Feds is asking you the above three questions this November. Read more... (3 comments)

With their new invention of FaceCloak, computer science students Wanying Luo and Qi Xie may be solving Facebook privacy issues regarding easy access and exploitation of users' personal information. The computer science course “Hot Topics in Computer and Communications,” a graduate-level security course taken by both Waterloo students in the Winter 2009 term, involved a final project where students were required to design practical systems with a focus on security. Other Waterloo students designed a location-based privacy technology for the use of cell phones so as to disallow others from being able to track where the call is coming from, recalled Luo. While Luo and Xie may be the only ones at Waterloo to focus on social networking systems such as Facebook and social networking privacy, they are not the only university students challenging Facebook privacy. Students at Cornell University invented Flyby Night, a Facebook privacy application. Read more... (5 comments)

On October 14, the United Nations (UN) presented its annual report on global food security confirming more than one billion hungry people around the world. It suggests, shockingly, that one sixth of the world's population is still undernourished in this century. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that the Asia-Pacific has the largest number of hungry people — 642 million — followed by sub-Saharan Africa with 265 million. Adding to this fact, on October 16 (UN's World Food Day), a development charity's report released the ranking of the world countries contributing in tackling hunger. While Brazil and China won the top spots, India was highly criticized. Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was acclaimed for reforming land and providing community kitchens to poor people. China was commended for reducing the number of hungry people by 58 million in the last decade through strong state support for smallholder farmers. But India got condemned as roughly 30 million has been added to the already burdened estimation of existing hunger. They claim that the exploitation of natural resources to accommodate the growing number of people has degraded the pressing situation. Neighboring country Bangladesh was recognized for cutting down the number of food insecure people from 40 million to 27 million in the last 10 years. The Democratic Republic of Congo is at the bottom of the list with 76 per cent of the people listed as “chronically hungry.” The report also judged the exertion of developed countries, acknowledging Luxembourg's hardest effort in fighting hunger and the lack of effort on the part of the U.S and New Zealand. Read more... (1 comment)

As Kitchener-Waterloo enters the annual flu season, and with fears of H1N1 floating in the air, it will be reassuring to know that the H1N1 vaccination will be soon available in the Waterloo Region. On October 19 Region of Waterloo Public Health released a schedule of dates when public vaccination clinics will take place. Read more... (3 comments)