Villagers in Almondsbury take legal action to keep access road open

A LEGAL battle is being waged by disgruntled villagers in Almondsbury after parish councillors put the only access road to their homes up for sale without warning.

Woodhouse Close residents first discovered that the lane and field at the back of their properties were up for auction when 'for sale' signs appeared on their street in March.

Alarmed Jean Cowan, Becky Chaplain and Brooke Stevenson immediately contacted the parish council, which owns the plot of land and path, appealing to members to grant them right of way on the road they drive on every day after the sale.

But, as their pleas fell on deaf ears, the dispute escalated and they felt they were left with no alternative but to take action and hire solicitors.

The group, who have shelled out 1,500 so far in legal fees, insisted that all councillors needed to do to put a stop to their nightmare was add a clause in the sale contract binding the buyer to allow them access.

Last Tuesday they turned up at a meeting of Almondsbury Parish Council begging councillors to hear them out.

Mother-of-two Mrs Chaplain, 32, called on members one last time to agree to a compromise before a sale went ahead.

She said: "What grounds have you for not putting a clause in the contract when it is causing so much distress to residents? We would pay for it, you would not have to spend any money."

Her neighbour Mrs Stevenson, 29, added: "You are meant to represent the people of Almondsbury and be our voice. We have always had access to that lane. We have no front access to our homes. What are we supposed to do? We are all worried sick."

Chairman Cllr Diane Wilson cut them short, saying the matter was now in the hands of solicitors.

She said: "You have not got a legal right to use it. You have had access free gratis as long as I can remember. This council has never charged you a penny for the use of that lane. You can get to your properties. You are exaggerating."

South Gloucestershire Councillor for Almondsbury and former parish council chairman Sheila Cook said she was "appalled" at the members' behaviour.

She said: "I’m very supportive of the residents’ case and I’m disappointed that the parish council are refusing to engage with them, which is why residents feel that they have no alternative but to go down the legal route – a route that will cost both the residents and the parish council."

Along with the residents, she set up a petition demanding that the sale, which was held on Tuesday evening, April 10, be postponed.

Yet, despite collecting 89 signatures, the auction went ahead and the land and lane were sold off for 74,000.

Girls Around Me App Is a Wake-Up Call

As far as I can tell, the app "Girls Around Me" wasn't violating any laws. But it was high on the creepy scale when, according to reports, women's identity, photographs and location were being revealed to strangers, even though the women never opted into the service. Although the developer, Moscow-based I-Free, hardly deserves any awards, the app's a good wake-up call for people to use the privacy settings of legitimate social networking and location services.

The app mashed together information people posted about themselves publicly on Foursquare and Facebook and created a map showing the location and photographs of nearby women. On its website, the company brags that the app can be used to "Browse photos of lovely local ladies and tap their thumbnail to find out more about them." It's offered for those "In the mood for love, or just after a one-night stand." An image that resembles a radar screen with a silhouette of an apparently naked woman adorns the home page.

Late last month Foursquare cut off access to the app so that it can no longer collect the company's publicly accessible data. In a statement, Foursquare said "This is a violation of our API (application programming interface)." Apple subsequently removed the app from its app store.

Foursquare is a location service typically used to share information about restaurants and other places people visit. It's common for people to use Foursquare to "check-in" to a location and share that information with their friends. Restaurant-goers often use it to recommend specific meals; and it's possible to use the service to let friends locate you in real-time, perhaps to stop by to say hello or share a drink or a meal.

Foursquare users can connect their account to Facebook and, when they do, they are asked to specify who can see their information. When I checked, it was set to "Friends." But you can also set it to Public, which means anyone can see it, or "only me," which hides it from everyone but yourself. It's also possible to link Foursquare with Twitter. Although it's possible to limit who can see your tweets, the default setting -- which very few Twitter users change -- is for tweets to be public.

