Week of December 11, 2005

Family PC security was hot news this week, not least because Microsoft released this month's Windows security patch. A new study shows that we home PC owners need to keep alert...

Fresh patch needed: If your family PC is of the Windows variety, make sure it has the latest security patch (you can always check at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com). Microsoft Tuesday issued a fix for a "critical security flaw in Windows that is being exploited in online attacks against Internet Explorer users," ZDNET reports. The patch also fixes other security flaws in the Explorer Web browser and "tackles part of the fallout from Sony BMG Music Entertainment's rootkit debacle." ZDNET is referring to the "digitial-rights management" (or DRM) software on many Sony CDs that makes PCs playing them vulnerable to malicious hacks (see "Sony's risky CDs" and "Death to DRM?").

How are we doing, PC security-wise? We're getting better, but... A survey of US households by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 81% of us lack "at least one of three critical types of security," CNET reports. Those three critical things are firewalls, updated antivirus protection, and anti-spyware software. The survey also found that 56% of respondents have no antivirus software, or hadn't updated it within a week (ideally, you have an antivirus subscription service for automated updating, because daily updates are barely enough); 44% didn't have firewall software properly configured; and 38% lack spyware protection. The good news is, the number of family PCs with correctly configured firewalls "rose to 56% from 28% a year ago" [because of the firewall installed by Windows XP Service Pack 2), and 44% have virus protection, up from 33% a year ago. See also InformationWeek's "Microsoft's OneCare goes live" and, in NetFamilyNews recently, "PC security in a nutshell" and "New PC security tips".

ID theft risk 'overblown': Another study found some good news on the family data-security front. The research, by fraud detection firm Analytics of San Diego, found that people who've had their credit cards or personal info stolen are at little risk of becoming identity-theft victims. Even in cases where thieves get social security numbers and other sensitive information, "only about 1 in 1,000 victims had their identities stolen," Reuters cites Analytics as saying. The company analyzed "four recent data breaches involving a total of 500,000 consumers," including an unidentified "top 5 US bank." As for reasons why fears about stolen credit card info are overblown: people usually cancel cards quickly, and it's "hard work" to piece an identity together just from info on a credit card. But it's still important to protect our privacy. Here's the New York Times on "proper data destruction" on the family PC.

In Other News

  • File-sharer loses case. The operative word in that headline is "loses." This is one of the rare cases in which the defendant didn't settle with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). But it's interesting that the defendant was mainly identified as a mother in the coverage: Nearly all of the 100+ news sites and papers around the world that picked up the story have "mom" in their headlines. In this case, Syliva Gonzalez, not her children, was the one doing the file-sharing, according to the Associated Press.
  • Mobile porn coming to a phone near you. We know this because content-filtering is now being offered by Cingular Wireless. "The nation's largest cellphone service provider, quietly has launched filtering devices and password-enabled blockers that help thwart underage consumers from buying adult content," USATODAY reports. Besides filtering, the availability of video-enabled phones is what will make mobile porn happen in the US (as usual, there's a downside to exciting new tech features, for which kids are often the earliest adopters). Worldwide mobile porn sales for 2005 are projected to be $1 billion, up 175% from 2004. A Cingular spokesman told USATODAY it's up to parents to control kids' access, which is why Cingular's making parental controls available. Of course, though, parents can't control what children see on other people's phones, e.g., those of kids whose parents don't know filtering's available filtering.
  • Move over, MySpace? Specialty spin-offs are already emerging. The MySpace "juggernaut," as the Philadelphia Inquirer puts it, is just two years old but already has 41 million+ registered users, making it "the prime gateway to marketing's dream demographic: 14-to-30-year-olds. But watch out, MySpace, an upstart is now on the scene with the message that it's for *real* music fans. CNET reports that TagWorld.com launched this week with "support of a core group of popular indie rock groups, including The Shins and Death Cab for Cutie."
  • 'Happy [media] Meals': Instead of toys, McDonald's-style Happy Meals of the future will come with parts of movies, if Disney has its way. The Register reports that, according to a patent application Disney has filed, each time a family visits a restaurant, more of the movie will be downloaded automatically (via the restaurant's wireless Internet connection) to the special branded media players the restaurant will be selling. The New York Times adds that "earning a large file, like a movie, might require five trips - a compelling incentive for a customer to return to the restaurant." McDonald's now has wi-fi connections in 6,200 restaurants worldwide.
  • 'America's Army' morphs. What was created as a recruiting tool for the US Army is now "one of the most popular computer games on the planet," the BBC reports. "America's Army," a free massively multiplayer online combat videogame, has "6 million registered users worldwide and scores of fansites worldwide," the BBC adds. But that's not all. From recruitment to entertainment, the game is now morphing into a third mission: combat training. "The Army believes that the real power of this technology lies in the fact that it is multiplayer, and can be securely networked across the globe. That would allow combat-hardened soldiers in the field to assist new trainees." This third, more realistic phase of the game, called "Full Spectrum Warrior" and developed Army-funded Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California, teaches soldiers other skills besides those developed in combat, though: e.g., how to interact and negotiate with all kinds of people in "mission-critical areas," such as average citizens, doctors, clerics, and political leaders.