http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=2777
Anonymization FAIL! Privacy Law FAIL!
August 14, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Other
Paul Ohm writes that he has uploaded his latest draft article entitled, “Broken Promises of Privacy: Responding to the Surprising Failure of Anonymization” to SSRN, where you can download a free copy of the article.
The Abstract:
Computer scientists have recently undermined our faith in the privacy-protecting power of anonymization, the name for techniques for protecting the privacy of individuals in large databases by deleting information like names and social security numbers. These scientists have demonstrated they can often “reidentify” or “deanonymize” individuals hidden in anonymized data with astonishing ease. By understanding this research, we will realize we have made a mistake, labored beneath a fundamental misunderstanding, which has assured us much less privacy than we have assumed. This mistake pervades nearly every information privacy law, regulation, and debate, yet regulators and legal scholars have paid it scant attention. We must respond to the surprising failure of anonymization, and this Article provides the tools to do so.
The issue has significant implications for all of us, particularly when we consider arguments that health and medical information will be shared without our direct consent because it will be “de-identified.”
Big Brother moves down under? Who gets to define “appropriate?”
Australian ISPs Soon To Become Copyright Cops
Posted by timothy on Friday August 14, @02:11AM from the classic-multitasking dept.
srjh writes
"In the Australian Federal Government's latest assault on the internet, draft legislation has been released that allows network operators to intercept communications to ensure that their networks are being 'appropriately used.' Such legislation is particularly important given the interference of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy in a recent copyright lawsuit against iiNet, one of the largest ISPs in the country. Conroy called prominent filtering opponent iiNet's inaction over copyright infringement 'stunning,' whereas iiNet claimed that it would be illegal under current Australian law to intercept its users' downloads. While this latest legislation appears to be a concession of that point, the government is said to be watching the case closely and along with attempts to introduce a three-strikes law in Australia, it appears the law will be changed if the government dislikes the outcome of the case. The internet villain of the year just continues to earn his title."
For my Lawyer/Hacker friends. No Copyright, no foul?
Firefox Plugin Liberates Paywalled Court Records
Posted by kdawson on Friday August 14, @09:01AM from the free-as-in-beer dept.
Timothy B. Lee writes
"If you want to access federal court records, you're often forced to use PACER, a cumbersome, paywalled Web site run by the federal judiciary. My colleagues and I at Princeton's Center for IT Policy have released a new Firefox extension called RECAP that allows users to automatically upload the documents they download from PACER into a public archive hosted by the Internet Archive. It also saves users money by automatically notifying them if a document they're searching for is available for free from the public archive. Over time, we hope to build a comprehensive, free repository of federal court records that's available to everyone."
Records retention. How permanent can records be?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-21546_3-10309283-10253464.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
How long is long-term storage?
by John Webster August 13, 2009 1:31 PM PDT
There is a big disconnect between how long people think they should be storing data and how long they actual can. One group of vendors and academics is trying to change that.
Two years ago, the Storage Networking Industry Association's Data Management Forum reported the results of a landmark study that looked at the state of long-term storage, i.e. preserving a digital object for more than 10 years. Some disturbing results jumped out.
… A whopping 80 percent of the 276 organizations included in the study reported a need to retain electronic records for more than 50 years, so let's start there.
… So there's a big gap here. A group of concerned vendors and academic advisers have formed the 100 Year Archive Task Force under the auspices of the Storage Networking Industry Association's Data Management Forum wants to start filling the gap. You can follow their progress or become involved yourself here.
I think I need a lawyer... The development I've done in “Simulate the World” has been stolen. The game host has sold the predictive model to the CIA and now they want me to turn over 'all source code, notes and documentation.'
Making the Case That Virtual Property Is a Bad Idea
Posted by timothy on Thursday August 13, @03:07PM from the contrarians-just-can't-get-along dept.
pacergh writes
"Many legal commentaries on virtual property argue that it should exist. Others argue why it can exist. None seem to explicitly spell out what virtual property will look like or how it will affect online worlds. Lost in the technology love-fest are the problems virtual property might bring. The Virtual Property Problem lays out a model for what virtual property might look like and then applies it to various scenarios. This highlights the problems of carving virtual property out of a game developer's rights in his creation. From the abstract: '"Virtual property" is a solution looking for a problem.' The article explains the 'failure of property rights to benefit the users, developers, and virtual resources of virtual worlds.'"