The fracas behind the Girls Around Me app is a reminder that we all have a responsibility to protect our own privacy. I'm not condoning their tasteless and tacky service, but from everything I can tell, the company didn't hack into any servers or tap into anyone's private information. Everything it did was based on information people posted for public consumption.

Let this be yet another reminder for people to think about over-sharing. To me, it's obvious that connecting your Foursquare account with Twitter is tantamount to broadcasting your whereabouts. I've done that, but I did so knowingly. But it never hurts to remind people to put thought into whether they really want to publicly share where they are and, by implication, where they're not. And parents, this is yet another good opportunity to share a bit of digital literacy with your kids. "What's important in the 'Girls Around Me' story for parents and kids to consider together is that an app was using people's publicly available information without their knowledge," wrote my ConnectSafely.org co-director Anne Collier at NetFamilyNews. And, considering the number of mobile apps being created all the time, "this is not the last time that will happen," she added.

Aside from safety and privacy concerns, location can also be embarrassing, as I realized a few years ago when I went to a particular holiday party instead of another party that some people thought I "should" have gone to. Without thinking, I used Facebook to "check-in" to the party and then realized that my would-be hosts from the other party might see it. To save face, I quickly jumped in my car and drove 35 miles to put in an appearance at the other party.

Belton’s EOC gets first real test during flood

The heavy rains that rolled through Central Texas last week caused more of its share of concerns for Belton citizens and city officials alike.

Because of the rain, Nolan Creek swelled over its banks and brought memories of the devastating flood of September 2010, where numerous homes and businesses were damaged by the flooding of the creek through Downtown Belton.

As rain continued to fall and Nolan Creek began to rise, Belton city officials got a real-time test of their Emergency Operations Center located at the Belton Police Department.

"We did an action report after the last flood and we saw a lot of problems," City Manager Sam Listi said. "It was not a very effective operation. We didn't have any communication equipment and we decided, as a result of that, that we needed to do something different. The decision was made to invest a little bit of money at the Police Department to get a first class EOC set up, so we would be ready for the next time."

During the flood event on March 20, city officals (including Listi, BPD Chief Gene Ellis, BFD Chief Francisco Corona and Interim Fire Chief Bruce Pritchard) met at the EOC around 3 a.m. and began the process of assessing the situation.

"We were pretty nervous about it because we weren't sure how much rain was going to come, but from my standpoint, it seemed to flow a lot better," Listi said. "Having good and adequate communication was important."

Within a matter of minutes, 196 residences and businesses located in the Nolan Creek flood plain were notified of the potential danger through the First Call system and officials were able to direct the appropriate responses to flooded roads and evacuations.

"Even though the flood wasn't quite as bad, we were ready," Listi said.

Because of the 2010 flood, improvements were made to the BPD building for the creation of Belton's own EOC.

An area that used to contain a copy room and conference room was converted into the EOC, equipped with two televisions, a mobile data terminal, wireless capabilities and a specially designed hub (run off of the department's generator system) with ports for telephone access and Internet access.

Cameras were also added to the Police Department's mobile crime scene unit to give those in the EOC a view of what was happening outside.

"It's hard without the ability to see things," Listi said. "We faced that in the 2010 flood where we just couldn't really see what was going on.

"We had the eyes and ears (this time). We didn't feel deficient in terms of the information flow like we had in the past."

Ellis said the Police Department was a natural location for the EOC.

"The radio operations were already in the building and we had some of the infrastructure already in place," Ellis said. "We felt like we could adapt the building."

Ellis said the thought of a local EOC originally came about during the shooting attack at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009.

"We identified the need for an EOC Nov. 5, 2009," Ellis said. "The thought had always been that Belton would just use the EOC at the Bell County Communications Center, but the problem is when a disaster is regional, it's overloaded. For a local response, we had to have our own"

With the investments that have been made, city officials can almost instantaneously send information to people possibly affected by a disaster or emergency.

Although the EOC has proved effective in its first test, Ellis said citizens still have a responsibility to stay informed during a time of disaster or emergency.

