Unwritten: Community Apathy in Nashville, TN

 

Monday, July 27, 2009

Community Apathy in Nashville, Tennessee

April 13, 2009

Can you please tell me who I could speak with (preferably informally) about a situation with Section 8 and MDHA.

I have already spoken with Pat Clark, director of MDHA, and she has been an unsympathetic to the fact that there has been an ongoing problem with drugs and violence with children in the same complex.

Legal Aid / or pro-bono refused to will represent me since my parents are attorneys. They told me I would have to get the money for court fees and a court reporter from them. That just ain't gonna happen.

I am 36 years old.

If there is someone in particular who works closely with the housing authority and utilities, kindly ask them if you can release their name to me(or vice versa) so I can make sure it on the record before I loose my section 8. The landlord is paid in full, but I still have to move by the 22nd.

.

Thanks so much. If there is anyone you can think please let me know. There is stigma and judgment that comes long with a person who lives in public housing, but can assure you it would not be my first choice.

Thank your discretion and assistance.

Sincerely yours,

Elyssa Durant

ed70@columbia.edu

6154248810

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

 

U

 

UPDATE: This has yet to bet settled. I received no response to my last inquiry received no response. I have lost my apartment and my section 8 coverage willl end on the forst of the month yet I cannot find an apartment due to the negative reference from the last landlord.

After spending 4 days in court, judges insisted that I hire (and pay for) a court reporter since they would not accept an affidavit from my an attorney in Pennsylvania.

The landlord did a "garnishment execution" without my knowledge for several hundreds of dollars which included attorneys fees, however the attorney refused to speak with me directly throughout the entire process, and told me if I wanted any information about my account, I would have to have an attorney contact him.

I have received no response from anyone in Metro despite multiple communications with virtually every office ranging from the Metro City Council, the Mayors Office of Neighborhoods, Metro Social Services, my Congressman, my state representative. I am truly disgusted by the apathy and lack of decency and courtesy that I have received from a city I have thought of as home for the last fourteen years. In fact, the only time I received any calls or emails from people I once respected and supported, were in reference to campaign contributions asking me to support them at upcoming events and elections.

That makes me sick. I have volunteered my time and money even when I didn't have it. I have decided to leave this place, however I don't even have enough money to do that. I do not have an address so I cannot even update my drivers license or voter registration.

I spend my nights sitting outside CyberSquatting since the temporary housing facility I have been staying at removed the modem to prevent me from filing complaints. The other residents have destroyed my property, disposed of my food and became violent with me. One came within inches of hitting me with a waffle iron simply because I asked where I could place my food since it keeps getting thrown out or moved. I have been told by instructed not to call mobile crisis since they do not want to neighbors to know that this place is really just a nut house in disguise.

My personal items including paperwork that is necessary to appeal my Social Security disability scheduled to be terminated on the 1st as well as other benefits I receive such as food stamps to help me scape by on $606.00 per month.

I had to pay substantial fees to obtain certified documents from Court in order to verify that the account had in fact been settled, yet I still cannot find a single person to assist me in resolving this horrific situation and face homelessness, yet even homeless prevention services is unable to assist me.

Welcome to my city: Nashville, Tennessee. You #fail

Updated July 27, 2009 8:45am

Elyssa Durant

Hell, USA

L

T=#> we 
http://lifehacker.com/5906233/do-i-really-need-to-be-that-worried-about-security-when-im-using-public-wi-fi

Do I Really Need to Worry About Security When I'm Using Public Wi-Fi?

Dear Lifehacker,
I'm no idiot when it comes to security, and you guys have often mentioned how easily Wi-Fi networks can be cracked or how anyone can sniff out passwords and cookies. My question, though: How dangerous is it really when I'm sitting and checking my email at the coffee shop on the corner? I don't have anything that special or private in my email, and I'm usually only surfing the web. Do I really need to load up on VPNs and other tools when I'm all alone in the coffee shop or logged in at the library?

Sincerely,
Slightly Paranoid

Dear Slightly Paranoid,
You've brought up a great question. We do frequently discuss privacy and security, especially when it comes to public Wi-Fi networks, but is protecting yourself worth all of the fuss? We think so, and while we understand that VPNs and other security tools can slow down your system or be buggy and quirky at times, we have to fall back on the old adage, "Security through obscurity is no security at all."

