Internet Telephony Comes to the iPhone. Apple has approved an app intended to provide a virtual second line for business that allows consumers to make calls using Wi-Fi when available instead of AT&T’s cellular network.  The Line2 app may allow iPhone users to downgrade their AT&T cell plans, though contracts and lack of universal Wi-Fi coverage—including where users might need phone service most in an emergency—will likely prevent them from dropping it entirely.  But Line2 is available for the iPod Touch, potentially turning it into a part-time iPhone.  Unfortunately, almost immediately after the NYT write-up, the developer had to pull Line2 from the App Store because of a massive denial-of-service attack.

Security Theory to Practice. Ross Anderson has assembled a resource with links on the myriad dimensions of psychology and security.  A sampling includes why we as users discount some risks and overestimate others, how scams ensnare us, what conditions lead us to disclose private information, and ways to make security measures usable for the average person so that they actually get used and protect the greater internet community.  Interesting and practical.

Humiliating the Pirates. In a digital adaptation of medieval stocks, the Japanese gaming company Overflow released a fake installer for its erotic game Cross Days online that contains malicious code to acquire the information of people who try to use the installer to pirate the game.  That information is then posted online until the transgressor accepts responsibility for stealing the game.  It’s unclear whether the humiliation stems from being victimized—do those who play the game generally consider themselves too smart to download a trojan?—or from being exposed as a player of erotic video games.  If the latter, will the website where user information is posted receive enough traffic (besides others who play the game, who presumably won’t “out” those posted to the world if it would expose their own identity as well) to serve as a public town square?  It also seems less legitimate as an anti-piracy tactic since the company itself is making the “pirated” program available online.

Hunch Preview. Buzz-generating start-up Hunch has launched a Twitter Predictor tool that examines a Twitter user’s account profile—who follows and is followed—and predicts the answer to a series of questions, apparently with over 80% accuracy.  The tool is intended to publicize the utility of Hunch’s forthcoming API to provide personalized recommendations.  Another example of evolving privacy norms, we as users are willing to turn over some personal data (by filling out a “taste profile” to use the service from which Hunch’s algorithm extrapolates additional information) for greater convenience.

Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely. Even cars can be tethered appliances! A Cleveland-based company “encourages” people who have been habitually late with car payments to be more timely by remotely triggering incessant horn honking or disabling the car’s ignition when payments aren’t made. This went badly amiss when a laid-off employee of the company took revenge by remotely bricking or sounding the horns of 100+ cars.

Rebecca MacKinnon’s Testimony at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s hearing on “China, the Internet, and Google.” In light of the fast-evolving Google-China saga, MacKinnon’s analysis of the multi-tiered problems in China and possible solutions makes for a good read. Among other things, she claims the Chinese government has hired 280,000 people to “astroturf”—that is, support the government’s views in cyberfora. (The specific number comes from research by David Bandurski, which is unfortunately behind a pay wall.) We’ve covered small-scale astroturfing on this blog, but nothing close to that size or coordination.

Facebook Threatens Greasemonkey Script Writer. A developer came up with the bright idea of writing a Greasemonkey script (that is, one that works through the user’s Firefox browser) to remove all that useless stuff from your Facebook feed—quizzes, Mafia Wars, etc. According to the developer, Facebook abruptly killed the fan page, and is now rolling out code that messes up the Greasemonkey script. If that’s true (and that’s not clear to me; we only have one side of the story) it strikes me as overreaching—Facebook can control its site, but shouldn’t be able to control your browser.

Eleventh Circuit Decision Largely Eliminates Fourth Amendment Protection in E-Mail. As the title of this well-done Volokh conspiracy post suggests, don’t expect to defeat a government search of your email if you live in the Eleventh Circuit. The decision tracks the discussion in chapter 8 of the book, but comes to a harsher conclusion—even e-mail stored locally isn’t safe from government seizure once a copy of it has been delivered elsewhere.

Finally, there are a few new thoughts posted in the comments of the EchoStar/TiVo post.

—By Elisabeth Oppenheimer and Jennifer Halbleib