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UTOPIA's executive director disputes reports of funding woes

Last updated Tuesday, September 4, 2012 - 8:28pm

SALT LAKE CITY — UTOPIA’s executive director insists the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency is not broke and bristles at what he characterizes as a “misrepresentation in the press” that the community-owned fiber-to-the-home network is not on course to better days.

UTOPIA Executive Director Todd Marriott took exception to a Standard-Examiner article published Sunday that suggested the network is broke and will be out of operational funds by the end of this month.

Marriott said the model established in 2010 — when nine communities formed the Utah Infrastructure Agency and bonded for $65 million to fund the fiber expansion project — is very much on track and, in some cases, exceeding established parameters.

Computer technology, Internet, UTOPIA Read more Comments

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, seen here in February 2010, accidentally informed the media about knee replacement surgery, scheduled for today. He hit the "reply all" button on his phone when communicating with his deputy communications director about his weekly schedule. (Standard-Examiner file photo)

Shurtleff all thumbs over knee surgery

Loretta Park Standard-Examiner

Last updated Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - 6:21am

SALT LAKE CITY — Attorney General Mark Shurtleff accidently informed the media he is scheduled for knee replacement surgery this week.

Ryan Bruckman, Shurtleff’s deputy communications director, emailed Shurtleff’s weekly schedule at 11:29 a.m. Tuesday.

At 12:05 p.m., Shurtleff replied, “I’m now scheduled for surgery tomorrow and out the rest of week, but it’s OK if we don’t say anything about that. Want to just leave it like this?” Then, 30 minutes later, Shurtleff sent out another email that said, “Oops. You all know of my surgery. Paul Murphy suggests that I also have the doctor examine my ‘Reply all’ thumb.”

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Changing password not enough if you've been hacked

Leslie Meredith Standard-Examiner

Last updated Sunday, June 17, 2012 - 5:25am

June has already been a bad month for getting hacked. Professional networking site LinkedIn, dating site eHarmony and CBS-owned streaming radio site Last.fm all reported that user password data from about 8 million accounts was stolen.

While all advised their customers to change their passwords -- LinkedIn went so far as to disable compromised accounts, forcing users to create new passwords -- changing your password isn't enough. Attackers have new strategies and companies have responded with better protection methods. Combined, these two factors have changed what it takes to make a safe password.

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Warning: Internet still not a safe place

Leslie Meredith Standard-Examiner

Last updated Sunday, June 3, 2012 - 7:21am

The Internet is still not safe, and the risks may lie in unexpected places. While companies like Google continue to ramp up their defenses, a surprising number of nefarious websites still slip through.

Google last week released numbers that revealed the problem. In 2011, Google suspended 824,000 advertising accounts that violated its terms of service banning misleading claims, ad spam and malware -- more than three times the number of accounts in 2010.

"We find that there are relatively few malicious players, who make multiple attempts to bypass our defenses to defraud users," Google said in a blog post. "As we get better and faster at catching these advertisers, they redouble their efforts and create more accounts at an even faster rate."

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Facebook revamp gives users more control on privacy

Leslie Meredith Standard-Examiner

Last updated Sunday, April 29, 2012 - 7:08am

Facebook has never been known for simple privacy controls. But to be fair, you can put a ton of data into your profile and specify who can see each item if you're willing to do the work. However, giving users granular control still isn't enough.

Facebook last month issued a revamped Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and opened a comment period, which was extended through April 27. Recently, the company invited more than 2,000 users to comment on the statement -- selected because they had "liked" Facebook's governance page and represent some of the social media site's most vocal critics.

Features, Apps, Computer technology, Facebook, Facebook privacy, Technology, Top Ten Reviews Read more Comments