There are some upgrades you don't want to see...

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=167783

SEC orders formal investigation of HP boardroom spying probe

By Associated Press Friday, November 17, 2006 - Updated: 08:57 AM EST

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Securities and Exchange Commission has upgraded its informal inquiry of Hewlett-Packard Co.’s boardroom spying probe into a formal investigation, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.

HP disclosed the development in an SEC filing after reporting financial results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year 2006.

"We do not believe this represents an escalation or broadening of the investigation and are continuing to cooperate fully," HP spokesman Ryan Donovan said late Thursday.

Palo Alto-based HP also indicated in the filing that it was the target of at least five shareholder lawsuits related to the probe, and had also received a request for documents from the Federal Communications Commission.

This is curious for a lot of reasons.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15757369/

DeLay’s replacement: Staff deleted files

Sekula-Gibbs wants investigation of actions by ex-majority leader’s aides

The Associated Press Updated: 8:19 p.m. MT Nov 16, 2006

HOUSTON - The newest member of Congress, who is temporarily filling former Majority Leader Tom DeLay's Texas seat, wants an investigation into the destruction of computer files in her office by staffers she inherited from DeLay.

Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, R-Texas, said the staffers resigned en masse and walked out Tuesday, a day after she was sworn in to fill DeLay's seat for the next seven weeks. A Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, reported the staffers did not like the way she was treating them. [That must be a new record even for Washington! Bob]

Sekula-Gibbs said in a statement Thursday that seven employees in her Washington office and the district office in Stafford, Texas, outside Houston, "deleted records and files without my knowledge or permission" on the same day she was sworn in.

Spokeswoman Lisa Dimond told The Associated Press that the congresswoman had not yet gotten a response to her request for an investigation by the House's chief administrative officer.

Sekula-Gibbs said the walkouts were "suspicious" in that the seven took the time to delete files before leaving without notice.

Dimond said other staffers discovered the work-related files were missing when they tried to access them.

‘Disrespect and unprofessionalism’

David James, former deputy chief of staff for DeLay, released a statement Thursday saying that the computers in the office were "scrubbed and reconfigured" according to House rules on transition between members and that work performed for the congresswoman during the brief time he worked there was preserved.

An article from Gary Alexander.

http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1163671526352

What You Need to Know About Security Breaches and European Legislation

By Jonathan Armstrong The Privacy and Data Protection Legal Reporter November 17, 2006

... The other main way in which privacy law could come into play might be after intervention by a data subject. This subject (perhaps suspecting a breach) could make a subject access request which might of itself force disclosure of a security breach -- for example a data controller is mandated in most jurisdictions to disclose who has seen the data. [Something I doubt many US corporations could do... Bob]

... It is important to remember that, unlike the current California legislation, most of Europe applies data protection law equally to electronically and manually held data. Those regulatory authorities (like Ireland) that insist on seeing a company's information security policy before sanctioning the holding of personal data will therefore extend their inquiry to manual records including details of who holds the keys to locked cabinets. [Now that should be a simple test. Go to your Custodian of Keys and obtain the records for say... the past five years. Bob]

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,24246.shtml

Cingular Wireless Wins Lawsuit Against Data Broker, Files New Lawsuits Against Telemarketers and Spammers

Posted on : Fri, 17 Nov 2006 20:02:01 GMT | Author : Cingular Wireless News Category : PressRelease

ATLANTA, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless has won its lawsuit against data broker 1st Source Information Specialists, Inc., with the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Ga. ordering the cell phone records peddler and associated individuals to pay Cingular $1.135 million in damages.

It's a slow Friday (day to report security breaches...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6160800.stm

Security raised over laptop theft

Nationwide building society says it is tightening security after the theft of an employee's laptop containing customer information.

Security experts have raised fears that the company's 11m customers could have been put at risk of identity crime.

The computer was stolen in a domestic burglary three months ago.

Bosses have apologised to customers and reassured them that they will not become identity-theft victims.

Nationwide, Britain's biggest building society, has informed the authorities and said it will be writing to customers to give them security advice in the next few weeks.

It is reassuring customers that no PIN numbers, account passwords or memorable information was on the laptop.

But it does not deny that names and account numbers could have been. [They don't know? Bob]

... "There is no chance of any customer suffering any financial loss on their accounts as a result of this."

But, Barry Stamp, former director of CIFAS, the fraud prevention service, said it was unusual for an entire customer database to be stored on a laptop.

... "We've seen cases like this almost every week at the moment, but on the other hand you have to ask why that information was contained on a laptop and why the security was lax at Nationwide in such a way that you could download the entire database to a laptop.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/16046292.htm

Computer theft hits 2nd campus

By ALEX BRANCH and DIANE SMITH STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITERS Posted on Sat, Nov. 18, 2006

FORT WORTH - For the second time in a month, thieves have stolen tens of thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment from a north Fort Worth school.

