tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post1387224110175024139..comments2024-03-25T02:33:41.590-05:00Comments on FemaleScienceProfessor: Penny For Your ThoughtsFemale Science Professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288567883197987690noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-39453498466970814802008-04-14T09:30:00.000-05:002008-04-14T09:30:00.000-05:00My institution as I understand it receives matchin...My institution as I understand it receives matching funds from the NSF/NIH/etc for each large grant earned by a faculty member. If this is the case for your grants, it is absolutely in the University's material interest (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases) to prevent loss of information that could prevent you from getting another such grant. I am confused as to why your University lawyers did not consider this factor in pursuing the thief (unless your university/grant does not participate in matching funds programs?)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-32576817091477343812008-04-13T15:26:00.000-05:002008-04-13T15:26:00.000-05:00My incident occurred a decade or so ago; security ...My incident occurred a decade or so ago; security was different then.Female Science Professorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288567883197987690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-74373917318738642712008-04-13T13:35:00.000-05:002008-04-13T13:35:00.000-05:00One word: Encrypt!Newtronic has suggested how :-)B...One word: Encrypt!<BR/><BR/>Newtronic has suggested how :-)<BR/><BR/>BTW: You have implicitly told us you do not do classified work ;-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-50445040621728133322008-04-12T08:30:00.000-05:002008-04-12T08:30:00.000-05:00Only tangentially related, but two weeks ago in th...Only tangentially related, but two weeks ago in the New England Journal of Medicine, the author of a book review printed in a previous week apologized publicly for having relied upon a review written by some one else without giving them credit. I thought it was pretty shocking that some one would attempt to use another person's work in an international journal. As a sidelight, the original review was written by a woman and the correction by a man (at least judging from their names). Here is the letter, http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/358/13/1407 <BR/><BR/>(I guess this is more a something I thought you'd be interested in to FSP than a comment on this particular thread) <BR/><BR/>ps that is very lousy. what a sense of violation and then to have the university say it's not worth it to prosecute.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-59357369181174455112008-04-11T21:05:00.000-05:002008-04-11T21:05:00.000-05:00The thief printed out some of my files and showed ...The thief printed out some of my files and showed them to someone who, instead of thinking the thief was clever, was shocked and alerted me and others to the problem.Female Science Professorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288567883197987690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-71115394723590095412008-04-11T20:42:00.000-05:002008-04-11T20:42:00.000-05:00Out of curiousity, FSP, how did you find out that ...Out of curiousity, FSP, how did you find out that someone had broken into your office and copied files? I wouldn't begin to know what to look for (not that anyone wants my data, but whatever). To the other commenter, how did you realize that your email had been hacked?Dr. Cuba Librehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06891988004399800904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-32850789003170139782008-04-11T11:25:00.000-05:002008-04-11T11:25:00.000-05:00Sounds to me like a sad state of affairs when even...Sounds to me like a sad state of affairs when even the university who wants you to do research there does not give any real value to your work. It really just means "thanks for bringing in the grants, the rest doesn't matter". <BR/><BR/>How did you manage to identify the thief, by the way? Some..computer forensic of some time, or did he/she have precedents?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-46079059914553504372008-04-11T10:21:00.000-05:002008-04-11T10:21:00.000-05:00The lab I'm in does research that involves giving ...The lab I'm in does research that involves giving technology (like computers, GPS cell phones, etc) to seniors. A research assistant's car was broken into, and she had some equipment in the trunk, including a couple of laptops, a computer monitor, and a GPS cell phone, which she was going to be using the next day or had just picked up from a subject's home. <BR/><BR/>The cell phone was turned on, and it reported to us where it was whenever it could get a signal. So we were able to trace the thief from the apartment building to Los Vegas and back again.<BR/><BR/>We filed a report with the police, but they told us they couldn't do anything more because the monetary value was too low. I couldn't believe that they turned down the opportunity to catch a thief who essentially stole from an 85-year old, and who we could track with GPS. It would have made such a brilliant news story!MGShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02140920879108426928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-15703672048437920652008-04-11T10:18:00.000-05:002008-04-11T10:18:00.000-05:00I didn't realize that someone would actually physi...I didn't realize that someone would actually physically come into an office... I thought that they would break in remotely and hack the computer. China might do that actually. I don't know why a single individual with no ties to a governmental secret service would.<BR/><BR/>But definitely bad news on the 'breaking into the office' part. I regret telling some people that one of my hobbies is picking locks and I have a lock-picking kit. They immediately assume that I'm a thief and I'm always afraid now that I'll be blamed for some break-in where the door wasn't physically forced. Try telling the 'normals' that it's just a hobby and that you don't do any evil... That's why I really hate thieves. It all comes back to me now. I'm not giving up my hobby though. It calms you down and focuses you after a hard day in the lab.