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RAIN 10/25: Steganography, public records, Florida news



There are 21 stories in this posting.

New York Times 10/24/01
A collector bequeaths his huge archive of Cuban sound
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/24/arts/music/24AYAL.html

by Ben Ratliff
SAN JUAN, P.R. - To build his huge music library, it has taken Cristóbal Díaz Ayala 25 years, countless missed family vacations, much of his savings and every skill he has learned in a multifarious life.
His collection includes about 25,000 LP's, 17,000 78's, wax cylinders, sheet music and a trove of books encompassing all of Latin American music, though its strongest area by far is the music of Cuba, Mr. Díaz Ayala's native country. The Fundación Musicalia, as the collection is known, is thought by experts to be the largest collection of Cuban music in the world.



Clay/Platte Dispatch 10/24/01
Computer security 'jeopardized'
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2539672&BRD=2190&PAG=461&dept_id=444436&rfi=6

by Amy Newport
Assessor Cathy Rinehart is jeopardizing the security of Clay County's data processing system by allowing friends to use computers in her office, says Eastern Commissioner Craig Porter.
Porter said he is angry Rinehart would blatantly flout county rules about computer access. Past investigations indicted the county's computer records were vulnerable to sabotage. Since then, commissioners have upgraded security. In fear of security breaches, the circuit court demanded last year that its computerized court records be segregated from the county's IS department.
"All the computer security in the world is not going to do us any good if she just hands out her password," Porter said. "If she was a private employee she would be fired. As an elected office holder, though, she can't be disciplined"



Des Moines Register 10/24/01
INS requests fewer records
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788998/16273366.html

by Colleen Krantz
Iowa City, Ia. - Immigration officials will narrow their request for detailed records on international students at Iowa and Nebraska colleges, they said Tuesday.
The Omaha office of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service last week asked 140 colleges that admit students from other countries to provide detailed information on most of them. After some colleges objected, the INS decided to ask for only the records of international students who indicated they planned to attend college but have not, said Tom De- Rouchey, the INS deputy district director in Omaha.



Des Moines Register 10/24/01
Porn case poses legal, privacy issues
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788993/16273364.html

by April Goodwin
Adel, Ia. - A child pornography case set for trial next week in Dallas County came about only because repair technicians tipped police to what they found on an educator's home computer.
The case against a former Perry Middle School principal raises questions about business ethics, police searches and whether computer files are private when the machines are taken to the shop.



Dallas Morning News 10/24/01
Preservation Park Cities prefers historic homes to new 'McMansions'
http://www.dallasnews.com/metro/stories/STORY.e9bc98b2ea.b0.af.0.a4.1e6c6.html

by Leif B. Strickland
HIGHLAND PARK - During his first few years in Dallas, Mike Matthews lived west of the Dallas North Tollway, but he jogged each morning to the east, along the leafy streets of Highland Park.
It was during those morning excursions in the 1980s that the portfolio manager began to notice the destruction of some of the area's oldest houses. One morning a house would be standing; the next, it would be a pile of rubble, cleared for the construction of a new, bigger house.



Washington Times 10/24/01
Judge orders partial release of madam's records to media
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20011024-344296.htm

AP
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - A judge ordered yesterday that the business records of a convicted madam should be turned over to news media, but it stayed part of the order at the request of Frederick, Md. city officials.



Miami Herald 10/24/01
Senate leader urges secrecy
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/broward/digdocs/002910.htm

by Lesley Clark
TALLAHASSEE -- Senate President John McKay, fearing that lawmakers may not be able to talk about state security efforts without tipping off terrorists, wants to allow senators to meet in secret.
A Senate committee today will take up an unprecedented move to change Senate rules at McKay's behest. The measure would allow McKay ``after consultation with appropriate authorities'' to close meetings in which lawmakers are to discuss ``measures to prevent possible acts of espionage, sabotage, attack and other acts of terrorism.''


News-Press.com 10/24/01
Editorial: stop sneak attack on open records
http://www.news-press.com/opinion/011024edit1.html

Some members of the Legislature are using the current special session on the state budget crisis to rush through a raft of terrorism-related laws that threaten open government.
It's a shame, because the Legislature should first do what it was called to Tallahassee to do this week and next: deal with the state fiscal crisis. Legislators have plenty on their plates in dealing with a brutal $1.3 billion state budget shortfall.
Then, and only then, should they turn to security legislation, including possible exemptions to the open records and open meetings law. The governor should call another special session on that issue if necessary. These are very special times.



Orlando Sentinel 10/24/01
Orlando makes deal on health-file review
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-locvfirefighters24102401oct24.story?coll=orl%2Dnews%2Dheadlines

by Mark Schlueb
Capping months of wrangling in front of TV cameras and behind closed doors, Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood and union leaders have agreed on a way to ensure the city's firefighters aren't harboring any medical ailments they don't know about.



Orlando Sentinel 10/24/01
Fear drives Senate's rush to secrecy
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/orl-asecxsecrecy24102401oct24.story?coll=orl%2Dnews%2Dheadlines

by Mark Silva
TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Senate, gripped by the fear of terrorism, is set to launch a barrage of legislation and rules that would allow lawmakers to meet and cut deals in secret.
All testimony, correspondence, staff reports and even senators' votes on anti-terrorism bills would be secret.


Sacramento Bee 10/24/01
Seized files' return denied
http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local04_20011024.html

by Wayne Wilson
Thousands of files seized by federal drug agents from an attorney-physician couple who advocate the medical use of marijuana need not be returned, a judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Gregory G. Hollows rejected the attorney-client privilege asserted by the operators of California Medical Research Center in the El Dorado County town of Cool, but set up rigid rules by which the still-sealed records may be reviewed.



