Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Continuing our discussion of management decisions that were (or should have been) obviously wrong. 
Costco made $3.7 million selling ‘Tiffany’ rings. Now it must pay $19 million to the real Tiffany.
Costco must pay the storied jewelry company Tiffany & Co. more than $19 million for selling about 2,500 diamond rings falsely identified on store signs as “Tiffany” rings, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Costco’s management “displayed at best a cavalier attitude toward Costco’s use of the Tiffany name in conjunction with ring sales and marketing,” U.S. District Judge of the Southern District of New York Laura Taylor Swain wrote in her opinion.
   Swain wrote Costco “provided credible evidence” of the practice of using the terms “Tiffany setting” and “Tiffany style” generically throughout the jewelry industry.
The problem is Costco only used the word “Tiffany” when describing the rings in its signage, suggesting they were made by the jeweler rather than an imitation of its famous design.


This is obvious, isn’t it?
Judge says LinkedIn can't block startup from user’s public data
Judge Edward Chen in the northern district of California granted hiQ labs, an employment startup, a preliminary injunction that forces LinkedIn to remove any barriers keeping hiQ from accessing public profile information within 24 hours. 
HiQ’s operations depend on its ability to access public LinkedIn data.  The company sells analytics to clients including eBay, Capital One and GoDaddy that aim to help them with employee retention and recruitment. 
   LinkedIn argued that users might not want to have employers tracking changes on their profiles, for example if they are seeking a new job.
In his order, Chen argued that LinkedIn’s argument was flawed.
   HiQ argues that Linkedin’s attempts to limit the startup’s ability to use public profile data is anti-competitive and is a violation of so-called data-scrappers free speech rights.


Taking the lead from the President or something DoJ thought up on their own? 
DreamHost fights government request seeking 1.3 million IP addresses of DisruptJ20 website visitors
Webhosting service DreamHost has said that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested information on everyone who visited DisruptJ20.org, a website that was set up to organize political protests against the U.S. administration. 
   Central to the request was information on the DistrupJ20.org website itself and its owner, but where things get contentious is in relation to the site’s visitors.  According to DreamHost, the DOJ’s request includes 1.3 million IP addresses covering each device that connected to the website.  This was in addition to “…contact information, email content, and photos of thousands of people — in an effort to determine who simply visited the website,” according to a blog post.  “This is, in our opinion, a strong example of investigatory overreach and a clear abuse of government authority,” the DreamHost statement added.
After challenging the DOJ’s request based on the “overbreadth” of the warrant, DreamHost received a copy of an “order to compel” filed by the DOJ in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia that sought to dismiss DreamHost’s counterarguments.  Last week, DreamHost filed its legal arguments in response.


Will this improve health or allow Aetna to more accurately calculate their risk? 
Apple and Aetna reportedly held secret meetings, plan to offer Apple Watch to 23 million insurance customers
Top executives from both companies met last Thursday and Friday in Southern California, according to CNBC. Myoung Cha, who heads up Apple’s special health projects, led the talks, with hospital chief medical information officers from across the U.S. also in attendance.
   Aetna currently provides the Apple Watch to its more than 50,000 staffers.  The Hartford, Conn.-based insurance company also announced last September that it would subsidize the cost of Apple Watches for select large employers and individual customers.

(Related)  True or not, would this change the perception of Apple/Cisco security? 
Apple and the future of the insurance industry
   Apple CEO Tim Cook joined Cisco CEO, Chuck Robbins at Cisco Live to reveal the firms are working to deliver lower cost cybersecurity insurance to customers choosing to use Cisco equipment in combination with Apple kit.
"If your company is using Cisco and Apple, then the combination of these should make that insurance cost significantly less for you than it would if you were using some other personal network side and the other operating system in the mobile area," Cook said.
The idea is that insurers will be convinced to deliver lower premiums to enterprises who standardize around Apple/Cisco solutions.
Those who do will not be required to subsidize those who choose to use less secure combinations.


A great victory for the Dear Leader!  And no doubt the President will take full credit for it.
North Korea Stands Down On Threat To Guam


This has not been a problem with my students, but it might be useful in other classes.
Library Guides for Detecting Fake News – AALL Spectrum July 2017
by on


I would never, ever do this. 


I should remind my students, but I bet they all know about this.

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