When should notice have been given? Didn't they have a duty when the package didn't arrive as planned?

http://www.dailyherald.com/business/story.asp?id=314129

Missing Lucent CD-ROM reported

Personal information of U.S. retirees at risk

By Anna Marie Kukec akukec@dailyherald.com Posted Friday, May 18, 2007

The identities of tens of thousands of U.S. employees of the former Lucent Technologies — including those in Naperville and Lisle — are at risk because a computer disk with their personal information disappeared, [Arrest David Copperfield! Bob] Alcatel-Lucent announced Thursday.

The disk included names, contact information and Social Security numbers for roughly 182,000 retirees and their dependents, as well as several thousand current U.S.-based employees, of the former Lucent Technologies. There are 21,400 Alcatel-Lucent employees in the U.S., but the company wouldn’t break out how many of those workers would be affected.

Paris-based Alcatel, which bought Lucent last year, said it was informed May 7 by a vendor that the disk was lost or stolen.

“There are laws on the books that we are obligated to inform people,” said Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Mary Lou Ambrus. “As far as I can remember, we’ve never had to do this before. But we need to get the word out and inform as many people as we can.”

The disk went missing between April 5 and May 3. It did not contain information regarding customers, accounts, credit card numbers, bank account numbers or password information, Ambrus said.

The disk was prepared by Lincolnshire-based Hewitt Associates for delivery by UPS to another vendor, Aon Corp. in Chicago. The disk was part of an ongoing consulting assignment that focused on managing employee programs more efficiently, Aon spokesman Al Orendorff said.

“The package arrived a month late and without the disk,” Orendorff said.

What a great way to learn your identity is at risk. (Only story I can find, so far...)

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/METRO01/705170357/1006

Report of laptop theft worries Detroit city workers

David Josar / The Detroit News May 17, 2007

DETROIT -- Some city Water and Sewerage Department workers said they were concerned after reports were aired in a television report that a laptop containing personal information about city workers had been stolen.

However, George Ellenwood, a spokesman for the city Water and Sewerage Department, said he had not heard or seen any confirmation of a story that ran earlier in the day on WXYZ-TV (Channel 7).

... WXYZ reported that an insurance company employee had the laptop that contained information on about 3,000 workers stolen from her car while it was parked in Detroit.

Is this identity theft? Free speech? Humor?

http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=b691ef34-f2f6-45fb-803f-54a54ce22e00

Teens Charged for Making Fake Website

Last Update: May 17, 2007 5:51 PM

Police are charging three teens with identity theft and harassment after they created a fake website in the name of a Perry County businessman.

Police say the MySpace page had a confederate flag in the background and was covered with racial slurs.

It was up for about four days in February before being taken down.

Apparently two of the three being charged are friends with the man's son.

Interesting. How would you send a fake email to all Apple employees? How would you block that email?

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2132727,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594

Apple Denies Internal Source for Fake iPhone Memo

By Daniel Drew Turner May 17, 2007

Apple officials have offered no detailed explanation regarding the source of a memo sent to Apple employees the morning of May 16 that falsely claimed that there would be a delay in the release of the company's iPhone and the Mac OS X Leopard operating system.

[...and just in case you think that fake emails don't have an economic impact... Bob]

Soon after the purported internal Apple e-mail was published on the consumer electronics Web site Engadget.com, Apple's stock price fell from $108.83 to a low of $103.42. The stock recovered by the end of the day, and moved higher on May 17, but at one point nearly $4 billion of Apple's market capitalization had evaporated.

Registration required

http://research.bizreport.com/detail/RES/1159812732_407.html?psrc=RTE

Meeting the Data Security and Privacy Challenge: Best Practices for Securing Your Message Streams

by Proofpoint, Inc.

ABSTRACT:

... Listen to Proofpoint discuss best practices for securing outgoing message streams and learn about:

* Privacy and data protection regulations that may apply to your company's use of email, webmail and other electronic communications.

* Technologies that can help identify non-public information including PHI (protected health information) and PFI (personal financial information) in outgoing message streams.

* New technologies for detecting and preventing leaks of confidential information and valuable intellectual property.

When: Available On Demand Format: Multimedia Length: 00:54:35 (hh:mm:ss)

Type: Webcast Language: English

Amusing, but I suspect the report is not completely accurate.

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2007/05/17/opinion/editorial/edit17.txt

Court right to allow release of teacher’s pornographic images

By Tribune staff Thursday, May 17, 2007

.If a public school teacher uses his school-issued computer to view pornographic images, does he have a privacy right to keep the public from viewing those images?

Amazingly, that was a question before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which sensibly ruled that there is no such privacy right.

