The Privacy Foundation strikes again!
http://www.privacyfoundation.org/
Ethics, Privacy, & New E-Discovery Rules
Morning/Lunch Seminar FRIDAY, April 20, 2007
Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver
What I like about this article is that it points out the problem with high-volume e-discovery (over one billion items per case) I've been saying that these huge volumes require a new approach and this paper seems to agree (is that an indication that they are wrong?)
http://ralphlosey.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/information-explosion-and-the-future-of-litigation/
Information Explosion and the Future of Litigation
A new law review article raises throught provoking questions about the impact of the information explosion on the practice of law, especially litigation: Information Inflation: Can the Legal System Adapt? 13 RICH. J.L. & TECH. 10 (2007). The article is available on-line at http://law.richmond.edu/jolt/index.asp.
... But we do know that, barring a major world disaster, an exponential increase of information is the most likely scenario for the rest of our lives, and so we had better learn to cope with this rapid change, and learn fast.
... For instance, in future suits involving actions by the current administration, the National Archives and Records Administration (”NARA”) estimates that by January 20, 2009, it will have custody of over one hundred million emails from the George W. Bush White House alone. Id. at pg. 12. The total number of emails in NARA custody will soon reach the one billion mark. To search through all of those emails would take a team of one hundred full time lawyers over fifty-four years. Id.at pg. 13. Assuming a very low billing rate of $100 per hour, the cost of review would be $ 2 billion. As the authors point out, email is just the beginning, new forms of writing and communication are developing that will continue the flood waves, such as instant messages, voice mail, web traffic, wikis and the like. Id.at pgs.14-15.
Overabundance of caution?
http://www.kktv.com/news/headlines/6943962.html
Water Bills Stolen
Reporter: Mindy Stone
Possibly hundreds of paid water bills Filled with private information. Checks and money orders could be in the hands of thieves. [A more immediate target that identity information... Bob] The Stratmoor Hills Water District was broken into sometime late Sunday night or early Monday morning. Besides the missing money, this could mean all these customers face having their identities stolen.
About 2000 water bills were mailed out to customers last week. But, Monday morning there were no envelopes in the front hallway of the building. Employees fear thieves may have stolen them if they were put in the drop slot of the front door over the weekend. And their customers may now be victims of identity theft.
Some customers use this drop slot to pay their water bills. But Monday morning there were no envelopes in the front hallway of the building. And when Ralph Ravenscroft showed up to work six of the windows were busted out of this office building. "It was very evident that they walked up to the building, right up to our windows," said Ralph Ravenscroft, Operations Manager. Ravenscroft says he could see footprints in the snow. But, the building doesn't have an alarm or cameras outside. He hopes surveillance video from the business next door will help authorities track down the thieves. "I'm afraid they might have gotten hold of some of our customers checks or money orders with personal information on them," said Ravenscroft. The water district doesn't know if anyone's bill was stolen. But they still want to get the word out. "Given it was a holiday maybe people didn't drop off their bills the way they normally do. But, it's a chance we don't want to take," said Ravenscroft.
If you dropped off your water bill payment over the weekend. Please call the Stratmoor Hills Water District to make sure they received it.
You can't outsource responsibility, but government agencies keep trying (and succeeding?)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070410/ap_on_hi_te/lost_data
Disk with data on 2.9M Georgians lost
By SHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 10, 12:15 PM ET
A computer disk containing the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of 2.9 million Medicaid and children's health care recipients is missing, Georgia health officials said Tuesday.
The state said the security breach was reported by Affiliated Computer Services, a private vendor with a contract to handle health care claims for the state.
The CD was lost while it was being shipped from Georgia to Maryland, ACS spokesman David Shapiro said. The company has been working with the carrier, which Shapiro would not identify, for several days to find the package, he said.
Shapiro said there was no indication anyone had tried to access any of the personal data.
"We are treating this as a missing package," he said.
Officials said the information, including addresses, covered the four-year period up to June 2006 and included some people who are no longer on the rolls.
The Georgia Department of Community Health said it was requiring the Dallas-based company to notify everyone affected and to offer free credit reports. [First time I've seen that requiement. Bob] The children's health care program involved in the data loss is called PeachCare.
PeachCare is the state's health insurance program for low-income children. Medicaid is a health insurance program for the poorest residents. Both programs are funded with a combination of state and federal dollars.
State officials notified the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs and the state attorney general.