St. Petersburg Times 10/24/01
Editorial: Security, but not over freedom
http://www.sptimes.com/News/102401/Opinion/Security__but_not_ove.shtml

Terrorism is winning in Tallahassee, where a panic-stricken state Senate is poised to shut the public out, "at the sole discretion of the president," whenever it wants -- or claims it wants -- to talk about preventing terrorism. No one might ever know what else they did because every document and record, including any vote, could be kept secret, too.



St. Petersburg Times 10/24/01
City must pay in records dispute
http://www.sptimes.com/News/102401/SouthPinellas/City_must_pay_in_reco.shtml

by Anne Lindberg
PINELLAS PARK -- A judge has ordered the city to pay more than $10,000 in costs and attorneys' fees for refusing to release public records.
The order, issued earlier this month by Pinellas/Pasco Circuit Court Judge John Lenderman, stems from a city decision last year to hire an outside consultant to do a morale survey of Pinellas Park police officers.
The St. Petersburg Times asked for copies of the completed surveys and of the anonymous handwritten comments made during the survey. The city and MGT, the company hired to conduct the survey, sued the Times, asking the court to decide if the records were "public" under state law.



State lawmakers consider secret meetings, votes
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAVVIHL6TC.html

by David Wasson and Jim Sloan
TALLAHASSEE - Citing the threat of future terrorist attacks, state lawmakers are poised to give themselves broad powers to meet - and vote - on sensitive security-related issues in secrecy.
The proposal, likely to win swift approval by a Senate panel this morning, comes one day after another committee approved restrictions on government records and giving police greater ability to eavesdrop on phone calls.
The Sept. 11 attacks are changing states in ways few could have imagined seven weeks ago.


NewsOK.com 10/24/01
Judge denies request to unseal bombing files
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=772412&pic=none&TP=getarticle

AP
DENVER (AP) -- The federal judge who presided over the Oklahoma City bombing trials refused Tuesday to unseal files in the case or to release defense lawyers' detailed billing statements.
U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch denied a request by CBS to lift a 1996 order keeping various documents secret. He sided with federal lawyers, who argued that keeping the files sealed serves important interests even though the trials are over and Timothy McVeigh was executed in June. Lawyers for co-conspirator Terry Nichols oppose releasing the files because of his pending appeal.



Northeast Times 10/24/01
Ex-clerk pleads guilty to selling info of members of credit union
http://northeast.philly.com/2001/1024/exclerk.html

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced last week the guilty plea of a former local credit union clerk on a conspiracy charge relating to the sale of Social Security numbers, addresses and other personal information of credit union members.
The former loan department clerk, Marpessa F. McNeil, 24, of the 6400 block of N. Broad St., faces a possible five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date is to be announced.



Business Review of Albany 10/24/01
Software offers standard for contract documents
http://albany.bcentral.com/albany/stories/2001/10/22/daily36.html

by William Tuthill
The Associated General Contractors of America has launched computer software that gives users a set of standardized contract documents.


Frederick News-Post 10/24/01
Parts of 'black book' going public
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/display.cfm?storyid=16351

by Steve Miller and George Dorsey
The City of Frederick improperly concealed the "black book" client list from the media and now some of the information is going public, a judge ruled Tuesday.
The Frederick News-Post and Associated Press within several days will get the secret files, believed to contain the names of public officials who used a high-priced call girl service, said Frederick County Circuit Court Judge G. Edward Dwyer Jr.
"We have a total victory on access to documents," Henry Abrams, attorney for the news organizations, said following the ruling.


Katy Sun 10/24/01
Company selling 'official' plaques not authorized
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2541390&BRD=1495&PAG=461&dept_id=175700&rfi=6

by Norm Rowland
A spokesman for the Katy Independent School District has warned parents that a company offering "official plaques" to students and claiming to be a district-approved fund-raiser is not sanctioned by the school district.
The district has no connection with this company and does not recommend that students or their parents purchase its materials, said Kris Taylor, director of communications.
"Katy ISD does not conduct or participate in telemarketing activities aimed at students," she said.
Taylor said that under the Texas Open Records Act, if the school district receives a written request for directory information, the school district must release this information if the parent/guardian did not indicate that their child's directory information is to be kept confidential.


Herald Journal 10/24/01
Copies of police records run as high as $10
http://www.goupstate.com/hj/news/1024records.asp

by Teresa Killian
Better bring some cash before dropping by for a copy of a police report.
Copies can cost anywhere from nothing to $10 in Spartanburg County -- even if the report is one page long.
State law indicates records must be produced at the lowest possible cost.
Those eligible for free copies include victims of crimes, those in traffic accidents or others with special circumstances.



The Post-Standard 10/24/01
Steganography: Cloak and dagger in digital age
http://www.syracuse.com/news/syrnewspapers/index.ssf?/newsstories/20011024_apncode.html

by Julianna Gittler
The painting of the Mona Lisa looks like any other. Peel away the layers, however, and hidden inside the bits of data that make up the computer-generated picture is a seating chart of the Carrier Dome.
Once the cloak-and-dagger material of a spy novel, the real-life process of hiding images may explain how people such as terrorists communicate in plain view. The method is called steganography - from the Greek for "covered writing" - and it is used to mask an image or other message within a computer file, such as a digital photo.


Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
pakurilecz@aol.com
Richmond, Va