This is one of those “We can, therefore we must”
lawsuits. I'm hoping the court agrees with me that the mantra should
be, “We can, but we should probably check with a lawyer before we
do.”
There’s an update to a case I’ve been
following on this blog since May, 2011 when Crystal and Brian Byrd
first sued Aaron’s Inc. and Aspen Way.
Their lawsuit encountered a number of obstacles along the way, but
now it looks like it will go forward.
Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:
Class action alleging Aaron’s Inc. and a franchisee secretly collected thousands of computer webcam photos, screen shots and keystroke logs of customers will go forward, a federal appellate court has ruled.
Read more on Atlanta
Business Chronicle.
You can access the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’
opinion here,
and find previous coverage on this site by searching for “Byrd
Aaron’s.”
For my Ethical Hacking students. This is not a
“Get out of jail free” card.
New bill
would protect security research hacking
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jared Polis
(D-Colo.) introduced a
bill Thursday that would exempt responsible
hacking from prosecution under existing copyright law.
The security and academic community has long
worried they could face legal action for basic research, which often
involves examining computer networks in a way that may technically
run afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Should every company do this? You can't do much
on the Internet without attracting users from the EU or other
locations with unique privacy laws.
Mark Wilson reports:
Twitter has updated its privacy policy, creating a two-lane service that treats US and non-US users differently. If you live in the US, your account is controlled by San Francisco-based Twitter Inc, but if you’re elsewhere in the world (anywhere else) it’s handled by Twitter International Company in Dublin, Ireland. The changes also affect Periscope.
What’s the significance of this? Twitter Inc is governed by US law, it is obliged to comply with NSA-driven court requests for data. Data stored in Ireland is not subject to the same obligation.
Read more on BetaNews.
They may want to rethink this one, but Unions have
lots of political clout.
Court:
Union not responsible for Facebook threats
A federal court on Friday ruled in favor of the
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) arguing that it could not force
unions to take down Facebook posts threatening workers for crossing a
picket line.
Unlike in some public settings, a union is not
responsible for the behavior of its members on a private online
Facebook page, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the D.C. Circuit declared.
… In the comments, some union members
criticized workers who crossed the picket line. One post, for
instance, asked a rhetorical question about whether people on strike
could “bring the Molotov Cocktails” to the hotel where “scabs”
were staying.
The union as a whole did not endorse the posts,
and the Facebook page could only be accessed by members of the union.
… However, the labor board’s acting general
counsel issued a complaint claiming that the union had a “duty to
disavow” the critical Facebook posts, just like it would have an
obligation to disown misconduct on the actual picket line. Under the
law, a labor union is responsible for the misbehavior of its members
while they are on the picket line, unless it disavows it.
The Facebook page was merely “an electronic
extension” of the picket line, the acting general counsel argued.
An administrative law judge rejected that argument
and ruled in favor of the union.
On Friday, the appeals court agreed, saying that
the private nature of the Facebook page made it different than a
public picket line.
Well, maybe. Aren't most of their systems already
monopolies?
Government
lawyers don’t want Comcast and Time Warner Cable to merge
Antitrust regulators
want to block the proposed megamerger between Comcast and Time Warner
Cable , Bloomberg reported Friday.
… Consumer advocates
have argued that the deal would reduce competition in the cable
marketplace by putting too much power in the hands of a single
company, allowing it to
raise prices and exploit the public.
Justice Department
officials may have reached the same conclusion, according to the
Bloomberg report.
… When reached for
comment by Fortune, a spokesperson for Time Warner Cable
disputed the Bloomberg report, saying that regulators did not seem
likely to recommend against the deal. “We’ve had no indication
from the DoJ that this is true,” the spokesperson said.
In case you ever wanted
to drive the Trans-Canada highway. Download a copy today!
New
official map of Canada published online by the government
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on Apr 17, 2015
“This map
(MCR 102) is the latest publication in the Atlas of Canada Reference
Map Series. It is an update to the 1:6 000 000 paper map of
Canada published in 2006. International, provincial and territorial
boundaries and the 200-mile offshore Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
are featured on the map. All the national parks and reserves are
shown including the Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve of
Canada, Northwest Territories, and Sable Island National Park Reserve
of Canada, Nova Scotia, two of the most recently established parks.
Major roads, railways and ferry routes are also depicted with the
Trans-Canada Highway clearly represented across Canada from the
Atlantic to the Pacific coasts.
… Published April 15, 2015.
Laughs come free with
the job.
Hack
Education Weekly News
… Nevada
schools experienced a computer glitch, halting
CCSS testing.
… North
Dakota schools experienced a computer glitch,
halting CCSS testing.
… Montana
schools experienced a computer glitch, halting
CCSS testing.
… Via
The Toronto Star: “Toronto’s public school
board hid a camera in the office of a principal suspected of
misconduct, putting him under surveillance for ‘months’ before a
caretaker found the device in a clock, says the Ontario Principals’
Council in an email to all Toronto administrators.” [Bad
choices? Bob]
… Shocking, I know,
but LAUSD is “‘extremely dissatisfied’ with the work of Pearson
on its technology initiative.” Local
NPR affiliate SCPR reports that the district is
asking for a refund from Apple for the Pearson software that came
bundled with its massive iPad purchase.
… Blackboard
has acquired
Moodle hosting/consulting company Remote Learner UK. Terms
of the deal were not disclosed.
… “Tutors aren't
just for underachieving kids anymore,” according
to Macleans. “They're the new normal.”
Considering the story highlights parents who spend $700 to $800 a
month on tutoring, I do have questions about who exactly can afford
“normal.”
Trendy software for
teachers.
How
to Create a Short Flipped Lesson With Vialogues
Vialogues
is a free service that allows you to build online discussions around
videos hosted online and videos that you have saved on your computer.
Registered users can upload videos to Vialogues or use YouTube
videos as the centerpieces of their conversations. In the video
embedded below I provide a short overview of how Vialogues works.
Vialogues
could be a great tool to use to publish questions for your students
to answer while they are watching a video that you have created or
found online. You could also use the comments in Vialogues to simply
call attention to a specific point made in a video. I'm thinking
that I would write comments like, "make sure you know this when
you write your essay."
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