E-Arm-Twisting A new marketing technique?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081214073237487

My Buddies App On Facebook: Privacy Extortion? (opinion)

Sunday, December 14 2008 @ 07:32 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

I recently received a series of notifications on Facebook alerting me that friends of mine had answered various personal questions about me. One notification claimed that a high school friend had just answered a specific yes/no question about my sexual orientation. Clicking on the link labeled “What did she say?”, I was invited to join My Buddies – a new Facebook application with an icon identical to the default running man on AIM, implying a connection to AOL that I doubt exists.

[...]

My Buddies asks sensitive questions about an individual, reports to that individual that the questions were answered by a friend in some way, and requires the individual to invite others to sign up before hearing the answer (or even who else can see the answer). My Buddies attempts in this way to strong arm user adoption. I reported this application to Facebook. I invite you to do the same.

Source - Ryan Calo, on CIS

Ditto? At least related.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081215065220789

UK: BT to go ahead with Phorm ad-server deployment

Monday, December 15 2008 @ 06:52 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

BT expects to deploy the controversial Phorm advertisement-serving technology following a "brief" period of analysis of the results of its third trial.

Phorm said today, "Following the successful completion of analysis, both of the trial results and of any changes required for expansion, BT has informed the company that it expects to move towards deployment."

Source - ComputerWeekly.com

[From an earlier article:

The letter to the Commission added that a user profile should have a random identity, that Phorm did not keep a record of sites visited or search terms used, and that advertising categories and other information could not be used to track back to users. [Doesn't this defeat the whole concept of ad serving? Bob]

Perspective

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081215070136582

Issue Paper: Protecting the right to privacy in the fight against terrorism

Monday, December 15 2008 @ 07:01 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Issue Papers published by the Commissioner for Human Rights highlight human rights aspects and concerns of highly topical themes. They present the main factual and legal data of those themes. They raise questions, propose pointers for any future work, contain suggestions and possible warnings. They aim to inform the public as well as authorities and members of non-governmental organisations working in the field of human rights and to contribute to debate. They cannot be construed as Recommendations or Opinions under the Commissioner's terms of reference. All Issue papers are available on the Commissioner’s web-site: www.commissioner.coe.int.

Source - Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights

[From the paper:

7. Conclusions

We are rapidly becoming a “Surveillance Society”. This is partly the result of general technical and societal developments, but these trends are strongly reinforced by measures taken in the fight against terrorism.

Might be interesting to survey these companies to see if they agree on a Privacy Strategy (or is the trust based on customer ignorance?)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081215065415871

Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe Announce Results of Annual Most Trusted Companies for Privacy Survey

Monday, December 15 2008 @ 06:54 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Privacy and information security research company Ponemon Institute along with TRUSTe, the most widely recognized Internet privacy trustmark, today announced the results of the Ponemon Institute's fifth annual survey of Most Trusted Companies for Privacy. The study asked 6,486 adult-aged U.S. consumers which companies they thought were most trustworthy and which did the best job safeguarding personal information. A total of 706 companies were named by consumers; 211 made the final list of most trusted companies.

American Express ranked as the Most Trusted Company for 2008 for Privacy, retaining its place from last year despite the current financial climate. eBay earned a ranking as the second most trusted company, while IBM, Amazon, and Johnson & Johnson rounded out the top five.

Source - MarketWatch press release

There are direct and indirect consequences. Not sure I can agree with their conclusions...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081215063252228

Data Breaches: Ignorance Is Dangerous

Monday, December 15 2008 @ 06:32 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Before 2003, companies weren't required to report a data breach to anyone, but a California law passed that year changed everything. Two years later, following the ChoicePoint breach, most of the other states jumped on the bandwagon, and now most states have notification laws.

[...]

Fred Cate, a law professor and director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University, agrees. "Research shows pretty clearly that there's very little identity theft that follows breached accounts. Security threats are all around us, but security breaches are like a little sideshow. I don't mean to suggest that they aren't a concern, but if you asked security experts to name the top 15 security risks, I doubt breaches would be on anyone's list."

