Now here's a business model I should have predicted...
Web site offers to fix elections -- for a price
Thirty political campaigns reps have already inquired about the services [That's depressing... Bob] from the seemingly satirical site
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service October 26, 2006
"Winning is everything."
That's the mantra of Election Partners Ltd., whose slick Fixavote.com Web site offers such services as "real-time voter correction," and "enhanced retrospective tallying." The site features attractive stock-photography models and inspirational New Age music.
"Using state of the art technology, we overcome the challenges of competition and ensure election results for our clients," the Web site states.
But according to electronic-voting experts the site is most likely satire. [...but we're not sure? Bob]
... Ed Felten, a professor of computer science and one of the authors of the Princeton study said that fixavote.com "looks like satire to me. These services couldn't be provided lawfully."
However, what fixavote.com claims to offer may be technically feasible, he added. "If somebody were willing to break the law, it's within the realm of possibility."
... "Election Consultants is so confident in our ability to secure a desirable outcome for your next election, that we guarantee complete satisfaction," the Web site says. "If any individual precinct covered by our services fails to deliver promised results, then all fees will be waived."
Then the fine print: "Guarantee does not include precincts that use non-electronic voting equipment."
“Just because Gore is spelled Bush...”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501918.html
Lawmakers Pushing for Paper Trail As Backup
By Leef Smith Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 26, 2006; B02
A computer glitch that alters the names of some candidates on electronic ballots in three Virginia cities helps prove the need to create a paper record of each vote cast, two state lawmakers said yesterday.
... State election officials say the glitch will not affect the outcome of races and have pledged to correct the problem by the 2007 statewide elections.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2041377,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
NIST to Certify Voting Machine Security, Standards
October 26, 2006 By Wayne Rash
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the little-known agency that controls how national elections are held in the United States, is enlisting the help of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in making sure electronic voting machines meet federal standards.
According to EAC Voting Systems Certification Director Brian Hancock, all voting machines to be used in federal elections must meet certification requirements for the specific election in which they're being used.
For this reason, the EAC requires vendors of electronic voting machines to show that they meet the required standards by having their products tested by private labs, and having the results verified by NIST.
The EAC and NIST are working together to create the standards against which voting products are judged.
"NIST will address security and wireless access," Hancock noted. He said that focus will be in addition to the standards already in place on usability, performance, accessibility, etc.
... "There has never been an attempt to hack into a voting machine on Election Day," [How could they know? Bob] Hancock said.
New York giveth...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012844.html
October 26, 2006
Public May Now Request and Obtain New York Records Via Email
Effective October 25, 2006 the public may request records from state and local agencies ["any New York State or municipal department, board, bureau, division, commission, committee, public authority, public corporation, council, office or other governmental entity performing a governmental or proprietary function is subject to the Law"], via email in New York.
...and New York taketh away.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/26/2032257&from=rss
New York Bar May Crack Down on Blogging Lawyers
Posted by Zonk on Thursday October 26, @04:46PM from the barred-from-blogging dept. Censorship The Courts The Internet
An anonymous reader writes "While you might not guess it from watching late night TV, advertisements by lawyers are regulated by a web of regulations intended to protect potential clients from deceptive claims in such ads. Generally, these rules require lawyers to submit their ads to a review board, often with a filing fee paid with each new advertisement. The New York bar has proposed new rules which would define blogging as advertising. Should these rules be enacted, any New York lawyer who blogs on any legal topic in New York would be required to submit any new blog post to the New York Bar for review. For New York lawyers who write frequently updated blogs, this could force them to make multiple (and potentially expensive) reports to the New York Bar every single day."
Three months to conclude the obvious?
http://www.counterthink.org/020847.html
Originally published October 23 2006
Consumer Reports Investigation Warns Your Privacy Is for Sale (press release)
The practices of commercial data brokers can rob consumers of their privacy, threaten them with identity theft and profile them as dead beats or security risks, according to an investigative report in Consumer Reports October Issue.
Choice Point, LexisNexis and Acxiom are among the largest of the horde of data brokers that generate billions of dollars in revenue by selling sensitive and personal information about millions of Americans to paying customers, sometimes including crooks looking to cash in.