Over reaction?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10309421-238.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Social-networking ban for sex offenders: Bad call?
by Larry Magid August 13, 2009 3:12 PM PDT
The just-signed Illinois law banning sex offenders from social-networking sites might seem like a good idea to protect children, but it will have virtually no impact on their safety and could wind up making things worse.
… A January 2009 analysis of Pennsylvania cases by the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use found, during a four-year period, that "only eight incidents involved actual teen victims with whom the Internet was used to form a relationship," compared to 9,934 children who were sexually abused in a single year in that state.
Transparency is as transparency does “Hey, we're the government. We don't see this as unusual. Besides, Osama might try to use this site and we gotta be ready!”
$18M Contract For Transparency Website Released — But Blacked Out
Posted by timothy on Thursday August 13, @03:59PM from the but-don't-worry-government-health-care-will-be-cheap dept.
zokuga writes
"The US government recently approved an $18 million contract for Smartronix to build a website where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money, as part of President Obama's promise to make government more transparent through the Internet. However, the contract, which was released only through repeated Freedom of Information Act requests, is itself heavily blacked out. ProPublica reports: 'After weeks of prodding by ProPublica and other organizations, the Government Services Agency released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless. In all, 25 pages of a 59-page technical proposal — the main document in the package — were redacted completely. Of the remaining pages, 14 had half or more of their content blacked out.' Sections that were heavily or entirely redacted dealt with subjects such as site navigation, user experience, and everything in the pricing table. The entire contract, in all its blacked-out glory, is here."
Why secret? The Berkman Center at Harvard has been doing this openly for years. Certainly any geek would know what gets scanned and blocked and could list dozens of alternative communications methods.
US Tests System To Evade Foreign Web Censorship
Posted by timothy on Friday August 14, @08:12AM from the worthy-objective dept.
D1gital_Prob3 excerpts from a Reuters story that says
"The US government is covertly testing technology in China and Iran that lets residents break through screens set up by their governments to limit access to news on the Internet. The 'feed over email' (FOE) system delivers news, podcasts and data via technology that evades web-screening protocols of restrictive regimes, said Ken Berman, head of IT at the US government's Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is testing the system. The news feeds are sent through email accounts including those operated by Google, Microsoft's Hotmail, and Yahoo. 'We have people testing it in China and Iran,' said Berman, whose agency runs Voice of America. He provided few details on the new system, which is in the early stages of testing. He said some secrecy was important to avoid detection by the two governments."
Open Source is killing another golden goose? Where there appears to be enormous profit, there is enormous opportunity.
http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/08/13/1450220/Open-Textbooks-Win-Over-Publishers-In-CA?from=rss
Open Textbooks Win Over Publishers In CA
Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday August 13, @12:18PM from the now-put-them-in-a-wiki dept.
Unequivocal writes
"Recently California's Governor announced a free digital textbook competition. The results of that competition were announced today. Many traditional publishers submitted textbooks in this digital textbook competition in CA as well as open publishers. An upstart nonprofit organization named CK-12 contributed a number of textbooks (all free and open source material). 'Of the 16 free digital textbooks for high school math and science reviewed, ten meet at least 90 percent of California's standards. Four meet 100 percent of standards.' Three of those recognized as 100% aligned to California standards were from CK-12 and one from H. Jerome Keisler. None of the publisher's submissions were so recognized. CK-12 has a very small staff, so this is a great proof of the power of open textbooks and open educational resources."
Data Mining/Data Analysis
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/08/big-data-and-real-time-structured-data-analytics.html
Big Data and Real-time Structured Data Analytics
by Ben Lorica| @dliman
The emergence of sensors as sources of Big Data highlights the need for real-time analytic tools. Popular web apps like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs are also faced with having to analyze (mostly unstructured) data in near real-time. But as Truviso founder and UC Berkeley CS Professor Michael Franklin recently noted, there are mountains of structured data generated by web apps that lend themselves to real-time analysis:
Tools & Techniques Every now and then, a simple tool comes along that makes something else (Craigslist in this case) much more valuable.
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/itsmysale-com-keep-an-eye-on-craiglist-all-the-time
ItsMySale.com - Keep An Eye On Craiglist All The Time
We can define Its My Sale as a watching tool for Craiglist that serves many purposes, most notably an alert function that enables you to be the first to contact someone on Craigslist that is selling something that you have been actively looking for.
An account can be created for free through the main page of ItsMySale.com. From that point onwards, you can start using the CraigsWatch tool to be notified by e-mail when someone posts an ad on Craigslist that matches the keywords that you have specified beforehand.
… CraigWatch is a free tool
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