About 1.3 million customers of a Texas provider of student loans are at risk of ID fraud. A contractor lost computer equipment with sensitive information on them. The equipment, which was not identified, contains the names and Social Security numbers of the borrowers! The Texas Guaranteed Student Loan (TGSL) company said that the hardware was lost by an employee of Hummingbird, an enterprise software company hired to prepare a document management system.
justahandful's blog
technology allows cars to automatically slow down after approaching speed limit
By justahandful - Posted on June 2nd, 2006
Tagged: Media
Imagine having a car that automatically slows down when it reaches the speed limit.
Transport for London, TFL has been working on a new technology that would help cut road traffic deaths. The idea is that if the vehicle exceeds the speed limit, the engine revs are automatically limited so that it slows down again. Motorists often claim that they are speeding because they don't know the limit in a particular area. But this would no longer be an excuse if their GPS satellite navigation system could alert them to changes in speed limit as they drive. TFL is working on a map of the speed limits in London, which could then be loaded into satellite navigation systems. Another potential use is to equip buses with the technology. The TFL spokesman said: "If you are behind a bus that can't break the speed limit, then you can't break the speed limit." Separately, The Times is reporting that speed cameras will start taking digital photographs of speeding drivers' faces, in order to crack down on motorists who try to evade fines by claiming that someone else was driving their car.
Car theft exposes Hotels.com data
By justahandful - Posted on June 2nd, 2006
A seemingly random theft has led to another potential breach of personal data--this time name, address and credit card data from Hotels.com customers.
A laptop belonging to an Ernst & Young employee was stolen in a car theft earlier this year. Ernst & Young is the auditor for Hotels.com, an Expedia company, and the laptop contained personal data on Hotels.com customers. Ernst & Young would not say how many customers were affected, but news reports put the number at around 243,000 Hotels.com customers.
U.S. accused in more Iraq civilian deaths
By justahandful - Posted on June 2nd, 2006
Tagged: News and politics
yet a third set of allegations that the U.S troops have deliberately killed civilians. "It looks like the killing of Iraqi civilians is becoming a daily phenomenon," the chairman of the Iraqi Human Rights Association, Muayed al-Anbaki. Al-Anbaki's comments came a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki upbraided the U.S. military over allegations that Marines killed two dozen unarmed civilians in Haditha, calling it "a horrible crime." U.S. commanders have ordered new ethics training for all troops in Iraq. But the flow of revelations and investigations threatens to undermine Iraq's new government and public support in America for President Bush's management of the war. In March, the U.S. military said four people died when they attacked from the ground and air a house suspected of holding an al-Qaida operative. The house was destroyed. Even a 6-month-old infant was killed. Iraqi officials and relatives also said U.S. forces killed two Iraqi women — one of them about to give birth — when the troops shot at a car that failed to stop at an observation post in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
pet peeves
By justahandful - Posted on June 1st, 2006
Tagged: Personal freedom
One of my pet peeves:
One of them definitely has to be when people drive with their blinkers on and have no intention of changing lanes. That just frustrates me to no ends... especially if the driver is not even a senior citizen. That's just one of many I assure you. I guess I just have a high expectation of people and their common sensibilities.
trust
By justahandful - Posted on June 1st, 2006
Tagged: Personal freedom
In my opinion, Trust is underrated and taken for granted. For me, trust is a fairy tale; something I'll only dream about in my life, some shining star so out of reach that I can only look at it in awe and disbelief. Trust has been a big issue for me, even as a child. My lack of trust in others, in man kind, has made me very withdrawn and anti-social. I look at the faces on the street and consider each one to be a mask, every word to be a lie, and I'm simply the fool caught in the middle.
the memories of today
By justahandful - Posted on May 17th, 2006
Tagged: Personal freedom
One of the hardest things in life knows that you’re doing something for the last time. The last time you walk the halls of your high school, the last time you sleep in your room before you move to a new house, the last time you walk somewhere you may never go again. Its so hard because you have memories there. That memory, that event, has made you who you are today. you know that through the years, that memory will fade. So you cherish that last time, because its something you will never experience again. And youll never feel that way again.
the innocence of children
By justahandful - Posted on May 17th, 2006
Tagged: Opinion
When I was a kid, I had many dreams and the world seemed much merrier and better because those dreams seem possible. As I slowly grew up and became indoctrinated into the ways of our world, many other dreams started to fade away and some even disappeared, never to be seen or dreamt of again. The capacity to dream and to reach those dreams are a very human one. The dreams that we have tell us what our values are and who we really inside as a person. Those people who dream of becoming rich and having all the money in the world are mostly likely very materialistic; however, those who dream of changing the world and making it a better place for the next generation are more generous. Regardless of what our dreams are, there are a few things about them that we should know.
