Fraud concerns linger over new Ill. license law

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) ? As Illinois becomes the fourth and most populous state to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, there are still nagging concerns that the measure doesn't have enough safeguards to avoid the identity fraud and other pitfalls faced by the three other states with similar laws.

Backers of the proposal, who tout it as a public-safety measure, argue that required facial recognition technology is reliable enough to prevent fraud, but opponents point to hundreds of fraudulent cases in New Mexico, Washington and Utah after those states began giving illegal immigrants permission to drive. Illinois will not require applicants to be fingerprinted, for fear that would discourage immigrants from applying.

"How many people would apply for this document knowing that fingerprints will be going to (federal authorities)? Probably not all that many," said Fred Tsao, policy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a driving-force behind the measure.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to sign the measure that grants driving privileges to illegal immigrants Sunday. Proponents say it will allow an estimated 250,000 individuals unlawfully residing in the state to apply for a three-year temporary driver's license and require them to get training and insurance.

The licenses will be like those already issued to certain foreign-born, legal visitors. Under the new law, applicants will be photographed at a driver services facility, and their photo will be entered into the state's facial recognition database ? like the rest of Illinois' licensed drivers? to verify their identity.

But the other states' driving programs for illegal immigrants have been abused. New Mexico and Washington both issue licenses, while Utah issues a permit.

An Associated Press investigation last year found a striking pattern in New Mexico, suggesting immigrants tried to game the system to obtain a license. In one instance, 48 foreign-born individuals claimed to live at a smoke shop in Albuquerque to fulfill a state residency condition. New Mexico does not have a fingerprinting requirement, though it asks applicants to show two proofs of state residency.

Authorities also busted a fraud ring last year that forged documents for illegal immigrants to use after driving from as far as Illinois and North Carolina to obtain a New Mexico license. Gov. Susana Martinez has vowed for years to repeal the decade-old measure, but the legislature has repeatedly rejected such efforts.

Washington's requirements attracted national attention when Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and then-Washington license-holder, revealed his illegal immigration status in an essay for the New York Times Magazine in 2011. Vargas chronicled how he obtained his license. State authorities conducted an investigation that revealed Vargas did not reside at the address he stated in his application, and canceled his license a month after his essay was published.

Utah issues three different driving privilege cards: one for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, another for legal visitors and a third for illegal immigrants. Utah's permit for illegal immigrants is not valid for identification. Illinois' law will follow suit.

Utah's Republican-controlled legislature amended the state's law in 2011 to require illegal immigrants to be fingerprinted, and mandates that the state notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if an applicant's fingerprint check yields a felony on record. If the individual applying has a misdemeanor warrant outstanding, the state must notify the agency that is seeking the person's arrest.

That kind of information-sharing between state and immigration authorities worries Illinois' immigrant-rights advocates, like Tsao, who pushed for the legislation without a fingerprinting requirement. They say fingerprinting could deter potential licensees from applying for fear of being identified and deported.

Local law enforcement officials argue in favor of fingerprinting.

"We could see if they have committed a crime; it could be a crime in another state or it could be a crime in their home country," said John Kennedy, executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.

The Illinois secretary of state's office has vehemently defended its facial recognition database as highly sophisticated and accurate. The program uses an algorithm to match more than a dozen facial features that are not easy to alter, such as eye sockets and sides of the mouth.

"The integrity of our driver's license system is a priority," said Henry Haupt, a spokesman for the office.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Edward Acevedo, a Chicago Democrat, said state roads will be safer because illegal immigrants will receive training and be tested before obtaining a license. They also will be required to purchase insurance, an aspect that would save millions for currently insured drivers, Acevedo said.

Tsao's organization estimates uninsured illegal immigrant drivers cause $64 million in damage claims each year, an expense currently covered by increased premiums.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fraud-concerns-linger-over-ill-license-law-155828827.html

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Saturday Soapbox: Buy-to-let gaming ? Opinions ? Eurogamer.net

This week has seen two big stories about premium games trying to squeeze ever-more money out of their players. They're not immediately obvious bedfellows; Square Enix's Final Fantasy: All the Bravest is a mobile title divided into cash-hungry chunks, and Dead Space 3 is as typical an AAA console title as you'll get. But both excite the same feeling of unease, and not just because they share a common theme of exploitation; it's that point where something bearable becomes too much.

