Friday, January 22, 2010
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) situation in Haiti as of 1/21
I am getting first hand reports from folks on the ground in Haiti. There is so much information so I am focusing only on the water related information. I want to thank the good folks from USAID and the US military's Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for all this water-related information.
WATER NEEDS FOR 3 MILLION
Daily water requirements for the estimated 3 million people affected by the earthquake range from 6 million gallons as a short term minimum to 24-45 million to sustain the population in the longer term. These requirements make it extremely difficult for water imports to do much more than supplement locally accessible supplies.
Most of the water infrastructure in Pot au Prince has been destroyed
SOUTHCOM reported on 19 January that ships in the area can produce 40,000 gallons per day and that more than a dozen land-based portable water purification units will be operating in the coming days. In general, minimum water requirements are about 4 gallons/person/day, according to USAID, or a minimum of 8 million gallons/day for a population of 2 million. This requirement goes up to 30 about 8 gallons/person/day at feeding centers and about 10-15 gallons/person/day at health centers and hospitals.
BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE
Prior to the 12 January earthquake, more than half of Port-au-Prince residences had no water service and only 10 to 12 percent had piped connections with intermittent service. Private boreholes and trucked delivery supplemented the city's limited network. These methods were used to fill thousands of cisterns from which vendors sold water to local inhabitants. Some cisterns may still be functional. Overall, distribution networks that were already marginal are now assessed to be non-functional for most of the city.
A major pipeline that brings about 2 million gallons of water per day from springs to the southwest, or about 10 percent of the overall supply for the city, runs parallel to the fault-line and is most likely damaged. Due to logistical constraints, priority may need to be given to re-establishing access to area springs and wells as well power for pumps and distribution mechanisms via land or air.
The municipal water system does not use surface water as a source. However, in the short term, local surface water could be transported by air to areas of need within the city. Key freshwater sources in the area include Lake Peligre and Lake Miragoane, respectively 30 miles northeast and 50 miles west of Port-au-Prince.
Approximately 75 percent of the water for the municipal system was obtained from 18 springs located near the Massif de la Selle Mountains, less than 5 miles southwest of city center, and the remainder from 11 water wells. Five wells are located in the vicinity of the airport, each capable of producing 200 cubic meters per hour from electric-powered pumps.
Prior to the earthquake, all had secondary generators to provide electricity but depend on fuel availability. Sixteen municipal water storage tanks together hold more than 45,000 cubic meters of water (about 12 million gallons). Assuming a consumption rate of 4 gal/day/person and no refilling, this storage was likely consumed in the 36 to 48 hours following the earthquake.
Water supplies will be an increasingly critical problem in Port-au-Prince, both in the short and long-term. Prior to the earthquake, a marginal water distribution system left more than half of Port-au-Prince residences without water service.
HOW BAD IS THE CURRENT WATER SITUATION?
According to field reports, SOUTHCOM, USAID, and the Red Cross have begun detailed assessment of the damage to the water infrastructure, according to field reports. NGO reporting indicates that water supply remains a critical problem with production below required levels for consumption and government distribution sites not operating. Some areas may still have functional wells and storage tanks, but all water will require some level of treatment/chlorination before use as most surface and shallow ground water was already contaminated with domestic sewage and agricultural chemicals.
On January 18-19, USAID delivered six water treatment units; USAID estimates that water demand will be satisfied after all en-route treatment units arrive. However, this report is likely referring to a limited metropolitan area and to the most basic requirements.
A combination of Haitian government and internationally sponsored water trucks are supplying water to 80 distribution points with the assistance of the private sector, but USAID reports that some water deliveries may be impeded by a lack of fuel.
As of 20 January the Port-au-Prince piped water and truck distribution system is partially operational. The primary water issue is distribution, according to USAID. Water quality is also a concern as the population is forced to draw from more easily accessible and contaminated water sources, increasing the need for water treatment. SOUTHCOM has begun a detailed assessment of the damage to the water infrastructure, according to field reports.
Water production is marginally sufficient in Haiti but transportation to displaced person sites remains challenging and clean water is not guaranteed.