On The Net: Georgia Department of Community Health: http://dch.georgia.gov/
Why no one changes their behavior? (see next article)
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070410/105049.shtml
Firm's Personal Info Loss Just The Latest In A Proud Line Of Data Leaks
from the good-work dept
Another day, another data leak: a CD containing the personal information of 2.9 million Georgia residents has been lost by a contractor, potentially exposing them to identity theft. Even such a big leak is hardly notable these days, except for one factor -- the disk was lost by Affiliated Computer Services, a company that's been responsible for several other data leaks. An ACS computer got stolen in Denver last November, and on it was personal information of between 500,000 and 1.4 million people in Colorado. A few months earlier, a glitch on a student-loan web site run by ACS exposed the information of 21,000 students, while earlier in the year, credit-card data from seven years' worth of customers was stolen from a system run by ACS at the Denver airport. Rounding out the list -- or at least the list of ACS-related incidents that made it into the media -- is the theft of two of the company's laptops with data on tens of thousands of Motorola employees in May 2005. This company clearly has a problem with protecting personal information, but it doesn't appear that there are ever any repercussions to these losses. It just accepts whatever minimal fines, if any, it has to pay, and paying for some credit monitoring, as a cost of doing business. The fact that these problems keep happening to ACS reflect how seriously many companies take the threat of identity theft -- which is to say, not seriously at all. But perhaps more distressing is that with the company's track record, government officials don't seem to have any problem passing ACS personal information with little to no oversight.
Perhaps they need to be taught a lesson?
Teachers say fire Duncan
Union rips schools CEO after breach
By Tracy Dell'Angela Tribune staff reporter April 10, 2007
Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart called Monday for the ouster of schools chief Arne Duncan, saying he should be held accountable for the theft of two laptops that contained the names and Social Security numbers of 40,000 teachers.
Stewart compared the security breach to the police brutality scandal that triggered the resignation of Chicago Police Supt. Philip Cline, who announced his early retirement after an off-duty officer was videotaped pummeling a bartender at a North Side bar.
... If Arne Duncan cannot guarantee our protection, he should not have that job," said Stewart, adding that the breach came just months after the district accidentally mailed out the Social Security numbers and names of 1,740 retirees.
... The district offered to pay for credit and identity-theft protection for any affected employee who requests the service. Depending on the number of requests, the service could cost the district as much as $500,000, an expense school officials are looking to share with the accounting firm. "It wasn't our computer. It wasn't our negligence," said district spokesman Michael Vaughn.
Offering to pay for credit monitor is not a costly as you might think...
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/041007-choicepoint-victim-offers.html
Victims of ChoicePoint data breach didn’t take advantage of free offers
Panel of industry, government leaders discuss finding better ways to protect personal data and notify consumers
By Jon Brodkin, Network World, 04/10/07
When ChoicePoint became one of the first companies to admit to a high-profile data breach involving sensitive consumer information, the company offered 163,000 affected individuals free credit monitoring, credit reports and identity-theft insurance.
Barely anyone took the company up on its offer.
“We put out a 1-800 number, all this free stuff that people pay a lot of money to get . . . and fewer than 10% of the people we sent notices to ever called us, ever asked us for any of the free services,” Robert Kamerschen, ChoicePoint’s vice president of law and public policy, said Monday during a panel discussion on cybersecurity and consumer data in Boston. “People debated why this is, and I’m not sure I know what the answer is.”
We'll continue to do it (our way/the easy way/the way we've always done it) until someone notices.
http://www.firefightingnews.com/article-US.cfm?articleID=28822
Accident Information Released: Federal, State Privacy Laws Weighed In Decision
April 10, 2007
Wisconsin - As the state attorney general's office continues its review of the Waukesha Fire Department's practice of keeping ambulance reports secret, the department has reversed itself and released information regarding its response to an allegedly drunken postal worker who crashed a government vehicle.
The department had said the reports could not be released because of restrictions in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, but the department now acknowledges in a letter to the Journal Sentinel that the federal HIPAA law does not supersede state laws on open records.
Another fun e-Discovery fact. How reliable is your ISP?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070410/135035.shtml
Maybe You Should Back Up Your Own Email; Google, AOL, Yahoo All Losing Emails
from the whoops dept
Web-based email has made quite the comeback in the past few years thanks to massive increases in email storage offerings, as well as revamped user interfaces. However, it appears that all of the big players have run into some problems actually keeping email systems online. This past week there have been stories of both AOL and Yahoo losing a ton of email (thousands of emails for AOL, millions for Yahoo Japan). This comes just a few months after Google had some problems with mass email deletions in Gmail. While the convenience these services provide is fantastic, all of these stories of lost emails should act as a reminder that you probably shouldn't trust any of these providers alone to care for your email. It's almost surprising that we haven't seen more of an effort by these or other providers to position email backup services as well, promising to keep you running, should your main account get knocked out or deleted.
Practice hacking the operating system soon to be used by millions of school children.
http://digg.com/linux_unix/OLPC_one_laptop_per_child_Linux_based_OS_ready_for_download
OLPC (one laptop per child) Linux based OS ready for download
Apparently, the Linux-based Sugar OS from the One Laptop Per Child project is now available via a bootable LiveCD ISO, and according to user reports, works quite well.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/10/olpcs-linux-based-operating-system-available-for-download/
How RealID will be used?
