Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Heads Up! Details will be on the web site soon...

http://www.privacyfoundation.org/

Corporate Privacy: The HP Board of Directors Affair

Morning/Lunch Seminar

FRIDAY, February 23, 2007



Inevitable.

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/02/rhode_island_at.html

Monday, February 5, 2007

Rhode Island AG looks into TJX

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch today initiated an investigation into TJX Cos.' recent security breach.

Lynch filed a civil investigative demand in Providence Superior Court against the Framingham merchants for its alleged failure to both prevent intrusions into its computer network and to use every available means to notify consumers of the recent security breach as soon as possible.

... "TJX owes its customers respect, not neglect," Lynch said in a statement. "By being negligent in its security procedures [Likely? I think so! Bob] and by failing to employ immediate and aggressive methods to notify their many customers of the distinct possibility that their identities had been -- or were at risk of being -- stolen, TJX has displayed disregard for its customers."

... Lynch's civil investigative demand initiates an investigation of TJX's alleged violations of Rhode Island's Deceptive Trade Practices Act.


Also inevitable.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20070206011449304

WPF Comments: Ethical, legal, and social implications of using genetic health care data in electronic health records

Tuesday, February 06 2007 @ 02:00 AM CST - Contributed by: PrivacyNews - Medical Privacy

The World Privacy Forum filed public comments with the Department of Health and Human services in response to an HHS request for information regarding the use of patients' genetic data for research, health care, and for use in electronic health records. The World Privacy Forum is requesting that HHS use all Fair Information Principles in any personalized health care projects, and is requesting that a formal ELSI (ethical, legal, and social implications) committee be set up to oversee any projects, among other requests.

Source - World Privacy Forum Related - WPF Comments [PDF]


Ditto, plus another indication of the Internationalization of privacy.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/178497

Judge orders probe of U.S. Website

TheStar.com - Business

Ruling settles dispute over jurisdiction

February 06, 2007 Tara Perkins business reporter

The Federal Court has ordered Canada's privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, to investigate whether a U.S. website that sold profiles of Canadians breached privacy laws here.

The order comes despite Stoddart's objection that she doesn't have jurisdiction to investigate outside of the country's borders.

... In his ruling, Harrington noted that Lawson's complaint would have been investigated if the website were Canadian.

... An note to Bank of Canada governor David Dodge, prepared for a G-10 dinner in September, noted that "Canada is only one of over 30 countries where the national privacy commissioners are engaged in official investigations of possible violations of national privacy laws resulting from this (U.S.) program."

... The documents paint a picture of multiple government departments working quickly to co-ordinate a media strategy and play down the issue. For example, prepared text for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in July says under "key messages" that "less than 1 per cent of all domestic financial transactions are processed by the SWIFT system, so at the end of the day, we're talking about a very small number of transactions."



The media likes sensational, facts are harder to explain.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070205/114410.shtml

Destroying The MPAA's Claims On The Canadian Camcording Epidemic

from the let's-try-that-again dept

Over the last few weeks, we've noted that the MPAA is on a new publicity campaign to make Canadian laws stricter when it comes to people caught videotaping movies in the theater with camcorders. This is silly for a few reasons, including the fact that camcorder movies make up a tiny portion of counterfeit copies out there -- which are dominated by better quality cuts leaked from the movie studios themselves. Michael Geist has now done a fantastic job destroying each and every bogus claim from the MPAA about the situation in Canada and what needs to be done about it:

  • On the studies claiming that a huge percentage of camcorded films come from Canada, Geist notes that the MPAA keeps changing the number they use and give no support for it, and refuse any independent auditing of the number. An independent study doesn't seem to find the threat of Canadian camcorded videos to be particularly high.

  • On the claims of the economic impact of camcorded versions to undercut the market for DVDs, he again points to the fact that camcorded versions have a very short shelf-life. They're almost always quickly replaced by much higher quality leaks from the studio -- or, once the actual DVD is out, copies from the DVD. In other words, any impact directly from the camcorder version is fleeting, at best.

