Could some low level employee release data that could bring down your company? If so, shouldn't you fix that hole?
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/08/22/137226.shtml
Execs at AOL Approved Release of Private Data?
Posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 22, @10:10AM from the thats-an-oops dept. America Online Privacy The Courts The Internet
reporter writes "The New York Times has published a report providing further details about the release of private AOL search queries to the public. According to the report: 'Dr. Jensen, who said he had worked closely with Mr. Chowdhury on projects for AOL's search team, also said he had been told that the posting of the data had been approved by all appropriate executives at AOL, including Ms. [Maureen] Govern.' The report also identifies the other two people whom AOL management fired: they are Abdur Chowdhury and his immediate supervisor. Chowdhury is the employee who did the actual public distribution of the private search queries. He, apparently, has retained a lawyer."
It's not like Nazi medical research in the camps... Someone is doing this research (identity thieves, con artists, etc.) why not someone who can explain consequences?
Perhaps we should get a copy for “privacy research?”
Researchers Yearn to Use AOL Logs, but They Hesitate
By KATIE HAFNER August 23, 2006
When AOL researchers released three months’ worth of users’ query logs to a publicly accessible Web site late last month, Jon Kleinberg, a professor of computer science at Cornell, downloaded the data right away. But when a firestorm over privacy breaches erupted, he decided against using it. [No ethical questions until it hits the headlines, eh Professor? Bob]
“Now it’s sitting there, in cold storage,” said Professor Kleinberg, who works on algorithms for understanding the structure of the Web and searching it. “The number of things it reveals about individual people seems much too much. [I thought you hadn't looked at it? Bob] In general, you don’t want to do research on tainted data.” [Can you give us examples of when “in specific” you would do research on tainted data? Large government grants, for example? Bob]
... Professor Etzioni said Dr. Chowdhury was horrified by what had happened. “He didn’t anticipate that this kind of data could be used to track down individuals.” [Maybe those 'insiders' don't think about the data the way academics might? Bob] Dr. Chowdhury declined to comment, at the advice of his lawyer.
... The last similar case involved a set of hundreds of thousands of internal e-mail messages from Enron, posted in 2003 on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Web site, in connection with the agency’s investigation into the company.
Although some of the e-mail was relevant to the investigation, most of it was not. So hungry were researchers for a coherent body of e-mail messages to work with that they were able to set aside their concerns that the privacy of many people who had nothing to do with the Enron scandal was severely compromised.
... Professor Kleinberg said he hoped that over time, the AOL incident would lead to “a richer, more informed discussion about what it means to create data sets that are clean and anonymized.”
After I tell you not to drink the Kool-Aide, don't you assume some liability? What happens when an employee is injured?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060822/0919217.shtml
After All The Fuss, Will People Bother With Dell's Battery Recall?
from the fully-charged-and-ready-to-blow dept
Dell last week announced a recall of more than 4 million laptop batteries after several high-profile incidents in which they caught fire. Despite the danger of the batteries being pretty vividly illustrated, some are now wondering how many people will actually bother to send their batteries back. Deals like mail-in rebates are often used by retailers because of their relatively low redemption rate, and one analyst says that asking people to drop a battery in the mail, as opposed to just a form and a receipt, could result in one even lower. But what could have a bigger impact is businesses' attitude towards the recall: some, with thousands of Dell laptops, may not want to spend the time dealing with identifying which machines are included in it, or delegate the responsibility to employees, who may or may not bother to check. One thing is clear, though -- patience with Dell is wearing thin, not just from disgruntled customers, but also from institutional investors unhappy with the company's management.
Unexplored territory?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/08/21/event_data_recorder_rule/index.html
New rule: Car buyers must be told about 'black boxes'
Rule will also require a uniform set of data be recorded, making it easier to use.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; Posted: 8:46 a.m. EDT (12:46 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has passed a regulation requiring car makers to inform customers when their car has been equipped with an Event Data Recorder, the agency said Monday.
EDRs, similar to "black boxes" used in commercial airliners, record data about what a car is doing in the moments just before and after a crash. They do not record the voices of occupants but they do record things like speed, steering wheel movement, how hard the brakes are being pressed and the actual movement of the car itself.
