A little too much “investigative reporting?” Is this now a trend at news sites?

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=6675365&nav=menu158_2

Computer Breach Exposes Students' Social Security Numbers

Monday, June 18, 5:44 p.m. By Andy Hirsch

The News-Item confirms one of its employees gained unauthorized access to the Shamokin Area School District's computer database. It is the same system that stores student's personal information, including social security numbers. That newspaper employee brought the security flaw to the attention of school officials.

... Superintendent James Zack sent a letter home to parents stating "Your son/daughter/student's Standardized Assessment scores, local assessment scores and Social Security numbers were contained in the system.

... Investigators said it was too early to know if any information was actually stolen. School officials pointed out there is no evidence that it was. They also said they've strengthened the security [If it only takes a few days to “strengthen security,” why wasn't it done in the years before? Bob] to the system to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

... Late this afternoon the publisher of The News-Item released a written statement regarding the breach that read "we acknowledge that an employee of The News-Item is involved in this matter. The person identified and alerted school officials to a security flaw involving the district's web site. The person is cooperating and assisting police with their investigation."

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20070618081211128

Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week

Monday, June 18 2007 @ 08:12 AM CDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

A recap of breaches reported last week on this site so you can get caught up with your morning coffee.

Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week

Privacy Plus! Sounds like a great area for a law school paper... (hint, hint)

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070618/182802.shtml

Feds Need A Warrant To Search Email

from the well-that's-nice dept

Remember just last week we were looking at a court case that was trying to work out whether social networking messages were more private than email? Well, now a federal appeals court has strengthened the privacy of good old email as well. It turns out that federal investigators need to obtain a warrant before they can go snooping through your email. Many people probably assumed that was already the case, but the Justice Department felt differently about the matter -- and now have had both a lower court and an appeals court disagree. Of course, there will likely be another appeal, so this may end up in front of the Supreme Court eventually. However, in the meantime, it looks like at least some courts are recognizing that email users should have an expectation of privacy when it comes to their communications.

Privacy Minus? Would this work no matter who we accuse?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20070619050707985

Court allows release of clergy personnel files

Tuesday, June 19 2007 @ 05:26 AM CDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: In the Courts

A judge ruled Monday that confidential personnel files on Roman Catholic clergy accused of molesting children can be made public even if the clerics were never charged with a crime and legal claims against them were not proven.

"The rights of privacy must give way to the state's interest in protecting its children from sexual abuse," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman said in his 22-page ruling.

Source - L. A. Times

Cooks can be temperamental...

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070618/110455.shtml

Australian Court Wipes Out Restaurant Reviewers

from the choose-your-words-carefully dept

A court in Australia has ruled that a critic's unflattering review of a restaurant in a Sydney newspaper constituted defamation (via The Grinder), and that the critic may now be responsible for damages. Writers in the US are afforded plenty of protection when writing reviews and criticisms since they're stating opinions, and decisions like these in other countries will have a chilling effect on all kinds of legitimate speech -- particularly as more and more people use the web to become critics. This isn't to say that no sort of speech should be regarded as defamation, or to say that operating under the guise of being a critic should give people free reign to commit libel or engage in other defamatory speech. However, most definitions of defamation hinge upon false claims being made, and opinions can't really be false. Given this decision, it's hard to see how any Australian writer, newspaper, web site or other outlet would publish any sort of review that's negative at all -- and it's similarly hard to see how that's in the public interest at all.

Attention employers!

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/18/2343229&from=rss

Best Places To Work In IT

Posted by kdawson on Monday June 18, @08:30PM from the good-gigs dept. Businesses IT

jcatcw writes "Computerworld's annual summary of the best places to work in IT lists companies that excel in five areas of employment: career development, retention, benefits, diversity, and training. According to the scorecard, the top five retention methods are: competitive benefits; competitive salaries; work/life balance; flexible work hours; and tuition reimbursement. Of the top 100 companies, 64 expect the number of U.S.-based IT staffers to increase in 2007, on average by 7%. Here is the whole list. The top three are Quicken Loans, University of Miami, and Sharp HealthCare."