We frequently harp on not only keeping data backups, but on ensuring that your backups are good. (That’s why Adam Engst has designated every Friday the 13th as International Verify Your Backups Day.) It’s inconvenient to lose some recent files or email messages, but a good backup policy is even more essential for larger projects — like an entire movie, for example. Two people involved explain how Pixar nearly lost a year’s worth of work on the movie “Toy Story 2” after someone accidentally entered rm * (the Unix command to remove everything) and the company discovered their backup had been compromised. The film’s salvation came from an unexpected source.

Although details are still appearing, Sophos is reporting that a particular combination of circumstances can result in FileVault passwords being exposed in plain-text log files. The combination is somewhat unlikely — the Mac had to be using FileVault 1 under Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, be upgraded to 10.7 Lion, and then updated to 10.7.3, all without switching to FileVault 2. Nevertheless, if this applies to you, change that password!

Declan McCullagh at CNET is reporting that the FBI is looking to expand CALEA — the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act — to apply to Web sites and services like iCloud, iChat, FaceTime, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Gmail, and Hotmail. Passed in 1994, CALEA currently requires telecommunications companies to make their systems wiretap-friendly; CALEA was extended to broadband networks in 2004. Technology companies are generally unhappy about such expansions, and Apple is lobbying on the topic now. Mandated backdoors, apart from being generally creepy even when used only with court orders, also pose serious security risks.

In April 2012, Apple started shipping a slight variant on the iPad 2 that remains for sale even as the third-generation iPad has become the mainstay of the line. This new version of the iPad 2 — labeled internally as “iPad 2,4” — uses a 32 nanometer version of Apple’s A5 chip that replaces the 45nm version in the previous iPad 2 model. The processing performance is the same, but AnandTech is reporting that the 32nm model has notably better battery life (and a lower manufacturing cost). Alas, there is no way to know if any given iPad 2 uses the new chip without running an app that reports on the internals.

In a chapter excerpted from a book on WordPress, Kirk Biglione offers a nice rundown of the costs of DRM, to readers, to publishers, to retailers, and to the world at large. It’s especially apropos, given that 4 May 2012 is the fourth annual “Day Against DRM.”

Ars Technica reports that Oracle, the company that manages the Java development environment, has taken over distribution of Java for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (older versions are not supported). Since Apple has failed to update Java as quickly as Oracle has in the past, this should mean that Mac users will be protected from future Java vulnerabilities more quickly. Unfortunately, this 1.7.0_04 release of Java does not support the Java Plugin and Java Web Start applications, meaning that Java applets won’t be available to Mac users who install Oracle’s code. Therefore, it’s probably best holding off on Oracle’s version of Java until those pieces are available, or until a new security vulnerability makes it unavoidable.

Apple made an in-house parody ad of its famous “1984” ad called “1944” that has to be seen to be believed. A long-ago Apple employee, Craig Elliott, provided the video to Network World’s Paul McNamara. Steve Jobs does an impression of FDR, among other bizarre moments. It was made to pump up Apple’s sales force, and may not have been seen since 1984.