However, USAID notes that fuel may no longer be a constraint for water delivery and water transport has improved in recent days. On January 19, a water tanker fleet delivered more than 1 million liters of water to earthquake affected individuals the largest distribution to date. This number is expected to improve in the coming days due to the additional agreements with private water tankers and the U.N. and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for vehicles, as well as improved water trucking coordination. However trucking water is not a sustainable solution for 3 million people.
According to USAID, water distribution is proceeding smoothly at sites, with 85 locations receiving water for more than 180,000 people. As the capacity of tanker trucks to deliver water increases, WASH cluster partners plans to identify additional sites for delivery based on needs assessments currently underway.
USAID notes that water treatment remains a concern, as water tanker trucks are not all chlorinated. According to USAID, prior to the earthquake, many private vendors did not use chlorine. This is why I think our solar powered system is still needed in-theater.
TOILETS AND SANITATION
According to USAID WASH coordinators estimates 3,000 toilets are currently required in earthquake-affected areas and has determined that materials are available in country to construct approximately 1,900 toilets. The cluster expects to request materials for between 1,000 and 2,000 toilets following assessments conduced in Jacmel and other areas outside of Port-au-Prince.
Sewage collection networks were non-existent in the city prior to the earthquake. Water supplies are almost certain to be increasingly tainted by waste due to blocked ditch/culvert flow that in some areas had previously transported waste to the Bay of Port au Prince, possibly resulting in disease outbreaks. Contamination of local food and water sources with pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and viruses from raw sewage can lead to a variety of acute and chronic diseases.
I'll blog more as I get more details.
| Jan 22 at 09:29 PM
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Getting aid to Haiti is hard: Help is everywhere but can't get there
Who would ever thought giving something that Haitians desperately need is so difficult to do?
After reading Haiti's desperate and immediate need for clean water, a group of folks banded together to purchase and donate large water filtration systems to Haiti. The systems have the capacity to filter 18,000 gallons of water per day and furthermore the systems are powered by solar energy and specifically designed to run off-grid. It is something they will definitely need and need more of because today Haiti just announced they are building a 400,000 person tent city to house Haiti's sudden homeless population.
The failure of systems in Haiti is beyond all imagination. As of this morning, there are reports of 1400 aircraft (mostly military flights from donor nations led by the US) that are waiting to land in Haiti. The good news is one port has reopened thus opening another avenue to bring critical food, water, medicine and skilled volunteers to Haiti.
Clean water is desperately needed in Haiti as its very basic clean water infrastructure has totally collapsed.
The water situation is complicated by a simple fact --- Greater Port au Prince has a population of 1.8 million people.
The US has done a tremendous job to alleviate the water situation. 152,000 liters bulk water and more than 165,000 water bottles were delivered yesterday (1/19). The USS Carl Vinson is producing 100,000 gallons of potable water daily. Water tanks are being installed in each zone of the city. Potable water is now available at 45 distribution points. There are currently four established food and water distribution hubs and 190 distribution sites active and serving 96,000 people.
The U.S. Coast Guard has distributed a total of 38.5 tons of water (62,880 bottles ) to date. Over the past several days, JTF-Haiti has distributed more than 400,000 meals/humanitarian rations and more than 600,000 bottles of water.
C-17 air delivery of food and water will resume Thursday (1/21) -- approximately 15,000 water bottles and 14,500 MREs/Humanitarian Rations are slated for delivery. The first C-17 air delivery was conducted last Monday, consisting of 14,000 1-liter bottles and 14,000 packages of daily rations.
The vessel Americas departed Port Everglades today with 500,000 MREs, 290,000 liters of drinking water, 8,400 cots, 19,500 blankets, 41,800 tarps, 560 rolls of sheeting, and 70,000 comfort kits provided by FEMA, as well as medical supplies provided by USAID.
On January 19, two USAID/OFDA funded flights carrying emergency relief supplies arrived in Port-au-Prince. Commodities included 40,200 water containers that provide water for 80,400 people, 13,056 hygiene kits, which will serve 65,280 people, 200 rolls of plastic sheeting that will provide shelter for 10,000 people, 8 water bladders, 6 water purification units – each unit produces 100,000 liters of water per day and will provide water to a total of 60,000 people and 1 generator.
There are 9 water treatment units being deployed to provide 900,000 liters of safe drinking water for 90,000 individuals per day. 71,000 ten-liter water containers are being distributed and 18 water bladders are being installed.