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-1480764362501632222008-04-11T10:10:00.000-05:002008-04-11T10:10:00.000-05:00That seems like such a strange crime, and yes, evi...That seems like such a strange crime, and yes, evil. I'm glad your colleague had backups and did not lose any data. Losing a sense of security in one's office is bad enough.<BR/><BR/>I understand how disturbing the sense of invasion is and how frustrating the lack of response must be, but I also kind of understand why the university's response is so underwhelming. It's completely consistent with the response to other crimes in my experience.<BR/><BR/>I've had my house broken into, my car broken into, and had an intruder come into my bedroom in the middle of the night (fortunately nothing bad happened). In all these cases the police response was that they'd see what they could do, but that I shouldn't expect much. "Make sure all your doors are locked at night, and call us if you see anyone acting suspicious." The reality is that the police are too busy to spend much time on cases where the losses are small and there's no physical harm. <BR/><BR/>As citizens I think we're more or less used to the idea that we're on our own most of the time. I certainly wasn't surprised at the low-key police response to my various situations. I think being part of a university makes it seem like there should be a wealthy, lawyered-up entity on your side when things like this happen. Unfortunately, the university makes cost-benefit calculations much the way the police do.<BR/><BR/>I'm afraid this sounds unsympathetic, which is not my intent. I suppose I wanted to reassure you that they would have been just as dismissive of material losses. Small comfort.<BR/><BR/>On a side note, what would be an appropriate punishment for this kind of theft? Is it the theft of the work (such a huge component of one's identity in many cases) or the invasion or the malice? Does it matter which component bothers you when you think of the punishment? <BR/><BR/>I'm not sure how I answer these questions myself.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11348421230085362865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-3682276395540237092008-04-11T09:47:00.000-05:002008-04-11T09:47:00.000-05:00I hope that you publicly named and shamed the thie...I hope that you publicly named and shamed the thief. Were the motives for the theft obvious (i.e. to steal your research, a vengeful lab assistant)?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-10059720159573028512008-04-11T09:08:00.000-05:002008-04-11T09:08:00.000-05:00I once had a miscreant (who I knew personally) hac...I once had a miscreant (who I knew personally) hack onto my computer to search through my email files for personal and work-related information. Even though nothing "of value" was taken, like you, I was shocked that the situation was not taken seriously. Some people even placed blame on me, claiming that I should have been better at protecting my own files. I certainly felt violated, as I am sure you did. Not sure what an appropriate solution is to such a problem.Katiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03180664868764845535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-5406788782718534622008-04-11T09:00:00.000-05:002008-04-11T09:00:00.000-05:00How did they catch the thief? I'm mystified why cr...How did they catch the thief? I'm mystified why criminal prosecution was not pursued i.e. for breaking and entering, even if nothing of "value" was taken. Was this because the thief was an employee and therefore was not considered "breaking and entering" although it was certainly unauthorized access?John Dennehyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02522347714772131441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-48001484357155096912008-04-11T08:49:00.000-05:002008-04-11T08:49:00.000-05:00I realize you're trying to tell this story as anon...I realize you're trying to tell this story as anonymously as possible, but - I was shocked to read that you eventually found out the identity of your thief! <BR/><BR/>Can you tell us a little more about what you could glean from that, in terms of what role he held in the University, how he had access to your office, and why he stole did what he did? Had he done it before to others?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-76655372844044790692008-04-11T06:47:00.000-05:002008-04-11T06:47:00.000-05:00Hi,Enjoy your blog...Let me suggest you install Tr...Hi,<BR/>Enjoy your blog...<BR/>Let me suggest you install TrueCrypt. It's free, open source, and has been vetted by numerous security pro's. Encrypt data that you care about and then you never have to worry.<BR/>http://www.truecrypt.org/ Don't trust me; do a little bit of research on how it works and why you can be sure it is really safe.<BR/>Good luck!Newtronichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661981594914502833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-81907602882763152372008-04-11T06:44:00.000-05:002008-04-11T06:44:00.000-05:00There are some angry bitter people in academia. A ...There are some angry bitter people in academia. A system that only allows ultimate success for a very few inevitably generates lots of disappointed people, and some people turn disappointment into rage.<BR/><BR/>For example, there is a totally demented fucking wackaloon commenter over at Zuska's right now who is ranting and raving about how "affirmative action means unqualified women are taking academic positions from qualified men". He is almost certainly someone who may have succeeded in an environment that excluded non-white, non-male academics, but now that he is competing on a playing field that is at least moving in the direction of becoming more level, he can't get what he wants.<BR/><BR/>http://scienceblogs.com/thusspakezuska/2008/04/explaining_women_geeks.php<BR/><BR/>These are the kind of people who channel their anger and hatred into academic vandalism and theft. And I have no doubt that the fact that you are a woman makes you a more appealing target.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, this dude commenting at Zuska's really is a totally demented fucking wackaloon, and has threatened to "press charges" against us because we called him out on his demented fucking wackaloonery. It's funny stuff if you like that kind of car-crash Internet loonie rubbernecking.<BR/><BR/>Anyhoo.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com