Source - TechNewsWorld

...because...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081215063132395

Data "Dysprotection:" breaches reported last week

Monday, December 15 2008 @ 06:31 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A recap of incidents or privacy breaches reported last week for those who enjoy shaking their head and muttering to themselves with their morning coffee.

Source - Chronicles of Dissent

If the government publishes these names, it's a “Public Safety” issue. If they don't, is “Journalism” the only valid “defense?”

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081214100931326

Swedish government watchdog investigates website naming sex offenders

Sunday, December 14 2008 @ 10:09 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A government watchdog in Sweden has started investigating a website that publishes the names of convicted sex offenders for potential breach of the country's privacy laws. ... The board will assess whether the publication has been done with a journalistic purpose or not.

Under Swedish law, material published with a journalistic purpose is excluded from the law on protection of personal information. [Would that cover the supermarket tabloids? Bob]

The website has been running since October and shows court documents, dates of birth and photos of convicted rapists.

Source - Canada East

Is it high comedy when we laugh at your “best argument?”

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F14%2F1346220&from=rss

Documentary Released On Canadian Fight Against DMCA

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday December 14, @09:38AM from the during-hockey-season?-they-must-really-be-upset dept. Government The Internet

An anonymous reader writes

"The ongoing fight against the Canadian DMCA is the focus of a new documentary film called Why Copyright? Produced by Michael Geist and available as a streamed version, OGG download version, or a torrent, the film features Red Hat founder Bob Young, sci-fi writer Karl Schroeder, the owner of Skylink Technologies (which fought the DMCA garage door opener case) and many other voices from across Canada."

Fact or fiction? Did the WSJ get it wrong?

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F15%2F0326211&from=rss

Network Neutrality Defenders Quietly Backing Off?

Posted by timothy on Monday December 15, @07:02AM from the but-you-said-earlier dept. The Internet Communications Google Politics

SteveOHT writes

"Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Google has traditionally been one of the loudest advocates of equal network access for all content providers. The story claims that Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon have quietly withdrawn from a coalition of companies and groups backing network neutrality (the coalition is not named), though Amazon's name is reportedly once again listed on the coalition's Web site.

Google has already responded, calling the WSJ story "confused" and explaining that they're only talking about edge caching, and remain as committed as ever to network neutrality. The blogosphere is alight with the debate.

[From the article:

In addition, prominent Internet scholars, some of whom have advised President-elect Barack Obama on technology issues, have softened their views on the subject.

The contentious issue has wide ramifications for the Internet as a platform for new businesses. If companies like Google succeed in negotiating preferential treatment, the Internet could become a place where wealthy companies get faster and easier access to the Web than less affluent ones, according to advocates of network neutrality. [Interesting graphic showing petabytes per month Bob]

... Microsoft, which appealed to Congress to save network neutrality just two years ago, has changed its position completely. "Network neutrality is a policy avenue the company is no longer pursuing," Microsoft said in a statement. The Redmond, Wash., software giant now favors legislation to allow network operators to offer different tiers of service to content companies.

Worth reading, but a simple call for standards.

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/020065.html

December 14, 2008

New on LLRX.com: E-Discovery Update - My E-Discovery Holiday Wish List

E-Discovery Update: My E-Discovery Holiday Wish List - Conrad J. Jacoby's holiday wish is for the legal community to finally develop one or more judicially accepted standards that can be used to craft consistent ways of requesting and producing information. With baseline procedures in place, both producing and requesting parties, as well as judges, will be able to make more informed decisions about the need for discovery and the way in which such discovery should be conducted.

No tech surprises...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/020066.html

December 14, 2008

Pew Internet Survey: The Future of the Internet III

News release: "Some 578 leading Internet activists, builders, and commentators responded in this survey to scenarios about the effect of the Internet on social, political, and economic life in the year 2020. An additional 618 stakeholders also participated in the study, for a total of 1,196 participants who shared their views..."

• The Future of the Internet III - "A survey of experts shows they expect major tech advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, and the structure of the Internet itself improves. They disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives. December 14, 2008"

Do you believe?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10122752-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Does it matter if Google's search results are fixed?

Posted by Chris Matyszczyk December 14, 2008 12:03 PM PST

The fools, usually, are us.