About 64 percent of model year 2005 cars were equipped with EDRs, according to NHTSA. Some manufacturers already include information about the EDR in the owners manual, but not all, said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for NHTSA.
"If you have a new vehicle, chances are it's got one," he said.
Data from the recorders is used by law enforcement and attorneys to recreate events directly leading up to an accident. Data is also used by car companies to research how cars and drivers perform in actual crashes.
Some privacy advocates have expressed concern that the data, which can be used as evidence in court cases, is being collected without the knowledge of vehicle owners and drivers.
The devices are virtually impossible to disable because their functioning is so tightly integrated with vehicle safety systems such as airbags and anti-lock brakes.
Several states have already passed laws that restrict how the data can be used.
Car companies must comply with the new regulation beginning in the 2011 model year. Information about the EDR, if one is installed, will have to be included in the vehicle's owner's manual.
The new rule also requires EDRs to collect a uniform set of data. Having access to uniform data will help investigators to recreate crashes and determine causes, the agency said.
More-uniform data will also make it easier to develop systems so that, in cars equipped with automatic 911 emergency notification, data about the crash can also be passed along to paramedics and ambulance crews. [..and local TV news? Bob]
The data can also be used to research better road designs and ways to better protect young and old drivers, said Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for the New York chapter of AAA.
AAA had previously expressed concern to NHTSA about privacy issues that might hamper public acceptance of the systems. Those concerns seem to be addressed by the new rule, Sinclair said.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/22/2039258&from=rss
SCO Lawyers Ambush IBM Witness
Posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 22, @05:29PM from the what-is-this-case-about-again dept. Caldera The Courts IBM Linux
Mr. E. writes "In a sneaky legal maneuver, [High praise? Bob] SCO's lawyers managed to ambush an IBM witness into having to give a no-holds-barred deposition in front of an unrelated court in another state. After SCO was limited in what they could depose Mr. Otis Wilson about by the Utah court, the company blindsided IBM with last-second subpoenas before a North Carolina court. IBM's lawyer was on vacation at the time, didn't give prior notice to big blue, and now they've won the right to ask him anything they want. They've asked him about whether he has a criminal record, about ex-wives, etc. and they have four hours in which to do so. According to PJ of Groklaw, 'I'd say [Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells] has thrown poor Mr. Wilson to the wolves in North Carolina and told him it's his own fault.' SCO, of course, is fishing for something — anything — they can use to stave off IBM's Motion for Summary Judgement which is fast approaching, and if they can somehow trip up Mr. Wilson, they might be able to do just that. However, there was at least one line of cold comfort in Magistrate Well's order '[T]he court wishes to note that its decision should not be viewed as any type of invitation to reopen the discovery process.'"
An anthem for the RIAA?
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/22/2124255&from=rss
Weird Al Says 'Don't Download This Song'
Posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 22, @06:41PM from the really-he-would-like-you-to-though dept. Music It's funny. Laugh. The Internet
Kazzahdrane writes "Known geek and comedy singer/songwriter Weird Al Yankovic has released the first song from his new album 'Straight Outta Lynwood' for free on his MySpace page. The track is entitled 'Don't Download This Song' and tells of the dangers of illegally downloading music from filesharing sites."
Can the Serbs be far behind?
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/23/009210&from=rss
Croatia Adopts Open Source Policy
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday August 22, @09:26PM from the everybody-is-doing-it dept. Software Linux
lisah writes "Croatia says that concerns over the expense and limitations of proprietary software led to last month's decision to adopt a free and open source software policy within Croatia's government. Officials say the move will make the government's work more transparent [I haven't seen this argument before. Bob] as well as help to better manage its operating costs. Taking it a step further, under the new policy the government will also support the use of open source in schools, saying, 'both closed and open source solutions will be equally presented to students.' Vlatko Kosturjak, president of the Croatian Linux User Group, is unmoved. Citing the practical and technical difficulties of embracing open source on such a broad scale, he says until the policy is actually implemented, '[it] is just like an unsent letter.'"
Worth looking at?