  • As for the claim that Canada's current laws can't deal with the problem, Geist points out that there are already severe penalties associated with camcording films and even the MPAA's own website highlights how Canada's laws are stringent in cracking down on camcorder usage. He also points to numerous reports of arrests for camcording found on the site of the Canadian cousin of the MPAA.

  • And, finally, on the bizarre claim last week that such legislation eliminated the threat of camcording in the US, apparently no one actually asked the theater owners. The president of the U.S. National Association of Theatre Owners was quoted just a few months ago saying that camcording films has expanded across the US over the past few years. That seems quite different than "pretty well eliminated piracy in the US."

Unfortunately, though, most of the press reports still rely on the bogus stats and the bogus story line planted by the MPAA to convince people that the law needs to be changed even further in their favor. [Which is why it is still part of their strategy. Bob]



When prices are high, competitors move in. Economics 101

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070205/232213.shtml

Kodak's New Battle Plan: Cheap Printer Ink

from the ah,-finally! dept

For many years we've had stories about the ridiculously high price of inkjet printer ink. It is, according to some, one of the most expensive liquids around, costing more than vintage champagne. Someone once worked out that if you filled an Olympic-sized swimming pool with printer ink bought at retail, it would cost you $5.9 billion dollars (yes, with a b). Obviously, that's not the cost of manufacturing the ink, but includes hefty margins for the printer makers, who give away their printers cheap and make it up on the ink margins. The printer makers then go to extraordinary lengths, including using all sorts of intellectual property law to stop anyone else from selling ink for their printers. Some printer companies have also been accused of making ink cartridges expire while they still have plenty of ink. In fact, just a few months ago in a report about how Epson was blocking others from selling compatible ink, we wondered why no printer company saw this as an opportunity to come in and undercut these raw deals, and advertise heavily on the fact that they wouldn't rip you off on ink. Apparently, it was just a matter of time.

Kodak is supposedly announcing new photo printers today, with the explicit focus on the fact that their ink is a hell of a lot cheaper than anyone else's. In fact, they're also promoting that the ink cartridges hold a lot more ink, so you won't have to refill as often either. In other words, they're doing what any competitor in the space should do: beating the competition by offering what customers want, rather than trying to squeeze extra money out of them at the expense of reputation. The reports suggest that Kodak will still make plenty of margin on the ink sales, but that it might finally force some of the other printer companies to lower their prices a bit. Sometimes it takes a while, but it looks like the market is finally doing what it's supposed to.



Win some...

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/05/2248247&from=rss

Court Rules GPS Tracking Legal For Law Officers

Posted by Zonk on Monday February 05, @06:32PM from the so-keep-yer-nose-clean dept.

Via Engadget (which does a good job of explaining the case), an anonymous reader passed us a link to a GPS Tracking Systems Blog post. The site, which reports regularly on GPS-related news, has word that on-the-sly GPS tracking is legal for officers of the law. A 7th circuit court of appeals ok'd the use of a GPS device in apprehending a criminal. Though the defendant's lawyers argued on fourth amendment grounds, the judge found GPS tracking did not warrant an 'unlawful search and seizure'. The judge did warn against 'wholesale surveillance' of the population, though, so ... that's some comfort.


...lose some.

http://www2.csoonline.com/blog_view.html?CID=28602

Feb 05, 2007

German Court Bans Police from Spying on PCs

Germany’s High Court has handed down a landmark decision banning police from installing spyware on computers of suspected criminals without their knowledge.

The decision, announced Monday, is a blow to the plans of German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble to give the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) greater power to monitor terrorists and other criminals online, and peek inside their computers.

Two other federal judges had differed over whether police should be able to hack into the computers of suspected criminals and install spyware. In February, one judge approved police hacking. But another barred the practice in November, resulting in an appeal by federal prosecutors.

The High Court in Karlsruhe argued that searching computers is similar to searching homes, a practice in Germany that requires police to follow certain procedures, such as obtaining a search warrant and informing suspected offenders of a search.

The judges also argued that hacking computers by the police is not permitted under Germany’s strict phone-tapping laws and that legislation would be needed to enable covert surveillance.

