Passed My Certification Exam!!!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to share some news. I passed my Network Plus Certification exam. Technically, this is tech related. Anyway, I hope to hear others in my class have passed as well.

Need Any IT Help? Post it here and we will find an answer to your question.

If you have any questions regarding IT (Information Technology) post them here and together we will try to find the answers.  Whether it be PC related or IT Course related, I'm here for you. 

Is Hard Drive Privacy A Thing Of The Past?

Encrypting data on your computer might protect you from crackers and thieves, but it won't protect you from crime investigators.

That was the finding of a Federal District Court in Colorado Monday in a case envolving a woman who refused to decrypt the files on her laptop pc to assist government prosecutors.

The woman, Romona Fricosu, of Peyton, Colorado, denied prosecutors' demands to decrypt the files on the grounds that doing so would violate her Fifth Amendment rights. She argued that forcing her to use her password to decrypt the files was tantamount to self-incrimination, which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.

Federal District Court Judge Robert Blackburn, an appointee of President George W. Bush, disagreed with Fricosu and ordered her to type in the password that would decrypt the hard drive.

Fricosu is accused of being involved in a mortgage scam. The laptop was seized by the FBI from her bedroom during a raid on a home she shares with her mother and children. After failing to crack the PGP encryption on the drive themselves, prosecutors demanded Friscou decrypt the drive for them.

Although the Constitution prohibits the government from compelling persons to incriminate themselves, self-incrimination is largely limited to "utterances". So prosecutors can't force someone to tell them a password, but that doesn't mean, at least in Judge Blackburn's view, that they can't compel someone to type a password into a computer.

The password problem has long been an issue in the privacy world, according to Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
"The critical distinction seems to be the difference between the government requiring someone to speak a password -- a testimonial act that violates the privilege against self-incrimination -- as compared with someone writing a password or simply providing a decrypted version of the text, which courts have held is permissible,".
TechNewsWorld.

From the law's point of view, keys, combinations to safes and passwords are treated the same, according to Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
"While the combination is an uttered fact, it's just a stand-in for the key -- and while it may be incriminating oneself to possess the key, and then hand it over and have the documents exposed, that's not the sort of 'testimony' that the Fifth Amendment is thought to protect,".

Judge Blackburn's view of what's "testimony" under the Fifth Amendment isn't shared by some civil libertarians. In fact, some argue that the amendment extends beyond the mere protection of passwords.
"We believe that encrypting data is itself a testimonial act under the Fifth Amendment and that a person should not be compelled to decrypt data," Gregory T. Nojeim, director of the Center for Democracy & Technology's Project on Freedom, Security and Technology, told TechNewsWorld.

For Fricosu 's attorney, Philip L. Dubois, his client's case is another example of where the law fails to accommodate itself to the digital age.
"The old law doesn't make sense when applied to the digital world,".
"The law is always behind technology, and this is another example of that," he added.

This is the first time this issue has squarely landed before a judge, he maintained.

There have been several past cases that were similar, but different in meaningful ways, he explained.
"This is the first time that it's been clean and clear that the government doesn't know what's on this drive, they have a warrant to search it, and they want us to decrypt it for them," he observed.
"Those precise facts have not been before a judge, and that's why this is important," he added.

He plans to ask Judge Blackburn to postpone the execution of his decision while an appeal is filed in the case.

What's The Buzz on iPhone5?

The iPhone 5 is heading toward production for a summer release, according to a report in "9 to 5 Mac".

The information comes from an anonymous source: the same Foxconn employee who last fall accurately disclosed that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) was planning a revamped iPhone 4, the 4S, rather than the iPhone 5.
The employee said a few versions of the new handset have already been considered, so it's difficult to know exactly what the design will look like.
The new phone will have a four-inch display, an increase from the three-and-a-half-inch screen that iPhones currently have.
The phone is also NOT expected to be teardrop shaped and will be longer and wider than the present model.
If Apple continues to follow it's production and shipping patterns, the company will need about a 5-month lead to complete manufacturing and get the phones in stores. Assuming the source is accurate and the finished product is gearing toward production, that would give the iPhone 5 a Summer launch.

"Recall if you will, the mild disappointment when the iPhone 4S was announced and there was no larger -- or smaller -- screen. With this upcoming iPhone, users will most likely come back anticipating a bigger screen and 4G LTE, as these features have become expectations, and not nice-to-haves, on smartphones.

Apple didn't respond to my requests for comment.

CPU Act (”CPU”/S. 1747) The Computer Professionals Update Act

NO OT 4 IT!

This is what this act is proposing.  I've been researching this and find it hard to believe how hard the government is coming down on IT lately.  We have SOPA and now this.  For those who have made a living in the IT industry, this must serve as a slap in the face.  After several years of long OT hours (and there will continue to be so) working, now to hear there will be no OT pay, it must force them all to re-evaluate their efforts and place them at odds with their employers.  And for those starting out in the industry, I can only imagine how dismayed this must feel. 

I encourage any and all people to read about SOPA and this proposed act.  Information (for as long as free and honest) is empowering, so get empowered!