That’s a good ruling, because people have a right to know all the facts in this case. [And make lots of copies of the pictures? Bob]

Cedarburg High School teacher Robert Zellner was fired by the school board in January 2006 after receiving evidence that he had viewed adult images on his computer.

Zellner appealed his termination to a state arbitrator, who ruled that he should be reinstated. In the process of researching the case further after Zellner went to the arbitrator, the school board found 1,500 adult images on Zellner’s computer.

When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked the Cedarburg School District to make public the images at issue, Zellner fought the release, arguing that releasing the images would violate copyright laws [Copyright? Sure... Bob] and his own privacy.

Zellner’s lawyer had argued that he did not intentionally view the images, [“It was just 1500 errors... Bob] and that they came up on his screen after a Google search of sexually suggestive words on the Internet.

Given the disputed nature of the case, taxpayers, parents and other adult members of the public have a right to know exactly what is at issue. There should be no right to privacy in a case involving the improper use of a publicly-owned computer. [I doubt the court said that... Bob]

And the court unanimously agreed. Writing for the court, Justice N. Patrick Crooks said: “Public school teachers ... are in a significant position of responsibility and visibility ... the public has an interest in knowing about such allegations of teacher misconduct and how they are handled.”

The court ruling is correct. There should be no “privacy” right in a case such as this.

[There seems to be a problem searching for this case on the http://www.wicourts.gov/ website. You don't suppose they have been inundated with requests for the pictures, do you? Perhaps it will be featured as their “Case of the Month” (http://www.wicourts.gov/about/resources/casemonth/index.htm) Bob]

Here's a site that did get overwhelmed...

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070516/141341.shtml

The Techdirt Insight Community In Two Minutes

from the with-apologies-to-Larry-Lessig-and-Bob-Dylan dept

Two weeks ago, when we moved the Techdirt Insight Community into public beta, we also took part in a fun event called the Plug & Play Expo, which involved 32 startups explaining what their business was in two minutes. [Business opportunity? Start-ups-R-Us.com? Bob] Six of those startups are then selected to do a second round presentation (including us!). I had a little fun with the presentation, combining the "Lessig Method" with a little bit of Bob Dylan (without the talent of either) after discovering we weren't allowed to use Powerpoint. A bunch of folks have asked us for a copy of the video. Unfortunately, in the original cut of the video, it's tough to see the handheld slides, so we redid the video superimposing the actual slides on the screen behind me so that people watching the video can read them. We also figured it's a good, quick way for people to understand what we're doing with the Techdirt Insight Community:

If the Techdirt Insight Community sounds interesting to you either as a company or as an expert come on over and join up.

I wonder what $8500 worth of discipline is?

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5913658?source=rss

Student jailed after asking for Denver cop's ID wins $8,500

By Howard Pankratz Denver Post Staff Writer Article Last Updated: 05/17/2007 01:45:44 AM MDT

Denver will pay $8,500 to a man arrested after asking an officer for his identification, and police will provide training to prevent a similar incident, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado announced Wednesday.

Evan Herzoff was handcuffed, arrested and forced to spend a night in jail last year after asking for a police officer's business card, said Taylor Pendergrass, ACLU staff attorney.

The training bulletin will state that no retaliatory action is to be taken against citizens based on a request for an officer's identification.

But Jamie Wynn, an assistant Denver city attorney, said the city and the ACLU don't have a settlement at this point.

"It is contingent on City Council approval," she said. "We are intending to take it to the City Council, and, certainly, we are hopeful."

Pendergrass said that Herzoff, a University of Colorado at Denver student and a local CopWatch volunteer, was walking home April 8, 2006, when he saw police arresting an individual.

Herzoff, who had a small camera with him, started filming the arrest. Officer Jeffrey Morgan approached Herzoff and asked for his identification.

After looking at the identification, Morgan told Herzoff he was free to go but arrested Herzoff when he asked for Morgan's business card.

Morgan cited Herzoff for trespassing, but the charge was later dismissed.

Richard Rosenthal, the independent monitor for the city of Denver, said Wednesday that the original complaint about the incident came to his office, and he sent it to police internal affairs.

"We actively monitored the investigation," Rosenthal said. "We sat in on the interviews to make sure they were thorough and complete."

Rosenthal said disciplinary action was taken against the officer after the incident was reviewed by police commanders, the police chief and the manager of safety.

Rosenthal said he is prohibited from saying what that discipline was.

Not a very comprehensive report...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTERNET_CENSORSHIP?SITE=VALYD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Study Finds 25 Countries Block Web Sites

By ANICK JESDANUN AP Internet Writer May 18, 12:47 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) -- At least 25 countries around the world block Web sites for political, social or other reasons as governments seek to assert authority over a network meant to be borderless, according to a study out Friday.

[The report isn't there yet... http://opennet.net/ Bob]