In a city where it can cost you
$5-10,000 per year to park your car, I can't wait to see what they
consider price gouging.
"In the wake of Hurricane
Sandy, the New York State Attorney General has subpoenaed Craigslist,
demanding
that the site identify more than 100 sellers whose prices on
post-Sandy gas, generators and other supplies were of an
'unconscionably excessive price' during an emergency. AG Eric
Schneiderman said: 'Our office has zero tolerance for price gouging
[and] will do everything we can to stop unscrupulous individuals from
taking advantage of New Yorkers trying to rebuild their lives.'"
“Big brother owns a copy”
"A high court judge has ruled
that companies
do not have a general claim of ownership of the content contained in
staff emails. The decision creates a potential legal minefield
for the terms of staff contracts and an administrative nightmare for
IT teams running email servers, back up and storage. The judge ruled
businesses do not have an 'enforceable proprietary claim' to staff
email content unless that content can be
considered to be confidential information belonging to a business,
unless business copyright applies to the content, or
unless the business has a contractual right of ownership over the
content. Justice Edwards-Stuart added it was
'quite impractical and unrealistic' to determine that ownership of
the content of emails either belongs exclusively to the creator or
the recipient of an email."
If "War is the continuation of
Politik by other means" as Clausewitz suggests, are
drones warfighting tools or political tools?
Military
Stats Reveal Epicenter of U.S. Drone War
… The American military has
launched 333 drone strikes this year in Afghanistan. That’s not
only the highest total ever, according to U.S. Air Force statistics.
It’s essentially the same number of robotic attacks in Pakistan
since the
CIA-led campaign there began nearly eight years ago. In the last
30 days, there have been three reported strikes in Yemen. In
Afghanistan, that’s just an average day’s worth of remotely
piloted attacks. And the increased strikes come as the rest of the
war in Afghanistan is slowing down.
(Related) It must be politics, or this
would be an act of war. Wouldn't it?
Iranian
Pilots Tried (and Failed) to Shoot Down a U.S. Drone
Two Iranian jets recently tried and
failed to shoot down an unarmed MQ-1 Predator drone flying a
surveillance mission over the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon disclosed
Thursday. Despite the best efforts of Iranian pilots, the
slow-flying robot returned to its Middle Eastern base unharmed.
… Apparently the Predator was not
flown under the auspices of the CIA; Little referred to it as a
“military” drone. He said he didn’t have a precise timeline of
the incident, but it appears to have taken place quickly. While the
U.S. has
lots
of Navy ships near Iranian waters, including
two
aircraft carriers, the U.S. didn’t scramble any of its own
piloted aircraft to break the Iranian “escort” or otherwise
relieve the drone of its pursuers, Little said.
“It's free, but it will work a lot
better if you pay us.” Perhaps my lawyer friends could invent the
“Crass Action Lawsuit?” (Be sure to get Trekies on your jury)
Family
Feud: Tense Thanksgiving for Facebook and George Takei
Takei, whose page has nearly 3 million
followers on the social network,
says
in a Facebook post that his forthcoming
book
Oh Myyy will include an entire chapter devoted to
Facebook’s
filtering of page posts using an algorithm called EdgeRank and its
parallel practice of charging page owners to reduce EdgeRank
filtering. Takei made the announcement while replying to
another Facebook user who wrote a
jeremiad
against the filtering. Takei has been
outspoken
about his frustration with the filtering, which essentially forces
him to pay Facebook if he wants to reach all of his own fans.
“I am writing a chapter in my book Oh
Myyy about Edgeranking and what I have done to try and achieve
higher engagement,” Takei writes. “I am curious as to why
interactivity rates on my page appear to fluctuate so much when I
have done nothing different. I have not been pressured to use
Promoted Pages [advertising], but I have had to take active steps to
get fans to add my page to their ‘Interests’ so that it has a
higher likelihood of appearing in their newsfeed.”
Takei’s book is slated for release
sometime around Thanksgiving, keeping alive a controversial issue
that just won’t die. Earlier this fall, the blog
Dangerous
Minds and the author
Ryan
Holiday both published rants accusing Facebook of aggressively
filtering posts from Facebook pages in order to get owners of the
pages to pony up for advertising to escape the filtering. Facebook
told
our sister site Ars Technica that, regardless of whether the author
has paid for promotion, a post can be suppressed if readers fail to
interact with the post or if they respond negatively.
You might be surprised!
See
Everything You’ve Ever Shared With Someone On Facebook’s
Redesigned Friendship Pages
Facebook has a little-known feature
called Friendship Pages that shows all the wall posts, updates, and
photos you’re tagged in with someone.
Today
it’s getting a redesign, and Facebook is launching the
facebook.com/us
quick link for couples to see their Friendship Pages.
Yeah, it's upside down, but still
interesting. This has potential!
"Australia's UBank has put a
billion real-world transaction records behind a website that
allows users to compare their spending habits with others of the same
gender, in the same age/income range, neighborhood and living
situation. The 'PeopleLikeU'
tool surfaces favorite shops and restaurants surprisingly
accurately — because it's based on real customers' transactions, it
lists places like good takeout joints that wouldn't normally come to
mind when you think of a favorite place to eat. The bank says all
data was 'deidentified' and it consulted with privacy authorities."
