04.30.07 - 10:55am
Street robberies of iPods climbed 8 percent for the last 13 weeks of 2006 to 26,600 in the UK and Home Secretary John Reid wants something done about this. The iPods are seen as easy targets for muggers and Reid wants Apple and Sony to incorporate technological solutions into their devices that would make them obsolete to robbers.
“If I had one piece of advice it would be to ask the manufacturers to design in features which reduce crimes,” he told the BBC.
Reid wants the music makers to put in a system similar to what cell phone manufactures have put in. Called International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), the system causes cell phones to be deactivated the next time they are logged onto the network if they are stolen.
“That knocks the bottom out of the market because, if people steal these phones, increasingly they recognize that they cannot sell them,” says Reid.
Category: Protection, Security, apple, iPod | Tags: apple, ipods, robberies, technological_solutions | Be the First to Comment »
04.27.07 - 01:39pm
It used to be in school that kids would write test answers on the bottom of their shoes or under a baseball cap’s flap, but now even cheating is taking advantage of technology.
The iPod is a perfect way for kids to cheat – you can simply download answers into a podcast, hide them in song lyrics, record them with a voice recorder and then all you need is to tuck the little white earbud under your collar and play away.
Kids have been using the little music player for a while but as Shana Kemp, spokeswoman for the National Association of Secondary School Principals says sometimes it takes awhile for teachers and administrators, who come from an older generation, to catch on to the various ways the technology can be used. But now that they have, it is likely that iPods will be banned during all tests, something already done with cell phones.
Category: Security, iPod | Tags: cheating, iPod, learning | Be the First to Comment »
02.28.07 - 01:25pm
You know that whole Nike+iPod security flaw which recently had bloggers everywhere sending out warnings of how easy it
would be for a stalker to track a runners movements through the device, perhaps making it much easier to do them harm, even if you change your route daily? Well they no longer have to create the device they can instead simply buy it from Spark Fun – their new USB Adapter.
The USB adapter will not only track the ID Nike+iPod you’re looking for, it will show you all the runners out running within range of your little tracking device. The website specifies, however that this is not what it is designed for, except of course to “allow easy creation of proximity based projects and running/workout research.” Since, naturally you need to know others workouts to make your own better – of course – rather than ask Candice how she stays so thin I will secretly monitor her workouts. Spark Fun also says they want it to be used for cat ID’s saying “We really want to attach these to our cats and make an ID controlled cat-door-lock system. ‘Are you Carlos? No? You can’t come in.”
Category: Athletic Gear, Protection, Security, iPod | Tags: nike+ipod, Security, stalkers, tracking | Be the First to Comment »
02.27.07 - 04:44pm
And just in case you haven’t heard of the latest in iPod thefts, robberies, and all out shooting mayhem, here’s a recap of just a couple of the stories: a teacher in Philadelphia had his neck broken in two places after he took a students iPod, and a shooting in Portland just happened at a sweet sixteen party, where a kid took another’s iPod and got shot in the hand and leg over it, and now a warning from Bart – The San Francisco Bay Area Transit.
Bart has just issued a press release asking that while on their trains or in their stations, hide, or disguise your favorite little music maker – a “just be safe” warning as 11% of the robberies a month on the public transit system involve iPods.
In the release they write “Don’t be a target: use ear buds other than the standard iPod white, or other aftermarket headphones”
Category: Protection, Security, iPod | Tags: | Be the First to Comment »
02.26.07 - 11:19am
All right folks, we know the iPod is sweet, great, awesome, fun, extremely hip and everything else cool – but breaking a teachers neck cause you wanted to take to listen during class! That’s taking things a little far don’t you think. Especially a 60 year old teacher, how absolutely utterly despicable.
It’s exactly what happened in Germantown, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, when a 15-year old and a 17-year-old assaulted Frank Burk, a 60-year-old math and photography teacher, after he took the iPod away during class. After class the 17-year-old student roughly demanded the iPod be returned, then the 15 year-old joined in the struggle. One pushed him and the other threw a punch. The teacher hit head as he fell.