It is all well and good but the simple math is 1.8 million people need clean drinking water and the need is still dire.
We are trying to transport to Port au Prince a modest donation of a large scale solar-powered water filtration system. We hope to alleviate the Haitian water situation but it has been nothing short of frustrating. Through no fault of anyone, the Haiti relief effort has turned into the most chaotic relief operation in the recent history. There is no local government in charge of Haiti and thus the authority to move in and deploy goods, equipment and people is largely an ad hoc effort that managed by luck and good intentions.
So now I am resorting to luck.
Maybe an SF Gate reader out there can push a few buttons to get our equipment to a military transport plane bound for Haiti and further get it deployed to where it would be of greatest use. We are willing to give it to a reliable NGO --- hopefully the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Clinton Foundation, the US military or any other good organization with people and in-theater operations in Haiti. If anyone can help, please contact me immediately through my colleague, Bobbi Dunphy or tweet me @yobie.
BACKGROUND
We have rallied together under the banner of LifeGivingForce in an effort to donate a system to meet the most dire need of Haiti - clean water. But not bottles and bottles of water --- instead, a solar powered water filtration system designed and manufactured by three of the most innovative renewable energy groups out of California & South Dakota.
The water filtration system is a work of genius and innovation. It is designed for disaster relief and to be used off-grid with its own renewable energy system. The system can turn dirty non-potable water into clean water and can produce 18,000+ gallons of fresh drinking water per day which in turn can provide the minimum drinking needs of 30,000+ people. The system contains no hazmat (batteries are biodegradable) components and includes a chemical injector for additional sanitizing and protection (if needed). The system can operate sun-free for 5+ days continuously and can be operated with a generator if needed.
The companies who have integrated to provide these next generation technical solutions have a combined experience of over 100 years in the field. They include: Shift Power Solutions, Nimbus Water Systems, GenPro Energy Solutions and GenPro Power Services.
The effort is being spearheaded by LifeGivingForce whose mission is to save orphans lives through sustainable models incorporating renewable technologies. They directly support the non profit called C3 Missions who have cared for over 2300 orphans in three orphanages throughout Haiti for over 6 years now. C3 Missions International, Inc. ("C3") catalyzes care for orphaned and abandoned children living in extreme poverty. C3 operates and facilitates The Global Orphan Project.
Now that we have the equipment, my next task (...and Emicus.com) is to reach out to people and/or organizations who can get the unit to Haiti and get the system deployed where is is most needed. Hence I am reaching out to my readers.
The system we are donating is an amazing American engineering marvel. It's a reliable, efficient and powerful system of its kind on the market and offers Haiti a small but long term solution to clean drinking water problem. I hope we can get more of these solar powered water purification systems to Haiti.
The details on this unit:
The unit measures 6x6x5 feet and designed to fit a 463L pallet and is 200 cubic feet. It weighs 3000 pounds and we are also providing a water filtration engineer to setup the unit. It is too big for a private jet unless someone out there has modified DC8, DC10, BBJ or some other large aircraft. Once on the ground and with a source of non-potable water, our volunteer engineer can set it up in less than four hours.
We are also sending a briefcase sized portable purification unit which are housed in suitcases on rollers and can filter upwards of 800 gallons of water per day. The portable units weigh - 50 pounds and measure 10 cubic feet. If you know someone who is deploying to Haiti, they can hand carry these smaller units and deploy them where most needed.
We assume there is no other way to get it to Haiti except through military transport and we can deliver and load the large unit to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, CA. It can also be picked up from Nimbus Water in Murieta, CA. Again tweet @yobie or email me through Bobbi Dunphy.
We are also providing an expert technician/engineer who is on standby to accompany the large unit.
We know the need for a sustained source of clean water is critical and while a combined 18,200+ gallons of clean water per day does not solve the problem of the entire Haitian nation, it's a small start.
I want to thank all the folks who have helped put this together: Bobbi Dunphy, Shane Hackett, Sung Cho, Jamieson Slough, Robert Park, Anthony Capone, Dwight Patterson, Rocky Morrison and probably many more I can't remember.
