Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Now will you change the law?
Michigan AG Nessel warns of possible data breach of more than 600,000 residents
A data breach possibly involving the theft of names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, insurance contract information and numbers, phone numbers, and medical information of more than 600,000 Michigan residents has state Attorney General Dana Nessel urging residents to pay close attention to their personal information and credit reports.
… The data was stolen from Detroit-based Wolverine Solutions Group and may have included data for customers of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Health Alliance Plan, McLaren Health Care, Three Rivers Health, and North Ottawa Community Health System.
… The attorney general’s office is now seeking more information about the breach. Under state law, Wolverine was not required to share information about the breach with the office. Nessel said her office was first made aware of the breach through media sources.
The company announced the breach on Jan. 1, 2019 on its website, but did not list how many people may have been impacted by the breach.




Security tools.
Firefox Send's free encrypted file transfers are now available to all
… Firefox Send was introduced in 2017 as part of the now-defunct Firefox Test Pilot, which allowed early adopters to try out experimental features, and is now being graduated. Those with Firefox accounts can now share files up to 2.5GB in size between browsers, while everyone else is limited to 1GB. It's also getting its very own Send Android app in beta.
… Firefox Send only comes with a basic free option.
… But it should boast enough security perks to keep general Firefox users happy: You can choose when your file link expires, the number of downloads, and whether to add an optional password. Recipients, on the other hand, simply receive a link to download the file regardless of whether they have a Firefox account or not.




We’ll see.
Lawmakers introduce bipartisan bill for 'internet of things' security standards
The bill, introduced in the Senate by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and in the House by Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), would require established standards for government use of the devices.




There should be consequences for such failures. We seem to let them (Boards of Directors) slide.
Equifax Was Aware of Cybersecurity Weaknesses for Years, Senate Report Says
The attack on Equifax started in May, but was only detected in July, despite thousands of queries sent by threat actors to the company’s databases during that time.
A December 2018 report from the House of Representatives’ Oversight and Government Reform Committee Republicans blasted the company for its poor security practices, and the new U.S. Senate report does that once again, while also providing some more details on Equifax’ failures regarding the incident.
According to the report (PDF), Equifax was aware of security weaknesses in its systems for two years, but failed to properly address them. The critical vulnerability that led to the data breach was patched only months after being publicly reported.
Equifax employees were unable to respond adequately due to a failure to implement basic cybersecurity standards, which prevented Equifax from complying with its own internal policies and procedures,” the report reads.
Moreover, the company was unable to locate vulnerable assets in its inventory,




What was illegal is now illegal-er? How does that help?
Drone no-fly zones around UK airports are expanding this week
Starting this Wednesday, March 13th, it will be illegal to fly a drone within three miles of an airport in the UK, up from the 0.6-mile limit that’s currently in effect. The rule changes, which were first announced last month, more than quadruple the radius of each airport’s drone restricted airspace.
The new laws are in response to drone activity that effectively shut down the UK’s second-largest airport, Gatwick, for over a day in the run-up to Christmas last year. However, despite the incident affecting over 1,000 flights and as many as 140,000 passengers, police still don’t know who was responsible.




How to create Internet Laws?
Ten Principles for a New Approach to Regulating the Internet
The ten principles are:
Parity.
Accountability.
Transparency.
Openness.
Privacy.
Ethical design.
Recognition of childhood.
Respect for human rights and equality.
Education and awareness-raising.
Democratic accountability, proportionality and evidenced-based approach.




Another way we run into Privacy laws.
California Privacy Law Threatens Discount Programs, ANA Says
… The California Consumer Privacy Act, set to take effect next year, allows consumers to learn what personal information about them is held by businesses, request deletion of that information, and to opt out of its sale. The bill contains a provision prohibiting companies from charging higher prices to consumers who opt out of data collection and selling. But the measure also allows businesses to offer "financial incentives" to consumers who allow their data to be collected and sold -- provided that the incentives are related to the data's value.
The ANA is now calling on state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to issue regulations specifically providing that loyalty programs are permissible under the new law.