On Wednesday night, someone stole 37 laptop computers from Meacham Middle School at 3600 Weber Ave., police said.

The computers were worth $45,000, according to a police report.

In October, school officials realized that about $40,000 worth of laptops and projectors had been stolen from North Side High School.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/17/national/main2198378.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2198378

LBJ's Vietnam-Era Phone Tapes Released

In Newly Public Audio Files, Ex-President Discusses 'Commies' At NYT, Vietnam, Civil Rights

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 17, 2006

(AP) As American involvement in Vietnam deepened, President Lyndon Johnson railed against the “bunch of commies” running The New York Times and complained about the newspaper's criticism of the war, according to taped phone conversations released Friday.

The recordings, released by the LBJ Library, covered August to December 1966. Johnson had many of his calls from the Oval Office and his Texas ranch recorded on Dictabelt equipment.

If these people are such a high risk, why are they not in jail? (Perhaps this site could also issue you a hunting license?)

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2061016,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594

Web Site of Missing Pedophiles Launched in UK

November 17, 2006 By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters)—Britain launched a "Most Wanted" Web site on Friday detailing the names and pictures of missing child sex offenders, the first time such information has been published nationally.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said the national site would include the background and pictures of pedophiles who had failed to comply with regulations requiring them to notify their whereabouts with the police.

... All the offenders posted on the site have been convicted of a child sex offence and have finished serving their sentence.

Antigua has properly concluded that the US can easily ignore the WTO but will cave into the RIAA immediately.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20061116/180520.shtml

Would The WTO Support Antigua Offering Free Music And Free Software In Retaliation For Gambling Ban?

from the it-certainly-could dept

For a few years now, we've been following how the US's attempt to ban online gambling potentially goes against international treaties they've signed as part of the WTO. The WTO has told the US that it cannot stop online gambling in Antigua, so long as it allows any online gambling in the US. The US (in true US fashion) simply pretended the WTO said something different and proceeded to ignore the ruling completely. The WTO has been warning the US to comply, but the latest attempt by Congress to ban online gambling actually makes the situation worse. The WTO was very clear that the only way the US can ban online gambling and stay in compliance with international treaties is to ban all online gambling, with no exceptions. Congress, on the other hand, made plenty of exceptions for the type of gambling they like (such as lotteries and horses).

Back in March, we pointed to a story suggesting that Antigua was considering retaliating by ignoring US intellectual property laws, in order to offer things like free (or cheap) music and software. Last month, the idea began to get more attention, and now a lawyer has written an interesting piece suggesting that the WTO may even support Antigua in ignoring its intellectual property treaty obligations as a fair retaliation against the US ignoring its online gambling obligations. It certainly seems like this idea is gaining a lot of traction, and if they weren't serious about it before, you have to imagine such ideas will certainly be brought to Antigua's attention pretty quickly. The end result, then, may be that the US's attempt at banning online gambling, may open up efforts supported by the WTO for Antigua to willfully infringe on US intellectual property. Wonder how fast that would lead entertainment companies to start lobbying in favor of allowing online gambling?

We knew this was coming, Google paid them to do it (when they purchased Youtube)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061117/tc_nm/media_universal_myspace_dc_4

Universal Music sues MySpace over music copyrights

By Yinka AdegokeFri Nov 17, 5:09 PM ET

Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, said on Friday it filed a lawsuit against popular social networking site MySpace for infringing copyrights of thousands of its artists' works.

Universal, owned by French media giant Vivendi (VIV.PA), filed the suit at the U.S. District Court Central District of California, Western Division.

The lawsuit accuses MySpace of allowing users to upload videos illegally and taking part in the infringement by re-formatting the videos to be played back or sent to others.

... In the case of YouTube, now owned by Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news), Universal Music reached a licensing agreement to give the site and its users access to thousands of music videos.

http://iptv-coverage.com/story.php?title=Thousands-International-TV-Channels-Online

Thousands of International TV Channels Online

Avatar http://wwitv.com posted by iptv 22 hours ago view profile

International IPTV: What do you do with even more tv channels than your DSS to the power of YouTube? A Lot. Sure, you'd have no time to watch even a drop of the programming online. But if you have a dual monitor system, you can double your drop in the bucket to two drops in the bucket.

Seriously though, Watching International TV over IPTV is perfect for hearing the news from "THEIR" perspective and for learning Kahzikstani.

Very interesting. I expect many organizations will do this (if they're smart.)

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/info/television/en_us/index.jsp?S_CMP=brandsite

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