Last year, Schauble persuaded the German Parliament to approve 132 million euros (US$171 million) for his Program for Strengthening Domestic Security.

As part of the program, the BKA would have been allowed to penetrate and monitor PCs of suspected offenders in Germany via the Internet.

The program also calls for greater use of video cameras in public places, biometric systems and other new security technologies, as well as the establishment of an Internet Monitoring and Analysis Office.



I wonder why they didn't include an operating system?

http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/06/0126231&from=rss

French Kids Get OSS on USB Sticks

Posted by Zonk on Monday February 05, @10:49PM from the fun-way-to-travel dept. Education Software Linux

daria42 writes "To help make kids aware of alternatives to proprietary software the Ile-de-France, the political district of greater Paris, will give 175,000 school children and apprentices USB keys loaded with open-source software. With a word-processing program, audio and video playback capabilities, an email client and an IM client, these are essentially computers on a stick. The council touts this as 'represent[ing] for students a tool of freedom and mobility between their school, cybercafes and their home or friends' PCs'." With the prevalence of internet cafes in Europe, that might work better than in the US ... but do you think such a project would work here as well? If so, what software would you want to see loaded up?



I think the Canadians are planning an invasion!

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/02/06/2311983.htm

[February 06, 2007]

Huge database aims to include photo of every Tucson house

(Arizona Daily Star, The (Tucson) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 6--Photographers from a Canadian company are going house to house, shooting pictures of the roughly 300,000 houses in metropolitan Tucson.

It's part of an effort to photograph and appraise every house in the country, creating a database that can be sold to banks and insurance companies.

While the city attorney says the activity is perfectly legal, it has officials and some residents concerned about privacy rights.

And real estate agents, to whom the company hopes to market the information and pictures, question the value of the database.

Representatives of Zaio Corp. -- the letters stand for "zone appraisal and imaging operations" -- say the information will help loans get processed faster, ultimately benefiting consumers.

"In America, it takes seven days to get a residential appraisal and seven weeks to get a commercial appraisal," said Thomas Inserra, Zaio's chief executive officer. "Our company is the first in the world to apply state-of-the-art production technology to appraisals. Our goal is to produce an appraisal before they are actually needed."



This could influence my decision to turn pro!

http://searchengineland.com/070205-165836.php

Feb. 5, 2007 at 4:58pm Eastern

Google Releases New Link Reporting Tools

For years, Google's link: command (and see here) has deliberately failed to show all the links to a website. This came out of Google's fear that site owners simply wanted the data to try and manipulate rankings -- which was pretty true.



It is always interesting to see what could be done. Now figure out what must be done.

http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/55581.html

The Rise of Physical Security Information Management

By Tony Lapolito TechNewsWorld 02/06/07 4:00 AM PT

By converging video surveillance and other physical security systems with IT security, taking in the enormous load of information and distilling it into the most pertinent insight, organizations can significantly improve cross-organization communications and efficiencies while fortifying a comprehensive security posture.

2006 witnessed the beginning of a convergence between physical and IT security, driven largely by the greatest fear of security professionals -- a coordinated assault that combines an attack on the IT network to eliminate an organization's ability to command, control and communicate with a physical security attack.

In order to get a firm grasp of an organization's overall security posture, it is increasingly important to integrate all of your various physical and IT security systems -- systems that until now have been managed and run in separate silos.

For an organization to adequately protect itself from today's increasingly sophisticated threats, it's critical to leverage advancements in technologies that cater to both physical and IT environments.

Video Revolution

In addition to the convergence of physical and IT security systems, the convergence continues in video technologies as well -- IP video technologies (DVRs, NVRs, cameras, etc.) are quickly being assimilated into the technology infrastructure.

Camera, sensor and alarm technologies have become less and less expensive and easier to deploy, giving security personnel wide-reaching insight into the physical surroundings.

Research and Markets expects the market for video surveillance equipment to grow by 37 percent by 2009, as companies that converge physical and IT security take the blinders off as they deploy a complete network of surveillance technologies that communicate in real-time to deliver operations center personnel true situational awareness.

