Your home may still be your castle

Supporters of eminent domain may have lost their just-won Supreme Court victory.

This should be a happy Thanksgiving for local governments that want to use their power of eminent domain to promote economic development. Last June, they won a huge victory when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with them that seizing private property for such purposes does not violate the Constitution.

Read the full story by Steve Chapman at the Chicago Tribune...

'Tis the Season - Here's another one: WORM_MYTOB.MX

"As of November 24, 2005 at 2:34 am (Pacific Standard Time, GMT -8:00), TrendLabs has declared a Medium risk alert in order to control the spread of WORM_MYTOB.MX."

Go to Trend Micro for the Description and solution for WORM_MYTOB.MX:

Spyware Warrior: Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites

Spyware Warrior: Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites

This excellent site has been updated again on 17NOV05. Everything that you need to know about Spyware/Adware and how to fight it. You need to stay up to date on available products.

Trend Micro Medium Risk Virus Alert - WORM_SOBER.AG

I have already received several of these attempting to infect my computer. Be careful... very, very careful!

As of November 21, 2005 2:20 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST, GMT -8:00), TrendLabs has declared a Medium Risk Virus Alert to control the spread of WORM_SOBER.AG. TrendLabs has received several infection reports indicating that this malware is spreading in the USA, Belgium, Canada, Brazil, and New Zealand.

This memory-resident worm propagates by attaching a copy of itself to an email message, which it sends to target recipients using its own Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) engine. Since it's email propagation does not require any user intervention, the user is often unaware that this worm is sending out email messages.

The email it sends out has the following details:

From: {Email address generated by this worm}

Subject: (any of the following)
• hi,_ive_a_new_mail_address
• Mail delivery failed
• Registration Confirmation
• smtp mail failed
• Spam: Registration Confirmation
• Your Password
• Your IP was logged
• Paris_Hilton_&_Nicole_Richie
• You visit illegal websites

Message body: (any of the following)
hey its me, my old address dont work at time. i dont know why?!
in the last days ive got some mails. i' think thaz your mails but im not sure!
plz read and check ...
cyaaaaaaa

---

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

SMTP_Error []
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
The full mail-text and header is attached

---

Account and Password Information are attached!
***** Go to: http://www.{random}.com
***** Email: {random}.com

---

Dear Sir/Madam,

we have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.
Important:
Please answer our questions!
The list of questions are attached.

Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison

*** Federal Bureau of Investigation -FBI-
*** 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 3220
*** Washington, DC 20535
*** phone: (202) 324-3000

---

Account and Password Information are attached! ---

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Attachment: (any of the following)
• mailtext.zip
• mail.zip
• reg_pass.zip
• mail.zip
• reg_pass-data.zip
• question_list.zip
• list.zip
• downloadm
• mail_body.zip


The attached .ZIP file contains the copy of this worm using the following file name:
File-packed_dataInfo.exe

When executed, it displays a fake error message box in order to trick a user into thinking that the file did not properly execute.

This worm searches the process list of the affected system for mrt.exe, the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool process. If found, it terminates the said process thus making the system more vulnerable to malicious attacks.


For more information on WORM_SOBER.AG, you can visit the Trend Micro Web site at:
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=WORM_SOBER.AG

James Doohan tribute message

James Doohan tribute message

For those who might be interested.

US high court rejects "In God We Trust" challenge

"The US Supreme Court has refused to review an appeals court decision which states that the inscription 'In God We Trust' on a government building in North Carolina does not violate church-state separation."

Read the full story in Catholic World News:

Dawn Community

Send your name to the asteroid belt on the Dawn spacecraft.

Read how here

spychips.com - how RFID will compromise privacy, security, freedom

You REALLY need to read about this.

We used to worry about computer spyware. This is MUCH worse!


Spychips.com

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA05-312A -- Microsoft Windows Image Processing Vulnerabilities

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA05-312A -- Microsoft Windows Image Processing Vulnerabilities

More bad news for Microsoft, surprise surprise. At least they seem to be responding a bit faster these days.

U.S. Supreme Court Case Could Have Major Impact on Software and Business-Method Patents

The Supreme Court's decision to accept a patent-infringement suit regarding a system for diagnosing a vitamin deficiency related to heart attacks, strokes, and dementia...

...a correlation between the level of another substance in the body (homocysteine) and a deficiency in vitamin B12. The test for that substance was already in existence, but the patent would seem to bar anyone who conducted that test from using the result to deduce there was a vitamin B12 deficiency.

Read the full story by Wolf Greenfield