Update: US government lab offers grid computing toolkit
Programs will share video, audio, data, and text for real-time collaboration for users worldwide
By Robert Mullins, IDG News Service August 22, 2006
A new open-source software toolkit is available Tuesday to improve remote online scientific collaboration via grid computing.
The Access Grid Toolkit from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory enables development of programs to share video, audio, data and text for real-time collaboration between people at different locations around the world.
Corporations should look hard at this one.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012215.html
August 22, 2006
GSA Telework Laws
A Guide to Telework in the Federal Government, August 3, 2006: the "guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) suggests that one of the keys to success and continuity of operations during any emergency, especially a pandemic health crisis, is an effective teleworking program that is just a matter of routine to employees. The report states that when agencies permit as many employees as possible to telework as often as possible, they are on the right track under Public Law 106-346.
So if the data you need to save your life is on Google, you won't read it out of principle?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012213.html
August 22, 2006
Point - Counterpoint on Google Book Search Project
Washington Post Op-ed today: The Books Google Could Open, by Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges.
eWeek.com: Publishers Fight Back Against Google with New Book Search Service: "Publisher HarperCollins and Austin, Texas-based LibreDigital announced today a hosted service called LibreDigital Warehouse that will give publishers and booksellers the ability to deliver searchable book content on their own Web sites." See also the August 3, 2006 HarperCollins press release: "HarperCollins Publishers is proud to announce a series of digital initiatives, including the beta launch of "Browse Inside," a new application allowing consumers to sample pages of HarperCollins titles online. The implementation of expanded digital technologies signals the latest development in the HarperCollins global digital warehouse initiative and emphasizes the company's commitment to reach consumers on the Web by providing robust content in a wide variety of digital formats."
e-discovery issues?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012216.html
August 22, 2006
Presentation on Metadata Pitfalls and Protections
Metadata and other things that go bump in the night (41 pages, PDF) - "There is data lurking in your data. Some people call it "invisible ink". Microsoft refers to it as "metadata". Either way, the reference is to information in an electronic document that is not always visible. This session will explain the dangers of metadata, how to avoid it, and recent bar association interest in the ethics of exposing or mining metadata." [by Catherine Sanders Reach]
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012222.html
August 22, 2006
New on LLRX.com for August 2006 - Part 1
Pragmatic Approaches to Knowledge Management, by Ron Friedmann
It's Not Rocket Science: Making Sense of Scientific Evidence, by Paul Barron
Global Law Firm Knowledge Management Survey 2006, by Gretta Rusanow
The Government Domain: Government Documents and the News, by Peggy Garvin
E-Discovery Update - Demonstrating Burden in E-Discovery, by Conrad J. Jacoby
FOIA Facts: Improving FOIA Operations, by Scott A. Hodes
After Hours: Highlights of the 2006 New York Fancy Food Show, by Kathy Biehl
Burney's Gadgets for Legal Pros: Batteries and Backups, by Brett Burney
Legal techniques: Spamigation
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060822/1148213.shtml
The RIAA's Last Profitable Business Model: Automated Extortion?