This is nothing to do with the free-to-play business model, but rather the application of its mechanics. Surely everyone loves free-to-play games by now, and the many shining examples across mobile and PC show it can be the basis for top-notch titles. But there are things we acknowledge as players about free-to-play, a familiarity with its structure that means certain mechanics are accepted as inevitable: plenty of cosmetic in-app purchases, a grind-heavy levelling or crafting system, even large sections of the gameworld hived-off without payment. These things, when they are the toll booths for a great free experience, do not bother me.

The thought of paying a tax does hang loosely over my idea of free-to-play mechanics, and perhaps that's why it's so startling to see them in full price games. In terms of Final Fantasy: All the Bravest the up-front cost is ?2.49 but, like it or lump it, on the App Store that's a premium. Square Enix has previously released its games (usually ports) at a much higher price, and it's clear this original title is some kind of exploration of how they can reduce the entry point but still get the full whack by the end - it's a game they want ?30 for, in other words, so they've chopped it into paid chunks and sold you the first one for ?2.49.

FF: ATB has three 'extra' worlds for ?2.49 each, plus 35 FF characters at 69p each, a total of just over ?30 if you want everything (for which there is an achievement). The hourglasses are 3 for 69p, up to 20 for ?1.99.

Now, that's the prerogative of Square Enix. There's another side to FF: ATB which goes even further, however, and strikes me as wholly unethical design. A brief explanation of how the game works; it's a visual reduction of the old-style Final Fantasy 'active time battle' system with a simple touch interface. This is an automated lightshow, where you swipe your finger up and down the ranks of characters, watch them whack away, and occasionally get whacked back. The thing is, it's not all that much of a game; battles are about luck and grind. It's like playing pachinko.

Bad enough, but it's what ties into this that goes beyond reason. This ?2.49 game is dependent on a free-to-play time mechanic during game overs - if all of the party in FF: ATB die, you have the choice to restart the battle (pointless, because winning is a matter of time), wait three minutes for each individual character to resurrect (which can take hours), or use one of the hourglass IAPs to revive the party. Let me make this absolutely clear: progression in this game is impossible without either waiting for long periods or paying for hourglasses. It quite simply locks you out.

This is the most cynical and unethical creep of free-to-play mechanics into a paid-for game I've ever seen. I would absolutely love to hear what Square Enix call it. If a company like this is prepared to timelock its players out of premium games then others will follow - and if so, shouldn't that be clearly marked, as distinct from other in-app purchases? Timelocks like this surely have to be addressed by vendors. I cannot fathom why any publisher would think conning people like this is a good idea, yet here we are.

Still, at least players on mobile are much more used to the way these tactics work, and wising up to the cash grabs. The intrusion of microtransactions feels more natural in this space, and many games handle them with considerably more nuance than Square Enix's offering. When you're paying ?40 for a game like Dead Space 3, however, where do you draw the line?

?Hey Carver, where'd ya get that sweet red helmet?? ?Picked it up at one of those new vending machines greenhorn, some other sucker takes the tab and I get the sugar.?

Let's get a few things out of the way: post-launch DLC is fine, cosmetic stuff like costumes is fine, and lots of AAA games offer great value for extra money. The issue with Dead Space 3 is nothing to do with downloadable extras, but the intrusion of a free-to-play mechanic into its high-priced world; you can pay to get extra resources for its weapon-crafting system.

That is not a small part of the experience. I may have a soft spot for Resi, but Dead Space is the current king of survival horror games. The way your kit expands and improves has always been a key ingredient in the best of this genre, and those sparse power nodes always felt like real treasure. It's a system that's absolutely fine as it is, and it will inevitably be changed for the worse by the intrusion of in-game purchases.

I'm sure EA and Visceral Games will say different, but there's no way the presence of microtransactions can avoid influencing its design. If no-one will pay, then why spend time putting it in? If people are going to pay, then how do you manipulate the circumstances to make them? On a project of this magnitude, a feature cannot exist in a vacuum - it warps everything around it to fit. Does that corridor really need to be this long? Why is that rare crafting item hidden in such an out-of-the-way place? Every time you see the little shop prompt, you'll know.

