Saturday, June 09, 2007

Ignorance is bliss, until...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR2007060801704.html

U-Va. Officials Announce Database Breach

By Susan Kinzie Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 9, 2007; B05

Hackers have been breaking into a University of Virginia database that included Social Security numbers and other personal information about faculty members over the past two years.

School officials announced the security breaches yesterday, about a week after they discovered that, on 54 days between April 2005 and April 2007, someone broke into the records for more than 5,700 faculty members. Officials warned professors to carefully watch their financial accounts and have offered a year of free credit monitoring to everyone affected.

... Hackers got into an academic Web site that mistakenly included the database of professors' information, officials said. [“We didn't know the data was there!” Bob]

... When officials sent out e-mail alerts, the names got mixed up, [“We have complete control...” Bob] and the school had to send follow-up messages and post a clarifying note online: "If an e-mail came to your address, your information has been exposed -- even if the name in the salutation is not yours."

... The data have been removed and security has been shored up, according to school officials. But they are concerned that more than 3,500 of those affected no longer work at U-Va. and could be difficult to contact, so they hope [Hope is not a strategy... Bob] former faculty members will check the school's Web site.




Follow-up

http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/Daily-News/b9cf3606-e1c4-49dc-98a4-6013bb7531e7.html

Bizarre incident at Sudbury clinic sparks Privacy Commissioner Order

Passing driver intercepts video image of woman providing urine sample

By: Joaquim P. Menezes IT World Canada (08 Jun 2007)

Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian has issued a 16-page order, with an extensive set of guidelines, and a fact sheet on responsible video surveillance following her inquiry into what appears to be a gross breach of privacy involving a clinic in Sudbury.



So if I have a website, I must be able to spy on my users? My costs just went from zero to HUGE!

http://news.com.com/TorrentSpy+ordered+to+start+tracking+visitors/2100-1030_3-6189866.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news

TorrentSpy ordered to start tracking visitors

By Greg Sandoval Story last modified Fri Jun 08 19:41:10 PDT 2007

A court decision reached last month but under seal until Friday could force Web sites to track visitors if the sites become defendants in a lawsuit.

TorrentSpy, a popular BitTorrent search engine, was ordered on May 29 by a federal judge in the Central District of California in Los Angeles to create logs detailing users' activities on the site. The judge, Jacqueline Chooljian, however, granted a stay of the order on Friday to allow TorrentSpy to file an appeal.

The appeal must be filed by June 12, according to Ira Rothken, TorrentSpy's attorney.

TorrentSpy has promised in its privacy policy never to track visitors without their consent.

"It is likely that TorrentSpy would turn off access to the U.S. before tracking its users," Rothken said. "If this order were allowed to stand, it would mean that Web sites can be required by discovery judges to track what their users do even if their privacy policy says otherwise."

The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents Columbia Pictures and other top Hollywood film studios, sued TorrentSpy and a host of others in February 2006 as part of a sweep against file-sharing companies. According to the MPAA, the search engine was sued for allegedly making it easier to download pirated files.

Representatives of the trade group could not be reached for comment.

The court's decision could have a chilling effect on e-commerce and digital entertainment sites, said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He calls the ruling "unprecedented."

Now on News.com

EFF, which advocates for the public in digital rights' cases, is still reviewing the court's decision, but von Lohmann calls what he's seen so far a "troubling court order."

This is believed to be the first time a judge has ordered a defendant to log visitor activity and then hand over the information to the plaintiff.

"In general, a defendant is not required to create new records to hand over in discovery," von Lohmann said. "We shouldn't let Web site logging policies be set by litigation."

Many Web companies keep visitor logs, which can include Internet Protocol addresses, as well as other information. Some choose not to record this data, including EFF, von Lohmann said.


Related?

http://newteevee.com/2007/06/08/does-digital-fingerprinting-work-an-investigative-report/

Does Digital Fingerprinting Work?: An Investigative Report

Written by Liz Gannes Posted Friday, June 8, 2007 at 12:00 AM PT

Audio and visual fingerprinting of copyrighted video is seen as the best way to combat infringement, but in NewTeeVee’s testing this week across multiple sites, it did not work. We were surprised to be able to upload multiple times the exact same copyrighted file, even after we explicitly told the hosting site and the fingerprinting provider about it and they took it down.