We, the people, who switch off our critical faculties and happily barter our trust for the joy of convenience.

So will we ever make the effort to even raise an eyebrow when we read "Google this week admitted that its staff pick and choose what appears in its search results"?

These words, from the Register's Andrew Orlovski, ought surely to give one or two people pause for a small grunt of concern.

As Mr. Orlovski points out, Google News expressly declares that "the selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program." Except that, it appears, maybe they weren't.

He quotes Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, who suggested that Google will "make obvious changes- An example is if "thousands of people" were to knock a search result off a search page, they'd be likely to make a change.."

"Now what, you may be thinking, is an "obvious change"?" writes Mr. Orlovski. "Is it one that is frivolous? (Thereby introducing a Google Frivolitimeter? [Beta]). Or is it one that goes against the grain of the consensus? If so, then who decides what the consensus must be?"

Got smarts? (Or the ability to write great fiction?)

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/mahalo-answers.html

Mahalo Answers Pays Cash for Your Two Cents

By Chris Snyder December 15, 2008 7:52:34 AM

Mahalo, the human powered search engine, is launching a crowd-sourced Q&A feature Monday to compete with sites like Yahoo Answers and Wiki.Answers. But unlike those already out there, Mahalo Answers is creating a marketplace for your knowledge.

When you submit a question, you can offer a "tip" of a few bucks (using PayPal) to whomever can give you the best answer. The money makes responses more reliable and is an incentive to answer accurately and often.

There are point systems to rate members and Mahalo dollars that drive the economy. Each Mahalo dollar is worth 75 cents in real U.S. dollars. Once you have collected more than $40 Mahalo dollars, you can cash them in and Mahalo will send you a check, keeping 25 percent for themselves.

Just a brief wow! This is my 901st post to this blog.


Big and long-running. I hope we see more details.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081213173956657

Za: Cops reel in greedy hackers

Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 05:39 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A syndicate of Internet thieves has stolen more than R400-million [CORRECTION: approximately $39.7 million -- Dissent] from government departments, including the Presidency.

Two computer identity-theft hackers, believed to be the masterminds of the cyber gang, were nabbed by the police this week.

These follow the earlier arrests of 13 people involved in stealing millions of rands from government departments and employees across the country.

Source - The Mercury

[From the article:

The syndicate, the members of which have been arrested over the past month, was bust during an operation conducted by the South African Police Service's Covert Intelligence Collective Directorate and the Commercial Crime Unit.

... She said the information showed that since 2006 the suspects had allegedly stolen more than R5-million from the Office of the Presidency's budget.

... "In some cases, government officials within IT departments used remote access software available on the commercial market to gain unauthorised access and modify the banking details of registered suppliers," she explained.

Golding said the syndicate also targeted bank officials for recruitment and facilitation of fraudulent transactions.

Not all Identity Theft is for money. Here's a pure “anti-Reputation” play...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008121313223924

Ex-NYC man admits posing as ex-wife online -- again

Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 01:22 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Queens prosecutors say a man has admitted posing as his ex-wife to start racy online conversations and posting nude photos of her on the Web -- while on probation for the same crime.

The Queens District Attorney's office says Thomas Gillen pleaded guilty Thursday to identity theft and criminal contempt. The 46-year-old faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing, set for Feb. 2.

Source - Associated Press Comments - Chronicles of Dissent: Cyberstalking and identity theft

Yes, I'm back on that dead horse again. I suspect the only reason we haven't heard of more election problems was because the election wasn't close enough to bother.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F14%2F0251214&from=rss

Open Source Program Reveals Diebold Bug

Posted by timothy on Sunday December 14, @07:23AM from the rabble-rousin'-ne'er-do-well dept. Government Bug United States Politics

Mitch Trachtenberg writes

"Ballot Browser, an open source Python program developed by Mitch Trachtenberg (yours truly) as part of the all-volunteer Humboldt County Election Transparency Project, was instrumental in revealing that Diebold counting software had dropped 197 ballots from Humboldt County, California's official election results. Despite a top-to-bottom review by the California Secretary of State's office, it appears that Diebold had not informed that office of the four-year-old bug. The Transparency Project has sites at humetp.org and http://www.humtp.com."