However, the constantly growing number of cameras, sensors and alarms creates an additional scalability issue -- the amount of data and feeds to watch and analyze can be overwhelming, leading to the question, "How can one have 1,000 eyes and still be blind?"

The challenge now becomes the ability to manage a variety of analog and digital systems that can intercommunicate.

All of these converged security technologies can produce a greater amount of information from which to make security decisions. From here, it is crucial to be able to manage, correlate and analyze the information to drive the right response, making it critical to have a platform that can manage all of this information effectively and help produce decisions quickly.

Securing the Borders

The simple reality is that now that the world is changing, the ways in which you must deal with security threats are changing too.

We've entered a significant shift in the security field -- a convergence of traditionally separate physical and IT security systems. 4A International indicates that the US$120 billion physical security market is undergoing a tectonic shift, driven largely by integration with IT security systems.

In addition, according to market research firm the Freedonia Group, the global market for private security products and systems is forecast to grow 8 percent annually through 2010, reaching $85 billion.

Take the Secure Border Initiative, also referred to as SBInet, for example. Some estimate the value of the multiyear contract at more than $2 billion, which will be used to install new tracking sensors, cameras and communications equipment along the border of the United States.

The SBInet program is just one large-scale example -- enterprises and municipalities around the globe are investing in these systems.

However, at the same time, they won't abandon their existing network infrastructure -- much of which is analog video communications, driven by the dozens to hundreds of network surveillance cameras they've installed over the years.

Spanning All Levels of the Enterprise

Security convergence reaches far beyond the technology that enables a greater awareness of security posture, and the shift is upon us. The key is to manage this transition effectively to achieve the results a converged security system promises. This convergence is happening across the following levels:

  • Organizational -- Reorganization is happening under the risk management umbrella. Now, there is a single organization responsible for all security related activities -- whether physical or IT -- enabling a coordinated view of the situation and prompting the right response to a given event.

  • Facility -- The facility is evolving as well. Through highly connected facilities, sophisticated software and collaboration technology, organizations are able to better manage a collocation facility or a virtual location -- adding to the need to manage the flow of information and response.

  • Physical Security and Video Technology -- New video technologies are enhancing the abilities to protect the physical realm. However, this wave of new technologies must co-exist and work seamlessly with existing video solutions. Enterprises face an interesting proposition if they manage this convergence correctly -- benefiting from new innovations while leveraging established assets.

  • Physical and Logical/IT -- Connecting network and IT access to systems and applications with the physical access of a facility, building and/or room is gaining significant interest, with major physical security players partnering with logical security vendors to broaden protection from people and assets to information and infrastructure.

All of these levels are converging upon each other to create a new centralized view of security across an organization, bringing with it a number of technology challenges that must be acknowledged and addressed. To illustrate, consider these key technology convergence issues security organizations face as they strive to meet their primary mission of protecting people, assets and infrastructure:

  • Analog to Digital Migration -- Organizations have to manage a large installed base of analog (90 percent-plus) plus fast-emerging digital solutions.

  • Multiple Management Systems -- Every product and system has a proprietary standalone management console.

  • Data Overload -- There are too many cameras to monitor and too many data sources.

  • Disparate Equipment and Systems -- Systems such as surveillance, access control, information security, etc. to date have been built in silos and do not interoperate.

  • Proactive Mitigation -- Forensics only helps "solve" the crime, and does not accomplish the primary mission of preventing it.

  • Legacy Equipment and Networks -- Forklift upgrades are unrealistic and simply aren't acceptable.

  • Archive and Storage -- Legacy tape systems are not suitable for fast data retrieval or event correlation.

  • Lack of Standards -- Control plane systems do not operate on known standards.

Until now, there has been a void in the physical security market at the intersection of IT security. Despite the staggering number of cameras, alarms and sensors feeding data to an operations center, there lacked a physical security information management platform that could take in all the data, correlate it with data from IT security systems, and provide security personnel the insight to make effective decisions and respond to security events.

Security event management (SEM) and security incident management (SIM) are synonymous in the IT security field, and have long served as the correlation engine that enables an IT security manager to ferret out false alarms and false positives from true events that require attention and response.