Protecting Yourself Doesn't Have to Be Complicated

It only takes one lost email or online banking password, or one hacked Facebook account to turn your world upside down—or at least be a serious inconvenience for months. So ultimately, the real question is: Why tempt fate? It may be a bit of an inconvenience to use a VPN while you're trying to browse, or to use a password management tool so you don't use the same password in multiple places, but in the end, the real question you should ask yourself is whether or not you'd prefer the alternative if you go without any security at all. Photo by Laschon Maximilian (Shutterstock).

Considering that all of the essential security tools—including password management, antivirus and anti-malware, and even VPNs that can encrypt your web browsing—all come in free varieties, there's really no reason to not use them.

Want to keep your passwords safe, strong, and varied? We love LastPass, but KeePass is an alternative free, open-source option.

Microsoft Security Essentials will cover you from an antivirus perspective if you're looking for something great and free, and MalwareBytes does a great job at anti-malware.

As for VPNs, we've shown you how to build your own for top-flight security, or you can always opt for a free third-party VPN service like Hotspot Shield or CyberGhost. You have choices, and if one option isn't working well on your system, or seems to slow you down, there are plenty of others to try—so "it makes my computer slow" or "it crashes all the time" isn't a good excuse for surfing on public networks with no protection.

Sure, You May Be Alone, But That Doesn't Mean No One's Watching

If you're the only one in the coffee shop and you live in a small town, you're probably the only person on that network. That said, there's nothing stopping someone in the parking lot from pulling up to use the free Wi-Fi, or anyone in any of the buildings nearby hopping on to the coffee shop wireless to save some bandwidth or see what other people are doing. Just because it seems like you're the only person in the area doesn't mean you're the only person on the network, and this is especially true for larger places like libraries, airports, hotels, or convention centers with one large network that spans the entire area. Is your local coffee shop or favorite bookstore a haunt for black hats? Probably not—but it doesn't take a skilled hand to sit on a wireless network for giggles and pull down as many packets as they have time to collect. After all, we've shown you how it's done, and it's easy. Photo by Ed Yourdon.

Again, this is one of those "why tempt fate" kind of scenarios. The coffee shop on the corner is one thing. The library may be a more tempting target. The airport's "free public Wi-Fi" almost definitely has someone on it looking for juicy data, as does your hotel's network—you know, the one with FREE OPEN WI-FI as the SSID? Whether or not someone is riding that open network in order to steal passwords or because they're just curious, there's no reason for you to take the chance when you don't have to, especially when a good VPN will foil most—if not all—of their efforts. Rest assured though, there's someone nosing around that network, guaranteed.

Better Safe than Sorry

As we mentioned, protecting yourself doesn't have to be complicated, and if you have a layer of security software on your computer that's so thick you can barely use the system without it slowing down, it's time to take a look at the products you're using and see if you can find more lightweight options. They're out there, you just have to try a few and pick one that works best for you. The real likelihood that you'll personally be hacked or have a password stolen or have your identity spoofed and used for nefarious purposes is low, we understand that, but as long as it's not zero and as long as there are easy ways to protect yourself, we can't advise against it. Hiding in a crowd and hoping you're not the one to get caught is no substitution for learning to defend yourself. Photo by Gunnar Pippel (Shutterstock).

Are we probably a little paranoid? Yep. Do security analysts and experts often overstate the real risk of being hacked or having your information stolen in order to encourage good, secure behavior? Absolutely. But remember—no one ever talks about how often you won't get hit by a car when you walk out into the street without looking, or how often your house won't be burglarized if you leave the front door unlocked. You protect yourself because it makes sense to do so, and technology is no different. After all, it only takes once.

If you know what you're doing, know the risks, don't plan on sending or receiving anything sensitive while you're sitting at the coffee shop, and don't mind the idea of someone looking over your shoulder while you work, go nuts. We'd rather be safe than sorry, but ultimately it's your call.

Love,
Lifehacker

P.S. How do you keep your system protected when you're using open Wi-Fi networks? Do you bother? Share your tips for Slightly Paranoid in the comments below.

Have a question or suggestion for Ask Lifehacker? Send it to tips+asklh@lifehacker.com.

Title photo by Ed Yourdon.