Interesting that fines are based on a
percentage of revenue rather than what seem a “reasonable number”
when the legislation is passed but quickly drops to insignificant as
revenues exceed a billion dollars a month.
Facebook
Lobbies Brussels In Earnest On EU Data Privacy Proposals
Tom Brewster reports:
Facebook is
lobbying hard to influence European Commission policy makers on
recent proposals to shake up data privacy laws across member states,
TechWeekEurope understands.
Earlier this year,
the
EC
outlined its plans for new data protection rules, laying out a
regulation and a directive. They both contained controversial
proposals,
including the ability for regulators to
fine a company two percent of annual turnover for serious
failings and an obligation to confess to data breaches within 24
hours of them happening.
A source close to
the matter said today the company was putting plenty of effort into
lobbying in Brussels to get officials to rethink the laws.
A backgrounder...
November 08, 2012
Australian
Government - Telecommunications data retention - an overview
"By drawing on information
related to similar
proposals
introduced in the United Kingdom (UK) in June 2012, this Background
Note outlines the types of communications data generated by use of
the Internet, email and phones, why law enforcement agencies want it
retained, and what existing access law enforcement agencies have to
such data. In this context, it also explores the reasons for the
proposals, outlines some of the concerns and touches on some of the
challenges involved. However, it does not specifically examine the
arguments for and against a data retention scheme, or the growing
debate over its privacy implications."
Short, but to the point.
November 08, 2012
Teen
Use of Social Networking Sites and Perceptions of Legal Risk
De Zwart, Melissa , Lindsay, David F.,
Henderson, Michael and Phillips, Michael, Randoms vs Weirdos: Teen
Use of Social Networking Sites and Perceptions of Legal Risk (2011).
(2011) 36(3) Alternative Law Journal 153.; Monash University Faculty
of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 44.
Available
at SSRN
This article reports on research
to identify the risks relevant to teens when using these services
and provide them with practical guidance regarding how to miminise
and avoid such risks. The authors, drawn from the education and law
disciplines, undertook to ascertain the actual scale and nature of
use of SNS among teenagers in years 7 to 10, the perceptions of risk
associated with such use and the actual legal risks. The project
produced both a report detailing the outcomes of the research and an
educational resource to be distributed to all Victorian schools that
may be used to assist students, teachers and parents to discuss and
critically consider the risks and legal implications of using SNS.
This article discusses some key outcomes of the study related to use
of SNS and perceptions of legal risks."
A quick reminder with links to the good
stuff...
Tips
for Understanding User Privacy When Operating in Multiple Countries
… To read more on this topic,
consider these related ISACA resources:
I suppose it's worth a try...
Ca:
Commissioners release guide for ‘privacy-friendly’ smartphone
apps
James Keller reports:
Several Canadian
privacy watchdogs have created a set of guidelines to help mobile
developers create “privacy-friendly” smartphone apps.
And they warn that
failing to be transparent about any information collected could see
developers running afoul of both the law and their potential
customers.
Federal privacy
commissioner Jennifer Stoddart joined her counterparts in British
Columbia and Alberta in releasing a 12-page document that explains
how Canada’s privacy laws apply to mobile app developers —
whether they’re based in this country or farther afield.
Better than nothing, but not by much...
More like, “Hey look at me! I've gathered all this information so
I must be an authority on this data stuff...”
Lawmakers
Release Information About How Data Brokers Handle Consumers’
Personal Information
From Rep. Ed Markey:
A bipartisan group
of lawmakers, including Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe
Barton (R-Texas), co-Chairmen of the Congressional Bi-Partisan
Privacy Caucus, today released responses to letters sent to nine
major data brokerage companies querying each about how it collects,
assembles and sells consumer information to third parties. The
companies –Acxiom, Epsilon (Alliance Data Systems), Equifax,
Experian, Harte-Hanks, Intelius, Fair Isaac, Merkle, and Meredith
Corp. – responded to lawmaker questions about policies and
practices related to privacy, transparency and consumer notification.
Data brokers represent a multi-billion dollar industry, aggregating
information about hundreds of millions of Americans from both online
and offline sources, which they then may sell to third parties for
targeted advertising and other purposes. Consumers often have little
knowledge of the existence of these companies.
Other signatories
on the letters include Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), Steve Chabot
(R-Ohio), G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), and Jan
Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
“The data
brokers’ responses offer only a glimpse of the practices of an
industry that has operated in the shadows for years,” said the
lawmakers in a joint statement. “Many questions about how these
data brokers operate have been left unanswered, particularly how they
analyze personal information to categorize and rate consumers. This
and other practices could affect the lives of nearly all Americans,
including children and teens. We want to work with the data broker
industry so that it is more open about how it collects, uses, and
sells Americans’ information. Until then, we will continue our
efforts to learn more about this industry and will push for whatever
steps are necessary to make sure Americans know how this industry
operates and are granted control over their own information.”
