Jay Hollander's Weblog - Commercial Law

Welcome to the weblog for Commercial Law.

Thu Jul 06, 2006

Confessions of an Identity Thief

Today's NY Times has an interesting interview with a captured identity thief, barely out of his teens, who is estimated to have stolen as much as $150,000 through identity theft.

Seeing the ease with which he did it is a real eye opener.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/us/04identity.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

Posted by: Jay Hollander
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Tue Jun 27, 2006

Girls Bite Dog MySpace Story

A few days ago, I wrote about changes in policy being made at MySpace.com in an effort, albeit not a strong one, to prevent adults over 18 from contacting teens under 18.

Today, there's a report about an adult who was suckered by two teenage girls who lured him to a spot with misleading Internet communications and tried to rob him at gunpoint.

Will there be a change in MySpace policy for that?

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=7F710484-5201-42E7-934B-D86CF9E6B65F

Posted by: Jay Hollander
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Sat Jun 24, 2006

MySpace Addressing Child Predator Problems - Almost

In a recent piece by Assocaited Press reporter Anick Jesdanun, attention is paid to something that sounds better than it really is when it comes to protecting minors from adult predators on social networking websites.

Facing growing worries over well publicized problems in lack of protection for children on its web site, MySpace.com announced that it is in the process of modifying its policies regarding adult communications access to teens and minors.

Under the new policy, due to take effect this week, those 18 years old and above will no longer be able to be listed on the web site of younger teenagers and, as a result, will no longer be able to access their full profile.... at least in theory. Since MySpace doesn't validate ages of their users, there's nothing to stop an 18 year old or an adult from registering as under 18 and circumventing the policy.

Doubtless, when the inadequacy of this change in policy becomes commonly known, more will have to come.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/14864877.htm

Posted by: Jay Hollander
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Thu Jul 22, 2004

FL Man Charged in Massive ID Theft Case

Hackers who break in to others' computers to steal personally identifiable information, such as credit cards and Social Security numbers, are a serious menace to all who use the Internet, and while they may be crafty and skillful, the authorities are showing that they are ramping up their capacity and determination to fight back.

The Justice Dept. has charged a Florida man, Scott Levine, in what may be the largest identity theft case so far in the US, a case where the FBI and the Secret Service were also involved. The 144-count indictment also charges conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice (for trying to hide computers from investigators).

The company hacked was Acxiom Corp., which handles data for credit card companies and Microsoft, IBM, and other large corporations. Levine allegedly stole huge amounts of data -- approximately 8.2 gigabytes of data resulting in losses of more than $7 million -- while he and others at Snipermail.com, Inc. were ostensibly in the business of sending out ads for advertisers and brokers.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/21/cyber.theft/index.html

Posted by: Jay Hollander
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Tue Jun 15, 2004

US Survey: Most Say Spam is Under Control

A new study has come up with surprising results. More than half of US computer users, approximately 68.2%, said spam is under control now at their jobs. Symantec did the survey. IT managers surveyed told a different story. 79.1% said spam is a problem at work, although 56.4% said that despite the problem, the current situation is under control. The report surveyed 110 IT managers and 299 end users in North America.

http://news.com.com/Spam+a+workplace+threat%3F+Be+serious/2100-1038_3-5234949.html

Posted by: Jay Hollander
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