Let's get more clean water to Haiti now!
| Jan 21 at 03:20 PM
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Haiti Help and Information --- Government Is Totally Paralyzed
Some of our friends in the Filipino contingent of the UN Peace Keeping Mission in Haiti are trapped under rubble in the UN building in Haiti. The latest reports from Haiti estimate over 100,000 casualties.
People search for survivors under the rubble of a collapse building the day after an earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday flattened the president's palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods.
In the meanwhile, we've created a Haiti Earthquake disaster site in emicus.com. This is the first time we have deployed the program to help in an overseas disaster.
Consolidated information regarding Haiti - http://bit.ly/5ZHFul
Links for people who want to donate or are looking for loved ones - http://bit.ly/4GanDT
Thoughts and prayers to the people of Haiti.
| Jan 13 at 01:54 PM
Friday, January 08, 2010
Game Theory, Body Scanners and Security Theater
I'm back... and regularly again. After a brief hiatus from blogging to build two of my portfolio companies, I am back to to being the scourge of the ultra right wing posse and the loony left.
Game theory is a personal interest of mine and is widely quoted and misunderstood so it's hard to master. In a nutshell, it says people or parties act in their own self interest in the conduct of their activities, affairs and negotiations. That's easy enough to understand but there is a second and perhaps more important aspect in the theory - people or parties will make rational informed decisions as they pursue their self interest.
Here lies the craziness behind all the security theater the country is undertaking. Al Qaeda's rationale is something we do not fully comprehend or understand, even to this date.
Take for example the use of full body scanners. Scanners are now the "hot technology" du jour and is the nexus of debate between privacy advocates and security hawks. Privacy advocates say it's a virtual body strip search. People concerned with health want limits on it's image depth and penetration to body surface fearing radiation-type risks and destruction of your DNA. Security hawks want to put one in every gate in every airport worldwide.
Consider the following stories.
Time Magazine did a story on drug mules getting paid a lousy $3000 a trip to swallow 120 packets of cocaine wrapped in condoms. Each cocaine condom packet was 1 and 1/4 inch long. Considering the intestines are 27 feet long, that makes for a lot of cocaine and a quick $3000.
You can put a lot of cocaine or PETN in a drug mule or terrorist
Did the drug mule act in his best interest? He clearly thought so. Was it rational? Clearly not. Customs caught one of these mules because one of the condoms burst and the guy had a massive cocaine overdose. How many of these guys got through customs? I'll bet you more than one and perhaps several dozen hapless mules got in and got paid their lousy $3000.
Saudi Arabian deputy minister of interior, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, survived a bombing attack launched by an al Qaeda cell based in Yemen. The assassin used the same PETN explosive to attempt the assassination but he hid the explosive in his rectum with a remote trigger mechanism. There are conflicting reports later of PETN being in his underwear, but the payload location is irrelevant. It's better to assume, PETN was up his rear end.
An article published in Sada al-Malahim, Al Qaeda's online magazine titled "War is a Trick," the group's leader, Abu Basir al-Wuhayshi, advised would-be al-Qaida members to use small amounts of explosives to kill "apostates" and Western nationals, including on passenger aircraft and in airports.
What's the game theory perspective?
Western nations do not understand the mind of the terrorist. These terrorists believe in becoming martyrs and going to heaven for blowing themselves up. If they get to the airport or any target for that matter, it's game over. If some crackpot drug mule will swallow cocaine for $3000, what is stop some guy who wants a fast pass to heaven from shoving PETN up his rectum?
Guess what? Full body pat downs that even includes your crotch area and whole body scan systems WILL NOT catch something inside your body. All the security theater we will spend money on and all the privacy debates will not catch PETN mules. We are applying game theory rules as if we're playing with ourselves. We are playing with terrorists who have different self interests and concepts of reason.
Does it really make a difference whether they blow themselves up in the crowded TSA lines or the airplane?
The point is there should be far more focus on identifying these bastards before they even get to cab headed to the airport. Sure there is the lone wolf phenomenon but it has proven to be far more rare than one would expect. None of the known thwarted terrorist attempts involved lone wolves. Intelligence simply has to get better before the airport check-in counter.