^ed 

WPA current

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2016/06/05 02:48:49:250 Failed syncing options for blog https://dailyddose.wordpress.com: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=0x12af07ab0 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}}, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}
2016/06/05 02:48:49:251 Failed syncing post formats for blog https://dailyddose.wordpress.com: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=0x12aed2080 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408/post-formats, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408/post-formats, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}}, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408/post-formats, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408/post-formats, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}
2016/06/05 02:48:49:255 Failed syncing categories for blog https://dailyddose.wordpress.com: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=0x12ae1dd70 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408/categories?context=edit, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408/categories?context=edit, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}}, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408/categories?context=edit, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/sites/35200408/categories?context=edit, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}
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username = dailyddose;
uuid = "8C26809B-6F3D-4A64-9C77-8D9DF0D0E8C4";
}). Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=0x12b1e0360 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/me, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/me, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}}, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/me, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/me, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}
2016/06/05 02:52:04:515 TracksService Error while remote calling: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=0x12b332500 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 "(null)" UserInfo={_kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4}}, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/tracks/record, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/tracks/record, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}
2016/06/05 02:53:20:581 TracksService Error while remote calling: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=0x12652c850 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 "(null)" UserInfo={_kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4}}, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/tracks/record, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/tracks/record, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}
2016/06/05 02:54:36:074 TracksService Error while remote calling: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=0x12b2533f0 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 "(null)" UserInfo={_kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4}}, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/tracks/record, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/tracks/record, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}
2016/06/05 02:55:52:122 TracksService Error while remote calling: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out." UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=0x12b0e4e70 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1001 "(null)" UserInfo={_kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4}}, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/tracks/record, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.1/tracks/record, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=4, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-2102, NSLocalizedDescription=The request timed out.}

http://www.xfinity.com/corporate/legal/privacyStatement.html

Privacy Statement

Privacy Practices and Feedback

Welcome to this website, a service of Comcast Corporation and its subsidiaries (collectively, "Comcast," "we," or "us"). This statement discloses the privacy practices for this website only, including an explanation of:

• the categories of personally identifiable information about you that may be collected; how the information is used;
• how we collect and use non-personally identifiable information about your use of the website;
• the categories of persons or entities with whom the information may be shared;
• the choices that are available to you regarding collection, use, and distribution of the information;
• how you can opt in or out of Comcast promotional e-mail;
• the kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information;
• how you can review and request changes to the information;
• how we notify visitors and users of this website of changes to this privacy statement; and
• the privacy policies that apply to subscribers to each Comcast product and service.

Questions regarding this statement should be directed to Comcast through one of the Contact Us forms you will find on the website, or by mailing a notice to:

Comcast Corporation
One Comcast Center
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Attention: Comcast.com Privacy Feedback

Information Collection and Use

A special note about children: This website is not directed to children under the age of 13, and Comcast does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18 on this website unless expressly specified on the appropriate pages of the website. However, some pages of the website may be of interest to children. On those pages, Comcast or its service providers may provide a special notice or other information describing any additional privacy protections that may apply. Children should always get permission from a parent or legal guardian before sending any information about themselves (such as their names, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers) over the Internet, to us or to anyone else.

What categories of personally identifiable information do we collect?

The information collected by Comcast falls into two categories: (1) information voluntarily supplied by visitors to and users of the website and (2) tracking information recorded as visitors and users navigate through the website. Some of this information is personally identifiable information, but much of it is not. Personally identifiable information is information that identifies a particular person.

To make use of some features on our website visitors and users need to register and provide certain information as part of the registration process. We may ask, for example, for your name, e-mail address, street address, zip code, and, if you wish to automate payments, financial account information. We might also request information about your residence, television, and computer, for example, in order to process your request for new service or make changes to existing service. In addition, we may ask you for information about your interests in television viewing, sports, personal finance, the performing arts, and the like. The information you supply will help us to offer you more personalized features, complete the particular function of the website you are using, and tailor our website to your interests to make it more useful to you. Our systems will remember some of this information the next time you log in and use our website, but you can always review and change your information by following the instructions below under Changes to Information in this statement.

The more you tell us about yourself, the more value we can offer you. Supplying this information is entirely voluntary. But if you choose not to supply the information, we may be unable to provide you with the products and services we make available to other users of and visitors to our website. And you will not be able to order selected products or services, or automate payments, over our website unless you provide certain personally identifiable information about yourself. When you submit any personally identifiable information over this website, Comcast (i) will use the information for the purposes described at the time you submit it (for example, your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address provided while ordering one of our products or services will be used in connection with the processing and fulfillment of your order) and (ii) may use the information to contact you to make you aware of other products and services of interest. Of course, if you want to remain completely anonymous, you're still free to take advantage of the publicly available content on our website without registration.