(Related)
Alston & Bird lawyers write:
On March 6, the Washington state Senate voted 46-1 to approve the Washington Privacy Act (WPA or the Act), otherwise known as SB 5376. If the bill passes the House, the bill would become the second comprehensive state privacy legislation behind the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which goes into effect January 1, 2020. The bill would provide consumer rights, impose obligations on businesses collecting and selling personal information, and create an office of privacy and data protection to interface with state agencies on data privacy and data protection policy matters. The bill draws from the CCPA and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).




Doing what no human can?
How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Science
No human, or team of humans, could possibly keep up with the avalanche of information produced by many of today’s physics and astronomy experiments. Some of them record terabytes of data every day — and the torrent is only increasing. The Square Kilometer Array, a radio telescope slated to switch on in the mid-2020s, will generate about as much data traffic each year as the entire internet.
The deluge has many scientists turning to artificial intelligence for help. With minimal human input, AI systems such as artificial neural networks — computer-simulated networks of neurons that mimic the function of brains — can plow through mountains of data, highlighting anomalies and detecting patterns that humans could never have spotted.




Why I try not to laugh at my students.
Taking Laughter Seriously at the Supreme Court
Jacobi, Tonja and Sag, Matthew, Taking Laughter Seriously at the Supreme Court (March 9, 2019). Vanderbilt Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=
“Laughter in Supreme Court oral arguments has been misunderstood, treated as either a lighthearted distraction from the Court’s serious work, or interpreted as an equalizing force in an otherwise hierarchical environment. Examining the more than 9000 instances of laughter witnessed at the Court since 1955, this Article shows that the justices of the Supreme Court use courtroom humor as a tool of advocacy and as a signal of their power and status. As the justices have taken on a greater advocacy role in the modern era, they have also provoked an increasing level of laughter. The performative nature of courtroom humor is apparent from the uneven distribution of judicial jokes, jests, and jibes. The justices overwhelmingly direct their most humorous comments at the advocates who they disagree with, the advocates who are losing, and at novice advocates. Building on prior work, we show that laughter in the courtroom is yet another aspect of judicial behavior that can be used to predict cases before justices have even voted. Many laughs occur in response to humorous comments, but that should not distract from the serious and strategic work being done by that humor. To fully understand oral argument, Court observers would be wise to take laughter seriously.”




For all my students.
Microsoft launches business school focused on AI strategy, culture and responsibility
In recent years, some of the world’s fastest growing companies have deployed artificial intelligence to solve specific business problems. In fact, according to new market research from Microsoft on how AI will change leadership, these high-growth companies are more than twice as likely to be actively implementing AI as lower-growth companies.
What’s more, high-growth companies are further along in their AI deployments, with about half planning to use more AI in the coming year to improve decision making compared to about a third of lower growth companies. Still, less than two in 10 of even high-growth companies are integrating AI across their operations, the research found.
… Today, Azizirad and her team are launching Microsoft’s AI Business School to help business leaders navigate these questions. The free, online course is a master class series that aims to empower business leaders to lead with confidence in the age of AI.
AI Business School course materials include brief written case studies and guides, plus videos of lectures, perspectives and talks that busy executives can access in small doses when they have time. A series of short introductory videos provide an overview of the AI technologies driving change across industries, but the bulk of the content focuses on managing the impact of AI on company strategy, culture and responsibility.
… The business school complements other AI learning initiatives across Microsoft, including the developer-focused AI School and the Microsoft Professional Program for Artificial Intelligence, which provides job-ready skills and real-world experience to engineers and others looking to improve their skills in AI and data science.
Unlike these other initiatives, AI Business School is non-technical and designed to get executives ready to lead their organizations on a journey of AI transformation, according to Azizirad.




For the student toolkit?


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