And in the airport, we just have to do what the Israelis do in Ben-Gurion airport. It will piss off privacy advocates and civil rights activists but if society wants safe air travel, there is a price to pay and an emasculated body scanner system is not enough.
| Jan 08 at 08:03 AM
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Microsoft invokes DMCA & shuts Cryptome downloads of COFEE
Microsoft has shut down the last publicly and openly available download of their Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE).
Microsoft COFEE spilled by Internet pirates on bit torrent
Microsoft invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.S. sub section 512, and their own Acceptable Use Policy to threaten a complete shut down of Cryptome.org, a site famous for privacy activism and exposing various hacking, intelligence and secrecy related information.
Cryptome.org is registered and hosted by Network Solutions, Inc. Last November 13, Microsoft's Internet Investigator Graeme Grant sent a demand and take down order to Cryptome threatening legal action. At the same time, Microsoft sent a Demand for Immediate Take-Down: Notice of Infringing Activity to Network Solutions who immediately requested that the COFEE be taken down or else they were going to shut down the entire Cryptome domain and site.
After realizing that Network Solutions was going to shut down the entire Cryptome site, the site owner John Young, removed the download link on November 20 and sent Network Solutions a notice of compliance.
The entire correspondence between Cryptome, Network Solutions and Microsoft is posted on the Cryptome site.
So while the Internet downloadable episode is over for COFEE, there are probably thousands of copies that have been downloaded. A deep look into the bit torrents reveals that it is still available but catching a rogue torrent is game of whack-a-mole you can never win.
As a forensic tool, COFEE is interesting but it is useless to folks who are not in law enforecement because evidence rules will require disclosure of tools used to gather data. You can't go to a judge and say, "I used a purloined and stolen tool to get evidence" and have the evidence entered into the proceedings. It would be like using a stolen gun. COFEE might be useful for amateur private investigators in spousal cheating cases (you still can't use the evidence in divorce court) but commercially available key loggers are far more useful. It could be also useful for computer network administrators or internal computer security pros but again commercial network sniffers, monitors and loggers pretty much do the trick and much more. On the other hand, geeks will want it just to have it.
So in way, COFEE was just an over-hyped common theft of software by an insider or disgruntled law enforcement. What was more interesting to me was peeking into the take down order process that Microsoft went through and how they very quickly forced the removal of COFEE from Cryptome. It was also interesting that Microsoft did not demand traffic logs related (...I doubt if Cryptome keeps any logs) to the COFEE download link.
I'd be curious to find out if Microsoft will press Digital Millennium Copyright Act charges against Cryptome though I think Microsoft should have better things to do than to go after John Young.
| Nov 22 at 07:00 AM
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Spell Rogue: R-O-U-G-E, Going Rouge: Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin fan club members still lack built-in spell checkers so I suspect many of them are eagerly awaiting and will buy the forthcoming book: Going Rouge: Sarah Palin published by O/R Publishing and edited by Richard Kim and Betsy Reed.
Going Rouge: Sarah Palin published O/R Publishing and edited by Richard Kim and Betsy Reed
The book will be released on tomorrow November 16, 2009, the day before Sarah Palin's much anticipated interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Essays include articles by some of the most thought provoking writers in America who have chronicled the foibles and pratfalls of Sarah Palin. The contributors include: Amy Alexander, Max Blumenthal, Joe Conason, Eve Ensler, Michelle Goldberg, Jane Hamsher, Christopher Hayes, Jim Hightower, Linda Hirshman, Naomi Klein, Dahlia Lithwick, Amanda Marcotte, Shannyn Moore, John Nichols, Tom Perrotta, Katha Pollitt, Frank Rich, Hanna Rosin, Matt Taibbi, Michael Tomasky, Rebecca Traister, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jessica Valenti, Patricia Williams, JoAnn Wypijewski and Gary Younge. (DISCLOSURE: I am friends with more than a few of the contributors.)
Also to be released on November 16 will be a suggested companion book by Julie Sigwart and Micheal Stinson titled: Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book, which includes coloring pages with lipsticks, dress-up games featuring her famous Neiman Marcus wardrobe collection.
I am sure that many of the Palin faithful will enjoy reading different perspectives on the life and times of Sarah Louise Heath Palin.
