News Service Fri Aug 1, 7:50 PM ET
Travelers beware: U.S. agents now have the authority to seize and retain laptops indefinitely, according to a new policy detailed in documents issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

As part of border search policy, government agents are now authorized to seize electronic devices and inspect documents in them, the document states. The electronic devices might include laptops, cell phones, portable music players or storage devices such as portable hard drives.
Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection will also be allowed to translate and share documents with other government agencies.
The DHS document, issued July 16, appears to state publicly a policy that has already existed. Laptops and electronic devices have been subject to search in the past, and travelers have reported not getting their devices back. The policy has drawn strong criticism from lawmakers and nonprofit groups, who charged that the searches were invasive and a violation of an individual's privacy rights. Computers contain a vast amount of private information about family, finances and health, which could be easily copied and stored in government databases, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has complained.
The policy document states that being able to examine documents and electronic devices is crucial for "detecting information concerning terrorism, narcotics smuggling... contraband including child pornography, and... other import or export control laws."
The new DHS policies allow customs agents to analyze the contents of laptops without any suspicion of wrongdoing, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold said in a statement.
"The policies that have been disclosed are truly alarming," Feingold wrote.
The policy could blur the distinction between "search" and "seizure," which could also allow DHS officials to steal personal documents from laptops it has retained, Feingold wrote.

WORLD NEWS AND INFORMATION

Knoxville,Tenn.---He shot and killed them because they were liberals.
Cops revealed yesterday that the out-of-work truckdriver accused of opening fire at a Unitarian church, killing two people, left behind a note suggesting he targeted the house of worship because of it's liberal policies including it's acceptance of gays. A letter found in Jim Adkisson's SUV indicated he picked the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church because, the police chief said, he was upset with "liberals in general as well as gays." Adkisson, a 58-year old truck driver on the verge of losing his food stamps, had 76 rounds with him when he entered the church and pulled a shotgun from a guitar case during a children's performance of the musical " Annie ". The Associated Press ---nydnews 7-29-08

Right-wing pundit fights brain tumor
Boston--- conservative political commentator Robert Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor--less than a week after he struck a homeless man with his Corvette and was ticketed because he drove away.
Novak, 77, fell ill on Cape Cod this weekend while visiting his daughter and was rushed to the hospital, where he said he was diagnosed Sunday with the tumor. " I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period. " he said in a statement. His assistants aid doctors had not yet done a biopsy to determine if the tumor was malignant. ---Associated Press 7-29-08

New York governor, NAACP condemn magazine cover

New York governor, NAACP condemn magazine cover
By LISA CORNWELL, Associated Press Writer


Paterson, a Democrat who is New York's first black governor, told delegates at the civil rights organization's national convention that the cover that hit newsstands Monday is "one of the most malignant, vicious covers of a magazine I have ever seen," drawing a loud applause.
"It depicted them as angry, hateful, violent and unpatriotic," Paterson added.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People released a resolution that calls the cover "tasteless, Islam-a-phobic, mean spirited and racially offensive." It calls on other Americans who are offended by the cover to contact the magazine about their concerns.
A message seeking comment from the New Yorker was left at the magazine's offices on Thursday.
The cover depicts Obama in traditional Muslim clothing while his wife, Michelle, has an assault rifle slung over one shoulder and is dressed in camouflage and combat boots with her hair in an Afro. The cover shows them bumping fists as a flag burns in a fireplace behind them and a portrait of Osama bin Laden hangs above the mantel.
The magazine has said satire it uses satire "to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover."
New Yorker editor David Remnick told the Huffington Post Web site that the cover was chosen because it had something to say.
In comments after his speech, Paterson said that no matter what reason the magazine gives for the cover, it was hurtful.
"The reality is that it hurts people, they knew it would hurt people; it was designed to do that and also to feed the prurient interest of bigoted, prejudiced people in this society," Paterson said.

