Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I think we should follow this closely. Will this reduce whats-his-face's bargaining power? Does he own half the copyright? Is this the best way to protect her image? Have they invented any new positions?

http://digg.com/celebrity/Britney_Spears_May_Just_Give_Away_Sex_Tape

Britney Spears May Just “Give Away” Sex Tape!

aGen submitted by aGen 1 day 9 hours ago (via http://gossip.commongate.com/post/Britney_Spears_May_Just_Give_Away_Sex_Tape )

Federline has already been approached by a porn mogul [What a great mental image... Bob] in the U.S. to buy the tape, but choose to pass on the deal for more money. Now sources close to Spears report she is “seriously thinking about” giving away a digitally re-mastered copy of the four-hour long sex video. Sorry Kev!



Long but ultimately useful article!

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=194400878

Privacy: The Problem That Won't Go Away

Your privacy mistakes can easily become everyone's business. Here's how to keep your company--and your career--out of the spotlight.

By John Soat, InformationWeek Nov. 20, 2006

Everybody knows privacy is important. Every company has a privacy policy, or should (You have one, right? And you've read it, right?), and more and more companies are appointing chief privacy officers to ensure compliance with government regulations and company standards.

So why do privacy problems continue to plague large and small companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations? Because a privacy policy and honcho are only the table stakes in a global, online, real-time business world. Now that data is currency and network access ubiquitous, there's more to making privacy work than a wink and a nod. Privacy must go deeper into a company's culture, until it's part of how a company thinks and acts with its customers, partners, and the public.

Getting there isn't a mystery, even if it's hard work. The many failures have shown what needs to be done. Here are nine truths about privacy that companies must live.



Does this clear things up?

http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/community_open_letter.html

Open Letter to the Community from Novell

November 20, 2006

... We disagree with the recent statements made by Microsoft on the topic of Linux and patents. Importantly, our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.



Will the virtual world change the real world? Stay tuned...

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72143-0.html

Second Life Will Save Copyright

By Jennifer Granick 02:00 AM Nov, 20, 2006

... As Rosedale succinctly put it, given the ambiguity in copyright enforcement, Linden will inevitably make mistakes, and it doesn't want to make mistakes.

Instead, Linden Labs will take another approach. In the short run, it believes that use of Copybot violates its terms of service agreement, allowing the company to ban an offender's account. Long term, Linden says it will create better information identifying creators and dates of creation for in-world content. This will allow copyright owners who've been aggrieved to bring infringement claims against offenders personally, at least in theory.



Another use for Second Life. (Perhaps the first “Virtual Law” seminar?)

http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003612.shtml

This is going to be great: Harvard extension class

Check out this video titled, “Charles Nesson is Insane”. I dedicated my first book to Charlie. Each year I mean it even more.

posted by [ Lessig ] on [ Nov 21 06 at 3:52 AM ]



http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2006/11/20/service-for-publishing-cyclic-rss-feeds/

Service for Publishing Cyclic RSS Feeds

Filed under: Net-Tech-RSS November 20, 2006

Just what is a cyclic RSS feed? A cyclic RSS feed has only a certain number of entries (or “episodes” or “issues” if you want to call them that) and is designed to be read in a specific order. For example, if you were to take Moby Dick and divide it into 100 parts, and publish them all in one huge RSS feed, that would be a cyclic RSS feed. Or you might use it for a 10-part tutorial on saving time searching, or how to use the library, or something like that.

Traditional RSS feed publishers can’t handle cyclic RSS feeds because the reader will get dropped into it any old where, instead of in episode 1. Now however there’s a feed publisher — Feedcycle — that handles cyclic RSS feeds, whether you want to publish books, tutorials, or sales pitches by RSS. This is a lovely idea.

Feedcycle’s at http://www.feedcycle.com/ . If you want to see how cyclic RSS feeds can be used, check out the cloud of popular tags. You can read in cyclic format everything from Grimm’s Fairy Tales (one new tale published every two days, 61 tales total) to, no kidding, War and Peace (two chapters a day; the feed runs for six months.) Feeds can be set to release content to the reader as frequently as every 30 minutes or as infrequently as every 28 days. Aside from the fact that they’re cyclic, they work for the reader just like regular RSS feeds — chunk them in a feed reader and start reading.

When I first heard about this site I could think of a dozen ways to use it without half trying. If it’s not grabbing your imagination quite the same way, check out Feedcycle’s brief idea list for both personal and commercial applications, as well as the features list.



Does this raise as many questions as I think it does?

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/11/20/HNhpvirtual_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/11/20/HNhpvirtual_1.html

HP customer service for consumers goes virtual

HP's move follows remote IT services offered to business customers by Dell and Intel

By Ben Ames, IDG News Service November 20, 2006

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is offering a "virtual house call" service to users who have trouble getting their PCs to work

HP Instant Care, announced Monday, provides personalized service over the Internet. Customers can sit at their home PCs while remote workers defragment a hard drive or speed up booting time by deleting extra files in the Start Up menu.



So does that mean it's no longer a public record?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/013073.html

November 20, 2006

Eight Circuit Discontinues Free Access to Full Text Briefs on December 18, 2006

Eight Circuit's Website: "Effective December 18, 2006, links to the full text of briefs will only be available through the PACER system. This means that access to briefs will no longer be free, and users must have a PACER account in order to access briefs. Briefs are subject to the $.08 per page charge imposed by PACER, but the total charge for any document may not exceed $2.40. As a result, no brief, regardless of its length, will ever cost more than $2.40 to download or print. Casual users of PACER should note that PACER does not bill if a user's charges are less than $10.00 in a calendar year. This effectively gives a casual PACER user access to four free briefs a year."



http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/013071.html

November 20, 2006

DHS Privacy Office Annual Report to Congress Released After One Year Delay

EPIC: "The Department of Homeland Security finally released the Privacy Office Annual Report, July 2004 – July 2006 (38 pages, PDF) to Congress. The Department is required by law to provide the report each year "on activities of the Department that affect privacy, including complaints of privacy violations, implementation of the Privacy Act of 1974, internal controls, and other matters," but the report was more than a year overdue."



http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/013072.html

November 20, 2006

New Online Publication on Understanding The Federal Courts

Understanding The Federal Courts: "This publication was developed by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to provide an introduction to the federal judicial system, its organization and administration, and its relationship to the legislative and executive branches of the government."



Because you don't want that “obvious” flaw detected first by some 12-year-old in Mongolia...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/013067.html

November 20, 2006

GAO Report On Need for Agency Policies to Test Information Security

Information Security: Agencies Need to Develop and Implement Adequate Policies for Periodic Testing. Full text, GAO-07-65, and Highlights, October 20, 2006.

No comments: