Push,
push, push... Let's hope everyone knows (and plays by) the rules of
this game.
China
scrambles jets in air zone to monitor US and Japanese planes
The zone covers
territory claimed by China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
China said last week
that all aircraft crossing through the zone must file flight plans
and identify themselves or face "defensive emergency measures".
The US, Japan and South
Korea say they have since defied the ruling and flown military
aircraft in the area.
The air defence identification zone (ADIZ) covers a vast area of the
East China Sea, including a group of islands claimed by Japan, China
and Taiwan.
South Korea claims a
submerged rock, known as Ieodo, also within the zone.
Now this
is interesting. Did GfK develop the “surveillance router” or is
it a Google tool? If it involves a ”hands on” delivery, my
Ethical Hackers probably can't spoof a few thousand survey
participants. How skewed will this be if they only survey the
“Privacy ignorant?”
Joe Cadillic sent me a
link to an article on Testosterone Pit that begins:
The
first thing I noticed after I’d removed the glossy brochure and a
letter from the 8.5 x 11 envelope was the crisp $5 bill attached to
the letter. I’m a sucker for free money. [Ditto Bob]
After peeling it off and securing it in my pocket, I started reading.
It was addressed to “Dear current resident of …,” followed by
my address. The five bucks was “our way of thanking you for
considering participation,” the letter said. Participation in
what?
“An
exciting and very important new research study conducted for Google
by GfK,” it said. It sounded harmless. The proposition? My
involvement in “Screenwise” would help Google understand how I
“use different types of media” and improve its “products and
services.” In return, I’d get some money. How much wasn’t
exactly clear up front due to the different steps and conditions.
So, sucker for free money, I read on.
I
would also get a “free top-of-the-line wireless Cisco router,” it
said. Ha, I already have one of those, but this router would be
special. It would collect all data flowing through it and send it to
Google and GfK. A spy router!
Read more about it on
Testosterone
Pit while I go mutter to myself. I doubt any of my readers would
sign up for the offer they describe, but it’s hard to believe it’s
even for real….
[From
the article:
Google would in effect
sit inside the router and know everything – where you bank, the
brokers you use, how often you visit their sites, what trading
software you use, your internet phone calls, Skype conversations,
instant messages, email, what health issues you might be dealing
with, the porn sites you or your kids visit, where you’d like go to
dinner. Everything.
(Related) Prescription
surveillance tools? Install the “Safe Living” app or we'll raise
your health insurance rates?
Kate Andries reports:
Your
phone knows everything about you — how much you walk, talk and
what level of Candy Crush you’re stuck on — but soon it could be
spilling secrets to your doctor.
More
and more physicians are prescribing apps that help track their
patients’ illnesses through information collected by their
smartphones.
“[The
trend] just seems to be exploding,” said Seth S. Martin, a Pollin
cardiovascular prevention fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospit al in
Baltimore. “With the widespread use now of smartphones, it’s a
really exciting opportunity to help people live healthier lives.”
[“...until research tells us we've been suggesting
the wrong things.” Bob]
Read more on WTOP.
The news story discusses accuracy and validity of apps, but I see no
discussion of data security and whether such data might be
intercepted or shared elsewhere – and with what consequences.
Contrast this with the
UN and EU insistence on Privacy (both published this week)
Mass
Surveillance of Personal Data by EU Member States and Its
Compatibility with EU Law
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on November 29, 2013
Bigo, Didier and
Carrera, Sergio and Hernanz, Nicholas and Jeandesboz, Julien and
Parkin, Joanna and Ragazzi, Francesco Rossi and Scherrer, Amandine,
Mass Surveillance of Personal Data by EU Member States and Its
Compatibility with EU Law (November 6, 2013). Liberty and Security in
Europe Papers No. 61. Available
at SSRN.
“In the wake of the
disclosures surrounding PRISM and other US
surveillance programmes, this paper assesses the large-scale
surveillance practices by a selection of EU member states: the UK,
Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Given the large-scale
nature of these practices, which represent a reconfiguration of
traditional intelligence gathering, [Why would they think
that? Bob] the paper contends that an analysis of European
surveillance programmes cannot be reduced to a question of the
balance between data protection versus national security, but has
to be framed in terms of collective freedoms and democracy. It finds
that four of the five EU member states selected for in-depth
examination are engaging in some form of large-scale interception and
surveillance of communication data, and identifies parallels and
discrepancies between these programmes and the NSA-run operations.