CR's three-month investigation concluded that current federal laws do not adequately safeguard American's sensitive information, which is often collected and sold by data brokers. This information can include Social Security Numbers, phone numbers, credit card numbers, information about an individual's prescription medication, shopping habits, political affiliations and sexual orientations.
Among the most troublesome findings of CR's investigation: There is no way an individual can find out exactly what data collectors are telling others; and the accuracy of that data is rarely verified. When CR staffers asked to see their own files, they received scant information. One report contained more than 31 errors.
CR's investigation reveals the growth of the Internet has spawned data brokers that use deceptive practices to obtain sensitive and personal information about people and sells it to virtually anyone, sometimes with fatal consequences.
For more information, the complete report on the practices of data brokers is available in the October issue of Consumer Reports or by visiting htgtp://www.ConsumerReports.org .
Personal, sensitive information can be obtained from several sources, most commonly are public records. Some data collectors hire researchers to visit courthouses and county clerks' offices to retrieve information from paper records. However, a growing number of state and local governments are posting personal records online, making information gathering easier and increasing the potential for abuse. In addition, consumers themselves supply tons of data, often unwittingly, because information about purchases, donations, and memberships is now widely shared. In fact, most list creation comes from the activities of consumers like buying from catalogues, ordering magazines, joining associations or filling out warranty cards.
A steady customer, the federal government often enlists the services of data brokers, but there is no way to know exactly what it collects or exactly how much it pays. Since 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice has allowed unrelated bits of personal data to be pieced together to target American citizens as potential threats who merit surveillance or investigation. In fiscal 2005, the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State, and the Social Security Administration spent $30 million on data-broker contracts, according to the U.S Government Accountability Office (GAO). Finding out what the government is buying has proven impossible.
While consumers have little or no control over much of the data collection and sharing that occurs, they can limit the amount of information circulating about them. Checking the accuracy of this information will also help spot signs of ID theft and fraud. To do so, consumers can take the following precautions:
- Opt out of telemarketing, unwanted solicitations and the sale of your information to others. Enroll in the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call registry by going to http://www.donotcall.gov or by calling 888-382-1222. Ask financial institutions, retailers and Web sites not to share your information with other nonaffiliated companies. Contact the Direct Marketing Association at http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html ; for unsolicited email, http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumers/optoutform_emps.shtml. Also, The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse lists data brokers that offer limited opt-out policies at http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm .
- Don't fill out surveys on warranty cards. Just provide your name, address, and necessary product information, and your warranty will be honored. Be careful with direct-mail surveys that don't come from companies with which you already do business.
- Don't provide sensitive information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you've initiated the contact or you're sure that it is from an organization you trust. If in doubt, contact the organization.
- Order your free annual report from each of the major nationwide credit-reporting companies once every 12 months at http://www.annualcreditreport.com .
- Request your files from the major databrokers: ChoicePoint at http://www.choicetrust.com , LexisNexis at http://www.lexisnexis.com/terms/privacy/data/obtain.asp . You can call Acxiom at 877-774-2094 or send email to referencereport@acxiom.com.
- Get medical information. If you've applied for individual health- or life insurance policies within the past seven years, the MIB Group keeps data that insurers use to help determine your rates. Get a report by calling MIB toll-free at 866-692-6901.
Contact: Lauren Hackett, Consumers Union Media Relations, 914-378-2561, lhackett@consumer.org
Bypass bureaucracy!
http://news.com.com/2100-7351_3-6130059.html?part=rss&tag=6130059&subj=news
FON brings Wi-Fi to the people of San Francisco
Spanish start-up will give away Wi-Fi routers to spur the creation of its grass-roots Wi-Fi network in San Francisco.
By Marguerite Reardon Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: October 27, 2006, 4:00 AM PDT
The Spanish start-up FON wants you to help it unwire San Francisco and other cities around the globe by providing ubiquitous Wi-Fi access.
On Friday, the company will give away its Wi-Fi routers that allow broadband subscribers to share their Internet connections with Wi-Fi users throughout their communities. "Freedom Friday", as the company is calling the event, will kick-off at noon in San Francisco's Union Square.
“This was a good idea, until I looked at it.”