What follows is a description of our procedure, accompanied by the vehement disclaimer that we were doing this only for educational purposes.



Learn from your failures – what a concept!

http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/08/1821215&from=rss

The Economist on Apple, the iPhone, and Innovation

Posted by Zonk on Friday June 08, @03:42PM from the talking-bout-idea-germination dept. Apple

portscan writes "This week's Economist has a special report on Apple, Inc. and innovation. 'The fourth lesson from Apple is to "fail wisely". The Macintosh was born from the wreckage of the Lisa, an earlier product that flopped; the iPhone is a response to the failure of Apple's original music phone, produced in conjunction with Motorola. Both times, Apple learned from its mistakes and tried again. Its recent computers have been based on technology developed at NeXT, a company Mr Jobs set up in the 1980s that appeared to have failed and was then acquired by Apple. The wider lesson is not to stigmatize failure but to tolerate it and learn from it: Europe's inability to create a rival to Silicon Valley owes much to its tougher bankruptcy laws.' There is also an article on the business of the iPhone and the future of the company. "



Implications for shrink-wrap?

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/08/2017257&from=rss

Second Life Arbitration Clause Unenforceable

Posted by Zonk on Friday June 08, @05:43PM from the furries-have-rights-too-you-know dept. The Courts Role Playing (Games)

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In a decision that could have far-reaching implications, a federal court in Pennsylvania has held that the California arbitration clause in the 'take it or leave it' clickwrap agreement on the Second Life website is unconscionable, and therefore unenforceable. In its decision (pdf) in Bragg v. Linden Research, Inc., No. 06-4925 (E.D. Pa. May 30, 2007), the Court concluded that the Second Life 'terms of service' seek to impose a one-sided dispute resolution scheme that tilts unfairly, 'in almost all situations,' in Second Life's favor. As a result, the case will stay in Pennsylvania federal court, instead of being transferred to an arbitration forum in California."



Ed Felten's talk about Copyright

http://www.privacydigest.com/2007/06/08/what+rsquo+s+biggest+impact+it+copyright

What's the Biggest Impact of IT on Copyright?

June 8, 2007 - 3:15pm — MacRonin

On Saturday I gave a talk (’Rip, Mix, Burn, Sue: Technology, Politics, and the Fight to Control Digital Media’) for a Princeton alumni group in Seattle. The theme of the talk is that the rise of information technology is causing a ‘great earthquake’ in media businesses.


Related

http://digg.com/music/Download_Any_MP3_From_MySpace_Bands

Download Any MP3 From MySpace Bands

Forget about complex methods to downloads MP3 from MySpace, just enter the Band Name and get a list of MP3s to download. Its 100% Free!!

http://myspacemp3.org/


Related?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070608-for-sale-by-owner-websites-can-generate-higher-prices-than-realtors.html

"For sale by owner" web sites can generate higher prices than Realtors

By Nate Anderson | Published: June 08, 2007 - 01:37PM CT

... The study was made available yesterday (PDF) by the authors.

In a nutshell, the paper shows that the FSBO homes sold for an average price of $175,068 in Madison, while Realtor homes sold for $173,205 in the same period. After commissions are removed from that figure, the FSBO folks came out a good deal ahead.

... The New York Times had a writeup on the report today, and they note that the National Association of Realtors, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country, takes issue with these findings.



Tool to stimulate your CEO?

http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1397,2143482,00.asp?kc=BARSS02129TX1K0000533

June 8, 2007

CIOs, Auditors To Get New Software Controls Guide on July 9

The Institute of Internal Auditors' forthcoming guide lists tests that companies can perform to make sure their controls are correct and working properly.

It's time for an audit of the application controls for every business system throughout your organization, from enterprise resource planning to e-mail programs, document imaging systems and product design software. As a CIO, are you prepared?



Definitely a work in progress... (Won't Mr. Shakespeare sue over the copyright?)

http://www.openshakespeare.org/

v0.4 of Open Shakespeare Released

A new version of open shakespeare is out.

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