I think it's time these folks hired a lawyer and let him speak for them.
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=9183
Filing states student broke rules and had no expectation of privacy
April 21, 2010 by Dissent
Derrick Nunnally reports that the Lower Merion School District IT coordinator is firing back against Harriton High School sophomore Blake Robbins’ lawsuit.
Even in his own home, the Harriton High School sophomore had “no legitimate expectation of privacy” from the camera on his school-issued laptop, information systems coordinator Carol Cafiero contended in a court filing on Tuesday.
Cafiero – who is on paid leave while the district investigates the laptop controversy – claimed Robbins lost any legal protection from the Web-camera security system when he took a school laptop home without permission.
[...]
Robbins had previously broken “at least two” school computers and did not pay the insurance fee required to get permission to take home the Apple MacBook that later snapped his pictures, Cafiero’s attorney, Charles Mandracchia, wrote in the filing.
“When you’re in the home, you should have a legitimate expectation of privacy,” Mandracchia said in an interview. “But if you’re taking something without permission, how can you cry foul when you shouldn’t have it anyway?”
Read more on Philly.com.
Okay, assuming for the moment that that’s correct,what about other people in the home who do have a reasonable expectation of privacy and may have been caught on camera?
And if the district really thought it was lost/stolen, why didn’t they contact him and turn off the webcam after the very first pictures showing him using it? In other reporting on the case, Richard Ilgenfritz notes:
Haltzman believes there could be more images of his client than the more than 400 the district told him it recovered.
“In fact, as to Blake Robbins, the LANrev spying technology was activated from Oct. 20 through Nov. 4 but the 430 images recovered were only for the first eight days. LMSD [the Lower Merion School District] has yet to account for the images taken from Blake Robbins’ computer for seven days.”
This case is shaping up to become a lot nastier and more complicated with each new round of accusations.
(Related)
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=9162
Lower Merion’s headaches mount
April 20, 2010 by Dissent
Not only is the Lower Merion School District garnering increasing negative media coverage as new data emerges about the extent to which it used a webcam feature to take and store digital images of students in their homes and as an employee pleads the Fifth Amendment, but it seems that Lower Merion’s own insurance company is declining to defend it. From Courthouse News:
Despite the Lower Merion School District’s $1 million policy, Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance claims it has no obligation to defend the district from a lawsuit accusing it of spying on students and families through Webcams in students’ school-issued computers, in Philadelphia Federal Court.
You can read the complaint on Courthouse News. Basically, Graphic Arts argues that the actions alleged in the lawsuit filed by the Robbins family are not “personal injury” or otherwise do not fall under any of the covered provisions in the district’s $1,000,000 insurance policy. Therefore, the insurance company argues, they should not be required to defend the district or be on the hook should the district lose in the civil suit against it.
The big unanswered question: What would it have cost to protect the data in the first place?
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=11334
TJX Adds Again To Its Breach Cost, But It Doesn’t Really Matter
April 21, 2010 by admin
Evan Schuman writes:
With TJX having suffered well more than $47 million in out-of-pocket expenses from its infamous data breach (announced in 2006 but beginning as early as 2003), the $20 billion retailer is preparing to write still more checks. It has now set aside another $23.5 million for additional anticipated breach costs, according to its most recent 10-K statement filed to the SEC.
[...]
TJX has for years been the Poster Child for retail data breach. And to date, it is also the best example of how little material impact these breaches have. Please don’t get us wrong. Even for a $20 billion chain, $50 million (and potentially many millions more) still stings.
But sting is about as bad as it gets.
Read more on StorefrontBacktalk.
“If you outlaw DPI, only outlaws will have DPI!” Where have I heard that argument before? Can we agree that tools do not operate themselves? Tools enable or facilitate acts, but it is the actors who choose how to act.
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=9181
Banning deep packet inspection would have ‘damaging consequences across the Internet,’ says Sandvine
April 20, 2010 by Dissent
Deep packet inspection (DPI) technology doesn’t threaten people’s privacy. People threaten people’s privacy.
Or that’s what Canadian network policy control solutions company Sandvine Inc. suggests in a recent submission to the privacy commissioner.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada will be holding consultations on the privacy implications of emerging technologies, such as DPI, in April, May and June in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary.
DPI is a networking technology currently used by Internet service providers (ISPs) to monitor and control data traffic.
While DPI can be used to maintain the integrity and security of networks, it can also provide third parties the ability to view private information sent over the Internet.
[...]