An amazing feature of FF: ATB is that you constantly earn Gil, the FF currency, throughout - yet there isn't a single thing in the game to spend it on. It's like Square are actually mocking the player at times.

This is a difficult subject, because on the one hand publishers will argue players get plenty of hours of entertainment for their money, and in many cases they'd be right. On the other, a game that launches in the standard ?40-?50 range is asking for what is quite simply an awful lot of money. Consumers paying that deserve a complete product in return; not one where a central mechanic has been artificially adjusted to squeeze more out. Can you imagine buying Dead Space 3, sitting down to play it in a darkened room, then feeling pressured to go and dig out your bank card?

Amid all the coverage of these events, the pun of the week went to RockPaperShotgun's twitter feed with 'The Grinding of Isaac?' That captures everything about how it feels; the biblical wrongness of grinding, however gently, being introduced into a premium game to eke a little bit more out of your wallet. As many wags this week have pointed out, EA is trying to charge you ?40 for an experience, and then charge you more to skip parts of it - a bittersweet joke because, of course, it's true.

It is a great pity that angry gamers are so good at getting het up about pointless things, like Dante's new hairstyle, rather than these game-ruining microtransactions - a bit of real consumer advocacy wouldn't go amiss. Don't we have the right to know if a premium game is built on core systems with a paid-for element? Shouldn't that be marked on its advertising and flagged in its product description? What about specific tools like timelocks? Developers are clearly going to use them, so what's the appropriate response?

The truth is that, for Square Enix and EA, the gamble is quite independent of the specialist press - its success or failure will be determined by the numbers, not any reputational damage on the way. Hoping that these companies make monetisation decisions in an ethical or even a design-led context has ended up here. The market will decide where we go, of course, and one can only hope it spits these experiments back in disgust. Failing that, welcome to the future; where buying a game is an ongoing process.

Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-01-26-saturday-soapbox-buy-to-let-gaming

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NATO missile defense battery in Turkey operational

BRUSSELS (AP) ? The first of six Patriot missile batteries being deployed to Turkey to protect against attack from Syria was declared operational Saturday and placed under Turkish command, NATO said.

The battery, provided by the Netherlands, is meant to protect the city of Adana by shooting down missiles that could come over the Syrian border. Turkey has become a harsh critic of the regime in Syria, where a vicious civil war has left at least 60,000 people dead.

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are providing two batteries each of the latest version of the U.S.-made Patriots. The other five Patriot batteries are expected to be in place and operational in the coming days in Adana, Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep.

"This is a clear demonstration of the agility and flexibility of NATO forces and of our willingness to defend Allies who face threats in an unstable world," Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, said in a statement.

NATO reiterated Saturday that the Patriots are for defensive purposes only. Syria has not fired any of its surface-to-surface missiles at Turkey during its nearly two-year civil war and its government has described the NATO deployment as a provocation.

NATO also deployed Patriot batteries to Turkey during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 10 years ago. They were never used and were withdrawn a few months later.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nato-missile-defense-battery-turkey-operational-130210789.html

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junal.singh: Forbes Travel Guide City Guides Hit Bookstores and ...

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 7, 2010

With travelers looking for variety, value and an ?Insider?s Edge? in planning their 2010 Summer vacations, Forbes Travel Guide announced that its new City Guides series is available at major bookstores across the country and online.

Authored by Forbes Travel Guide ? formerly Mobil Travel Guide, the originator of the prestigious Mobil Star ratings, certifications and authoritative reviews of hotels, restaurants and spas -, the new City Guides cover New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago and Hong Kong.

Each Guide is a comprehensive resource for prospective visitors to a major urban destination, including shopping, art, music, sports, theater, and nightlife. With the ?inside scoop? from anonymous inspectors and top-notch local writers, the guidebooks use Forbes? time-tested, star-rating system to allow travelers to experience the very best a city has to offer, with planning tools that include updated maps with pinpoints of star-rated properties, key sites, top attractions, quick tips and insider secrets.