SEM enables organizations to pull data from firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, antivirus software and log files to create a clearer view of network activity and how to respond swiftly and effectively.

Companies are now applying these concepts to the physical security field, producing greater insight into what is going on around the facility, and how to best handle a given situation.

By correlating the data feeds and alarms from various sources, a physical security information management (PSIM) solution can provide the context that enables the right response to real threats and security events and disregard those that are false alarms or not real threats.

One Consolidated, Correlated View

This emergence of the PSIM market will provide great value to today's security organizations.

By converging video surveillance and other physical security systems with IT security, taking in the enormous load of information and distilling it into the most pertinent insight, organizations can significantly improve cross-organization communications and efficiencies while fortifying a comprehensive security posture. The devil is in the details, however.

Many vendors, whether physical security or IT security, will develop their own proprietary solutions that require expensive tie-ins with other products they offer.

The prime value that a PSIM solution can unleash is when it is standards-based and can interconnect an organization's existing proprietary systems -- be it analog or digital, cameras or alarms, firewalls or intrusion prevention systems -- enabling the organization to leverage and build off its existing investments rather than a rip-and-replace approach.

The shift towards an integrated physical and IT security system is underway with the convergence of analog and IP video and other data sources into a physical correlation environment that leverages an organization's existing technology investments.

As companies get more comfortable with the inevitability and value of a fully-integrated physical and IT security environment, the developing PSIM market will blossom into a full solution category segment that will enable security personnel to manage the flood of new threats emerging daily.



Arthur Clark pointed out that countries with minimal infrastructure could skip all the older technologies and invest in the latest. (No need to string copper wire to each home when cell phones are available.) Is that what this is?

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2090589,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594

Mexico's Telmex Launches Television via Internet

February 5, 2007 By Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters)—Mexican phone company Telmex has launched a platform that offers television via the Internet which for the moment is free but will turn into a cash generator in the future.

Called "Prodigy Media," the service offers four live channels and the ability to download videos and films. The software is available via the link www.prodigymedia.com.mx.

Included among the channels are Fox News, TV UNAM—the television of the National Autonomous University of Mexico—and another Mexican channel which is dedicated to cultural programs.

Telmex is controlled by tycoon Carlos Slim and because of its dominant market share in the fixed line business in Mexico the government opted last year to apply slightly stricter regulations for the company in the so-called "triple play" business.

Triple play is seen as the way forward for telephone and cable television companies as it allows them to offer an integrated package of services including phone, broad-band Internet and subscription television.

Under the government-published rules for triple play, Telmex has to wait until mid-2007 before offering pay TV to its range of services.

Telmex is not ruling out talks on programming deals with Mexico's two main traditional broadcasters, Televisa and TV Azteca.

"We can do anything," Ana Godinez, Telmex's director of the Prodigy Media project told the Reforma newspaper on Monday. "It is a question of negotiations and having the content rights."

Televisa has its own Internet platform for television, called EsMas Player, through which it transmits live its four national television channels in a service that costs $12 per month.

Televisa, which is the biggest producer of Spanish language programming in the world, is also planning to enter the triple play market via its cable TV network Cablevision.


Here is how we do it in the US

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/technology/06video.html?ex=1328418000&en=6b4d3661171c7c8a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

February 6, 2007

Wal-Mart and Studios in Film Deal

By MICHAEL BARBARO

Stores">Wal-Mart Stores may have lost the online DVD rental battle, but it has no plans to lose the higher-stakes video downloading war.

Today the company will introduce a partnership with all of the six major Hollywood studios — Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Universal — to sell digital movies and television shows on its Web site (www.walmart.com/videodownloads), becoming the first traditional retailer to do so.



If I remember correctly, Princeton's Firestone library is number three after the Library of Congress and the New York City library system.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2090588,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594

Princeton Libraries Join Google Book-Scan Project

By Reuters February 5, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—Princeton University has become the 12th major library system to join Google's ambitious, sometimes-controversial project to scan the world's great literary works and make them searchable over the Web.

... The combined collections of the university's libraries total more than 6 million printed works, 5 million manuscripts and 2 million nonprint items.

No comments: