The Ineffectiveness of Security Cameras

"The only positive deterrent effect was the reduction of larcenies within 100 feet of the cameras. No other crimes were affected -- except for homicides, which had an interesting pattern.

Murders went down within 250 feet of the cameras, but the reduction was completely offset by an increase 250 to 500 feet away, suggesting people moved down the block before killing each other."

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/04/the_ineffective.html

"This quote is instructive:

Mayor Gavin Newsom called the report "conclusively inconclusive" on Thursday but said he still wants to install more cameras around the city because they make residents feel safer.

That's right: the cameras aren't about security, they're about security theater."

The Eternal Value of Privacy

"The most common retort against privacy advocates -- by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures -- is this line: "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?"

Some clever answers: "If I'm not doing anything wrong, then you have no cause to watch me." "Because the government gets to define what's wrong, and they keep changing the definition." "Because you might do something wrong with my information." My problem with quips like these -- as right as they are -- is that they accept the premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's not. Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect. "

http://www.schneier.com/essay-114.html

"Too many wrongly characterize the debate as "security versus privacy." The real choice is liberty versus control. Tyranny, whether it arises under threat of foreign physical attack or under constant domestic authoritative scrutiny, is still tyranny. Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy. Widespread police surveillance is the very definition of a police state. And that's why we should champion privacy even when we have nothing to hide."

Built-in Windows commands to determine if a system has been hacked

"Windows machines get hacked, and in some environments it happens a lot. Fortunately, Microsoft has built numerous tools into Windows so administrators and power users can analyze a machine to determine whether it's been compromised. In this tip, which is the first of a two-part series, I'll cover five useful command-line tools built into Windows for such analysis."

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid14_gci1303709,00.html

Does your password pass the test?

"One of the things I work on is password security. And because I'm someone who pays close attention to passwords and how people use them, I sometimes hear interesting stories. For example, a couple of my colleagues are so careful about the security of their passwords that they generate a random eight-character string, memorize it, and then use it as their password for two to three months. After that time elapses, they start the process over again and generate a new random password.

Do we all need to be that careful about our passwords? Probably not. But passwords are one of the web's most important security tools. Whether it's for your Google account, your banking center, or your favorite store, choosing a good password and keeping it safe can go a long way toward protecting your information online."

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/does-your-password-pass-test.html

The War on Photography

"Given that real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don't seem to photograph anything, why is it such pervasive conventional wisdom that terrorists photograph their targets? Why are our fears so great that we have no choice but to be suspicious of any photographer?"

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/06/the_war_on_phot.html

Rollyo - Roll Your Own Search Engine

http://www.rollyo.com/

IncyWincy: The Invisible Web Search Engine

http://www.incywincy.com/

"Visual Find Engine -
While viewing the Quintura Cloud, you can visually navigate and easily refine in order to find relevant information faster and more efficiently!"

http://quintura.com/

Zotero

"Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. It lives right where you do your work — in the web browser itself."

http://www.zotero.org/

Creative Image Search

http://creativspace.at/

FeedYes

"Automatically generated feeds for any page on the web"

http://www.feedyes.com/

Put dynamic RSS feeds on your website - powered by Google

"Google is now offering website owners the possibility to place dynamic RSS AJAX feeds on your webpages.

That’s a bit of a mouthful I know, but basically all it is is a RSS feed from a website that constantly updates itself and Google powers it. Look upon it as perhaps a scrolling ticker tape that you see on the TV news programs for example. You can now have one for your website."

http://www.googletutor.com/2008/06/09/put-dynamic-rss-feeds-on-your-website-powered-by-google/

The Big Religion Chart

"The ReligionFacts "Big Religion Chart" is an attempt to summarize all the complexities of religions and belief systems into tiny little boxes on a single, quick-reference comparison chart. Yes, of course this is impossible. As we always warn with our comparison charts, this is no substitute for reading about religions in greater detail, talking with religious adherents, etc. But this religion comparison chart can (hopefully) be a useful and accessible way to "get the gist" of some unfamiliar groups and compare basic beliefs and practices of the world's religions and belief systems."

http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion_chart.htm

House of Commons : Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

"Mr Grieve ...

With Jedi Knights, it is difficult to know. They seem to believe in a force, because the force has to be with you, and they appear to be able to master the force by the processes of their own spirituality.

Chris Bryant: It is fictional.

Mr. Grieve: I have no idea whether being a Jedi Knight is fictional. The text from which it is derived was written by an author who was not pretending that it was revealed truth, but there seem to be a number of people who, for their own reasons, put in their census return that it is their religious view. I cannot comment any further on that."

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmstand/e/st050629/pm/50629s01.htm

Fixya

"Tech Support, Manuals & Troubleshooting for Consumers"

http://www.fixya.com/

Librarians' Internet Index

"Websites you can trust"

http://lii.org/