http://www.databreaches.net/?p=8379
AMA meeting: Better data protection needed from Blues
November 23, 2009 by admin Filed under Commentaries and Analyses, Healthcare Sector
Damon Adams reports:
The BlueCross BlueShield Assn. should expand credit protection and increase identity theft insurance to physicians affected when a laptop computer containing doctors’ personal information was stolen from an employee’s car, according to policy adopted by the American Medical Association House of Delegates.
The new policy calls for the Blues association to offer at least five years of credit protection for all affected physicians, offer more than one company for protection, raise the amount of ID theft insurance and publicly report confirmed cases of identity theft.
Read more on American Medical News.
It's the “discretion” part that's the problem, right? That automatically signals discrimination. Note that the article (in Business Insurance magazine) brings in lots of commenters who seem to unanimously find this ill advised.
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=5668
OH: Employer’s DNA test rule raises legal concerns
November 22, 2009 by Dissent Filed under U.S., Workplace
Judy Greenwald reports:
The University of Akron is expected to soon rescind a controversial rule that lets the university demand DNA samples from job applicants as part of a criminal background check.
Observers say the requirement—believed to be the first genetic testing rule imposed by an employer—violates the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as raises significant privacy concerns. [and was not reviewed by the lawyers? Shame. Bob] Other employers generally have not considered such rules, experts note.
[...]
The regulation, which has been widely criticized, states that “at the discretion of the University of Akron, any applicant may be asked to submit fingerprints or DNA sample for purpose of a federal criminal background check.”
Read more on Business Insurance.
[From the article:
In a Nov. 5 letter to Harvey L. Sterns, chairman of the university's faculty senate, university Vp and General Counsel Ted A. Mallo calls for the regulation to be changed to read more broadly as: “The candidate may be required by the law enforcement agency [Why would law enforcement as for additional work? Bob] to provide additional information which is needed by the law enforcement agency for purposes of conducting the criminal background check.”
… Title II of GINA, which took effect Nov. 21, states that, with some narrow exceptions, “it shall be unlawful employment practice for an employer to request, require or purchase genetic information with respect to an employee or a family member of the employee.”
The university's rule is “a terrible idea,” said Jonathan T. Hyman, a partner with Kohrman Jackson & Krantz P.L.L. in Cleveland. If someone submits genetic information, and then is not hired, in light of GINA, “it's going to raise a colossal red flag.”
“Gee willikers, your honor! It's not an assumption of guilt, it's like that TV show “Cops” Everyone knows that just because someone was videoed being arrested after a high speed chase in a stolen car carrying a ton of cocaine while shooting at the cops is not proof they're guilty”
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=5684
HI: Tread carefully with Web site of DUI shame (Editorial)
November 23, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Govt, Internet
The following editorial appeared in the Star-Bulletin:
The Honolulu Police Department is risking a legal challenge by posting on the Internet the names and photos of drivers cited but yet to be tried on drunken driving charges. A partly similar posting by a New York county last year was found to be unconstitutional, but the brevity of the scheduled HPD site should put it on stronger legal ground.
HPD plans on Wednesday to launch the site consisting of the names and photos of people arrested and charged with drunken driving. The photos will include arrests Nov.15-21 and will remain online for 24 hours. For the next six months of what amounts to a pilot program, the 24-hour posting will include those arrested in the preceding Sunday through Saturday.
The police department’s Scarlet Letter site, titled “Oahu’s Drunk Drivers,” is aimed at discouraging people from taking the risk of being humiliated even before going to court. The initiative for public safety is commendable, particularly with the holidays coming. It is a bold — some will say brazen — move to discourage drunken driving.
Read more in the Star-Bulletin.
The “Balkanization of News?” Is this a game changer? Has some slight potential to segment search (sites already exist to search with multiple search engines in a single pass) All I see it doing is raising cost (reducing profit margins) for Google wanna-bes. What am I missing?
Bing Tries To Buy The News
by Erick Schonfeld on November 22, 2009
Rupert Murdoch is pointing a gun to Google’s head, and Microsoft is helping him pull back the trigger. For the past few weeks, Murdoch and his officers at News Corp. have been very vocal about their distaste for Google and their desire to lead other media companies in a boycott of sorts.
Murdoch keeps threatening to stop letting Google index the WSJ.com and his other media sites, and wants other news sites to join him in this self-imposed silence. The folks at Microsoft’s Bing think this is a great idea. Not only that, but the FT reports that Microsoft is in fact in discussions with News Corp. and other publishers about the possibility of paying them to remove their sites from Google’s search index. This report comes on the heels of a meeting in Europe where Bing dangled the prospect of premium spots in search results to publishers and outright money for search R&D.
… Bing can’t buy all the news, it can only buy certain brands. If Bing can somehow become the only place you can find news results and working links to the Wall Street Journal and other top papers such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the LA Times, for instance, that would be a big reason to switch for a lot of folks. But it’s not clear how much Bing would have to pay the news companies of the world for them to give up all the traffic Google sends them in return for a fraction of that traffic and some cash.
Good marketing relies on stupid customers? I can't see anything justifying this.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10403286-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
E-tailers snagged in marketing 'scam' blame customers
by Greg Sandoval November 23, 2009 4:00 AM PST
First the good news for consumers: the U.S. government's investigation into how dozens of well-known online stores worked with controversial marketers to "deceive" customers out of $1.4 billion has prompted some retailers, including Continental Airlines, to sever ties with the marketers.
Now, the bad news: the marketers--Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty--are still in business and judging from the responses of many of the retailers involved, such as Priceline, Classmates.com, FTD, Shutterfly, and Orbitz, it will be business as usual. They see nothing wrong with the marketing practices that millions of angry online shoppers and members of the U.S. Senate have called a "scam," "robbery" and "theft."
… Under most of the agreements between the marketing firms and retailers, an advertising page is presented to a shopper while they complete a transaction at the retailer's online store. Many shoppers say they entered their e-mail address and pushed a large "Yes" button on the ad because it appears to be a $10 cash-back offer or coupon. Many of those that complain say they thought they were being rewarded by the retailer for making a purchase.
Written in much smaller print within the ad are the full terms of the deal. A customer is notified there that by providing their e-mail address they are joining a membership program and agreeing to pay one of the marketing firms a monthly fee, typically between $10 and $20.
The next logical step is to patent the automated patenting process. Let this item serve as notice that I am working on that process and intend to file paperwork immediately (or at least, before Google does.)
Google Patents Displaying Patents
Posted by timothy on Sunday November 22, @03:30PM from the on-the-internet dept.
theodp writes
"Google has actually managed to patent displaying patents. The USPTO issued US Patent No. D603,866 to six Google inventors for their 'graphical user interface for display screen of a communications terminal.' Among the six inventors is the guy who introduced Google Patents. Ironically, Google Patents can't seem to find the new Google patent for Google Patents."
Geeky toy! Requires a 4GB ($7.99 at Micro Center) drive
How To Run Google Chrome OS From A USB Drive [Windows]
Nov. 23rd, 2009 By Jorge Sierra
Just a few days ago, Google announced the release of the Chrome OS source code. Within less than 24 hours, the web was littered with disk images for running the new OS on virtual machines such as VMWare and VirtualBox. I even managed to put together my own Google Chrome OS download in the form of a complete VirtualBox appliance. I’m pleased to announce that I’ve taken it a step further, and now you can easily try it on your own computer from a USB thumb drive.
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