Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Something novel.  It wasn’t North Korea? 
The Korea Herald reports:
Police said Monday they are investigating a hacking case involving a leak of more than 10 million customer data from a leading South Korean online shopping mall.
An unidentified suspect allegedly hacked into the server of Interpark Corp. and stole customer information, including names, addresses and phone numbers, in May, according to police.
Police suspect that the hacker sent an email containing malicious codes to the company officials and penetrated its database.
The investigation was launched earlier this month as the online shopping mall operator reported to police that the hacker asked for money, threatening to go public with the fact that Interpark’s data was stolen. 
Read more on Korea Herald.


Some things you might not know about Pokémon.
The CIA, NSA and Pokémon Go


Continuing my “no consequences” theme.  “Yes, they broke the law we are responsible for enforcing and if they do it again we may look into actually getting off our asses and doing something.  But don’t count on it.”  (How not to encourage addicts to seek help?)
File this under “small breach, huge harm.”
Mike Anderson reports that a woman is suing Pennington County because employees at City County Alcohol Drug Program (CCADP) violated federal law when they notified law enforcement that they had found a used syringe in her possession when she came to them, seeking help.
Their notification appears taboo to me under the Confidentiality Of Alcohol And Drug Abuse Patient Records Regulation (42 CFR Part 2), but hey, IANAL and all those disclaimers.
Disturbingly, perhaps, every agency the woman and her legal representative have contacted refuse to take any action and say that what the program did is permissible.
And what did OCR do when the woman, who spent 200 days in jail after being convicted on charges, filed a complaint under HIPAA?
Giroux recently received a response from the Office for Civil Rights, a federal agency that protects an individual’s civil and privacy rights.  Like the other groups she has reached out to, the OCR said in its letter that it will not take any punitive action, but with one crucial difference.
Based on Giroux’s description of events, the letter acknowledged that a breach of federally protected confidentiality had indeed occurred.  The OCR informed Giroux that it has closed its case against the Pennington County drug treatment center with one caveat:
If it receives another complaint alleging that Pennington County drug treatment staff have broken the confidentiality rights of their clients, “OCR may initiate a formal investigation of the matter.”
So maybe there wasn’t a breach of 42 CFR Part 2, but there was a HIPAA breach?  And OCR won’t do anything unless someone else also claims to have been harmed or the victim of a similar breach?
Wow.  That is terribly disappointing. I’d like to see a record of HHS/OCR notifying them, in writing, that what they have done violates HIPAA, and don’t do that again.


Perspective.  Do you think that buying failed companies is the road to success?  I don’t see this working, but I have been spectacularly wrong in the past.  So, what do I know.
Yahoo Deal Could Put Verizon in Google and Facebook's League
Verizon Communications on Monday announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Yahoo's operating business for approximately US$4.83 billion in cash. The deal, which comes on the heels of Verizon's $4.4 billion AOL purchase last year, will allow it to expand its digital advertising business.
   However, "going forward, it's not a new beginning for Yahoo," added Steve Blum, principal analyst at Tellus Venture Associates.
"It's more likely to be broken apart and recombined with AOL and other Verizon assets," he told the E-Commerce Times.
   "Remember that Microsoft offered $45 billion for essentially the same deal in 2008," said Tirias' Teich.
"That should put the current $4.8 billion price in context," he added.
"Yahoo's biggest problem is sinking value," observed Blum.
"In 2008, Microsoft's offer at the time was considered a bargain basement price -- Yahoo hit $125 billion during the dot-com boom," he recalled.  "From a shareholder's perspective, $4.8 billion now is a better play than likely taking less in a year or two."


Architecting a business model.
How Industrial Firms Can Pivot to Digital Business Models
   For example, Walmart dominated the retail market for a long time and yet it is battling Amazon for its future.  How about the yellow-page companies — where are they now?  Nowhere to be found, because they didn’t understand the web and search and so left the market to Google.  Is the same going to be true for the hotel industry, in that existing giants such as Starwood and Marriott will capture the future opportunity for us all renting out houses or will Airbnb own the market?  As for cars and transport, will it be owned by GM, Ford or Uber and its Chinese rivals?  So the question for the industrial giants of today — whether they are in oil production, car manufacturing or real estate development — is this: What is your future business model?  Will it be inside out (organization-centric) or outside in (network-centered)?

