Occupy Social Networking
The Occupy movement is creating its own social network to better coordinate efforts and to keep private messages properly private. The system, likened to Facebook but not really, is intended to allow the Occupy movement to be more democratic in choosing issues and targets.

LCD Price-Fixing Fixed
Seven companies will pay US$553 million due to the price-fixing of LCD monitors. The settlement includes Chi Mei Innolux Corp., Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., Epson Imaging Devices Corp., HannStar Display Corp., Hitachi Displays Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sharp Corp. and their U.S. affiliates and will provide partial refunds for consumers in 24 states and the District of Columbia.

HP Printers Not So Explosive
In November, MSNBC posed the question, "Could a hacker make your printer explode?" In theory, this could happen if a hacker can cause the printer's fuser to heat up and if the thermal switch doesn't work to prevent overheating. HP, naturally, exploded at the research. However, a real security flaw was found and a firmware update released. Lesson for security geeks is that anything with a processor can be hijacked, and many devices now have processors.

More on Security Holes…
A professor at Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany has warned that train switching systems are at increasing risk at being hacked. The danger comes from the move to wireless, giving hackers a greater opportunity to access the system. Normally, the train has a key allowing access into the network, but that key is delivered through a USB stick. If the key gets into the wrong hands, problem.

Meanwhile, McAfee reports that cars may become targets as well. With mobile devices being plugged in to the car's console, this gives hackers a chance to insert a virus or worse into the vehicle's systems. Of course, decentralizing systems is one way to combat the threat. If the air conditioning, locks, and stereo aren't all on the same circuit, it gets harder to break into all at once.

–Scott D