In a consultation submission to the privacy commissioner, obtained by The Wire Report through federal access-to-information law, Sandvine argues that the debate should be on how people use technology to acquire personal information online, not on the technology itself.
The company says the commissioner’s review of emerging technologies should be technology-neutral.
“Banning the use of DPI, as some have suggested is necessary based on privacy implications, would have far-reaching and damaging consequences across the Internet, where the technology is used extensively. Instead, when considering the privacy implications of DPI, as with any technology, the focus should be on the use case, not the technology itself,” the company says.
Read more on The Wire Report.
Should be an interesting argument.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20002870-38.html
Amazon fights demand for customer records
by Declan McCullagh April 19, 2010 3:43 PM PDT
Amazon.com filed a lawsuit on Monday to fend off a sweeping demand from North Carolina's tax collectors: detailed records including names and addresses of customers and information about exactly what they purchased.
The lawsuit says the demand violates the privacy and First Amendment rights of Amazon's customers. North Carolina's Department of Revenue had ordered the online retailer to provide full details on nearly 50 million purchases made by state residents between 2003 and 2010.
… Because Amazon has no offices or warehouses in North Carolina, it's not required to collect the customary 5.75 percent sales tax on shipments, although tax collectors have reminded residents that what's known as a use tax applies on anything "purchased or received" through the mail.
... North Carolina's aggressive push for customer records comes as other states are experimenting with new ways to collect taxes from online retailers. California may require retailers to report the total dollar value of purchases made by each state resident, as CNET reported last month, and Colorado already has enacted such a law. A decision is expected at any time in a related case that Amazon filed against New York state.
(Related) Are these request less likely to concern the Revenuers?
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=9175
Google: U.S. Demanded User Info 3,500 Times in 6 Months
April 20, 2010 by Dissent
Ryan Singel reports:
Search engines and ISPs have for years refused to tell the public how many times the cops and feds have forced them to turn over information on users.
Google broke that unwritten code of silence Tuesday, unveiling a Government Requests Tool that shows the public how often individual governments around the world have asked for user information, and how often they’ve asked Google to remove content from their sites or search index, for reasons other than copyright violation.
The answer for U.S. users is 3,580 total requests for information over a six-month period from July 2009 to December 2009. That number comes to about 20 a day, and includes subpoenas and search warrants from state, local and federal law enforcement officials. Brazil just edges out the U.S. in the number of requests for data about users, with 3,663 over those six months. That’s due to the continuing Brazilian popularity of Google’s social networking site, Orkut.
Read more on Threat Level.
Addiction is addiction, be it crack or e-crack.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/024071.html
April 20, 2010
Pew Internet Study: Teens and Mobile Phones
Teens and Mobile Phones - Text messaging explodes as teens embrace it as the centerpiece of their communication strategies with friends, April 20, 2010
"Daily text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18 months, from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008 to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009. And it's not just frequency – teens are sending enormous quantities of text messages a day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting – averaging 20 messages per day. Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and voice calling as the go-to daily communication tool for this age group. However, voice calling is still the preferred mode for reaching parents for most teens." [Business opportunity: Create a text-whining app! Bob]
How to build massive customer resentment. MBA HAT: Are the ads annoying your customers? Are you losing customers because of them? Are a large enough percentage of customers blocking ads to cause you to lose money? [Odds are, they can't answer any of these questions.]
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/21/0211218/Website-Mass-Bans-Users-Who-Mention-AdBlock?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29
Website Mass-Bans Users Who Mention AdBlock
Posted by kdawson on Wednesday April 21, @05:03AM
An anonymous reader writes to recommend TechDirt's take on the dustup over at the Escapist, which recently tried on banning users from their forums for the mere mention of AdBlock. In the thread in which the trouble started, a user complained that an ad for Time Warner Cable was slowing down his computer. Users who responded to the poster by suggesting "get Firefox and AdBlock" found themselves banned from the forums. The banned parties didn't even need to admit they used AdBlock, they simply had to recommend it as a solution to a troublesome ad. The forum's recently amended posting guidelines do indeed confirm that the folks at the Escapist believe that giving browsing preference advice is a "non forgivable" offense. After a lot of user protest, the forum unbanned the transgressors but heaped on the guilt.
(Related) ...but then, what can customers do if they can't get satisfaction from a lawsuit?
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/20/2022220/RCN-P2P-Settlement-Is-Not-Even-a-Slap-On-the-Wrist?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29
RCN P2P Settlement Is Not Even a Slap On the Wrist
Posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 20, @05:06PM
Ars covers the settlement of the RCN P2P throttling class-action lawsuit, which lets the company walk away without admitting guilt, without paying affected users, and without any meaningful restraint on their network management practices.
