Thursday, January 26, 2012


Tomorrow is:
International Privacy Day: Fighting Data Retention Mandates Around the World
January 25, 2012 by Dissent
Katitza Rodriguez of EFF writes:
This January 28 marks International Privacy Day, the day that the first legally binding international privacy treaty was opened for signature to Member States in January 28, 1981. Different countries around the world are celebrating this day with their own events. This year, we are honoring the day by calling attention to recent privacy threats around the world and describing a few of the available tools that allow individuals to protect their privacy and anonymity.
Today, we are calling on governments to repeal mandatory data retention schemes. Mandatory data retention harms individuals’ anonymity, which is crucial for whistle-blowers, investigators, journalists, and for political speech. It creates huge potential for abuse and should be rejected as a serious infringement on the rights and freedoms of all individuals.
Read more on EFF.


Long press release – just grab the report...
Study Examines the Aftermath of Data Breaches
To access the full “Aftermath of a Data Breach” Report, visit www.Experian.com/PonemonAftermathStudy.


“When we said there had been an attack what we meant was there had not been an attack.” Isn't this the very definition of Double-Speak? OR If you have no idea how to prevent/detect/resolve/mitigate a security breach, deny it ever happened (AKA North Korea Speak?)
DHS disputes memo on purported railway computer breach
The Department of Homeland Security is disputing a government memo obtained by Nextgov.com that said a targeted attack on the computer network of a railway company in the Northwest disrupted train service in early December.
"Following more in-depth analysis, it appears that the potential cyber incident did not in fact target a transportation entity," a senior DHS official told CNET today. "DHS worked with the affected entity, [which of course was not affected Bob] the FBI, and the Transportation Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) to resolve the issue [which needed no resolution Bob] and send alerts to notify the community of the anomalous activity as it was occurring." [Assuring them that it never happened Bob]
… Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads (AAR), which also was represented at the meeting, said the memo was inaccurate. " There was no targeted computer-based attack on a railroad," [So it was a random attack? Was it on an airline rather than a railroad? Can't you just say “There was no attack?” Bob] AAR spokeswoman Holly Arthur told Nextgov.com.


The problem with acting like Big Brother is that people notice...
Department of Justice Misdirection on Cloud Computing and Privacy
January 25, 2012 by Dissent
Cindy Cohn and Katitza Rodriguez of EFF write:
Does using cloud computing services based in the United States create a risk of US law enforcement access to people’s data? The US Department of Justice (DOJ) seems to be trying to placate international concern by saying one thing in international fora; but it says something quite different in the US courts.
On January 18, a senior Justice Department official tried to reassure companies and people around the world that hosting their data in the United States creates no increased privacy risk for them from the US government. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz noted: “Cloud computing has important advantages to consumers (but) doesn’t present any issues that have not always been present. Certainly not regarding Internet service issues, but even before that.”
Apparently, the DOJ is reacting to decisions by foreign entities to drop US-based services due to concerns about US government access, including British company BAE dropping Microsoft Office 365 and the Dutch government‘s hesitation about allowing its contractors to use US-based cloud services. In the past, Denmark and Canada have also voiced their concerns about the level of protection the United States can provide to their citizens’ data. EU public tenders of cloud services are also avoiding US cloud services for the same reasons. European-based companies, which have to comply with EU data protection law, see this opportunity as a competitive advantage, as do Australian cloud services.
Yet the DOJ’s reassurances ring hollow. While the DOJ may spin its position one way to try to appease foreign audiences, its actual position is quite clear where it really matters: in US courts when it is trying to access subscriber information held by US-based cloud computing services. Indeed, the DOJ’s position in its court filings is that very little, if any, privacy protection is available against US government access to the records of users of US-based cloud computing services.
Read more on EFF.

(Related) We are the world's policemen...
"A prestigious law firm warns non-U.S. businesses their data is unsafe from costly and invasive raids by American law enforcement even if they host their data in their own countries. The wide interpretation of the USA Patriot Act ensures U.S. cops can legally demand data from almost anyone, anywhere for any reason and countries and their citizens are largely powerless to resist. The advice has resonance with the arrest this week of Kim 'Dotcom' on alleged copyright violations in the U.S."