App aims to help mariners avoid rare whales

Now, a new app for the iPad or iPhone aims to help mariners avoid the rare whales so they don’t strike them.

The Whale Alert app takes information from underwater microphones to locate the whales in real time, which helps ships in New England waters avoid the species’ estimated 550 remaining whales.

The app also uses the GPS feature on iPads or iPhones to alert mariners if they’re entering areas where right whales were spotted, or are known to frequent, along their migratory route from Florida to Maine. Those zones have mandatory or voluntary speed restrictions.

Preventing even one fatal ship strike can have a lasting effect on the right whale population.

“Right whales are being run over by large ships and killed, but we can save them,” said Patrick Ramage of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which led the app’s development.

The North Atlantic right whale was hunted to near extinction in the late 18th century and has struggled since.

The animal, which can grow to 55 feet in length, is vulnerable to ship strikes because it can be difficult to see as it feeds on plankton slicks near the surface. It’s also oblivious to its surroundings while eating. Since the 1970s, an average of two North Atlantic right whales have been killed annually by ship strikes, though there has been one death in each of the past two years, said Greg Silber, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Whale Alert aims to make it easier for navigators to be aware of the various whale restrictions.

Previously, ships often received that information via clunky technologies such as fax machines, VHF transmission, or not at all because their equipment was outdated.

But vessels with the app are alerted when they enter areas with right whale restrictions (with a whale song sound effect).

For now, the app can only locate the whales’ real-time location off New England because it’s the only region where special acoustic buoys are installed.

“The whales now have a voice,” said Christopher Clark, a Cornell University scientist who led development of the acoustic monitoring system and worked on the app. “We are eavesdropping on the social network of whales.”

The multimillion-dollar acoustic system has been in operation for several years. But before the app, when Cornell researchers confirmed a right whale had been detected, they had let any liquefied natural gas tankers in the area know by phone, Clark said. Now, vessels from container ships to pleasure boats can know quickly through the app.

The app is free, but the cost for vessels is about $600 to $700 for the iPad and the equipment to receive the needed wireless signal.

Some cruise lines and other vessels have committed to the app, but its effectiveness depends on broad use.

“This is no good, unless the maritime community knows it exists,” said Dave Wiley of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, who worked on the app.

Kathy Metcalf of the Chamber of Shipping of America, a shipping industry group that wasn’t involved in the project, called the app fantastic, and said she “can’t imagine a reason” why any mariner or boat owner wouldn’t want it.

The cost is “beans,” Metcalf said, and the benefits are substantial. By locating where whales are, and detailing any restrictions in effect to protect the animals, the app enhances a mariner’s general awareness of the situation at sea, she said.

Cybersecurity reboot: Two game-changing ideas

Current computer and network technologies were built to help process and move data quickly from one site to another. Unfortunately, until recently, efforts to protect that infrastructure played second fiddle to business needs.

Consequently, cybersecurity has been implemented in an ad hoc and often slapdash fashion, leading to the current mess of firewalls and other devices backed by inadequate identification and authentication protocols and inhibited by piecemeal policies and fragmented responsibilities.

That state of affairs has meant job security to the hackers who want to damage networks or steal data from them. As organized criminals and well-funded nation-state actors have joined their ranks, it has become clear that existing security regimes can’t stem the tide. Attacks on military and other government systems continue to grow and are increasingly successful.

Government and industry are now trying to jump-start a new era of innovation in cybersecurity, one in which security is a design and policy priority rather than an afterthought.

Such goals have been recognized as a priority for basic research in the Obama administration’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal, with millions of extra dollars requested for research and development at the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. And in December 2011, the White House published a strategic plan for the next few years of cybersecurity R&D.

There are many ideas on the table. The following are two examples of future approaches that are gaining attention, support and most importantly, funding. One is a technology plan that makes computer systems a moving target to stymie hackers, the other a policy approach that provides a more coordinated defense against attacks. Officials hope that ideas such as these can lead to game-changing solutions that tip the balance back in favor of the good guys, but like anything to do with cybersecurity, it won’t be easy.

