www.privacyfoundation.org

The Privacy Foundation

In conjunction with International Technology Law Association, ITECHLAW.ORG

TJ Maxx: Plugging the Customer Privacy Leaks

FRIDAY, October 19, 2007 Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, Room 180

Reservations required (due to seating and food) by October 16, 2007

Diane Bales, Law Coordinator 303.871.6580; Email: dbales@law.du.edu

They are not playing dumb – they are playing TO the dumb...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20071011125043573

TJX: Unsurpassed Genius at Playing Dumb (opinion)

Thursday, October 11 2007 @ 12:50 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

Opinion: TJX has repeatedly infuriated people with seemingly ill-advised statements, yet it still wins.

Source - eWeek

Related

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5793.html

Shamed and Able: How Firms Respond to Information Disclosure

Published: October 11, 2007 Paper Released: October 2007 Authors: Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

Executive Summary:

As national governments lose the ability to regulate business activities, interest groups and concerned citizens are turning to private governance to monitor global supply chains, ensure product safety, and provide incentives for improved corporate environmental performance. Proponents hope that private governance incentives will encourage firms to act responsibly, but critics worry that these developments will merely forestall necessary government regulation. Social ratings provide one way to benchmark and compare firms' social performance. But are such ratings schemes effective? This paper investigates the effects of third-party environmental ratings, and finds that firms are particularly likely to respond to such ratings by improving their environmental performance when two circumstances arise simultaneously: (1) when the ratings threaten their legitimacy, and (2) when they face relatively low cost improvement opportunities. Key concepts include:

* Ratings provided by nongovernment organizations will be more influential on firm behavior if they do 2 things: highlight poor social issue management and performance while at the same time help firms identify low-cost improvement opportunities.

* The role of third-party monitoring will be increasingly important as private governance replaces government regulations around the world.

Also related?

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/security/news/129476/europeans-value-personal-data-as-highly-as-cash.html

Europeans value personal data as highly as cash

9:51AM, Friday 12th October 2007

People view their personal information to be as valuable as their own cash, according to a new survey.

The report shows that 87% of UK residents would switch to another bank if they thought that their personal information would be safer - only marginally lower than the 89% who said they would be willing to switch if their money was more secure.

The survey, conducted on behalf of Unisys, shows just how important data protection should be for companies, not only from a security point of view, but also for marketing and customer relations.

"Unisys believes that trust will only become more important - both to consumers and, therefore, to companies and governments," says the report.

Identity theft and data security is now a very mainstream concern - more than half of all Europeans surveyed were either "very concerned" or "extremely concerned" about unauthorised access to their personal information.

The survey goes on to ask whether people would support trusted companies if they began to use biometric security, with an overwhelming majority of 69% saying that they would. This would suggest that if a reputable bank offered a high-security banking scheme, that demand would be high.

Gee, do you think all of Nacchio's problems were due to his high ethics?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20071011163417627

Documents: Qwest was targeted

Thursday, October 11 2007 @ 04:34 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Surveillance

The National Security Agency and other government agencies retaliated against Qwest because the Denver telco refused to go along with a phone spying program, documents released Wednesday suggest.

... The partially redacted documents were filed under seal before, during and after Nacchio's trial. They were released Wednesday.

Nacchio planned to demonstrate at trial that he had a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, at NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Md., to discuss a $100 million project. According to the documents, another topic also was discussed at that meeting, one with which Nacchio refused to comply.

The topic itself is redacted each time it appears in the hundreds of pages of documents, but there is mention of Nacchio believing the request was both inappropriate and illegal, and repeatedly refusing to go along with it.

The NSA contract was awarded in July 2001 to companies other than Qwest.

Source - Rocky Mountain News

{Props, The Privacy Law Site (blog))

Can you do less than the government recommends?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/016239.html

October 11, 2007

Guidelines on Securing Public Web Servers, Version 2

National Institute of Standards and Technology, Computer Security Division: "SP 800-44 version 2, Guidelines on Securing Public Web Servers, is published as final. It is intended to aid organizations in the installation, configuration, and maintenance of secure public Web servers. It presents recommendations for securing Web server operating systems, applications, and content; protecting Web servers through the supporting network infrastructure; and administering Web servers securely. SP 800-44 version 2 also provides guidance on using authentication and encryption technologies to protect information on Web servers."

Encryption made (cheap and) easy!

http://digg.com/programming/Lockbox_Computing_25_Free_Tools_To_Encrypt_Literally_Everything

Lockbox Computing: 25 Free Tools To Encrypt Literally Everything

"It’s not breaking news that hackers can easily figure out how to gain access to unsecured information on your system–emails, chat sessions, phone calls, and files are all vulnerable. What many people don’t know is that there are a number of free tools available that make it easy to fight back. Protect your valuable information with these..."

Got a video camera?

http://blogs.stopbadware.org/articles/2007/10/09/announcing-the-cookie-crumbles-contest

Announcing the Cookie Crumbles Contest!

Posted by Erica George Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:54:00 GMT

StopBadware and our parent organization, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, are hosting an online video contest to help explain web cookies to average internet users.