http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=9402
“Peeping Tom” Allegation May Not Fly in “Webcamgate”
April 26, 2010 by Dissent
Matthew Heller comments:
A high-profile privacy lawsuit against a Pennsylvania school district that allegedly used remote-controlled cameras on laptop computers to snoop on students may turn out to be a tempest in a teapot unless the plaintiffs can show the district had some voyeuristic purpose.
[...]
There is no doubt the district bungled badly by failing to inform parents that the laptops contained security software which enabled its technology staff to take a screen shot of a computer and a webcam image of what is in front of the computer. “This notice should have been given and we regret that was not done,” the district superintendent has admitted.
What still isn’t clear is what injury students suffered from the alleged violations of their 4th Amendment rights by the LANrev software.
Read more on OnPoint.
(Related)
Head Strong: Web cam violated third-party rights
… But overlooked in much of the analysis of this case was a large group of victims of privacy invasion - those with whom Robbins was communicating online.
… More significant were the additional images Haltzman permitted me to review. No, not the image of Robbins shirtless. Or the one in which he's asleep in front of the laptop. Most shocking were the ones showing the faces or worded Internet postings of individuals with whom Robbins was communicating.
What gave Lower Merion the right to invade the privacy of these people?
… One radio listener asked me to distinguish this case from one in which a school maintains the prerogative to search a student's locker. I could easily do so. A locker is on school property, and it doesn't function like a predator drone in a student's bedroom.
A different listener had a better analogy. What if Comcast did what Lower Merion did? [Might be a hard rumor to disprove... Bob] What if someone was delinquent with a cable payment or lost a cable box, and Comcast threw a switch and took a peek at what was going on in front of that box sitting on top of your TV? There would be hell to pay, and appropriately so.
Could this become a trend? I've been recommending encryption for years and many companies have security policies that require it. Those who do not will no doubt be screaming that “it's not fair!”
Mass. Data Security Law Says "Thou Shalt Encrypt"
Posted by timothy on Sunday April 25, @02:28PM
emeraldd writes with this snippet from SQL Magazine summarizing what he calls a "rather scary" new data protection law from Massachusetts: "Here are the basics of the new law. If you have personally identifiable information (PII) about a Massachusetts resident, such as a first and last name, then you have to encrypt that data on the wire and as it's persisted. Sending PII over HTTP instead of HTTPS? That's a big no-no. Storing the name of a customer in SQL Server without the data being encrypted? No way, Jose. You'll get a fine of $5,000 per breach or lost record. If you have a database that contains 1,000 names of Massachusetts residents and lose it without the data being encrypted, that's $5,000,000. Yikes.'"
[From the article:
I also encourage you to read InformationWeek’s "States' Rights Come to Security Forefront: Massachusetts' new data protection law reaches beyond its borders. Are you ready?"
[Other:
The Regulation: http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/idtheft/201CMR1700reg.pdf
Regulation Compliance Checklist: http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/idtheft/compliance_checklist.pdf
I suspect there will be lots of back and forth on this subject before we reach agreement.
In Brazil, Google Fined For Content of Anonymous Posting
Posted by timothy on Monday April 26, @05:11AM
Sabriel writes
"Google's appeal against a 2008 defamation ruling in Brazil over an anonymous posting on Orkut has been denied, and Google has been fined $US8500 ($9100) for the crime of being vandalized. In the words of the judge, Alvimar de Avila, 'By making space available on virtual networking sites, in which users can post any type of message without any checks beforehand, with offensive and injurious content, and, in many cases, of unknown origin, [Google] assumes the risk of causing damage [to other people]." I'd submit a blunter opinion of this farce, but it might be considered offensive and injurious content ... I wonder if he's related to the judge in Italy?"
Welcome to the 21st Century. Nice of you to wake up and join the rest of us.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/024108.html
April 25, 2010
Commerce Internet Policy Task Force Nexus Between Privacy Policy and Innovation in Internet Economy
"The Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force is conducting a comprehensive review of the nexus between privacy policy and innovation in the Internet economy. The Department seeks public comment from all Internet stakeholders, including the commercial, academic and civil society sectors, on the impact of current privacy laws in the United States and around the world on the pace of innovation in the information economy..The Department has launched the Privacy and Innovation Initiative to identify policies that will enhance:
(1) The clarity, transparency, scalability and flexibility needed to foster innovation in the information economy;
(2) the public confidence necessary for full citizen participation with the Internet; and
(3) uphold fundamental democratic values essential to the functioning of a free market and a free society."
[From the Federal Register:
Department also seeks to understand whether current privacy laws serve consumer interests and fundamental democratic values.
Privacy “A friend in need is a pest indeed.”