ONLINE TRACKING POLICY

Some of the third party service providers that Comcast uses to deliver services, content and advertising may collect information on this website, as disclosed in this privacy policy. This information may include personally identifiable information or may be used to contact you online.

As stated below in this privacy policy, in the section titled "What do we do to personalize your use of this website and the advertisements that may be presented to you on other websites?" we and our service providers may also use cookies to deliver relevant advertising to you when you visit other websites, including advertising based on the products and services you viewed on this website.

Comcast is participating in the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) process to develop a "Do Not Track" Standard. Since the definitions and rules for such a standard have not yet been defined, Comcast does not yet respond to "Do Not Track" signals sent from browsers.

You may opt out of receiving cookies from the companies that provide services on this website by going to www.networkadvertising.org/consumer/opt_out.asp. You may opt out of receiving promotional email or direct mail from Comcast based on your visits to this website by going to our Preference Center at www.comcast.com/preferences and following the instructions there. You may also contact Comcast at 1-800-XFINITY to ask to be placed on our do not mail list.

Comcast's affiliated websites are members of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), which permits you to opt out of receiving online behavioral advertising by making choices at http://www.aboutads.info/choices . We comply with the rules of the DAA's ad choices program.

What categories of persons or entities do we share personally identifiable information with?

We consider the personally identifiable information contained in our business records to be confidential. We may sometimes disclose personally identifiable information about you to our affiliates or to others who work for us. We may also disclose personally identifiable information about you to service providers and vendors, and to others who provide products and services to us. For example, when you use certain functions on this website you may notice that the website actually collecting or processing the information may be other than a Comcast website. We may be required by law or legal process to disclose certain personally identifiable information about you to lawyers and parties in connection with litigation and to law enforcement personnel. For example, we may be required by law to disclose personally identifiable information about you without your consent and without notice in order to comply with a valid legal process such as a subpoena, court order, or search warrant.

What do we do to personalize your use of this website and the advertisements that may be presented to you on other websites?

We, or our advertising providers, may automatically deliver ads for third-party products as well as promotions and offers for our own products and services, to all users of this website, whether the users are registered or not, based on non-personal information including: (i) the IP address associated with your computer for purposes of determining your approximate geographic location; (ii) the type of web page that is being displayed, such as a page about Xfinity Internet; or (iii) the content on the page that is shown, such as an FAQ about programming your DVR. Because this activity automatically applies to all users and it is purely contextual, this type of content delivery cannot be customized or controlled by individual users.

To help make our website more responsive to the needs of our users and visitors, we use a standard feature of browser software called a "cookie." We use cookies to help us tailor our website to your needs, to deliver a better, more personalized service, and to remember certain choices you've made so you don't have to re-enter them.

Comcast uses cookies, among other things, to remember your username and password, if you choose to store them, from the home page of the website at www.comcast.com, as well as to remember some of your personalization preferences and website features. Comcast does not store your name or other personal information in cookies. You may read about enabling, disabling, and deleting cookies at www.comcast.com at any time by searching for "cookie" and clicking on the link for the topic you wish to read. Of course, if you set your browser not to accept cookies or you delete them, you may not be able to take advantage of the personalized features enjoyed by other visitors to and users of our website.

The cookies we use don't directly identify visitors to or users of our website as particular persons. Rather, they contain information sufficient to simplify and improve a visitor's or user's experience on our website. For example, we may use session-based cookies to track the pages on our website visited by our users. We can build a better website if we know which pages our users are visiting and how often. Or, we may use persistent cookies to simplify access to a user's account information over our website, for example.

In connection with the standard operation of Comcast's systems, certain non-personally identifiable information about visitors to this website is recorded. This information is used primarily to tailor and enhance visitors' experience using the website. We may use this information in an aggregate, non-personally identifiable form to, among other things, measure the use of our website and determine which products and services are the most popular with website visitors.