Current cyber defenses are designed to protect systems that operate in relatively static configurations for long periods of time. That is also a major weakness. Attackers can spend an equally long time looking for a single vulnerability in a key system, assessing how the system’s security would respond and planning attacks accordingly.

Defenders, on the other hand, have to try to plug the security holes in all their systems and keep them plugged, which soaks up a lot of resources and time. Given the complexity of most agency IT infrastructures, it’s an almost impossible task.

Pothole tracking software puts repair work on fast track

Even before the onset of monsoon, the hi-tech pothole tracking software of the civic administration — which allows citizens to upload pothole complaints — has displayed at least 440 pothole locations in the city. These potholes have been reported over January, February and March by citizens and a team of civic officials.

After these pothole locations are uploaded on the BMC website, the ward map starts displaying a red dot that is visible to all those visiting the website, including civic officials. This dot’s location is then found out and the pothole repair process is started. Officials said this process has helped them keep a track of the potholes that have to be repaired.

The online geographical information system (GIS)-based software enables citizens and officials to upload photographs of pothole locations on a map through Android phones.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta said, “We have begun the process of repairing these potholes. The data we receive is updated as soon as the pothole is repaired. Of the 440 potholes reported, some are on the property of other agencies and the repair process will take some time.” So far, over 90 pothole locations have been repaired, said officials.

To expedite the process, officials of the areas and wards that still display a pothole mark at the end of a week will be asked to directly report to the head of the road department.

The BMC had launched the hi-tech pothole tracking software costing Rs 60 lakh to help real-time detection of potholes last November. While initially the software had received a poor response, it is now increasingly being used by citizens and officials, said a civic official from the road department.

The proposal to instal the software had met with opposition initially as only Android mobile handsets can be used to click pictures of potholes and upload it on the site. The civic administration is soon planning to upgrade the software for BlackBerry users.

New iOS App Helps Ship Captains Avoid Whale Collisions

We can do a lot more with mobile software than guess our friends’ less-than-artistic drawings or launch menacing birds at unsuspecting pigs. Whale Alerts, a new iOS app released today, is designed to help mariners avoid collisions with endangered North Atlantic right whales by displaying whale locations on a real-time, digital map.

There are only around 400 North Atlantic right whales left in the world today, according to International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), one of the collaborators on the app. With such a small population, the right whales are one of the rarest large animals and are close to extinction. Collisions with ships is currently the leading cause of death for these remaining whales.

To prevent ships from striking whales, Whale Alerts works by linking near-real-time acoustic buoys that listen for whale calls to an iOS device in a ship’s bridge. Using these whale calls, a GPS system and a vessel’s Automatic Identification System (AIS), the app displays a whale’s location in relation to a ship’s location on a digital nautical chart. The app also sends alerts with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conservation measures when a ship enters a conservation area.

Prior to this technology, ship pilots who asked to receive whale conservation data relied on radio, e-mails, and even faxes of whale sighting locations. Even if mariners opted to receive whale sighting information, the process of plotting the whale’s location in relation to the ship’s location was a time-consuming task.

“The app that we unveiled today integrates all of this information and puts it in real time,” Global Whale Program Director for IFAW Patrick Ramage told Wired. “iPad technology is changing ‘I can’t’ to ‘I can.’ As of today, the mariner is able to save whales.”

Whale Alerts is targeted to cruise and shipping vessels that travel along the East Coast of North America, where the right whales live. IFAW has already worked with a dozen mariners in the area, providing them with iPads and the Whale Alerts app, to pilot the program. According to Ramage, there were 502 unique vessels that made more than 2,400 transits to and from the Boston Harbor this past year.

More than a dozen government agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and private groups led by scientists at NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary worked on Whale Alerts for the past 18 months. While the app is designed for the maritime industry, it is available for free to anyone on Apple’s App Store. The technology itself costs around $1,000 to install on a ship.