Today’s lunchtime news chum highlights three articles related to security and privacy, a personal interest of mine:
- From the “Hand Sanitizer as Anonymizer” Department: Reuters is reporting on some interesting research: People leave behind a unique trail of germs when they touch things. This goes beyond just your fingerprints: Researchers have been learning that people are colonized with billions of microbes, both inside and on the body. Studies have shown that these colonies are unique to the individual and even to the place on the body. Even more interesting is the fact that hand-washing doesn’t remove that signature: the colonies recover within hours from hand washing. Additionally, the bacteria don’t break down, even after two weeks. The researchers were able to do the study because of rapid advances in techniques and equipment for sequencing DNA. No word yet on whether this is being explored for I&A devices.
- From the “Won’t You Be My Friend” Department: I’m sure that, by now, you don’t automatically accept friend requests on Facebook. But in case you’re open with your friendship, here’s another caution: The FBI is using social networking. That’s right. They are monitoring tweets, and creating profiles that suspects might friend, thus permitting monitoring of activities. As this is a new technological area, it isn’t covered well by law. As always, knowledge is power.
- From the “Giving It Away” Department: Of course, privacy doesn’t mean beans if you give it away… and privacy is like virginity: once you give it away, you can’t get it back. This is highlighted in a New York Times article about how people often dole out all kinds of personal information on the Internet that allows such identifying data to be deduced. Examples given in the article include birthday greetings sent and received, school and work gossip, photos of family vacations, and movies watched. Don’t believe me? Look at the meme going around Facebook right now where you post the city where you were born: a popular security question. As noted in the article, technology has rendered the conventional definition of personally identifiable information obsolete. Even if you are careful and don’t disclose information, your friends may do it for you (yes, I’m looking at you, the person reading this). Even if they don’t, the patterns of your communication can reveal things. So what do you do. Remember the following: When you’re doing stuff online, you should behave as if you’re doing it in public.
And a bonus chum….
- From the “Giving It Away” Department: And speaking of “giving it away”, the Daily Breeze is reporting about a new lipstick for women that changes color when they are in the mood for sex. The lip product changes from clear to deep crimson as the wearer feels more and more “frisky” (yes, that’s the term in the article, and no, they don’t define it better). It works by reacting with a woman’s body chemistry. Each $18.50 tube comes with a color chart so men can figure out how aroused their partner is feeling. The article jokes about women not wanting to use it because they might give away arousal, whereas I think it is more a commentary on the cluelessness of us guys.