The result was two broken bones in his neck, which fortunately did not result in paralysis.
“You could hear it break. You could hear when he fell on the ground,” said Synquetta Reid, a student who saw the incident. “He fell … on his face. After that, they turned him over and there was all this blood.”
Category: Protection, Security, iPod | Tags: | Be the First to Comment »
02.15.07 - 04:48pm
In Ohio, a Clay High School junior hacked into personnel and student files and then proceeded to download them onto his iPod. Thus turning the iPod into a “criminal tool”.
The junior was caught when he argued with a girl, who accused him of cheating. The junior threatened to open a credit card in the girl’s name and ruin her credit.
A school resource officer investigated, and upon talking to a teacher he found the teacher had caught the student looking at the files. The junior said “They just appeared.”
The students iPod was pulled later that day and the files were found on it.
The student was charged with unauthorized use of a computer, a felony and possessing a criminal tool, the iPod.
Category: Security, iPod | Tags: felony, iPod, student | Be the First to Comment »
02.08.07 - 09:41am
The RSA Conference, where business security is the main topic, is currently being held in San Francisco. While Bill Gates spoke on the new security features in Vista, it has not been the hackers breaking into computers, but rather the travel of information from person to person, that has been the most talked about issue.
Sensitive documents are sometimes left by the copy machine, confidential information is sent in e-mails unsecured over the web, high-security papers are left unshredded and often information is downloaded onto laptops, iPods, CD-roms, and USB memory cards, for further late night work at home. Sometimes when this happens sensitive materials will be lost on the subway, slip out of a purse or be accidentally left on a park bench.
Joseph Ansanelli, Vontu Chairman and CEO said “We live in a world that’s completely wide-open, and it’s really, really easy for people either to transmit information, tons of information over email, or even take millions of records on their iPod and walk out the front door.”
Category: Security, iPod | Tags: breeches, business_security, iPod | Be the First to Comment »
02.07.07 - 03:46pm
Can you imagine – “Sir, you crossed the street with your iPod and earbuds in, that will be a $100 fine or you can take it up in court.” says the policeman handing you the ticket.
That’s exactly what New York State Sen. Carl Kruger wants and he has introduced legislation to ban, not only the use of iPods, but Blackberry’s, cell phones, smart phones, gaming devices, – pretty much anything on New York city streets.
“Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry,” Kruger said in a telephone interview from Albany, the state capital. “This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it’s becoming not only endemic but it’s creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand.”
Kruger started the legislation following the deaths of three pedestrians in his Brooklyn district, killed after stepping into traffic while distracted by an electronic device. In one case bystanders screamed “watch out” to no avail.
Category: Protection, Security, iPod | Tags: iPod, laws, NY, walking | Be the First to Comment »
12.08.06 - 10:58am
Posted in the Los Angeles Times, iPod thefts were shown to be on the rise with a 34% increase across the Southland. Nearly 2,000 cases have been reported this year. Low crime areas such as Malibu and Pepperdine are also seeing a rise in thefts.
The value of iPods, priced from $80 to $350, plus their small design and high reselling capabilities, make them a superb target amongst thieves. Also, taking them from someone simply walking down the street is easy for thieves and the white headphones are a stand-out telltale sign. Often people can be so immersed in their music that they are unaware as to what is going on around them. The majority of portable music players and cell phones are taken with a simple “grab and dash” approach. It’s fairly easy and quick as most people simply let the device go, rather than fight and risk getting shot or injured.
Category: Protection, Security, iPod | Tags: ipods, theft | Be the First to Comment »
12.01.06 - 03:53pm
A stalker who wants to know when his ex-girlfriend is at home taps into her Nike+ iPod system. He simply hides the gumstix device next to her door, and it registers her presence as she passes by in her Nike shoes. If he adds a small “wifistix” antenna to the device, it can transmit this information to any nearby Wi-Fi access point and alert him to her presence via SMS or by plotting her location on Google Maps. A burgular can use the same setup to case houses.
Category: Athletic Gear, Security, iPod | Tags: | Be the First to Comment »