A copy of the
responses to the lawmakers, as well as the original letters, can be
found
HERE.
Findings from the
responses include:
All companies
except for one – Acxiom – rejected the categorization of their
business practices as data brokerage. One company called
itself a “data provider”, while another reported that since it
only “analyzes” data, they should not be considered a data
broker.
Only one company provided details
on the number of consumers who request access to their information –
Acxiom reported over the last two years as few as 77 people per
year, out of the 190 million consumers it has collected information
on, requested access to their personal information. Several
other companies do not allow access to consumer data stating that
information is not identifiable.
In addition to collecting
data about consumers from sources such as telephone directories,
mobile phones, government agencies, financial institutions and
directly from consumers themselves, several data brokers reported
mining consumer information from social media sites such as Facebook
and LinkedIn.
The companies provided little
explanation of the distinction between information they collect and
use (e.g, a person is female) versus the information they create by
analysis for profiling consumers (e.g. young female interested in
weight loss sent coupon for a diet pill).
I suspect Amazon would like a piece of
the “Marijuana Home Delivery” business here in Colorado. Perhaps
we could trade for wine?
Amazon has announced a new service
called Amazon Wine that brings online shoppers one-step closer to
being able to buy anything and everything from Amazon.com. The
service allows users to buy over 1000 different wines from wineries
around the country. The service also offers access to details from
the winemakers such as tasting notes, recommended food pairings, and
how many cases they produce of each vintage.
… The
states where customers can purchase wine via Amazon include
California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska,
Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. Amazon says
additional states will be coming soon.
Is this a viable research tool?
November 08, 2012
The
Ethics of Twitter Research: A Topology of Disciplines, Methods and
Ethics Review Boards
Michael Zimmer, PhD: "In the five
years since its launch, the social networking and microblogging
service Twitter has quickly grown to over 300 million users,
generating over
300 millions tweets each day.
By providing a simple platform for users to explain “what’s
happening” in 140 characters or less, Twitter has become the
Internet’s de facto public forum to sharing “pretty much anything
[users] wanted, be it information, relationships, entertainment,
citizen journalism, and beyond” (Dybwad, 2009). This sharing of
information, relationships, entertainment, journalism, and beyond has
made Twitter a cultural phenomenon... The Library of Congress
recognized this importance of Twitter when it announced in 2010 that,
Every
public tweet, ever, since Twitter’s inception in March 2006, will
be archived digitally at the Library of Congress (Raymond, 2010,
¶2)..In the wake of the Library of Congress announcement, increased
debates over the appropriateness of archiving public Tweets for
research purposes have arisen (see, for example, Vieweg, 2010;
Zimmer,
2010). The
goal
of this paper is to seek initial answers to these questions by
surveying academic research that relies on the collection and use of
Twitter data."
De-stressing my students. Seriously.
If you spend most of your time working
in front of your computer, your eyes get tired after a certain time
period, without you noticing. Constant sitting in front of a
computer screen may lead to eye strain injury. Now, there is an app
called eyeBreak that helps you avoid eye strain injury by reminding
you to take an eye-rest at regular intervals. You simply open their
website in your browser and keep it open. Every 20 minutes it will
remind you to take an eye-rest by making a sound. No need to sign up
or configure settings.
Free is good. And fun! Download the
free book and load it into your word processor. Change all
occurances of “Dracula” to “Congress” and references to
“blood sucking” to “Taxation” and you have a Libertarian
manifesto!
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Free
Copies of Dracula - And Google Books for Educators
Today's Google doodle remembers
Bram
Stoker's birthday. If you click through today's Google doodle
you'll find a slew of links about Stoker and his most famous work,
Dracula. On Google Books you can find free full-view copies of
Dracula. I've embedded a copy below. If you haven't used Google
Books to locate free full-view books, take a look at my simple guide
to
Google
Books for Educators.
Applications
for Education
If you have your students reading
novels, short stories, and or primary source works that are in the
public domain, Google Books is a great place to look for free copies
of those works. You can embed the works directly into your course
blog so that students can read them online in the same place that
they find all of the other important information about your courses.
Even if you don't want to write a book,
the idea of a collection of test questions is interesting...
…
Siyavula
has gathered teachers and university-level students in South Africa
to write openly licensed textbooks in math and science. Over the
course of two to three weekend-long workshops per book, volunteers
come together and collaboratively author a textbook.
The workshops include an introduction
to copyright, Beckett says. And they must deal with a variety of
practical and technical issues (including which authoring platform to
utilize). But by bringing together a diverse group of people, the
textbooks include more ideas than you’d find if you’d just
commissioned a single author to write the copy.
… Siyavula covers math and science,
and other organizations have been working on similar efforts. There
have been
textbook
hackathons in Finland and
in
Boston, for example, compiling math and computer science textbook
materials.
If the security is adequate, this could
be quite useful.
Pinterest,
the online board where users can pin images for other users to see
and share, has finally added private boards. Secret Boards, as the
new feature is called, allows users to set up private,
user-restricted boards where images can rest safely knowing they’re
not open to public scrutiny. The feature is being “gradually
rolled out.”