?For Summer 2010, it?s all about value and variety,? said Shane O?Flaherty, President and CEO of Forbes Travel Guide.

He concluded, ?Increasingly, individual travelers, couples and families are looking for the diversity and flavor of major urban destinations when planning their leisure time travel ? and we are pleased to make available a series of unmatched resources to help them research and make their travel decisions.?

Forbes Travel Guide expects to release additional City Guides later in 2010.

ABOUT THE CITY GUIDES

Each City Guide contains close to 200 pages of information-packed narrative, photographs and insider perspectives that are based on Forbes Travel Guide?s star rating system that has been the most trusted source for travelers since 1958. The information-packed Guides help direct travelers to the finest lodgings, restaurants, and attractions a city has to offer, making an otherwise daunting task ? planning a visit to a major international destination ? a lively, entertaining and enjoyable experience. Colorfully written and illustrated, each Guide comes in a handy pocket-size format, making it an ideal travel companion for the trip.

The Guides are available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Waldenbooks, Books A Million, and most major booksellers/independent book stores.

For more information about the Guides, please visit any of these retail outlets, or learn more at http://www.forbestravel.guide.com

ABOUT FORBES TRAVEL GUIDE

Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, originator of the prestigious Mobil Star ratings and certifications, has provided the most comprehensive ratings and reviews of hotels, restaurants and spas since 1958.

In October 2009, Mobil Travel Guide announced a strategic partnership with Forbes Media LLC. This exclusive licensing agreement between two industry leaders with more than 140 years of combined experience transfers the hospitality industry?s premier star rating and travel guide brand from ExxonMobil to Forbes. Forbes Travel Guide has a team of expert inspectors who anonymously evaluate properties against rigorous and objective proprietary standards, providing consumers the insight to make better-informed travel and leisure decisions.

ABOUT FORBES MEDIA LLC

Forbes Media encompasses Forbes and Forbes.com, the #1 business site on the Web that reaches on average more than 17 million people monthly. The company publishes Forbes and Forbes Asia, which together reach a worldwide audience of more than 6 million readers. It also publishes ForbesLife and ForbesWoman magazines, in addition to licensee editions in China, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia and Turkey.

Other Forbes Media Web sites are: Investopedia.com; RealClearPolitics.com; RealClearMarkets.com; RealClearSports.com; and the Forbes.com Business and Finance Blog Network. Together with Forbes.com, these sites reach on average nearly 40 million business decision makers each month.

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Tags: Amazon.com, Bookstores, City, Forbes, Guide, Guides, Just, Planning, Summer, Time, Travel

Source: http://harikemerdekaan.id1945.com/forbes-travel-guide-city-guides-hit-bookstores-and-amazon-com-just-in-time-for-summer-travel-planning/

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Source: http://junalsingh9.blogspot.com/2013/01/forbes-travel-guide-city-guides-hit.html

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Archos offers Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad, apparently holds no grudges

Archos must be in a benevolent mood: it first posted a version of its Video Player app for competing Android devices, and now it's selling the keyboard technology of its Gen10 XS tablets to those using an entirely different platform. Its Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad offers a familiar 0.2-inch thick, Smart Cover-like peripheral for full-size Apple tablets from the iPad 2 through to the latest generation. The design naturally switches over to iOS-native keyboard shortcuts, and there's even an iPad-only advantage in the adjustable kickstand. Americans can buy the keyboard in March for $79; believing that Archos would downplay its core business will remain optional.

Show full PR text

Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad Unveiled by ARCHOS Design

Based on the popular ARCHOS Gen10 tablet coverboard, this is the thinnest iPad Keyboard available

Denver, CO - January 24, 2013 - ARCHOS, a pioneer in multimedia portable devices, is pleased to announce the ARCHOS Design Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad, a magnetic Bluetooth full QWERTY keyboard for 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations. The Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad was created by a new division in ARCHOS that will be dedicated to sharing ARCHOS innovations with other brands. With a very similar look and feel to the ARCHOS Gen10 XS coverboard, the Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad is ultra-thin at only 5 mm (0.2'') and features an adjustable kickstand along with an aluminum back casing. Combining the best of both worlds, iPad users can expect this to be available in March for $79 MSRP.