(Related)  An Infographic for my Data Management students.
Infographic: Moving Digital Transformation Forward


Why?  Is the UK more forward thinking?  How? Do they have easier laws or easier politicians?
Amazon Expands Drone Testing in Britain
Amazon has partnered with the British government to significantly expand drone testing, a move that could allow the devices to deliver packages to British homes far earlier than in the United States.
Under the partnership, Britain’s aviation regulator will let Amazon test several aspects of drone technology — such as piloting the machines beyond the line of sight of its operators — that the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States has not permitted.  The tests, which are an important sign of confidence in Britain [???  Bob] after its historic vote last month to leave the European Union, are to begin immediately.


Interesting high-level summary.  This might start some businesses thinking, but I doubt anyone in government can think.
How Is the Federal Government Using the Internet of Things?
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 25, 2016
How Is the Federal Government Using the Internet of Things? By Daniel Castro, Joshua New & Alan McQuinn. July 25, 2016: “The Internet of Things (IoT)—a term used to describe the set of physical objects embedded with sensors or actuators and connected to a network—offers numerous opportunities for the federal government to cut costs and improve citizen services.  Moreover, because the Internet of Things generates positive network externalities, widespread adoption by the government will spur commercial adoption.  While early adopters in the federal government have already demonstrated the potential of this technology with projects that improve public safety, reduce energy use, enhance military capabilities, and improve worker health, overall adoption across federal agencies is still very low.  The federal government faces a number of challenges that have slowed the adoption of the Internet of Things in the public sector.  First, there is a lack of strategic leadership at the federal level about how to make use of the Internet of Things.  Second, federal agencies do not always have workers with the necessary technical skills to effectively use data generated by the Internet of Things.  Third, federal agencies do not have sufficient funding to modernize their IT infrastructure and begin implementing IoT pilot projects.  Fourth, even when funding exists, federal procurement policies often make it difficult for agencies to quickly and easily adopt the technology.  Finally, risks and uncertainty—about privacy, security, interoperability, and return on investment—delay federal adoption as potential federal users wait for the technology to mature and others to adopt first…”


Publish or perish?
Law Journals: Submissions and Ranking, 2008 – 2015
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 25, 2016
Washington and Lee School of Law – “The purpose of the Law Journal Rankings Project is to give scholars a resource to locate law journals by subject, country or publication, or ranking (where available), to display journal editorial information, and to facilitate an author’s article submission to those journals.  The site currently ranks journals based on citation data from a 2007-2014 survey period.  The site is updated annually.  In February 2016 the site will be updated with data from a 2008-2015 survey period.  Most bar journals, magazines, and newsletters are excluded from this list.


I hope this is because they are no longer needed, not because the Brits think they need to get the word out in case Donald Trump is elected?
BBC open access to archive of plans for response to nuclear war
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 25, 2016
BBC Magazine – The BBC’s detailed plans for nuclear war: “For the first time, the BBC has given detailed access to the plans it drew up in the Cold War for a Wartime Broadcasting System to operate in the event of nuclear war.  Paul Reynolds, a former BBC diplomatic and foreign correspondent, has been studying the secrets of what was known as the “War Book”.


Investing on a whim?  As random as finding a rare Pokémon. 
Nintendo Slumps By Most Since 1990 on Dashed Pokemon Go Hopes
Nintendo Co. shares plunged by the most since 1990 after the company said late Friday that the financial benefits from the worldwide hit Pokemon Go will be limited.
The stock sank 18 percent to 23,220 yen at the close in Tokyo, the maximum one-day move allowed by the exchange, wiping out 708 billion yen ($6.7 billion) in market value.
   The correction comes after Pokemon Go’s release almost doubled Nintendo’s stock through Friday’s close, adding $17.6 billion in market capitalization.  Nintendo is a shareholder in the game’s developer Niantic Inc. and Pokemon Co., but has an "effective economic stake" of just 13 percent in the app, according to an estimate by Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson.


Perhaps I could use this in my classroom.  All my students have Smartphones – unfortunately, I don’t. 
A Crowd-sourced List of Google Cardboard Apps & Videos
During the ISTE conference this year I met Jack Bosley who is an educational technology teacher in Kentucky.  He introduced himself after the panel discussion, hosted by Samsung, about virtual reality in education.  Jack shared with me a Google Form that he created to crowd-source a list of apps and videos to use in Google Cardboard viewers in classrooms.  So far the form has gathered thirty entries.  And you can contribute to the list here.  If you make a submission through the form, you will have access to the list.
Jack has also put together a great introductory presentation about Google Cardboard.  That presentation can be seen here.
People looking to learn more about virtual reality in education may be interested in the studies that I highlighted in this post that I published at the end of June.

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