from the it's-so-profitable dept
Michael Geist points us to Brad Templeton's email on the Interesting People mailing list, describing how the RIAA has embraced "spamigation," which he defines as the automated process of sending out mass lawsuits for those it accuses of copyright infringement. While the rest of his description isn't new, it is a concise explanation of how the process works, quite similar to DirecTV's automated suing of people from a list they got, where they made it clear to those who were being sued that it was cheaper to pay up the fine that to contest it in court, even if they were innocent. Eventually, DirecTV was sued for racketeering and the courts forced them to stop the spamigation campaign (though, we thought "extortion" campaign was more fitting). The RIAA has been similarly charged with racketeering a few times for its lawsuits -- but so far those cases haven't gone very far. In the meantime, Cory Doctorow suggests that this is the last profitable business model for the music industry -- which is a bit of hyperbole. It may very well be the last profitable business model of the current recording industry run by the RIAA, but these lawsuits will eventually be seen as a backwards blip in the progress of the industry. While the practice of automating mass lawsuit filings against totally unrelated plaintiffs is still seen as legal, eventually the RIAA will be forced to stop. It won't be soon after that people begin to realize that there are business models that work well and are profitable -- without treating everyone as if they were a criminal.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060822/131236.shtml
Qwest Says Data Retention Laws Are A Great Idea
from the huh? dept
The federal government has wanted to enact data retention requirements for some time, and now Qwest has taken the curious position of saying it supports the legislation, making it the first broadband provider to do so. It's a slightly curious position for the company, which gained a lot of consumer goodwill when it refused to cooperate with the NSA in the wiretapping imbrolgio that sucked in other major telcos. It's unclear why Qwest thinks the laws are a good idea, the company's chief privacy officer not giving any reasons beyond saying that Qwest wants to be present in the discussions in hopes of coming up with something reasonable -- but given lawmakers' involvement, that's wishful thinking. What's a little more striking is her admission that the company keeps logs of "more than 99 percent of its services" for a year, which doesn't seem to really jibe with the privacy-protector image Qwest cultivated with its NSA stance. It doesn't look like the recent AOL search data leak clearly enough illustrated the downside of data rentention, while Qwest's support of new laws doesn't change the fundamental problems with it, including its costs and technical challenges -- but most crucially, how data retention just creates more data, not better data for law enforcement to comb through.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060822/1330220.shtml
Microsoft Offers One-Click Solution For Reporting Annoying Chatters To Police
from the have-fun-with-it dept
A few years ago, Microsoft decided to shut down their chat rooms in the UK after a few well-publicized stories of children being approached by predators in those chat rooms. Of course, this seemed silly to us. It's not like the kids (or predators) would stop chatting. They'd just move somewhere else -- perhaps somewhere with even less supervision or controls in place. Three years later, and it seems MSN in the UK has realized that many people are simply using the MSN instant messenger service for the same purpose. So, in what appears to be a part of their new internet safety effort, they're adding a button to file a "one-click" police report complaint about who you are talking to. Of course Amazon need not worry about this violating their famous "one-click" patent. It appears there are actually a few more clicks. The single click just takes you to some sort of police service, where officers will then help the user capture information about what's happening in the chat. Of course, making it so easy to report a problem probably means that people are going to report all sorts of non-problems, inundating the police, perhaps making it even more difficult for police to go after the actual predators.
Read this.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/15325521.htm
What do they know about you?
By Elise Ackerman Mercury News Posted on Sun, Aug. 20, 2006
America's top four Internet companies -- Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft -- promise they will protect the personal information of people who use their online services to search, shop and socialize.
But a close read of their privacy policies reveals as much exposure as protection.
The massive amounts of data these companies collect -- which can include records of the searches you make, the health problems you research and the investments you monitor -- can be requested by government investigators and subpoenaed by your legal adversaries.
But this same information is generally not available to you.
... Two months ago, the Mercury News began asking the Big Four Internet companies to clarify their privacy policies. The newspaper wanted to know precisely what information was recorded when someone made a date on Yahoo, sought help for addiction on Microsoft's MSN or plotted their daily peregrinations on Google Maps.
How long was the data kept? Could someone's Internet searches be cross-referenced with their horoscope habit? Could a person find out exactly what was stored about him or her? Could a person ask Google, Yahoo, AOL or Microsoft to delete that data?
How often was personal data being requested by law enforcement? Could someone subpoena someone else's searches in a civil suit? Was this happening?
Few answers were forthcoming.
Chart: http://www.mercurynews.com/multimedia/mercurynews/news/privdata.pdf
Wow! What a great idea!
Create ebooks on your iPod
Did you know you can store notes to read on your iPod? They're very readable, but cumbersome to create. So we created this web page to make it super-simple.
There are two ways to create an ebook on your iPod. You can either upload a text file (not a PDF or DOC file) or point to a web page. Pick the form you want below and click submit to have your ebook automatically created!
http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39161662,00.htm?p5=3bx
Cheat Sheet: Web 2.0
What on earth is it and should you care?
By Will Sturgeon Published: Monday 21 August 2006
... Gartner is also convinced web 2.0 should be a major consideration for businesses.
But should I care?
Absolutely you Luddite.
No comments:
Post a Comment