"The needs and wants of today's consumer have changed drastically over the past few years. Consumers expect everything to be smaller, faster, thinner, lighter and aesthetically pleasing," says Henri Crohas, Founder and CEO of ARCHOS. "In order to meet this demand we feel that we should share our innovation and design across a number of different platforms."

Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad features include:

Ultra-thin Design - At only 5 mm (0.2'') this is the thinnest iPad Keyboard available; it's almost as thin as a Smart Cover
Adjustable kickstand - Allows one to adjust their iPad for the best viewing experience possible
Magnetic bonding to the iPad - The keyboard is magnetically held to your iPad
Automatic screen switch on/off Function - The iPad will turn on or off when the keyboard is removed or placed in the cover position
Long battery life - Enjoy with your iPad for months thanks to a long battery life via a Bluetooth connection
Aluminum Back casing - Stylish aluminum back casing to match your iPad
Full QWERTY keyboard - Type easily with a full keyboard and work quickly with iOS shortcuts

This product is the first to be released from the new ARCHOS Design accessory line. For more information about ARCHOS Design or ARCHOS products visit www.ARCHOS.com.

Filed under: Peripherals, Tablets, Apple

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Video: Clinton fights off right-wing attacks

Apple TV would signal future innovation

In any other context, the idea of punishing a company that delivered an 18 percent year-over-year increase, bringing quarterly revenue to $54.5 billion, would be absurd, but Apple, in a way, is a victim of its own success.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50579423/

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The Changing Nature of the Threat ? 2013 ? Speaking of Security ...

By Azeem Aleem, Practice Lead ? RSA Advance Cyber Defense (EMEA)

Technology advancements are primarily meant to improve upon the quality of life. Unfortunately, it is also used as a tool for illegal activities. During the past 15 years organizations have undergone significant developments. The very nature of organizations has changed substantially as a result of rapid technological advancement, with a remarkable advancement in enterprise technology, which has created new opportunities for different business practices .These developments, coupled with the new dynamic concept of managing the global enterprise, and remarkable advancements in enterprise technology has created many new challenges to previously successful business practices.

I will be updating this blog with discussions and insight on threats affecting businesses. I will highlight cyber crime related activities and discuss remediation and preventive frameworks to prevent the escalation of a cyber crisis.

Cloud: The Definition and the Discipline?

In this post, I?d like to say a few things about Cloud Computing ? The advent of cloud computing is a direct result of such technological transformations. In the corporate sector, particularly the financial market, it is next to impossible for businesses not to come across the concept of cloud computing ??Implement Cloud to survive? has been the call you get these days from the media and industry experts.

There is no denying the benefits, but very few studies to date have examined cloud platforms with a balanced approach, i.e. benefits vs. security risk.

The concept of the cloud is not new, attempts to reduce organisations reliance on IT hardware started with the concept of networking in 1990s to Grid computing systems in 200s. Many term the development of cloud as convergence of networking and Grid computing with the increasing trend towards external outsourcing of IT resources. This convergence has not been sudden rather the development (online music file sharing, online documents, remote access etc) showed a slow migration towards the concept of cloud. Today, the pervasiveness of the Internet bundled with affordable high bandwidth has caused a move back to the original centralised computing model, mainly due to the popularity of cloud computing .

In part 2 of this blog series, I?ll address risk and security challenges associated with migrating data and applications to the cloud and how the RSA Advanced Cyber Defense Services team advises clients on how to develop and implement a holistic Cyber Cloud Strategy.

Azeem Aleem is a Practice Lead for the Advanced Cyber Defense Services Practice ? EMEA. In this capacity Azeem is responsible for overall professional services engagement for Global Incident Response/Discovery (IR/D), breach readiness, remediation, SOC/CIRC redesign and proactive computer network defense. Azeem has made frequent appearance on regional television and radio programs as an expert on cyber threats. He possesses over 10 years of combined experience in developing technical staff and programs in, e-crime investigations, Incident Response, Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) defense, Cyber Threat Intelligence, operations and projects.

Source: http://blogs.rsa.com/the-changing-nature-of-the-threat-2013/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-changing-nature-of-the-threat-2013

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