Interesting in what it does not reveal. Lots of “we don't track that information” Also, no indication that a request was made to multiple carriers. Or similar requests by multiple agencies. Or if one request was for multiple types of information. I'd say this “report” is confusing at best.

http://www.bespacific.com/investigation-reveals-more-than-one-million-requests-by-law-enforcement-for-americans-mobile-phone-data/

Investigation Reveals More Than One Million Requests By Law Enforcement for Americans’ Mobile Phone Data

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on December 9, 2013

“As part of his ongoing investigation into wireless surveillance of Americans by law enforcement, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today released responses from eight major wireless carriers that reveals expanded use of wireless surveillance of Americans, including more than one million requests for the personal mobile phone data of Americans in 2012 by law enforcement. This total may well represent tens or hundreds of thousands more actual individuals due to the law enforcement practice of requesting so-called “cell phone tower dumps” in which carriers provide all the phone numbers of mobile phone users that connect with a tower during a specific period of time. Senator Markey began his investigation last year, revealing 1.3 million requests in 2011 for wireless data by federal, state, and local law enforcement. In this year’s request for information, Senator Markey expanded his inquiry to include information about emergency requests for information, data retention policies, what legal standard –whether a warrant or a lower standard — is used for each type of information request, and the costs for fulfilling requests. The responses received by Senator Markey reveal surveillance startling in both volume and scope. “

This seems to protect the school administrators far more than the students. Another case of “We know what's best for your children, so we can make this decision.” I wonder how common this is?

OH: Privacy law shields school-district tallies of gun incidents

Bill Bush reports:

When schools discipline students for taking guns to school, the districts must report it to the state. It happened almost 250 times in Ohio last year.

But parents who look on the state Board of Education’s website won’t see most of those reports.

That’s because a department rule designed to protect the privacy of students — including those who take guns to school — keeps parents in the dark about where those hundreds of incidents happened.

Read more on The Columbus Dispatch.

[From the article:

… Whenever a district’s reportable incidents total fewer than 10 in a year, the department “masks” the data, blanking out the number. So a district that expelled nine students for shooting guns in a school would show up on the website as having no gun-related expulsions, with nothing to indicate that any information was redacted.

… The state Department of Education masks the disciplinary numbers under the theory that if the public knew the number was nine or fewer, someone could use that to figure out the students’ identities. The rule doesn’t take into account the size of the district — assuming, for example, that reporting that five students in Columbus City Schools were expelled for taking guns to school would somehow identify them among the district’s nearly 51,000 students.

… Among the state’s eight largest urban districts, only Cleveland had enough gun incidents last school year to allow the reporting: 13 expulsions and 63 out-of-school suspensions.

The same rule applies to other categories of disciplinary data, including use of other weapons, fighting, serious bodily injury, unwelcome sexual contact, bomb threats and intimidation.

Somehow, this does not make me feel safer. If they confiscate weapons, are there no charges? What's next with “zero tolerance?” Confiscation of pictures of guns?

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/10/21849757-tsa-confiscates-sock-monkeys-toy-gun?lite

TSA confiscates sock monkey's toy gun

… A woman at a checkpoint at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport said she was “appalled and shocked” after a Transportation Security Administration agent confiscated a tiny toy gun belonging to her sock monkey.

Phyllis May of Redmond, Wash., was travelling from St. Louis on Dec. 3 when she noticed a TSA agent inspecting one of her carry-on bags, according to NBC affiliate King 5.

May sells the dolls and had several sock monkeys and sewing supplies in the bag. One of the monkeys, named “Rooster Monkburn,” after John Wayne’s character “Rooster Cogburn” in the movie “True Grit,” is a cowboy with a two-inch long pistol.

“She said ‘This is a gun,’” May told King 5. “I said 'No, it’s not a gun, it’s a prop for my monkey.'”

“She said ‘If I held it up to your neck, you wouldn’t know if it was real or not,’ and I said ‘Really?’” May said.

May told King 5 the TSA agent took the monkey’s gun and informed May she was supposed to call the police.

… King 5 reported that the agent did not call police and May was able to keep her sewing supplies and other dolls and board the plane.

How far can an incumbent go before tripping over the line?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57615222-76/nest-labs-ceo-advice-startup-more-like-lawyer-up/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

Nest Labs CEO advice: Startup? More like lawyer up

Startups whose products challenge the incumbents need to prepare not just for competition but for dirty tricks.

That was the advice at the LeWeb conference from Tony Fadell, chief executive and founder of Nest Labs, whose Net-connected, app-enabled thermostat triggered patent-infringement suits from Honeywell and Allure Energy. The company now has expanded into smoke detectors, too.

How rude!

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24688693/6-bottles-chateau-petrus-wine-stolen-from-brown

6 bottles of Chateau Petrus wine stolen from Brown Palace cellar

Six bottles of an extremely rare French wine that could fetch thousands of dollars on the black market were swiped from the wine cellar at The Brown Palace Hotel in Denver.

… McMillan valued the six bottles at $4,600 in the police report. However, the Palace Arms' wine list offers the 2000 Château Petrus at $6,000 a bottle.

Very new? Not clear how this will work, but I will follow it.

EDU Libs

– provides documents, papers and essays for university and school research. A growing community means more documents available for you. Find papers,essays, and university related documents. Download and read free available eBooks from the Internet. Get ideas for your school or university projects.

Useful ideas

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/become-a-boss-at-email-dont-let-it-take-all-day/

Become A Boss At Email: Don’t Let It Take All Day

182,900,000,000 emails.

182.9 billion.

That’s more than 25 emails per every human mind on the planet.

And that’s just what we send in one day (PDF).

Given the crazy amount of emails that are sent and received every day, it’s no wonder that this electronic communication has become too hard to handle for so many of us. But don’t worry, here are some productivity secrets that can help you tame the beast.

For my students with i-Stuff...

http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/10/apple-12-days-of-gifts-app/

Apple gifting 12 days of digital goodies — and it didn’t forget the U.S. this year

… the American tech giant is handing out some digital goodies to folks in the U.S. and abroad. The company just launched its annual “12 Days of Gifts” campaign (formerly known as “12 Days of Christmas”), which promises to dole out a free gift from the iTunes, iBooks, and App Stores every day between Dec. 26 and Jan. 6.

… Here’s the official 12 Days of Gifts description:

From December 26 – January 6, you can download a gift each day — songs, apps, books, films, and more — with the 12 Days of Gifts app. Each day’s gift will only be available for 24 hours, so download the free app to make sure you don’t miss out. Please note: Not all content is available in all countries.