Watch out Google Fiber - What I am reading 12/17/2014

Hey all, been awhile since I have done one of these.  There is a reason - all anyone was talking about was "Jackie" and the "UVA Gang Rape", and I wasn't about to wade into that mass of spinning buzz saws, if I was stupid enough to do that I might as well just like a light socket.  It would be less painful and over quicker...  So anyway lets get back to expanding our minds:

The Register - Gigabit-over-TV-cable spec DOCSIS 3.1 passes interop test -

DOCSIS 3.1, a standard designed to deliver downloads at up to 10Gbps on existing hybrid fibre-coax cable television networks, has passed an interoperability test.

...

When DOCSIS 3.1 arrives, it will put the cat among the pigeons. Few internet service providers anywhere offer gigabit services. Cable television outfits will therefore be in a position to make their broadband offerings rather compelling.

Amazing how these things happen when it appears ther might be actual competition for a customer.

Pando Daily - Daily Dot admits reporter covered Anonymous without disclosing major ties to the group -

A reporter for tech culture site, The Daily Dot, reported on Anonymous for several months without disclosing his strong ties to the group, Pando has confirmed.

Reporter Dell Cameron has written over a dozen articles involving the hacker collective, including one about how Twitter had shuttered a hugely popular Anonymous account. However, Cameron failed to disclose to readers that, until May of this year, he was responsible for administering that same account, which describes itself as “a [s]ignal boost for Anonymous operations.” At least half a dozen of Cameron’s articles about Anonymous were published prior to the date he claims to have stepped down from running the @YourAnonNews account.

You know between this, the UVA story, #gamergate, the high school student who supposedly made $72,000,000 trading stocks at lunch time, and a few other examples, I am beginning to doubt both the intelligence and integrity of our journalistic overlords.

Dark Reading - Price Tag Rises For Stolen Identities Sold In The Underground -

One year after the cybercrime underground slashed the price of a stolen identity by as much as 37% due to a glut in the black market, the price tag for a pilfered ID has inched upward again.

Researchers at Dell SecureWorks published their latest report on the underground hacker market today. Counterfeit identities are the new hot product to support fraud -- new fake identity kits, passports, Social Security numbers, utility bills, and driver's licenses. A new identity, including a working SSN, name, and address, goes for $250, and for an additional $100, you can get a utility bill for ID verification purposes when perpetrating fraud, the researchers found.

Stolen IDs are cheaper than phony ones, but a bit pricier than last year. (price list below)

So the question is, are the shortage of identities that are driving these prices a result of fewer stolen identities being available for sale (unlikely), or a result of and increased number of criminals attempting to buy them.?  My money is on option 2.