Monthly Archive for December, 2008
A student teacher who was denied a teaching degree just days before graduating has lost a court battle against her would-be alma mater. One of the contributing reasons for her dismissal was because of a photo she posted onto MySpace.com Just days before her graduation in May 2006, Millersville University in Pennsylvania, accused student Stacy Snyder of promoting underage drinking, after they discovered a photo on her MySpace page titled "Drunken Pirate," in which Snyder can be seen wearing a pirate hat and drinking from a plastic cup. (A photo can be seen on The Smoking Gun.) At the time, Snyder was 25 and working as a student-teacher at Conestoga Valley High School. Snyder maintained that the photo was taken at a costume party off campus and after school hours. But when the university refused to issue her a teaching degree, Snyder sued siting violation of her First Amendment rights.
Sun Microsystems has released a security update to its Java software. Since cyber criminals have a history of targeting Java vulnerabilities, and because at least 800 million computer users have some version of Java installed, it's probably time for most readers to update this program. Sun's release notes are somewhat light on details, saying Sun Java 6.0 Update 11 contains fixes for one or more security vulnerabilities. Not sure whether you have Java or the latest version installed? Check out this link. Windows users can grab the latest version by opening the Windows Control Panel, clicking the Java icon, and then visiting the "Update" tab and clicking "Update Now." After you begin the update process, note that unless you want the Yaboo! toolbar also installed, you'll need to uncheck that option before proceeding with the rest of the install. Other OS users can find the update by following this link.
In a notable shift, Apple is now recommending that Mac users install anti-virus software to help users secure their systems. In a technical note quietly published to its support site on Nov. 21, Apple issued the following advice: "Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple anti-virus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult." This is news to me. Just under three months ago, I asked an employee at our local Apple store whether I needed anti-virus for my MacBook, and was told not to bother, that it was not necessary. I wonder if this means Apple will stop running television ads saying Mac users don't have to worry about malicious software? Security Fix hears from readers constantly wondering whether they should secure their Macs. I suspect this may be because more people are choosing to purchase
