BroadSound Technologies Blog

US Government suspends Jotforms website over user-generated content

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Rex Grey

Millions of users of Jotform, a site where anyone can easily create a form, are being forced to change their form URLs. The US Government asked GoDaddy to turn off their website because of content created by a user of the form producing website. While the SOPA did not pass yet, the government is acting like it did.

The core purpose behind Section 230 of the CDA (and, to a lesser extent) the DMCA's safe harbors are to protect service providers from this kind of action. If you create a service and someone uses it illegally, it's the user that is responsible, not the service. This action violates all sorts of common sense, let alone explicit safe harbor laws (although there are loopholes) and should make you think twice about who you deal with as a registrar. GoDaddy has already been shown to be anti-competitive and supports Internet killing legislation such as SOPA and Protect IP. Now they're turning off websites at the government's request.

Essentially, if you allow comments on your website, this could happen to you. If someone buys a car from Toyota and then robs a bank with it as a getaway car, Toyota is NOT RESPONSIBLE.

Common Sense, simple common sense.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120215/18044017773/us-government-suspends-jotformcom-over-user-generated-forms-censorship-regime-expands.shtml

Keywords: censorship, user-generated content, SOPA

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Fracture putty can heal bone breaks in days

Posted on February 08, 2012 by Rex Grey

If you break a bone it can take weeks or even month to heal depending on the type and severity of the break. In some extreme cases the complexity of the fracture can make it impossible to heal properly. Researchers at the University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Center have come up with a new solution for healing broken bones that cuts recovery time to days. It relies on the use of stem cells that contain a bone generating protein. These cells are injected in gel form directly into the area of the broken bone, where they quickly get to work forming new bone. The end result is very rapid recovery, possibly sidestepping the muscle atrophy that can come with long bone healing times. The gel has been proven to work on animals as big as a sheep and has funding from the DoD. Lets hope it is proven to work on humans in the coming years.

http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/uga-discovery-uses-fracture-putty-to-repair-broken-bone-in-days/

Keywords: Fracture putty, broken bones

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Facebook Malware goes viral

Posted on February 06, 2012 by Rex Grey

A "worrying number" of Facebook users are sharing a link to a malware-laden fake CNN news page reporting the U.S. has attacked Iran and Saudi Arabia, security firm Sophos said Friday.

If users who follow the link then click to play what purports to be video coverage of the attack, they are prompted to update their Adobe Flash player with a pop-up window that looks very much like the real thing. Those who accept the prompt unwittingly install malware on their computers.

http://www.itworld.com/saas/247206/facebook-malware-scam-takes-hold

Keywords: facebook, malware, virus, server-side polymorphism

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Anatomy of virus call center scam

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Rex Grey

If your PC is telling you it's infected, it probably is. But don't call the number on the screen and give them money -- that's part of the virus.

There are entire call centers set up to take your social security number for 'verification' or just take your credit card to renew your 'windows license' for hundreds of dollars.

Below is a video recording of an Aussie following their instructions. Notice how legitimate it all sounds. It's not.

Protect yourself, the internet will not do it for you. How do I do that? A common sense approach to clicking on links including a conservative cost/benefit analysis when making choices to opening that FWD your best buddy sent you.

http://www.troyhunt.com/2011/10/anatomy-of-virus-call-centre-scam.html

Keywords: virus, call center, scam

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Malvertising - Malicious online advertising increasing

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Rex Grey

While the amount of spam is decreasing on the internet, the amount of malware is increasing. Attacks through advertising spots on common sites are the main vector of infection. These ads target known vulnerabilities in Java and web browsers. Through these snippets of code they are able to load a small trojan into the operating system and often turn off your antivirus software -- even though it says it's still working to protect you.

What tools do you have to protect yourself? The best tool is the add-on "No-Script" for Mozilla Firefox. It blocks all scripting unless you specifically allow it. It remembers your choices so that your browsing is smooth after a couple of weeks.

Another added effect of this add-on is limited ads! So it's a win-win.

http://www.securityweek.com/malware-rising-attacks-increasing-through-malicious-online-advertising

Keywords: advertising malware

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US Government suspends Jotforms website over user-generated content

Fracture putty can heal bone breaks in days

Facebook Malware goes viral

Anatomy of virus call center scam

Malvertising - Malicious online advertising increasing

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