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/15854723.htm
Posted on Thu, Oct. 26, 2006
Candidate disavows 'friends' on his MySpace page
By Deborah Lohse Mercury News
Halloween isn't here yet, but a mystery is brewing in San Jose's City Council District 3.
It started Wednesday, when rumors began circulating that council candidate Sam Liccardo's MySpace Web page featured some risque ``friends,'' including young men and women posting pictures of themselves or friends in provocative poses; real or wannabe gang members; and a slew of teens or young adults whose own MySpace pages feature explicit nudity, drug references, or homophobic or racist rants.
A startled Liccardo, whose legal career has included prosecuting sex offenders, did some quick research and ordered the Web site -- established with his approval by the mother of a young campaign volunteer -- shut down.
But Liccardo said none of the people affiliated with his MySpace page had approved the posting of photos or links of such racy friends there. He suspects a hacker is involved, possibly a criminal prosecuted by Liccardo in the past, or a political foe.
“I prosecute Internet crimes against children,'' Liccardo said. “This fits the pattern of defendants I know who are computer savvy.''
Better than Haiku?
http://blog.wired.com/sixwords/
Very Short Stories
33 writers. 5 designers. 6-word science fiction.
From the November issue of Wired Magazine
We'll be brief: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and is said to have called it his best work. So we asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to take a shot themselves.
Dozens of our favorite auteurs put their words to paper, and five master graphic designers took them to the drawing board. Sure, Arthur C. Clarke refused to trim his ("God said, 'Cancel Program GENESIS.' The universe ceased to exist."), but the rest are concise masterpieces.
For the complete text, including stories that didn't appear in the print magazine, go here.
To learn more about these writers, click here
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012846.html
October 26, 2006
SearchSystems.net Public Records Directory Now Has Category on Legislation
SearchSystems.net Public Records Directory added a category for Legislation in July, allowing users to browse and/or search state legislation and legislators [mix of free and fee-based access].
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012836.html
October 26, 2006
2006 State and Metropolitan Area Data Book
"The 2006 State and Metropolitan Area Data Book features more than 1,500 data items for the United States and individual states, counties and metropolitan areas from a variety of sources...topics include age, agriculture, births, business establishments, communications, construction, cost of living, crime, deaths, education, elections, employment, energy, finance, government, health and households. Also, housing, immigration, income, manufacturing, marriages and divorces, media, natural resources, population, poverty, race and Hispanic origin, residence, retail sales, science and engineering, social services, tourism, transportation and veterans."
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012847.html
October 26, 2006
Public Interest Group Relaunches Free Media Tracker Database
Press release: "A cornerstone of the Center for Public Integrity's "Well Connected" project, the Media Tracker is a free, searchable online database...it gives anyone the ability to search out details about the U.S. media and telecommunications companies that control the flow of information in our digital age. By typing in a ZIP code or a city and state, users can retrieve a dossier of information about the television stations, radio stations, cable systems and newspapers serving that area. The Media Tracker database scans more than 5 million pieces of information from governmental sources, corporate disclosure documents and original research."
http://techdirt.com/articles/20061026/083003.shtml
Is MLB.com The Next YouTube?
from the did-someone-say-.com? dept
With online video being so hot this year, one company that's getting attention is MLB Advanced Media, better known as MLB.com, the official site of Major League Baseball. The league's done far more to use the internet than have the other major sports, and it boasts an impressive number of users who pay for live streaming of games and stats packages. It claims to have revenue of $195 million in the last year, and its success can be attributed to a combination of an early start and a good job identifying what consumers want. A few years ago, there was some discussion of taking the company public, and with the big money showered on YouTube, there seems to be renewed interest in it. The league believes the property could be worth close to $5 billion. But this number seems based on the same kind of relative thinking that prompted one analyst to value MySpace between $10-$20 billion. Other than the fact that they both stream video, MLB.com is nothing like YouTube. YouTube offers a fresh way of consuming and sharing video, whereas MLB.com simply tries to replicate the TV experience over the computer. That may work fine for now, but it's going to keep having battles like the one against Sling as people seek to consume the content in different ways. For the site to thrive, it can't get comfortable with its early success; it needs to keep experimenting and trying new things, just as it did when it first launched.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20061026/021059.shtml
Can You Sue For Defamation If Someone Points Out Publicly That You Are Wrong?