We may also use one or more advertising network providers and/or other audience segmenting technology providers to help present advertisements or other content on this website and other websites that display Comcast advertisements. These providers uses cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies on your computer or mobile or other device to serve you advertisements or content tailored to interests you have shown by browsing on this and other websites you have visited. It also helps determine whether you have seen a particular advertisement or content before and in order to avoid sending you duplicates. In doing so, these providers collect non-personally identifiable information such as your browser type, your operating system, web pages visited, time of visits, content viewed, ads viewed, and other click stream data. When you visit this website, these providers may use cookies or web beacons to note which product and service descriptions your browser visited. When you are presented with Comcast advertisements on other websites, we or these providers may use that information to select advertisements related to your interests. This is intended to provide you with an additional opportunity to look at Comcast offerings that may be of interest to you. The use of cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies by these providers is subject to their own privacy policies, not Comcast's privacy policy for this website. If you do not want the benefits of the cookies used by these providers, you may opt-out of them by visiting http://www.networkadvertising.org/consumer/opt_out.asp or by visiting their opt-out pages. The advertising network providers and/or audience segmenting technology providers that may collect information about your use of this website, and links to their opt-out pages, are available using the hyperlink below:

Advertising Networks and Other Technology Providers



Sometimes Comcast offers different versions of and subscription plans for our products and services in different areas of the country. When you visit this website, we may use the internet protocol address associated with your computer to try to determine your general geographic area so that we can show you about the general offers for products and services that are available in your region. When you are interested in a specific product or service, we may also invite you to enter an address to determine exactly which offer, product or service is available to you. If you are already a Comcast customer and you log in to your account, we will use the address associated with your account to select available offers. 
 

Where do we permit visitors and users to opt in or out of Comcast promotional e-mail or direct mail?

You may choose to receive, or not receive, promotional e-mails about Comcast's products and services by going to the Internet web page located at www.comcast.com/preferences and following the instructions there. If you have otherwise provided your e-mail address to Comcast, or Comcast has already obtained it, then Comcast may have already contacted you about receiving promotional e-mails separately. You may contact Comcast at 1-800-COMCAST to ask us to put your name on our internal company "do not mail" list so that you do not receive marketing or promotional postal mail from us or made at our request.

Other Websites

To make our website more valuable to our visitors, we may offer some features in conjunction with other providers. Our website may also include links to other websites whose privacy policies and practices we don't control. Once you leave our website by linking to another one (you can tell where you are by checking the address - known as a URL - in the location bar on your browser), use of any information you provide is governed by the privacy policy of the operator of the website you're visiting. That policy may differ from ours. If you can't find the privacy policy of any of these websites via a link from the site's homepage, you should contact the website directly for more information.

Security

All information gathered on our website is stored within a database accessible only to Comcast and its specifically authorized contractors and vendors. However, as effective as any security measure implemented by Comcast may be, no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the complete security of our database, nor can we guarantee that information you supply won't be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet. If you don't want us to know any particular information about you, don't include it in anything that you submit or post to this website or send to us in e-mail.

Changes to Information

You may review and change personally identifiable information that you provide to us through this website by returning to the pages where you entered it, and reviewing or changing the information directly. You may also request changes to some information, such as billing and account information if you are a Comcast customer, by calling Comcast at 1-800-COMCAST, if you are able to verify your identity using a Comcast account number, personal identification number or PIN, or another identifier requested by Comcast.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

We may change this privacy statement from time to time. If we change this privacy statement at some point in the future, we'll post the changes on our website and by continuing to use the website after we post any changes, you accept and agree to this privacy statement, as modified.

Privacy Policies for Comcast Products and Services

This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for this website only. Comcast supplies a copy of the privacy notice that applies to our cable television, high-speed Internet, and phone products and services separately to our subscribers.  You may also view this privacy notice at www.comcast.com at any time by searching for "privacy policy" and clicking on the link for the privacy notice.

Effective: January 13, 2014

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First Click: That time my thermostat began talking to the lights | The Verge

That time my thermostat began talking to the lights

The goal of the Internet of Things (IoT) is to integrate all the dumb objects around us in meaningful and intelligent ways. But that requires a lot more thought than simply putting a chip in something and calling it "smart." Yet for all its excess, sometimes the Internet of Things gets it right.

I've accumulated a number of smart objects over the years. Some with the explicit intent of solving a problem, others out of professional curiosity. My Toon LCD thermostat from Dutch energy provider Eneco fits in the first category, acquired a few years ago to give me real-time insight into my daily energy consumption. My Philips Hue lights fit into the latter, weirdly popular bulbs I bought because it's fun to automatically turn your lights purple when it's about to rain.

Yesterday I fired up my thermostat after being out of the house for six months due to a renovation. After a quick software update, I was greeted with a faster, nicer looking UI that asked me if I wanted to add my Hue lights.

Wha?

