Many of Aunty’s dear readers will remember that around Christmas last year Aunty told you about the Ellsworth family trying to get access to their slain son’s Yahoo email account, after their son Justin Ellsworth was killed in combat in Iraq. And following that, the Linn family of Midlothian, Virginia,…

What’s that old line about “who’s watching the watchers?”? America Online (AOL) actually pays people to watch over their chat rooms, to make sure that nothing untoward happens to any of the underaged who like to hang out in the chat rooms and..you know..chat. This is all part of AOL’s…

Britney Spears is pregnant. Hurrah. Huzzah. And isn’t it a wonderful thing? With the advent of the World Wide Web, Britney Spears can, in one push of a button, announce that she is pregnant to millions of fans, cranks, obsessed, and even disinterested people. Britney can truly announce “to the…

Busting someone for smoking behind the school is usually a sweet moment for the principal. Unless, of course, the person being busted is the principal, and it’s a student who busted her!

Identity theft insurance? It’s obviously an idea whose time has come. In fact some would say that identity theft insurance is an idea whose time is long overdue. Just ask anyone whose personal data has recently been compromised by either the hacking of ChoicePoint’s data or the Scamming of Lexis…

Aunty has been talking about RFIDs to track people since last year, and the natural extension, implanting RFIDs or other miniature technology (or ICT, as it’s often known in Europe) in people, is not a new concept. After all, we’ve been injecting microchips into pets and livestock for years. And…

Ever wonder how someone on the Internet is able to tell where you are located when you visit their site? (You did know that people can tell where you are located, right?) It’s done by geolocation – geographic location – of your IP address.

AOL has acknowledged that their updated Terms of Service for their AIM service is confusing and in places poorly worded. As Aunty reported earlier this week, the AIM TOS included such choice phrases as “You waive any right to privacy.” “That’s a phrase that should not have been in that…

Holy complete waiver of privacy, Batman! AOL’s new terms of service for their AIM service includes that AIM users waive any right to privacy, and that the AIM user allows AOL to the right to reproduce and republish your chats anywhere, any time. Now, this only applies to users who…

Jack Nicklaus – one of the greatest golfers in recent times. In fact Jack Nicklaus has been called the “golfer of the century”. Most sites offering information about Jack Nicklaus on the Internet would be providing things like Nicklaus’ game stats, or his biography. Or maybe information on his Jack…

It is now possible to track and identify a computer anywhere it goes on the Internet by using its clock skew as a method for fingerprinting it. Clock skew is what a computer thinks the time is as compared to other time-keeping with which it is interfacing. And when measured against other quantifiable processes when the computer is connected to the Internet, it can apparently provide a reliable fingerprint, unique and allowing it to be tracked across the Internet. Voila. The clock skew fingerprint.

Remember the man who used his webcam and free webcam software to catch a burgler? In a twist, a peeping Tom has been caught spying on girls using their own webcams, connected to their own computers. He was able to do this thanks to the Subseven trojan. Spanish authorities have…

April 12th is the very last day. That’s when the clock runs, and the deadline looms. And here you thought it was April 15th. Nope, it’s the twelfth. Because we’re not talking about the day your taxes are due. On no. We’re talking about the day that your Windows XP…

Some of you will remember that just before Christmas we wrote about the Ellsworth family, whose son was slain in combat in Iraq, and who were subsequently trying to get Yahoo to let them have access to their son’s email account. Yahoo had staunchly refused, citing their privacy policy. Well, it’s happened again, to another family, the Linn family of Midlothian, Virginia, who have found themselves pitted against Reno-based Internet service provider Mailbank.com.

Everyone knows that you shouldn’t drink and drive. A lesser known, but perhaps equally dire warning is “teenagers, digital cameras, and Internet access don’t mix well”. Consider the recent case of a group of cheerleaders from Thomas S. Wootton High School, in Rockville, Maryland. By all accounts this group of…