Citibank ATM breach reveals PIN security problems

Citibank ATM breach reveals PIN security problems
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday, July 1st 2008, 1:56 PM
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Hackers broke into Citibank's network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores this year and stole customers' PIN codes, according to recent court filings that revealed a disturbing security hole in the most sensitive part of a banking record.
The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars. But more importantly for consumers, it indicates criminals were able to access PINs — the numeric passwords that theoretically are among the most closely guarded elements of banking transactions — by attacking the back-end computers responsible for approving the cash withdrawals.
The case against three people in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York highlights a significant problem.
Hackers are targeting the ATM system's infrastructure, which is increasingly built on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and allows machines to be remotely diagnosed and repaired over the Internet. And despite industry standards that call for protecting PINs with strong encryption - which means encoding them to cloak them to outsiders - some ATM operators apparently aren't properly doing that. The PINs seem to be leaking while in transit between the automated teller machines and the computers that process the transactions.
"PINs were supposed be sacrosanct - what this shows is that PINs aren't always encrypted like they're supposed to be," said Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the Gartner research firm. "The banks need much better fraud detection systems and much better authentication."
It's unclear how many Citibank customers were affected by the breach, which extended at least from October 2007 to March of this year. The bank has nearly 5,700 Citibank-branded ATMs inside 7-Eleven Inc. stores throughout the U.S., but it doesn't own or operate any of them.
That responsibility falls on two companies: Houston-based Cardtronic., which owns all the machines but only operates some, and Brookfiel.-based Fiserv Inc., which operates the others.
A critical issue in the investigation is how the hackers infiltrated the system, a question that still hasn't been answered publicly.
All that's known is they broke into the ATM network through a server at a third-party processor, which means they probably didn't have to touch the ATMs at all to pull off the heist.
They could have gained administrative access to the machines — which means they had carte blanche to grab information — through a flaw in the network or by figuring out those computers' passwords. Or it's possible they installed a piece of malicious software on a banking server to capture unencrypted PINs as they passed through. --------nydailynews

Tap in to big savings by switching from bottled water

Tap in to big savings by switching from bottled water
BY JOSHUA CINELLI DAILY NEWS WRITER
Wednesday, June 18th 2008, 10:52 AM

Drinking water from the tap costs pennies a year vs. thousands for the bottled variety.
Gasoline isn't the only liquid draining New Yorkers' budgets - water can cost plenty for those who insist on drinking the bottled variety.
Last year, U.S. consumers purchased $16.8 billion of bottled water. The cost of drinking the recommended 64 ounces of water a day from bottles could total thousands of dollars for one person. By contrast, drinking a healthy supply from the tap costs just 51 cents a year, according to The Associated Press.
"In New York City, the water is the best," said Andre Aubry, a 61-year-old construction worker from Bedford Park in the Bronx. "I'm not going to pay anything for water."
Aubry, who fills up a cooler every night from the tap, said there's another good reason to avoid drinking from plastic bottles.
"All bottled water is doing is creating more garbage," he said.
Environmentalists have railed against bottled water for years based on the estimated 17 million barrels of oil used every year to make the bottles, and the fact that they don't break down in landfills. Other efforts such as the Tappening Project and Think Outside the Bottle have urged Americans to choose reusable containers.
In the city, Mayor Bloomberg is an ardent advocate of tap water, drinking it at home and in restaurants. This weekend, Bloomberg will co-sponsor a resolution in Miami at the U.SConference of Mayors to prohibit city spending on bottled water.
The City Council has stopped buying bottled water, joining 30 other cities nationwide. Instead, it has begun to provide water coolers that use filtered tap water. Last year, the Council's downtown offices went through 6,000 bottles of water.
Still, some say bottled water is all they drink.
"All that's in the fridge is bottled water," said Joseph Acquah of Flatbush, Brooklyn

Grocers with beef sue union butchers

Grocers with beef sue union butchers
BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, June 8th 2008, 4:00 AM

Three supermarket chains want millions in damages from a union they say ordered butchers to urge customers to buy fresh hamburger patties instead of frozen meat.

Lawyers for Pathmark, Waldbaum and The Food Emporium have responded aggressively to what they called a Memorial Day weekend scare campaign in which brochures distributed outside their stores suggested frozen meat may have been lying around warehouses for years.

"The statement that by buying fresh meat, 'customers never have to wonder how old fresh meat and hamburger patties are,' is a clear reference that customers should worry that frozen patties are old," says the suit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Further, the handbill is "defamatory and libelous" because it suggests the supermarkets were selling outdated meat.

Leaflets were distributed outside stores in New York City and Long Island from May 23 to May 26.

The union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342, contends the leafleting was simply an attempt to drum up business because meat department workers' hours have been curtailed.

Several union members were disciplined or suspended for handing out the leaflets, union lawyer Ira Wincott said.

"We weren't telling customers not to buy anything, and we believe their sales actually increased that weekend over last year's sales, which we attribute to the handbill," Wincott said.