Never before had I thought, "wouldn't it be nice if my thermostat was integrated with my lights." But then it hit me as I stared at the message on Toon's 7-inch touchscreen: that big LCD would make a perfect lighting hub.

Now my intelligent thermostat is also a centralized panel from which my family can control the home lighting — no smartphones required. Now that's smart.

Toon, like Hue, ships with a ZigBee wireless chip. That's the same silicon you'll find in Nest and even Google's new OnHub router, in addition to hundreds of home automation devices that have been around for years. But the ZigBee chips found in the new generation of smart devices can often lie dormant (as was the case with Nest and now OnHub) while companies wait for their own product lines (and those of others) to mature. Sometimes you just get lucky.

The promise of IoT is real —  we just need more examples like my own to cut through the hype.

^ed 

Full story available: 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/08/darpa-social-networks-research-twitter-influence-studies?CMP=share_btn_tw

US military studied how to influence Twitter users in Darpa-funded research

The activities of users of Twitter and other social media services were recorded and analysed as part of a major project funded by the US military, in a program that covers ground similar to Facebook's controversial experiment into how to control emotions by manipulating news feeds.

Research funded directly or indirectly by the US Department of Defense's military research department, known as Darpa, has involved users of some of the internet's largest destinations, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Kickstarter, for studies of social connections and how messages spread.

While some elements of the multi-million dollar project might raise a wry smile – research has included analysis of the tweets of celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, in an attempt to understand influence on Twitter – others have resulted in the buildup of massive datasets of tweets and additional types social media posts.

Several of the DoD-funded studies went further than merely monitoring what users were communicating on their own, instead messaging unwitting participants in order to track and study how they responded.

Shortly before the Facebook controversy erupted, Darpa published a lengthy list of the projects funded under its Social Media in Strategic Communication (SMISC) program, including links to actual papers and abstracts.

The project list includes a study of how activists with the Occupy movement used Twitter as well as a range of research on tracking internet memes and some about understanding how influence behaviour (liking, following, retweeting) happens on a range of popular social media platforms like Pinterest, Twitter, Kickstarter, Digg and Reddit.

Darpa, established in 1958, is responsible for technological research for the US military. Its notable successes have included no less than Arpanet, the precursor to today's internet, and numerous other innovations, including onion routing, which powers anonymising technologies like Tor. However, thanks to some of its more esoteric projects, which have included thought-controlled robot arms, city-wide surveillance programs and exo-skeletons, the agency has also become the subject of many conspiracy theories, and a staple in programmes like the X-Files.

Unveiled in 2011, the SMISC program was regarded as a bid by the US military to become better at both detecting and conducting propaganda campaigns on social media.

On the webpage where it has published links to the papers, Darpa states the general goal of the SMISC program is "to develop a new science of social networks built on an emerging technology base".

Darpa has a reputation for projects such as this robot, developed to handle rough terrain at high speeds. Photograph: HO/AFP/Getty Images

"Through the program, Darpa seeks to develop tools to support the efforts of human operators to counter misinformation or deception campaigns with truthful information."

However, papers leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden indicate that US and British intelligence agencies have been deeply engaged in planning ways to covertly use social media for purposes of propaganda and deception.

Documents prepared by NSA and Britain's GCHQ (and previously published by the Intercept as well as NBC News) revealed aspects of some of these programs. They included a unit engaged in "discrediting" the agency's enemies with false information spread online.

Earlier this year, the Associated Press also revealed the clandestine creation by USAid of a Twitter-like, Cuban communications network to undermine the Havana government. The network, built with secret shell companies and financed through a foreign bank, lasted more than two years and drew tens of thousands of subscribers. It sought to evade Cuba's stranglehold on the internet with a primitive social media platform.

Of the funding provided by Darpa, $8.9m has been channeled through IBM to a range of academic researchers and others. A further $9.6m has gone through academic hubs like Georgia Tech and Indiana University.

Facebook, the world's biggest social networking site, has apologised for the study, which involved secret psychological tests on nearly 700,000 users in 2012, and prompted outrage from users and experts alike, being "poorly communicated" to the public.

The experiment, which resulted in a scientific paper published in the March issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hid "a small percentage" of emotional words from peoples' news feeds, without their knowledge, to test what effect that had on the statuses or "likes" that they then posted or reacted to.

However, it appears that Facebook was involved in at least one other military-funded social media research project, according to the records recently published by Darpa.

