Another Example of Bad Journalism

This is yet another example of publications, in this cast MarketWatch, takes press releases directly from the internet and redistributes them as ‘news’.

The results of this New York Law Journal’s Reader Rankings Survey is misleading (to say the least).

First off, they had less than fifty respondents.

Second, the survey was sponsored by the company in question, so of course the questions were skewed to provide results they were looking for so the could put this press release out.

For a news source to consider itself main-stream it must first stop reprinting press releases, they are nothing more than marketing tools and have no real news.

If it does want to use press releases for story ideas that’s fine, but it must take a few minutes to check the facts and then rewrite the release interjecting its own findings.

Be careful of what is being published as ‘news’… question everything, especially self-serving news stories which are really just marketing tools.

Mitratech TeamConnect Receives Top Honors for Both Matter Management and Entity Management in New York Law Journal's Reader Rankings Survey - MarketWatch

Google Millionaire: Obama: 'Raise My Taxes, Please!'

I find it very odd that a millionaire who received is education because it was paid for with Pell Grants and (his words) “job training programs that made it possible for me to get to where I am” would want to rely on the federal government to take his money and do the right thing like replenish what his education and job training cost.

Why doesn’t Doug Edwards use what monies he believes should be given in taxes directly back to grant systems and or job training systems that helped him out, that way they would not be so reliant on the federal government to sustain them?

Better yet Mr. Obama, introduce a new tax rule that states if you file a return showing over “X” dollars in income and you are the beneficiary of education grants and job training programs that you have to pay the money back just as if it were a student loan?

I think the best retort President Obama could have given to the group was encouragement to support programs that they feel are worthy directly. Kind of a pep-talk to get them to do good deeds directly rather than indirectly. After all, the odds of raising taxes on millionaires (and Doug knows this) is at best 50/50 right now.

We need to stop relying on lawmakers to be all knowledgeable with regards to taxation and paying for a civilization. They aren’t good at it.

I wonder if Doug Edwards would feel that way if he was living pay-check to pay-check like most Americans do.

Google Millionaire Tells Obama: 'Raise My Taxes, Please!' - DailyFinance

Another Example of the Media Misleading the Public About Internet Security

This is a perfect example of how the media uses the trust the public puts in them as a way to keep them scared and mistrust the Internet.

In this article by The Register (United Kingdom) it explains that the encryption method used by sites like PayPal and others has been compromised in a way that hackers can ‘catch’ your purchase and payment information as it is being transmitted.

While it may be true that SSL 1.0 has been cracked – it was cracked some fifteen years ago in the 1980s.

Modern browsers don’t even allow it as an option in their security settings. Bottom line – NOBODY uses it any more.

TLS encryption isn’t even even turned on by default – so (you guessed it) nobody uses it unless it is with their corporation intranet or other specialty internet service.

The article is hype for some security group in Buenos Aires and some paper they are going to present to the Ekoparty Security Conference.

Don’t be mislead by the media – they only publish stuff they get on emails and never take the time to verify the information themselves.

Hackers break SSL encryption used by millions of sites • The Register

Scientists: New Alloy Could Produce Hydrogen Fuel From Sunlight - International Business Times

If this is accurate it is the “the answer” to the next century energy use in this country and around the world.

Don’t let this story die… share it, friend it, like it, whatever it. Don’t let some large power or oil company squash it.

Scientists: New Alloy Could Produce Hydrogen Fuel From Sunlight - International Business Times

WikiLeaks springs leak: Sources revealed

This is great… I mean it’s the BEST.

First you’ll need to understand that WikiLeaks justifies their quest to reveal government and business secrets as one of ‘open information’. Meaning that they believe that nothing should be secret, all knowledge belongs to everyone on the planet.

Now that their own systems have been cracked, I wonder what they will justify their actions with next.

Consider the fact that the files themselves (link below) were encrypted goes against the very principals by which they say they were founded.

Face it Julian Assange, you do WikiLeaks to make money from the Google Ad Space.

WikiLeaks springs leak: Sources revealed - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com

LDAP flaw opens major authentication security hole

I never have been a big fan of LDAP. A protocol who’s acronym starts with “Light Duty” is sure to raise eyebrows.

First, the functionality was never initially meant to be a security crutch for corporate IT departments, it was meant to be an easy way to provide lists and verify access to areas of a network, not the network itself.

In the latest release the Mac LDAP has such HUGE problems that one can access anything on a network by simply leaving the user name blank.

Yes, you read that correctly: BLANK

My primary concern with using LDAP for access to a corporation’s most sensitive information is not the technology itself, but the humans running it.

90 plus percent of all security breaches can be traced back to an internal corporate employee either not following instructions or purposefully giving away access to corporate security network.

With LDAP, you just make it easier for that kind of insider destruction.

The full story to the problem with MAC’s LDAP can be found at CNET via the link below.

LDAP flaw in OS X Lion opens major authentication security hole | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

Conference Keynote Announced

Lawtrac User Conference Keynote Announced

Exciting News! We are pleased to announce that the keynote speaker for the 2011 Lawtrac User Conference is Steven B. Levy, author of the bestselling Legal Project Management: Control Costs, Meet Schedules, Manage Risks, and Maintain Sanity.

Mr. Levy previously headed the legal technology/operations team at Microsoft and he has more than a decade of experience training attorneys and legal professionals in project management.

He will speak to this year's theme: Streamlining Your Legal Department: Maximizing Output from Limited Resources.

Don't miss this outstanding opportunity to hear one of the leaders in legal operations and technology show how to use Legal Project Management techniques to increase efficiency and provide more value. We guarantee you will leave the conference with ideas you can immediately implement to benefit your law department and company.

The agenda can be reviewed here.

The Lawtrac User Conference will take place at the prestigious Marriott Sawgrass Resort near Jacksonville, Florida on October 13 and 14, with a welcome cocktail party on October 12 at 6pm. The registration fee is $975.