Trachtenberg also points to his blog for the Transparency Project, and his own essay about the discovery and the process that led to it.

Related This from a country that has direct/recent experience with cyber attacks?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10122656-94.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Estonia votes to vote by phone

Posted by Jennifer Guevin December 13, 2008 5:28 PM PST

Citizens in Estonia can now vote with their cell phones.

Parliament in Estonia voted on Thursday in favor of a measure that would allow citizens to vote via mobile phone in the next Parliamentary election (in 2011), according to the Associated Press.

Estonia has a history of being tech-forward. In 2005, it became the first country to offer online voting for a national election--although only about 1 percent of the votes cast that year were made online. In that election, people were required to insert their nationally-mandated ID cards into readers attached to their computers so their identity could be verified.

In order to vote by phone, Estonians will have to get a special chip for their handsets from the SK Certification Centre, which issues ID certificates and provides the mobile payment and ticketing system used on publish transportation. The chip will verify the voter's identity and authorize them to vote.

Ethics. Are we the policemen of the world? If not, who is?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/020062.html

December 13, 2008

Genocide Prevention Task Force Delivers Blueprint for U.S. Government to Prevent Genocide and Mass Atrocities

"The Genocide Prevention Task Force was launched on November 13, 2007 and released its report to the public on December 8, 2008. It was jointly convened by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, The American Academy of Diplomacy, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. It was funded by private foundations. Its goals were: (1) To spotlight genocide prevention as a national priority; and; (2) To develop practical policy recommendations to enhance the capacity of the U.S. government to respond to emerging threats of genocide and mass atrocities."

Who is getting bribed? Sometimes it's obvious.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F13%2F179226&from=rss

20-Year Copyright Extensions Coming To Europe

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 13, @01:23PM from the hoarding-acorns-for-the-long-winter dept. Music Politics

unlametheweak points out a story at Ars Technica which begins:

"After a UK government-led commission said that the current 50-year term for musical copyrights was fine, and the government last year publicly agreed that there was no need to extend the term, culture minister Andy Burnham yesterday made the logical follow-up announcement that yes, the government would now push for a 20-year extension on copyright. Turns out, it's the moral thing to do. Actually, by framing the issue as a 'moral case,' Burnham gets to sidestep the entire issue of logic. Critics have already begun to charge that he is ignoring actual evidence and the well-regarded conclusions of the Gowers Report (PDF), not to mention previous government policy. But when the issue becomes a moral one and the livelihood of aging performers is at stake, it's suddenly easier to avoid cost/benefit analysis."

I got thinking about how this worked the last time...

http://www.heritage.org/research/regulation/bg276.cfm

The Chrysler Bail-Out Bust

by Hickel, James K. Backgrounder #276 July 13, 1983

... If it all seems too good to be true, it is because it isn't true. The popular version of the Chrysler bail-out is simply a fairy tale. The bail-out is a bust. Closer scrutiny of it reveals that the "great success" rests on a bedrock of myths and half truths.

An interesting and often asked question. Is storage growing fast enough to keep up with the data you create? The first IBM PC had no hard disk, only floppy drives – 320k floppies at that!

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F13%2F1434216&from=rss

Long-Term Personal Data Storage?

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 13, @10:19AM from the dead-trees-no-longer-suffice dept. Data Storage

BeanBagKing writes

"Yesterday I set out in search of a way to store my documents, videos, and pictures for a long time without worrying about them. This is stuff that I may not care about for years, I don't care where it is, or if it's immediately available, so long as when I do decide to get it, it's there. What did I come up with? Nothing. Hard Drives can fail or degrade. CD's and DVD's I've read have the same problem over long periods of time. I'd rather not pay yearly rent on a server or backup/storage solution. I could start my own server, but that goes back to the issue of hard drives failing, not to mention cost. Tape backups aren't common for personal backups, making far-future retrieval possibly difficult, not to mention the low storage capacity of tape drives. I've thought about buying a bunch of 4GB thumb drives; I've had some of those for years and even sent a few through washers and driers and had the data survive. Do you have any suggestions? My requirements are simple: It must be stable, lasting for decades if possible, and must be as inexpensive as possible. I'm not looking to start my own national archive; I have less than 500GBs and only save things important to me."