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_21274077.shtml
Scanners Raise Privacy Concerns
By Staff Apr 10, 2007
The sheriff's office in Cincinnati, Ohio, is testing a hand-held scanner that can tell police whether a person is on one of 140 watch lists.
"This is the future of crime fighting, Clermont County, Ohio, Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg told USA Today of the Mobilisa Defense ID system.
The device scans driver's licenses, passports and other ID cards and can tell authorities whether the holder is a fugitive, a convicted sex offender or other information.
Perhaps this is the true future of crime fighting – dealing with advocacy groups.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/014513.html
April 10, 2007
EFF Sues Justice Department for Immediate Release of NSL
Follow up to postings on investigations into FBI use of National Security Letters, this press release: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked a judge to issue an emergency order requiring the FBI to immediately release agency records about its abuse of National Security Letters (NSLs) to collect Americans' personal information. The Department of Justice has already agreed that the records should be disclosed quickly due to the exceptional media attention and the questions the NSL report has raised about the government's integrity. However, despite this recognition, the Bureau has failed to meet the 20-day time limit that Congress set for requests that do not merit fast processing...EFF's FOIA request asks for all FBI records discussing or reporting violations of current law, guidelines, or policies, as well as any communications discussing various potential interpretations of current federal investigative power. EFF also demands copies of the contracts between the FBI and three telephone companies, which were intended to allow the FBI to get rapid access to telephone records."
Too lazy to visit the library?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/014504.html
April 10, 2007
AALL Maintained List of Law Library Document Suppliers
The AALL Document Delivery Caucus maintains a list of law library document delivery suppliers.
Who's in your wallet? (BugMeNot works fine...)
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=58532&art_type=5
Just An Online Minute... Utah, Land Of Dumb Internet Laws?
by Wendy Davis, Tuesday, Apr 10, 2007 1:30 PM ET
Same idea, dumb regulation...
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070410/135928.shtml
FTC Wants Time In The Clink For Spyware Distributors
from the and-throw-away-the-key dept
Despite its best intentions, the FTC has been notably impotent in its efforts at stamping out spyware. Even after they've paid fines, many spyware distributors continue to operate and thumb their nose at the the government. Since it doesn't look like fines are working, the FTC is now endorsing the idea of jail time for spyware distributors, as it hopes that the key to solving the problem is in stiffer punishments. Anyone who has had their computer overrun by spyware or had their identity stolen could be forgiven if they wanted the people behind spyware thrown in jail, but it's not clear that it's the best solution. For one thing, there's no good definition of spyware, nor is it clear what aspect of it is illegal. Most people, to use an old line, know what spyware is when they see it, but such subjective definitions don't cut it when you're talking about imprisonment. Furthermore, the FTC doesn't have a good way of tracking down spyware distributors, particularly when it comes to its most pernicious forms (aimed primarily at stealing confidential information), much of which originates outside of US borders. As is the case with spam, it's unlikely that government actions will accomplish too much in this battle. The FTC probably realizes this, and in the absence of anything effective that it can do, it at least wants to sound tough.
Interesting. I wonder what's going on?
http://blog.photobucket.com/blog/2007/04/breaking_news_p.html
April 10, 2007
Breaking news: Posting from Photobucket to MySpace
A Message to our Customers
Today MySpace made the decision to prevent Photobucket users from posting their videos and remixes to their MySpace pages.
Probably not how the RIAA whants to define Copyright...
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/10/216206&from=rss
EFF Jumps in Against RIAA for Copyright Misuse
Posted by Zonk on Tuesday April 10, @05:20PM from the big-guns-call-for-bigger-guns dept. Music The Courts
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Arguing that the RIAA and big record labels may be misusing their copyrights, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has jumped in on the defendant's side in a White Plains, New York, court conflict. The case is Lava v. Amurao, and the EFF will be defending Mr. Amurao's right to counterclaim for copyright misuse. EFF argued that the RIAA, by deliberately bringing meritless cases against innocent people based on theories of 'secondary liability', are abusing their copyrights. In its amicus brief, EFF also decried (just as when it joined the ACLU, Public Citizen, and others on the side of Debbie Foster in Capitol v. Foster) the RIAA's 'driftnet' litigation strategy. They argue that the declaratory judgment remedy must also be made available to defendants, in view of the RIAA's habit of dropping the meritless cases it started but can't finish."
Worth the price?
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/56785.html
Free Antivirus Download Roots Out Rootkits
By Jack M. Germain TechNewsWorld 04/10/07 5:00 AM PT
Rootkits have become a severe threat in comparison to traditional malware because they are often overlooked by conventional antivirus systems. They execute by embedding applications within the operating system, so it is important to correctly distinguish between malicious rootkits and legitimately hidden processes.
http://www.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-rootkit/us/crp/0
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