A copy of the handbill, attached to the suit, asks: "Why buy frozen patties shipped in from who knows where? Who knows how long they have been laying around a warehouse? Frozen meat may have been frozen for years
From ----newyorkdailynews.com 6-8-2008 p 15

Weak Economy Boosts Sales of T.V. Picture-Tubes

Weak Economy Boosts Sales of Picture-Tube TVs
By Eric A. Taub
The slowing American economy has had an unexpected effect on the television business: a resurgence in the popularity of the standard picture-tube TV.
According to new sales figures from the DisplaySearch research firm, tube TVs edged out plasma models to become the second-most-popular technology during the first quarter of this year. In the fourth quarter of 2007, it was plasma that enjoyed the number-two spot, after LCD.
The reasons are simple, according to Paul Gagnon, the company’s director of North American TV research. It all has to do with price sensitivity and the sense among consumers that they should purchase a cheap digital-capable set before the nation switches to all-digital broadcasting next year.
Enjoying the boom in picture-tube TV sales are the low-cost mass marketers like Wal-Mart. Tube sets have all but disappeared from big-box consumer electronics retailers, such as Best Buy, Circuit City and even Costco. In terms of revenue, the venerable RCA brand, owned by China’s TCL, has captured a 46 percent market share, putting it in first place.

And while picture-tube TVs may be hard to find here, that’s not the case in the rest of the world. Tube TVs still outsell LCD sets worldwide, although the two technologies are now neck and neck. In the first quarter of this year, 22.1 million tube TVs were sold worldwide, compared with 21.1 million LCD sets.
For those who still want to buy a flat-panel TV, the economy has also caused consumers to rethink their need for the biggest and best.
TV sales normally fall after the holiday buying boom, and this year was no exception. But unit sales of sets 40 inches and larger dropped by a larger-than-expected 36 percent in the first quarter of 2008 compared with the last quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, sales of sets smaller than 40 inches in size decreased only 33 percent. “With the Super Bowl in January, typically sales of larger sets do well in the first quarter,” Mr. Gagnon said. “Sales of TVs in the 30- to 37-inch size were stronger than expected.” Smaller sets mean lower revenues for the manufacturers.
On the plasma front, Panasonic remained the sales leader, even though plasma now accounts for just 6 percent of worldwide TV sales. And in the United States, Vizio, the low-cost manufacturer, has seen its plasma market share almost double from the fourth quarter of last year, from 5.7 percent to 10 percent. (Panasonic’s first-place share of the U.S. plasma business dropped from 38 to 35 percent.)
One bright spot for the industry: sales of still-pricey TVs 50 inches and larger “was stronger than expected,” Mr. Gagnon said. If the rich do not always get richer, so far at least many seem to have retained their ability to buy big TVs. http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com/ 5-23-2008

Obama poised to gain a majority of pledged delegates in Oregon

CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama is expected to take a majority of the pledged delegates in the Democratic race after primary voters weigh in Tuesday in Kentucky and Oregon.

Sen. Barack Obama campaigns Monday in Montana, while Sen. Hillary Clinton seeks votes in Kentucky.

Obama's campaign sees the two contests as a milestone in the protracted fight for the Democratic presidential nomination with Sen. Hillary Clinton, who continues to campaign hard.
There are 3,253 pledged delegates, and Obama, even with a poor showing Tuesday, should easily top the 1,627 delegates needed to gain a majority.
A candidate needs 2,026 delegates to win the Democratic nomination. Going into Tuesday races, Obama has 1,909 delegates, while Clinton has 1,718.
The Kentucky and Oregon primaries hold 103 delegates combined. Obama needs 15 more to achieve a majority of the pledged delegates -- the delegates won either in state caucuses or primaries.
Clinton appears to be the overwhelming favorite in Kentucky. CNN's "poll of polls," which averages the latest public opinion surveys in the state, suggests the senator from New York leads Obama by 30 percentage points. The last polls in Kentucky close at 7 p.m. ET.
Obama is the favorite in Oregon, where a CNN poll of polls indicates he has a lead of 10 percentage points. Oregon's primary is a mail-in only contest, which means voters must mail in or hand in their ballots in person by 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET
Both Kentucky and Oregon's primaries are closed, so only registered Democrats can vote in the Democratic contests. http://harlemblogosphere.blogspot.com 5-20-2008