The paper argues that these programmes do not stand outside the realm
of EU intervention but can be analysed from an EU law perspective via
i) an understanding of national security in a democratic rule of law
framework where fundamental human rights and judicial oversight
constitute key norms; ii) the risks posed to the internal security of
the Union as a whole as well as the privacy of EU citizens as data
owners and iii) the potential spillover into the activities and
responsibilities of EU agencies. The paper then presents a set of
policy recommendations to the European Parliament.”
They use
drones to smuggle drugs into the US, why not keep their friends
supplied while they serve their terms? Perhaps they should put more
emphasis on “Remote” piloting?
Drones
used to try to smuggle contraband into jail
… Prison guards at
the Calhoun state jail spotted a drone hovering over the prison yard
and alerted police who began a search of the local area.
Inside a nearby car
they found a six-rotor remote-controlled helicopter, between 1lb and
2lb of tobacco and several mobile phones.
Four people were
arrested and could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of
attempting to smuggle contraband into the prison.
The
problem is keeping a lid on software that works and that people like.
Ties into employees installing software on their employer's machines
or their BYOD devices.
US
agrees to pay $50m after 'piracy' of software
Apptricity, based in
Texas, has provided logistics programs to the army since 2004.
The company said it had
discovered
last year the software had been installed on
many more machines than had been licensed.
… According to
court documents filed in 2012, the deal with the military meant up to
500 named users could access the software.
Apptricity later
estimated that 9,000 users were accessing the program, in addition to
the 500 that had been paid for.
The unauthorised
copying only came to light after a US Army official mentioned
"thousands" of devices running the software during a
presentation on technology.
Oh, boo
hoo! When you are found guilty of monopolistic practices, expect
your watcher to charge monopolistic rates. That's the point, isn't
it?
Our
ebook antitrust watchdog is too expensive, moans Apple
Apple has filed a court
motion complaining that Michael Bromwich, the court-appointed
antitrust regulator appointed to oversee the fruity firm in the wake
of its ebook price-fixing shenanigans, is too charging too much for
his services.
"Mr Bromwich
appears to be simply taking advantage of the fact that there is no
competition here or, in his view, any ability on the part of
Apple, the subject of his authority, to push back on his demands,"
said Cupertino's lawyers in a filing to the New York federal court,
Bloomberg reports.
On the face of it Apple
may have a point. In his first two weeks in the job, Bromwich has
invoiced Apple for $138,432 for his services, including a 15 per cent
surcharge because he's assigned the role to his consultancy business,
rather than as part of his day job at law firm Goodwin Procter.
… Bromwich is
charging an hourly rate of $1,100, which the Apple filing says is
more than it has ever been billed by a lawyer before. [But he's
charging as a consultant. Bob]
… Based on
Bromwich's first two weeks of invoicing, that five year appointment
could cost Apple over $16m in fees, although it may be that the
lawyer has been front-loading the early invoices to pay for costs of
setting up a regulator position. Apple's 2013 net income was $37
billion.
My
statistics students will recognize this – they had better recognize
this!
… First, start with
something that interests, even bothers, you at work, like
consistently late-starting meetings. Whatever it is, form it up as a
question and write it down: “Meetings always seem to start late.
Is that really true?” [Your hypothesis Bob]
Next, think through the
data that can help answer your question, and develop a plan for
creating them. Write down all the relevant definitions and your
protocol for collecting the data. For this particular example, you
have to define when the meeting actually begins. Is it the time
someone says, “Ok, let’s begin.”? Or the time the real
business of the meeting starts? Does kibitzing count?
Now collect the data.
It is critical that you trust
the data. And, as you go, you’re almost certain to find gaps
in data collection. You may find that even though a meeting has
started, it starts anew when a more senior person joins in. Modify
your definition and protocol as you go along.
Sooner than you think,
you’ll be ready to start drawing some pictures. [...or even
apply some simple math! Bob]