Reserve your copy of the book, buy it and be the first to read it in your tea party.
| Nov 15 at 11:25 AM
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Hannity & Bachmann lie about rally numbers | Hannity apologizes to Jon Stewart
On his Fox News show, Sean Hannity misleadingly aired video from the 9-12 March on Washington while discussing Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) much smaller November 5 anti-health care reform rally to claim that 20,000 - 45,000 plus people showed up to Bachmann's protest.
It's odd because there is a big difference between Hannity/Bachmann's numbers and the numbers put forth by the Washington Post which was maybe 10,000. I guess saying 20,000 - 45,000 sounds better than 10,000. According to MSNBC, "Three Capitol Hill police officers all guessed that the crowd numbered at about 4,000" in attendance for Bachmann's protest.
So the reliable sources like MSNBC and Washington Post estimate 4,000 - 10,000 and the made-up numbers are 20,000 - 45,000 which makes for a 10X inflation of the crowd numbers. How do you make people believe your numbers? Use video... old video with more people because no one would notice. Right!
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage | ||||
| ||||
But thank God, we have the "news media" to catch and document the patent lies that were put forth by Sean Hannity and Michele Bachman.
Hannity used video from Glenn Beck's 9-12 rallies and used them to inflate the number of participants. Who catches it? Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.
It's not really about the math. It's about using false information to advance a particular point-of-view. This is an example of Fox News deceptively using video and photos to advance a false or misleading story line.
Thanks to Comedy Central and the Daily Show staff for catching this lie.
P.S. Hannity issued an apology to the audience for his "mistake".
The public can be the judge on this.
| Nov 12 at 07:29 AM
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Holier than thou Carrie Prejean: star of the religious right - porn star?
When you're the rock star of the Values Voter Summit, you've got to be lily perfect.
Why?
Because you keep on talking about family and church values, ethics, prim and proper, yada, yada, yada... About how God chose YOU and your courage, bravery, etc... It's not a bad thing to the morality avenger. You just have to be of impeccable high standards and morals. There is a way out --- you can play the Jimmy Swaggart card and seek forgiveness for all your sins on national TV.
If that does not work, you can always try appearing on Larry King or Shawn Hannity's show feigning youthful indiscretion and ignorance. How does that happen? Prejean had to get a phone with a camera, act out her porn show on camera, send the video to her boy friend, etc... In a country that prosecutes 14-year-olds as adults, one can argue she knew fully well what the consequence of her act. She was 17 --- a mere 5 years ago which probably makes it illegal. It is possibly a sex crime involving the production and distribution of pornography wherein the actress is a known minor and a felony in many jurisdictions.
It's hard to know what's true since now there are further allegations she was 19 - 20 when as many as 15 porn films were made and sent to her boyfriend. Her boyfriend says Prejean asked him to lie about her age and tell others she was 17. Oh well, his words...
Carrie Prejean demanded more than a million dollars during her settlement negotiations with Miss California USA Pageant officials that is, until the lawyer for the Pageant showed Carrie an XXX home video of her home made porn flick.
Oh... Oh...
The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. TMZ, a popular entertainment web site confirmed that they obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was too graphic and racy.
TMZ said it did not release the porn video because "it was racy" (...despite the fact it would have broken all web traffic records) but there may be other reasons for not releasing it. A reader pointed out it's possible whoever is in possession of the video wherein Prejean was a 17-year old could be charged with possession of child porn. Maybe a few lawyers or prosecutors can speak to this issue since Prejean is now 22.
That said, if TMZ and the Miss California USA Pageant both have it, it's only a matter of time before it is released as a video on the Internet and a special in some seedy XXX video store. It's easy to put a DVD length movie on a flash thumb drive.
Prejean quickly settled after she saw her handiwork.
Now it's about a forthcoming book and a book tour. What a way to make a buck.
The LA Times reported:
Carrie Prejean stopped by "The View" on Tuesday to explain why she sold a tape of herself masturbating and to go into more depth on her new book: "Still Standing."
Prejean explained that the solo sex tape she made at at age 17 was the "biggest mistake" of her life.
She offered this advice to other young girls thinking of following in her handprints.
"In my book, I talk about how young women all the time are doing this and nothing is private any more -- nothing is private. And you know when you're young and you think: I'll never be famous, I'll never be a celebrity -- think you will."