from the thanks-for-nothing dept
Remember the publication that put legal statements on its site claiming that fair use did not apply and you could not reproduce anything on the site? Yes, the same one that then threatened to take legal action against the guy who (correctly) pointed out to them that you can't take away someone's right to fair use like that? Well, it appears that they changed part of their legal language to get rid of the bit about fair use not applying, though they kept up the part saying that you can't reproduce anything. The former lawyer, David Giacalone, who had pointed this out to the editor in the first place, sent her a nice followup email thanking her for making the change. In response, however, the woman claims she will be suing him for defamation and has already alerted law enforcement and her attorney. It's hard to see how it's defamation to point out that the legal language on a site appears to be mistaken. The editor claims that the posts about the legal language encouraged "threats, intimidation and profanity" though, if you read the original posts on the topic it's a pretty big stretch to seeing them as encouraging any such activity (not to mention that it was all brought on by the problematic language on her publication's site). In the meantime, Eugene Volokh also has posted a followup on this issue, asking why anyone should trust the accuracy of the content on her site when her claims about copyright are inaccurate? Update: Giacalone lets us know that, after just one day, the site has gone back to claiming fair use is not applicable.
...and I say pounding a campaign sign into your poor defenseless lawn is violent. If you're a democrat.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20061027/004715.shtml
Forget Detecting Gunshots, This Camera Detects If You Just Act Violently
from the you-have-no-privacy-anywhere dept
Following the story from yesterday about sensors that can spot gunfire (which was actually old news), Search Engines WEB writes in to let us know about a new camera system being developed by researchers to automatically spot violent behavior. They claim this is different than cameras being developed and tested to simply spot suspicious behavior by looking for basic patterns. They note that such a system can often have trouble separating out certain situations. For example, they suggest that their system can tell the difference between someone offering another person a stick of gum vs. someone threatening a person with a knife -- which they claim a traditional system would view as looking pretty much the same. Currently, the system is only 80% accurate and the researchers admit it has certain limitations -- but they expect it to improve pretty rapidly over the next few years, especially as the technology gets commercialized. Of course, it will be interesting to see how people respond to such things. While you pretty much can't go anywhere these days without having surveillance cameras watching you, an awful lot of what those cameras catch is never watched or used. However, systems that can capture and analyze specific activities begin to raise many more questions. Instead of just mining consumer databases, will we be hearing stories about politicians targeting pitches to voters based on what a collection of surveillance cameras says about them?
Don't allow your children to escape their formative years without trauma! Read them these bedtime stories.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/scary-stories.html
10/26/2006 07:42:00 AM Posted by Arielle Reinstein, Associate Product Marketing Manager
“I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.” -- Edgar Allen Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart.
Some people dress up in wacky costumes (like us), others carve pumpkins or stay home to pass out treats (my personal favorite is the fun-sized Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate bars – yum). To help get you in the Halloween spirit, we’ve gathered some of the best classic spine-tingling tales you can find in Google Book Search. At google.com/scarystories, you can rediscover spooky classics like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as explore less well-known tales like Thomas Hardy’s Victorian ghost story, "The Withered Arm".
Whenever you see a "Download" button, you're free to download, save, and print a PDF version to read at your own pace. If you decide you want a bound copy, the "All editions" link will show you multiple editions, many of which are available to buy.
We hope exploring these classics helps make your Halloween special -- maybe even keeps you up for a night or two. Please note that some of these books may not be in the public domain everywhere in the world. Where copyright status is in question, we do not enable Full View access or downloading.
“We don't have enough live reporters to translate everything to video, so we computerized it!”
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10371
Software generates video news bulletins
17:53 24 October 2006 NewScientist.com news service Tom Simonite
Software that automatically generates timely video news bulletins, presented by computer-animated characters, could revolutionise current affairs broadcasting, researchers say.
The system, called News at Seven, can produce reports tailored to a person's particular interests, from world affairs to celebrity gossip.
For example, one video shows a bulletin about attempts to corroborate North Korea's controversial nuclear test while another shows a more opinionated celebrity-focused report (both wmv files).
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