Mortgage fraud defendent's laptop unlocked

The Feds were able to decrypt her laptop, it's not known if her co-defendant ex-husband might have given them the password or if one that she previously gave them finally worked. Regardless, the timing is a little suspect.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/decryption-flap-mooted/

The Microsoft Azure problem yesterday? Leap year day bug.

Apparently it was an issue with security certificates because of leap year day that affected the management console, the actual data service was available to users.

Color me amused.

http://www.wired.com/cloudline/2012/02/leap-day-azure-outage/

http://it.slashdot.org/story/12/03/01/1452225/azure-failure-was-a-leap-year-glitch


Microsoft also had problems with the Zune for New Year's Eve 2008 because of leap year issues. Sounds like (a) they have a math problem and (b) they aren't particularly learning from their mistakes.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/156240/microsoft_says_leap_year_bug_caused_zune_failures.html

Federal appeals court upholds California's mandatory felony arrest DNA sampling

California voters passed a measure that if you're arrested for a felony, a DNA swab would be taken and stored in a database. Even if you were not charged with a crime, or found innocent, or the charges dismissed, the sample persisted in the database. The ACLU challenged the law in the potential invasive nature of storing DNA samples, a judge upheld the measure. The ACLU could appeal higher up, we'll see if they do.

If you are not charged or charges are dropped or you're exonerated, you can file an appeal to have your sample expunged, but you have to wait for the statute of limitations to expire in case the prosecutors want to re-file charges.

The difference between DNA samples and fingerprinting is that all a fingerprint will do is confirm your identity, a DNA sample can tell a whole lot more about you. California engages in 'familial searches' with the DNA and arrested a man as a possible serial killer based on a DNA sample found at a crime scene that hit on a familial match against his son who is in prison.

My feelings are mixed, and the above example does nothing to help it. The son had clearly been convicted of a felony to earn a prison sentence. I don't have a problem with DNA samples of convicted offenders, but as a dragnet to get DNA samples for potential matches, this is bad news. As a comment on the Wired story pointed out, there would be no problem with entering the state, having a cop accuse you of the murder of Jimmy Hoffa, take a blood sample, then decline to file charges. And if you're accused of murder or other capitol crimes, there's no statute of limitations.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/california-dna-taking/