Prejean then praised her personal decision to go public about the self-pleasuring video. "It's embarrassing even talking about this right now," said the former topless model/Fox News poster child. "I've been on national TV discussing the worst mistake of my life. I mean, how many people are comfortable doing that?"
When Barbara Walters reminded her that she also had monetary reasons -- "But you did it also because you have a book out" -- Prejean admitted that was true...
Frankly, it's sad and I wish her luck when the video is released on the Internet.
It might be a lesson in humility and about throwing rocks in the proverbial glass house.
| Nov 11 at 04:56 PM
Bay Bridge remains problematic & may close again before Christmas
KTVU reported the temporary fix made to the cracked eyebar on the Bay Bridge remains problematic and will likely require that Caltrans shut down the entire span again sometime in the near future.
The closure could possibly come before the Christmas holiday or sooner if the fix fails before a preplanned closure. Not being a bridge engineer, I can't second guess the Caltrans folks other than from anecdotal experience band-aid solutions to most anything do not work well.
Bart Ney from Caltrans said, "We're going to try to do it as soon as we can. We will base the decision on what the methodology and what the type of repair it is going to be... Maybe adding a member on the outside, trying to repair that individual eyebar. Those are possibilities that are being looked at."
KTVU reports, "Caltrans officials said the agency is studying a range of fixes from a complete replacement of the cracked 80-foot-long steel eyebar to other less extensive repairs."
For the readers' information, I will be filing a request for public documents related to the Bay Bridge and I will post them online as soon as Caltrans provides them. Hopefully we can get some details behind the outsourcing, the S-Curve design and the cracked eyebar.
Sunshine is the best disinfectant. After all, it is our Bay Bridge.
| Nov 11 at 09:07 AM
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Storm8 stops harvesting customers' phone numbers
Thanks to boingboing, The Register and slashdot for raising the profile of a post I did a while back on evil iPhone apps that steal personally identifiable information like your phone number without your knowledge or consent. There are other evil apps out there including some that transmit your username and password in the clear so anyone with a sniffer can intercept them but for now we'll stick to the phone number harvester Storm8.
I posted the Vampires Live application logs on August 27, 2009 to prove without a doubt that they were harvesting people's phone numbers. After the boingboing pickup, I called a friend 0TH3LO and asked that he run an independent test after Storm8 claimed they fixed the "bug". Note the date on the Storm8 graphic of August 20, 2009. Hmmm... I would love to do a forensic analysis on date and time stamps, code and application.
0TH3LO tested and confirmed that Storm8 implemented small "small bug fixes" on Vampires Live. The "small bug fix" included the removal of the offending mobile phone number tracking and harvesting.
Old vampires live:
http://vl.storm8.com/points.php?version=1.52&udid=(iphone udid)&pf=62DE49A7A5A6241858B9768783EC3EAF&fpts=10&pnum=(XXX-YYY-ZZZZ)&model=iPhone&sn=iPhone%20OS&sv=3.0
New vampires live:
http://vl.storm8.com/points.php?version=1.62&udid=(iphone udid)&pf=41F3DB2C2A2EED5B1BEF71E91E371D05&fpts=10&model=iPhone&sv=3.0
It's good that the Storm8 Vampires application no longer tracks and harvests your mobile phone number.
However there are still several unanswered questions.
1) What did Storm8 do with millions of mobile phone numbers?
2) Why won't Storm8 explain what they did with the millions of numbers they collected?
3) Why is Storm8 not telling the truth by claiming that the number harvesting is a "bug" when it was clearly an intentional act that had to be programmed into the code?
Remember all Storm8 applications capture and send your mobile phone number to their servers. The offending apps include: iMobsters, Kingdoms Live, Racing Live, Rockstars Live, Vampires Live, World War and Zombies Live.
I have not verified if the other games have ceased collecting phone numbers.
4) Who was responsible for this privacy violation?
I guess they are going to have to go into sworn deposition either in discovery or in a court to answer the questions or perhaps a call from the FCC and the FTC will refresh their memories.
At the end of the day, Storm8 did the right thing by stopping the harvesting of phone numbers. Good luck on the class action lawsuit.
| Nov 10 at 08:02 PM
Editor's note:
This is an SFGate.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by SFGate or the San Francisco Chronicle. The authors are solely responsible for the content.Featured City Brights