"[The] settlement is due to be finalized on June 4. ... The case has largely flown under the radar. Yesterday, a notice ... was issued that alerted RCN customers to the settlement, and one Ars reader was aghast at the terms. Those terms provide nothing for users affected by RCN's practices. Instead, they require the cable company to change its network management practices. These changes are in two parts. ... These cessation periods would be retroactive. ... A moment's math will tell you that, when the settlement is finally approved, one cessation period will already have ended and the other will be ending soon. Once both cessation periods are over, RCN is allowed to implement whatever throttling regime it wants. Given that a federal court has just removed the FCC's authority to regulate network management, RCN appears to have carte blanche to single out BitTorrent and other P2P traffic for special throttling attention after November 1, 2010."
Short articles.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/024067.html
April 20, 2010
East West Institute: Global Cyber Deterrence
Global Cyber Deterrence - Views from China, the U.S., Russia, India, and Norway by Tang Lan, Zhang Xin, Harry D. Raduege, Jr., Dmitry I. Grigoriev, Pavan Duggal, and Stein Schjølberg. Edited by Andrew Nagorski. April 2010
"Cybersecurity looms as the 21st century’s most vexing security challenge. The global digital economy hinges on a fragile system of undersea cables and private-sector-led partnerships, while the most sophisticated military command and control systems can be interfered with by non-state as well as state actors. Technology continues to race ahead of the ability of policy and legal communities to keep up. Yet international cooperation remains stubbornly difficult, both among governments as well as between them and the private sector—the natural leaders in everything cyber. In 2007, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) set up a High-Level Experts Group to try to address the problem but progress is slow. The European Union and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are working at the regional level. But it has only been in the past six months that public consciousness has started to grasp the scope and significance of the cybersecurity challenge. Pushed by a spate of revelations about cyber attacks worldwide, the media and key elites now seem to get it: cybersecurity is a fundamental problem that must be addressed across traditional boundaries and borders by the private and public sectors in new and cooperative ways... For this policy paper, EWI asked top cyber experts in five countries—China, the U.S., Russia, India, and Norway—to present their vision of what is needed to build an effective system of cyber deterrence. It is a first step in the process of building trust on tackling cybersecurity challenges—listening, understanding and probing the views, interests and concerns of key players in the global system."
Background is good, so this is worth reading. Then, like all white papers, they explain the benefits of email archiving, which they happen to sell.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/024072.html
April 20, 2010
Symantec White Paper: Problems with Microsoft Outlook Personal Storage Tables
Death to PST Files, A Symantec Hosted Services Whitepaper: "Email is one of your company’s most critical—and most widely used—assets. According to a 2009 study by The Radicati Group, the average corporate email user sends and receives 167 email messages per day. The report estimates that this number will increase to 219 messages per day by 2013. This steady flow of email messages means managing email is more difficult than ever. A company must provide employees constant access to their email accounts and manage copies of every important email to comply with regulatory requirements. If a company is faced with a lawsuit, it must have the ability to easily place legal holds on emails and conduct efficient e-discovery. Since email is the source of so much vital information, users are reluctant to delete old messages, which turns their email system into a personal email filing cabinet. In essence, users create their own email archives using PST files. Most companies impose quotas that limit the amount of storage each person can use for emails. Without these quotas, server disk drives would overflow and email systems would crash."
(Related) The Hacker business is thriving!
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/20/symantec-51-percent-of-all-malware-ever-was-detected-in-2009/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29
Symantec: 51 Percent Of All Malware Ever Was Detected In 2009
Gee Steve, doesn't this send 82.6% of your customers to the competition?
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/19/steve-jobs-android-porn/
Steve Jobs Reiterates: “Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone”
Some of these (Technology and legal) are even worth while!
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web20/webinarboxoffice-com-where-webinars-are-listed
WebinarBoxOffice.com - Where Webinars Are Listed
http://www.webinarboxoffice.com/User/
For your old-fashioned (low-tech) friends – the ones who just have to hold paper in their hands... Watch the short video! For my website class
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/04/printliminator-save-ink-and-save-paper.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Printliminator - Save Ink and Save Paper
Printliminator is a handy little bookmarklet for Firefox (update: it also works in Chrome and Safari) that I just learned about from Steve Dembo. Printliminator allows you to highlight a webpage and select only the elements which you wish to print. You can install Printliminator in seconds by just clicking and dragging it into your browser's toolbar.