IRS: Some stimulus checks sent to wrong accounts

IRS: Some stimulus checks sent to wrong accounts
BY CAROL POLSKY
Through the wonders of modern technology, some of those federal economic stimulus checks are being deposited directly into recipients' bank accounts.But some are not - and are instead winding up in the bank accounts of complete strangers."We do know of instances of problems; we've hMay 15, 2008

eard of situations where stimulus checks have gone to the wrong people's bank accounts," conceded Kevin McKeon, the Internal Revenue Service spokesman for the New York region. "We're getting a lot of calls to the toll-free number."One local taxpayer, who asked not to be identified, reported that he had discovered an unexpected deposit of $1,800 in his bank account. He said a review of his bank records revealed that it was a deposit from the IRS bearing another taxpayer's Social Security number. He said he contacted the IRS and was told by an agent that the deposit was one of 15,000 misrouted checks sent out incorrectly as a result of a computer programming glitch.
Adapted from ---nynewsday---5-15-2008--posted by davidsradiotv2000

Rev. Al: Cut off cop cash

Google Blogs Alert for: davidsradiotv2000
Rev. Al: Cut off cop cashBy David'sRadioTV2000(A Blogger) ... Nicole Paultre Bell, and his friend Joseph Guzman attended the hearing, but made only brief remarks urging the panel to make changes to prevent another such shooting. --------nydailynews.com--posted by davidsradiotv2000 5-13-2008.The Harlem Blogosphere - http://harlemblogosphere.blogspot.com/

Hillary Tweaks Her Golden Goose

HILLARY TWEAKS HER GOLDEN GOOSE

May 6, 2008 -- 'Why don't we hold these Wall Street money-brokers responsible for their role in this recession?" So asked Sen. Hillary Clinton in Indiana over the weekend, sneeringly.

Pretty harsh words.

Could she be referring to the "money-brokers" who are directly responsible for nearly a third of all wages earned in New York City in any given year?

Or the folks who generate more than 20 percent of Albany's tax revenue?

On a more personal level, was Sen. Clinton talking about her friends at Goldman Sachs - you know, the ones who have kicked $445,350 into her campaign kitty so far this election cycle?

Or the combined personal contributions from Citigroup ($406,752), Morgan Stanley ($482,845) and Lehman Brothers ($269,560) - among many others?

Those money-brokers?

How about this: If money "brokered" on Wall Street so profoundly offends the senator, why doesn't she just give it all back?

Albany and City Hall don't have that luxury. Things are tough, and likely to get much worse - and maybe even worse than that if Sen. Clinton keeps it up with the condescending rhetoric.

She should be ashamed
From newyorkpost.com 5-6-2008 p28

It's our duty to protest Bell decision

People should not have to paralyze the city to make everyone see that police actions in the Bell case - whether viewed as a crime or horrible blunder - cannot be excused as "just one of those things."
IN THIS CASE,
We have not heard Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Raymond Kelly or anyone else lay out a clear, convincing, detailed plan for ensuring there will be no more situations in which undercover officers rush on innocent people and unleash deadly force as if they're in a war zone. -----From the nydailynews.com ---and Errol Louis Opinions 4-26-2008 See http://harlemblogosphere.blogspot.com

Flaw in TV converters

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, April 24th 2008, 4:00 AM
Did my TV screen just shrink?
That's the question a lot of people will be asking after installing one of the converter boxes that will keep older TV sets tuned into over-the-air broadcasts after Feb. 17, when most stations will switch to digital transmission from analog.
The National Association of Broadcasters estimates that 70 million sets nationwide are in danger of losing their picture. The A ssociated Press tested two boxes - the Digital Stream DTX9900 and Insignia NS-DXA1. Each costs $59.99, which can be partly defrayed by a $40 coupon available from the government at www.dtv2009.gov.
They come with a peculiar problem: Unless users manually change settings from show to show, the picture from many stations either won't fill the screen, or it will be so big that parts the picture are cut off by the edges of the screen.
Both boxes, with some programs, produced "windowboxing" or "the postage-stamp effect." This occurs because the digital broadcasts of network stations are in most cases formatted for widescreen HDTVs. The image will be "letterboxed" with black bars above and below.
The solution is to press the "Zoom" button on the remote that comes with the converter box. But that will have to be done for every show. Adapted from nydailynews 4-24-2008 P61
Posted by -----davidsradiotv2000

Cops may finally compute evidence

DESPITE A budget crunch, the NYPD hopes to get $25 million to fund an urgent need -- a computer program to track millions of pieces of evidence. For more than a decade, the NYPD has tried to get a computerized system in place for it's evidence collection process. Fomer Commissioner Howard Safir pulled the plug on one such attempt in 1998, after the department invested $7 million over seven years with series of computer companies with no results, records showed.
If it doesn't get additional money for the project, the NYPD may have to shift other funds to pay for the new technology, such as $50 million earmarked to rehab the Central Park Precinct, sources said. The property clerk division processes 1.6 million invoices a year and has more than 10 million pieces of property in storage, NYPD documents show. The collection includes evidence from crime, stolen property, contraband, vehicles and prisoners' property.
Capgemini, a technology and consulting firm headquartered in Manhattan, is in negotiations with NYPD for this latest attempt, sources said. Capgemini referred questions to the NYPD.
It was unclear how much of the evidence backlog would be inventoried, a key demand from defense lawyers.
Human rights advocates argued the lack of a tracking system has kept at lest one innocent man in jail when the NYPD could not find key evidence.

