feed on feeds - 2016/08/01 - items 0 to 15

DNC Staffer got pop-up messages alerting of state-sponsored actors (ArsTechnica) SANS ISC SecNewsFeed(cached at August 1, 2016, 11:30 pm)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from New York Daily News: Gawker's founder Nick Denton filed for personal bankruptcy Monday after a Florida appeals court refused to give him an emergency order that would block wrestler Hulk Hogan from collecting on a $140 million jury verdict. The District Court of Appeal in Lakeland, Fla., denied a request by Gawker and Denton to stay a ruling by lower court judge Pamela Campbell -- who said Hogan could start collecting on his award immediately. But declaring bankruptcy will give Denton protection from collectors including Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea. In the filing, Denton says he has assets of $10 to $50 million and liabilities of $100 to $500 million. His debts includes $125 million that he owes to Hogan, an $11.5 million loan that he took out on June 10 from Silicon Valley Bank, a $50,000 loan he took from his 401(k) at Gawker and his Time Warner Cable bill for $120.88. The jury's March verdict was the result of Gawker's decision to publish a tape on the internet of Hogan having sex with a friend's wife. The former WWF star said it was an invasion of his privacy. Gawker filed for bankruptcy shortly after the jury's verdict, but Denton resisted, asking the bankruptcy court to protect him as part of the process. The federal court refused. Now that the Florida courts have opened the door for Hogan to start collecting from Denton, he is expected to follow Gawker into federal bankruptcy court in lower Manhattan.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I try to imagine what I would do were I Paul Ryan. I think and hope that I would un-endorse Trump. It’s obvious by now that a Trump presidency would be a calamity.

The cost of un-endorsing Trump might be the end of Ryan’s political career. He’d make more money in the private sector, sure, and he could probably still work on policy, but as a private citizen. Plenty of people do.

He’d lose an awful lot of power, though. I don’t think he’s in it for power alone — I think he’s in it for the power to turn his policies into law. Which is totally fine. Which is how it should be. (It’s not true of every politician, I grant, but I believe it’s true for Ryan.)

That’s a big thing to lose. He believes his policies will help the American people, and that the policies of Democrats (and some other Republicans) will hurt. I may disagree, but I respect it.

But here’s the thing: Trump is already hurting our country. Continuing to endorse him — no matter how tepidly, no matter how leavened with criticism — makes Ryan complicit in this harm.

Americans need to believe that the leaders of both parties are patriots first and party loyalists second. I’m sure Ryan knows this.

His un-endorsement may not hurt Trump. It may even help him. But there are times to think tactically and times — like now — to just do the right thing, the selfless thing, and be a hero.

An anonymous reader writes: Washington State has filed a lawsuit against Comcast to the sum of $100 million, accusing Comcast of "engaging in a pattern of deceptive practices." It claims that Comcast's documents reveal a pattern of illegally deceiving its own customers for profit. KOMO News reports: "The lawsuit (PDF) alleges more than 1.8 million individual violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act. The Attorney General's Office says 500,000 Washington consumers were affected. The lawsuit also accuses Comcast of violating the Consumer Protection Act to all of its nearly 1.2 million Washington subscribers due to its deceptive 'Comcast Guarantee,' Ferguson said. The lawsuit accuses Comcast of misleading 500,000 Washington consumers and deceiving them into paying at least $73 million in subscription fees over the last five years for what the attorney general says is a a near-worthless protection plan. Customers who sign up for Comcast's Service Protection Plan pay a $4.99 monthly fee to avoid being charged if a Comcast technician visits their home. But the plan did not cover wiring inside a wall, the lawsuit says. The Attorney General Office says 75 percent of the time, customers who contacted Comcast were told the plan covered inside wiring. Customer service scripts, which the Attorney General's Office said it obtained during its investigation, told Comcast representatives to say that the plan covers calls 'related to inside wiring' and 'wiring inside your home.'" According to KOMO News, the lawsuit is seeking more than $73 million in restitution to pay back Service Protection Plan subscriber payments; full restitution for all service calls that applied an improper resolution code, estimated to be at least $1 million; removal of improper credit checks from the credit reports of more than 6,000 customers; up to $2,000 per violation of the Consumer Protection Act; and that Comcast clearly disclose the limitations of its Service Protection Plan in advertising and through its representatives, correct improper service codes that should not be chargeable and implement a compliance procedure for improper customer credit checks.