The research was carried by Xuanhuai Wang, an engineering manager at Facebook, as well as Yi Chang, a lead scientist at Yahoo labs, and others based at the Universities of Michigan and Southern California.

The project, which related to how users understood and consumed information on Twitter, at one point analysed the tweets, retweets and other interactions spawned by Lady Gaga (described as "the most popular elite user on Twitter") and Justin Bieber ("who is extremely popular among teenagers").

Facebook's CEO Sheryl Sandberg apologised for 'poor communication' over psychological experiments to manipulate users' emotions. Photograph: Money Sharma/EPA

Other studies looked further afield. One, "On the Study of Social Interactions on Twitter", which was carried out by the University of South California, collected tweets from 2,400 Twitter users who had identified themselves as residing in the Middle East. It analysed how often they had interactions with other users and how these were spread.

Several studies related to the automatic assessment of how well different people in social networks knew one another, through analysing frequency, tone and type of interaction between different users. Such research could have applications in the automated analysis of bulk surveillance metadata, including the controversial collection of US citizens' phone metadata revealed by Snowden.

Studies which received military funding channeled through IBM included one called "Modeling User Attitude toward Controversial Topics in Online Social Media", which analysed Twitter users' opinions on fracking.

Discussing the applicability of their research, the study's authors stated: "For example, a government campaign on Twitter supporting vaccination can engage with followers who are more likely to take certain action (eg spreading a campaign message) based on their opinions."

"As another example, when anti-government messages are spread in social media, government would want to spread counter messages to balance that effort and hence identify people who are more likely to spread such counter messages based on their opinions."

A similarly titled-project out of the University of Southern California, "The Role of Social Media in the Discussion of Controversial Topics", studied the behaviour of Twitter users posting about a 2012 vote in California on measures such as raising taxes, genetically modified organisms and the death penalty.

"Our findings suggest Twitter is primarily used for spreading information to like-minded people rather than debating issues," the authors wrote in their paper on the project.

A study at Georgia Tech, "Cues to Deception in Social Media Communications", involved an in-laboratory experiment using an experimental social media platform, "FaceFriend", and 61 paid participants. While past research had investigated "written deception" in communications such as email, the study expanded this into social media, and the researchers concluded: "Breaking news stories and world events – for example, the Arab Spring – are heavily represented in social media, making them susceptible topics for influence attempts via deception."

The use of social media during rapidly-developing world events with major consequences, as during Egypt's 2011 revolution, was studied by researchers. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Several of the DoD-funded projects went further than simple observation, instead engaging directly with social media users and analysing their responses.

One of multiple studies looking into how to spread messages on the networks, titled "Who Will Retweet This? Automatically Identifying and Engaging Strangers on Twitter to Spread Information" did just this.

The researchers explained: "Since everyone is potentially an influencer on social media and is capable of spreading information, our work aims to identify and engage the right people at the right time on social media to help propagate information when needed."

In the paper, which included data gathered through actively engaging 3,761 people on Twitter around the topics of public safety and bird flu, the researchers added: "Unlike existing work, which often uses only social network properties, our feature set includes personality traits that may influence one's retweeting behaviour."

In a statement, Darpa defended its funding of the research as essential to US defense interests.

"Social media is changing the way people inform themselves, share ideas, and organize themselves into interest groups, including some that aim to harm the United States," said a spokesman. "Darpa supports academic research that seeks to understand some of these dynamics through analyses of publicly available discussions conducted on social media platforms."

Sources said that data was from public streams in social networks, and was collected and stored by academics at institutions conducting the research, not by Darpa itself.

The Guardian approached a number of individuals involved in research, asking them for their views on why they believed the US military may be interested in funding research of this type, and asking about the extent to which consent was sought from people whose social media posts were recorded and analysed.

Among those who replied, Emilio Ferrara, who was involved in the research paper on "The Digital Evolution of Occupy Wall St", said: "According to federal regulations of human experimentation, for studies that don't affect the environment of online users, and whereas one can freely gather online data – say, from the public Twitter feed – there is no requirement of informed consent. This is the framework under which our Twitter study was carried out; moreover, all our studies on Twitter look into aggregate collective phenomena and never at the individual level."

A colleague, Dr Filippo Menczer, added: "In our lab we study all aspects of the diffusion of information in social media.

"This work has broad applications as we strive to understand fundamental mechanism of social communication, such as how ideas and 'memes' compete for our attention, how they sometimes go viral, etc."

^ed