Alan Newton spent 21 years in prison after a wrongful 1984 conviction for rape and robbery in the Bronx. According to the Innocence Project, the NYPD said for years that it could not locate evidence for forensic testing in Newton's case.

Twelve years after Newton's first motion for DNA testing was denied, the evidence was found in the bin at Pearson Place warehouse in Long Island City, where it was supposed to be all along.
The evidence was located only after a Bronx assistant district attorney asked Pearson Place supervisors to look for it. From nydnews 3-19-2008 -p26 by davidsradiotv2000

TEXTERS, BEWARE

Gadget lets snoopers peek at erased messages
Cheating spouses and wayward teens,you are SO busted! -A new device allows anyone to spy on the text messages on your cellphone --including deleted ones you thought were gone for good. The sneaky gadget can read a cellphone's SIM card--a portable memory chip that stores a user's personal information--and allows snoopers to save any data from it onto their own computers. The device is made by the New York firm of BrickHouse Security.
The device costs $149 and fits in your hand. BrickHouse President Todd Morris said many people find out their worst fears are justified when they snoop.
HOW IT WORKS: Remove the SIM card from the cellphone. Put card into SIM card reader --Plug card reader into computer to transfer data. Kids trying to hide things from their parents should also be worried about the SIM card reader. It is legal for bosses to check up on workers cellphones. " An employer who hands out phones for bussiness use can check if they're being used for personal calls " Bierce said. Bill Bierce is a data -protection lawyer as he told the Post. --- However, it breaks several laws for a stranger to steal the data from the phone.---From N.Y.Post 2-27-2008 P3

Rebate checks in sight

President George W. Bush has pledged to sign the rebate bill next week. Most households will get another $300 for each child. Here are some questions and answers about the checks.
Who gets a rebate?
Anyone who pays taxes or earns at least $3,000, including those who receive Social Security or veterans disability benefits. Higher earners get partial rebates.
Who won't get a rebate ?
People who earn less than $3,000, illegal immigrants, anyone who does not file a tax return, singles earning more than $87,000 and couples earning more than $174,000.The caps rise $6,000 per child.
How much is the rebate ?
Single taxpayers get at least $300, couples at least $600. The rebate will be equal to the taxes they paid, up to $600 for singles and $1,200 for couples,plus an additional $300 per child.That amount will be reduced by $50 for every $1,000 above the income limits of $75,000 for singles and $150,000 for couples. People who earn too little to pay taxes but earn or receive benefits of at least $3,000 will get $300 if single or $600 if a couple. ---------When will the rebates arrive?------Beginning in May
Will the rebates be deducted from taxpayer' regular tax returns ?-----No, the rebates are on top of any tax refund. ----From the Associated Press nydailynews 2-9-2008

Senate: Check's in the mail

WASHINGTON--The Senate yesterday passed an economic rescue plan that would speed $600 to $1,200 in rebates to most taxpayers and $300 checks to the disabled, the elderly, and low-income Americans. The 81-16 vote capped more than a week of political maneuvering that ended only when the majority Democrats dropped a demand to offer jobless benefits, heating aid for the poor, and tax breaks for certain industries. The Republicans agreed to add the rebates for older people and disabled veterans to a $161 billion measure passed lasted month by the House.---The bill now goes to President Bush. nydailynews ----AP 2-5-2008

MoveOn Endorses Obama

MoveOn the online network that connects more than 3 million progressives nationwide has Officially Endorsed Barack Obama.
If there is value for Obama in the endorsement, it's that it reinforces his efforts to highlight Clinton's vote for the Iraq war in 2002, and her sometimes akward efforts during this campaign to explain it away.
The Politiker----2-1-2008

Hear the new Obama song
"Yes We Can"

Obama wins South Carolina

Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary in a jaw-dropping landslide yesterday, handing a humiliating defeat to two Clintons- Hillary and Bill.

Obama won 55% of the vote, Clinton 27% and John Edwards 18% in nearly complete reterns.

The secret weapon's a fired-up army of youth ---by ERROL LOUIS
nydailynews 1-27-2008 p-6

Kennedy's daughter sees dad in Obama