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/followcost-annoying-twitter-users/
FollowCost: See How Annoying A Twitter User Is
With hundreds of people following you every day, it is easy to just start following them back. However, many people later realize that a specific user wasn’t worth following. FollowCost is a new tool that lets you see how annoying a Twitter user would be before you start following them.
You mean it wasn't Al Gore? Or maybe Al only did the illegal part?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/024102.html
April 25, 2010
New on LLRX.com - Commentary: Justice Stevens Invented the Internet
Justice Stevens Invented the Internet - With the announcement that Justice John Paul Stevens will resign from the Supreme Court at the end of this term, Jonathan Band and Matt Schruers focus on one of his opinions that has had a direct daily impact on virtually all Americans: the majority opinion in Sony v. Universal, decided by the Supreme Court in 1984. This decision is the legal foundation of the Digital Age.
Conspiracy theory?
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=173945
Was iPad ban in aid of local distributor?
By BEN HARMTAN 26/04/2010 08:35
Following the lifting of a personal import ban on the iPad on Saturday, many Israelis are left scratching their heads, wondering why the ban had been instituted in the first place.
… Ordan said many are speculating that Apple’s Israeli distributor iDigital, which is owned by President Shimon Peres’s son, Chemi, did not want to repeat the same mistakes as happened with the Israeli launch of the iPhone.
Ordan said that Apple lists country by tier, with the US being first tier, European countries second tier, and Israel a third tier. By the time products get to Israel, they have often been available in first- and second-tier countries for some time, where they are also typically much cheaper.
… The other option, according to Ordan, “is that somebody in the Communications Ministry just went deaf, dumb, and blind. There’s really no logical explanation for the ban, just like there isn’t any logical explanation for why it was lifted yesterday. The whole thing stinks, like somebody had some interest involved.”
Researching regulations...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/024103.html
April 25, 2010
New on LLRX.com - The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers
The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers - Peggy Garvin reviews new, free, non-government resources that have recently come online to complement the official U.S. government regulatory information sites, RegInfo.gov and Regulations.gov. For this bounty, Peggy says researcher can thank innovative developers and the relatively new availability of a free XML version of the Federal Register that can be downloaded in bulk.
Some percentage of the saving goes to my bonus...
Why CIOs Are Choosing Cloud E-Mail
… Take Sanmina-SCI, a nearly $6 billion-a-year global contract manufacturer. Sanmina-SCI moved more than 16,000 employees from premises-based Exchange to Google Apps as part of a company-wide push to reduce costs. "We looked at servers, backups, personnel tied up in running things," says CIO Manesh Patel. "When we ran that analysis and did the comparison, it was a fairly compelling case to move to the cloud." The move saves the company about $10 per month per employee, Manesh says, which works out to about $1.9 million a year--a figure any CIO would be happy to bring to a budget meeting.
Interesting, even if I can't see why some of these will be important.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/024106.html
April 25, 2010
Technology Review: 10 Emerging Technologies 2010
"Each year, Technology Review selects what it believes are the 10 most important emerging technologies. The winners are chosen based on the editors’ coverage of key fields. The question that we ask is simple: is the technology likely to change the world? Some of these changes are on the largest scale possible: better biofuels, more efficient solar cells, and green concrete all aim at tackling global warming in the years ahead. Other changes will be more local and involve how we use technology: for example, 3-D screens on mobile devices, new applications for cloud computing, and social television. And new ways to implant medical electronics and develop drugs for diseases will affect us on the most intimate level of all, with the promise of making our lives healthier."
Do you have an “old” camera stuffed into your closet? I wonder if other manufacturers are doing this?
How To Get 39 Megapixels From a 53-Year-Old Camera
Posted by timothy on Sunday April 25, @04:37PM
G3ckoG33k writes
"An article at The Register Hardware describes how Hasselblad film cameras dating back to 1957 can be given a new life using a digital back to get images at a super resolution of 39 megapixels. From the article: 'The CFV-39 digital back allows you to get those cameras out from the last century and use the V-System cameras with their beautiful glass once again, it simply fits in place of where the roll film used to be. Hasselblads have never been inexpensive, but talk about a return on investment. Here is a manufacturer looking after a fiercely loyal user-base and along with it offering what could be seen as the ultimate green camera system.' Oh, by the way most pictures taken during the Apollo space program in the 1960s were taken with Hasselblad."
Hasselblad's been making digital backs for quite a while now, but this one's very impressive in speed (and cost — "only" about $14,000) compared to earlier models.
For my students, most of whom could stand to learn anything.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-great-tutorial-websites-learn/
5 Great Tutorial Websites To Learn How To Do Something
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