Wonkette PSA: Please Check Your Computer for Stolen VA Data
Wednesday, June 7th, 2006
Have you purchased a used computer recently? If so, you could be in possession of stolen personal information for millions of U.S. veterans and active-duty military personnel. The Post reports:
Montgomery County police released a description yesterday of the stolen laptop and its external hard drive because they said it may have been purchased by someone who does not realize the value of its content. “It could have shown up at a yard sale or a secondhand store,” police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said. “This is a time of the year when parents may be buying computers for kids going to college in the fall.”
Montgomery County police are offering a $50,000 reward for information that allows authorities to recover the laptop. The computer is a Hewlett-Packard model zv5360us and the external hard drive is an HP External Personal Media Drive.
After the jump, an open letter to the VA, from a Wonkette reader and veteran whose personal information was stolen.
Have you purchased a used computer recently? If so, you could be in possession of stolen personal information for millions of U.S. veterans and active-duty military personnel. The Post reports:
Montgomery County police released a description yesterday of the stolen laptop and its external hard drive because they said it may have been purchased by someone who does not realize the value of its content. “It could have shown up at a yard sale or a secondhand store,” police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said. “This is a time of the year when parents may be buying computers for kids going to college in the fall.”
Montgomery County police are offering a $50,000 reward for information that allows authorities to recover the laptop. The computer is a Hewlett-Packard model zv5360us and the external hard drive is an HP External Personal Media Drive.
After the jump, an open letter to the VA, from a Wonkette reader and veteran whose personal information was stolen.
Remainders: It’s Hardly an Opera Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006
There’s Just Not Room in the Budget For FBI Agents to Get Safeway Cards
Tuesday, March 21st, 2006
Dear FBI: MORE »
Dear FBI: MORE »
Virginians Pee Themselves Over Cheap Laptops
Tuesday, August 16th, 2005
A Richmond, Virginia school district’s sidewalk sale of used $50 laptops turned into pandemonium today. Would-be customers stampeded, crushing a baby stroller, throwing an elderly man to the pavement; one person tried to disburse his Mac-hungry competitors by driving his car through the crowd. When the dust settled, seventeen people were injured, and four hospitalized. One shopper, Blandine Alexander, reported that “one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself.” MORE »
A Richmond, Virginia school district’s sidewalk sale of used $50 laptops turned into pandemonium today. Would-be customers stampeded, crushing a baby stroller, throwing an elderly man to the pavement; one person tried to disburse his Mac-hungry competitors by driving his car through the crowd. When the dust settled, seventeen people were injured, and four hospitalized. One shopper, Blandine Alexander, reported that “one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself.” MORE »
Nerd Patrol
Thursday, August 11th, 2005
Reuters reports that the Department of Defense and the Federal Trade Commission have dispatched recruiters to the annual Las Vegas Defcon summit of computer hackers. Knowing how to manipulate the attendees’ addiction to intrigue, the recruiter-infiltrators cunningly assembled at a panel called “Meet the Feds.” FTC panelist Don Blumenthal says that his participation serves a dual purpose: “I’m learning while I’m here but I’m also getting the names of people I can maybe call on later so we have a better understanding as cases go along.” One such potential contact: a young man who “waved a pages-long manifesto before the panel” and demanded to know “why the federal government, and especially some of the law enforcement agencies, are destroying this country.” MORE »
Reuters reports that the Department of Defense and the Federal Trade Commission have dispatched recruiters to the annual Las Vegas Defcon summit of computer hackers. Knowing how to manipulate the attendees’ addiction to intrigue, the recruiter-infiltrators cunningly assembled at a panel called “Meet the Feds.” FTC panelist Don Blumenthal says that his participation serves a dual purpose: “I’m learning while I’m here but I’m also getting the names of people I can maybe call on later so we have a better understanding as cases go along.” One such potential contact: a young man who “waved a pages-long manifesto before the panel” and demanded to know “why the federal government, and especially some of the law enforcement agencies, are destroying this country.” MORE »