Was this survey taken online?
"The impact of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and others on federal juries is a concern that judges are frequently taking steps to curb. According to a study 94% of the 508 federal judges who responded said they have specifically barred jurors from any case-connected use of social media."
[From the article:
Approximately one quarter of the responding judges reported confiscating cell phones and other electronic devices, with 22% (113 judges) doing so at the start of each day of trial and 29% (147 judges) doing so during deliberations.


It is clear that I will never understand the legal mind...
"A UK judge ruled that a photograph inspired by another photograph, but clearly different from it, infringes the original photo's copyright. The two photographs were shot in the same location, have the same subject, and use the same distinctive post-processing treatment. However, the angle and composition are different. From the article: '[The judge] said a difficult decision hinged on a "qualitative assessment of the reproduced elements." He defined Fielder's image a "photographic work," as distinct from a simply a photograph, in that "its appearance is the product of deliberate choices and also deliberate manipulations by the author," and concluded that those aspects had been copied.'"


A new field for Computer Law students?
"Google's autonomous cars have demonstrated that self-driving vehicles are now largely workable and could greatly limit human error, but questions of legal liability, privacy and insurance regulation have yet to be addressed. Simple questions, like whether the police should have the right to pull over autonomous vehicles, have yet to be answered and legal scholars and government officials warn that society has only begun wrestling with laws required for autonomous vehicles. The big question remains legal liability for the designers and manufacturers as some point out that liability exemptions have been mandated for vaccines, which are believed to offer great value for the general health of the population, despite some risks. 'Why would you even put money into developing it?' says Gary E. Marchant, director of the Center for Law, Science and Innovation at the Arizona State University law school. 'I see this as a huge barrier to this technology unless there are some policy ways around it.' Congress could consider creating a comprehensive regulatory regime to govern the use of these technologies say researchers at the Rand Corporation adding that while federal preemption has important disadvantages, it might speed the development and utilization of these technologies (PDF) and should be considered, if accompanied by a comprehensive federal regulatory regime. 'This may minimize the number of inconsistent legal regimes that manufacturers face and simplify and speed the introduction of these technologies.'"


Something for the Criminal Justice students...
DOJ Wants to Know Who’s Rejecting Your Friend Requests
January 25, 2012 by Dissent
Jennifer Lynch of EFF writes:
In the latest turn in our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for records related to the government’s use of social networking websites, the Department of Justice finally agreed to release almost 100 pages of new records. These include draft search warrants and affidavits for Facebook and MySpace and several PowerPoint presentations and articles on how to use social networking sites for investigations. (For more on what we’ve learned from the documents so far, see our earlier blog posts here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
The draft search warrants are particularly interesting because they show the full extent of data the government regularly requests on a person it’s investigating. This includes not just your full profile information but also who you “poke” (and presumably who “pokes” you), who rejects your friend requests, which apps you use, what music you listen to, your privacy settings, all photos you upload as well as any photos you’re tagged in (whether or not you upload them), who’s in each of your Facebook groups, and IP logs that can show if and when you viewed a specific profile and from what IP address you did so.
Read more on EFF.


For those of us who like to read...
New library e-catalogs offer expanded selection
Library users searching for e-books will soon get to look through a much bigger catalog and help decide what their local branch might carry.
OverDrive Inc., a major e-distributor for libraries, announced Wednesday the launch of a vastly expanded list for patrons, featuring not just e-books available for lending, but hundreds of thousands of those which include a collected of Edgar Allan Poe stories edited by Michael Connelly to foreign-language titles. Viewers can look at excerpts, purchase books from a retailer or request that their library add an e-book that wasn't being offered.


Interesting. Congress wants to use Facebook and I'm sure Facebook wants to use Congress... (Saints preserve us from Congressmen who pretend to be hackers)
Congressional Facebook Hackathon
January 25, 2012 15:20 Source: U.S. Congress
From the press release:
Today, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) issued the following report, outlining the discussions held at the first-ever Congressional Facebook Hackathon. The event brought together a bipartisan group of Members of Congress, Congressional staffers, Facebook developers and digital innovators to explore the connections between legislative data, constituent correspondence, and social media.


Should make my free WikiSpaces education account even easier to use.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The popular wiki-building service Wikispaces recently made an handy enhancement to their user interface. The new feature is the option to upload files by simply dragging them from your desktop to the wiki you're working on. I've included two screenshots of the process below.


Another Infographic...
The Millennials: Infographic

(Related) Build your own...
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Here are seven tools that students can use to build data visualizations.

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