Don't worry, TJX still hold the world record...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081213064457651

De: Berlin Bank Accused of Country's Largest Data Leak

Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 06:44 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Consumers in Germany have been affected by what is being calling the country's largest data leak. A Berlin bank has reportedly lost data on thousands of credit card customers -- including their PIN numbers.

Strictly confidential information on over 10,000 credit card customers of the Landesbank Berlin (LBB) was anonymously sent to the Frankfurter Rundschau, the newspaper claimed on Saturday, Dec. 13.

... Supposedly, the data leak originated with another company, AtosWorldline, which LBB had hired to do its accounting.

Source - DW-World-de Related - The Local has additional details.

It's that time of year again, when criminals know they can count on retailers to cover-up any loss of credit card information until all the Christmas shopping is done.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081213064942863

Credit-card data leak in online buys

Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 06:49 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

As online shopping reaches its annual crescendo of activity, here's another reminder to be mindful of the information you hand out.

A Greensboro company, Innisbrook, has notified thousands of parents across the country that their credit card information may have been compromised. Some parents in the Triangle have found fraudulent charges on their accounts.

Innisbrook works with thousands of schools nationwide and sells things like school supplies and wrapping paper to raise money for the schools.

The security breach happened in August, when many customers were placing orders for bundles of back-to-school supplies.

Twenty-four schools in North Carolina were affected, and only information from customers who placed orders online and paid with a credit card was at risk.

Source - News & Observer

When a Customer Service goes bad.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081213062419224

CheckFree notified approximately 5 million of breach (follow-up)

Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 06:24 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

No primary sources were provided, but the Wisconsin Office of Privacy Protection is reporting that "An estimated 160,000 online bill paying consumers may have been affected. Notification was sent to approximately 5 million consumers that may have a relationship with CheckFree as a bill paying agent. Letters or emails have been sent from various banks and vendors. The notification letter offers 2 years of free monitoring services."

Little more on the Citibank ATM thefts, but the time-line seems strange... The hack occurred in 2007, was discovered in January 2008, people were arrested in February, but the cards were still being used as late as May? Did Citibank not know what cards were at risk or was it considered cheaper to let the thefts happen?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081212135851461

Cyber Crook Pleads Guilty to Looting Citibank Accounts With Hacked ATM Codes

Friday, December 12 2008 @ 01:58 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A 28-year-old man caught in the act of using hacked ATM codes to loot Citibank accounts last May pleaded guilty this week to a single count of access device fraud, bringing to five the number of defendants who've entered guilty pleas in connection with an intrusion into an ATM processing server that led to at least $2 million in fraudulent withdrawals this year.

Aleksandar Aleksiev pleaded guilty to a single count of access device fraud in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Source - Threat Level

[From the article:

A 28-year-old man caught in the act of using hacked ATM codes to loot Citibank accounts last May pleaded guilty this week to a single count of access device fraud,

... In late 2007, an unknown hacker penetrated a server that processes transactions from Citibank-branded ATMs at 7-Eleven convenience stores, and stole customer account numbers and PINs.

... The scheme began unraveling in January, when two alleged cashers — Nue Quni and Luma Bitti — were arrested after a lucky traffic stop caught them with blank cards and a mag-stripe writer in their car.

... Then in late February and early March, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service arrested two Ukrainian immigrants and two alleged co-conspirators for allegedly using more of the stolen PINs.

... Once the hack came to light in January, Citibank began monitoring the compromised accounts. At the time of the May arrest, according to court records, some $180,000 in stolen cash had walked out of ATMs in the Upper East Side in the previous three days, prompting Citibank to put the 65th Street Branch under physical surveillance.

Surely no one expects politicians to understand privacy? (Or to get too upset when their private data is compromised.)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081212163159525

FOX 5 Buys Second Info-Loaded Blackberry from McCain Campaign

Friday, December 12 2008 @ 04:31 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Personal information for a former Virginia Governor is one of more than 300 'contacts' listed inside a second Blackberry phone purchased by FOX 5 during a fire sale at the McCain-Palin headquarters this week.

FOX 5 Investigative Reporter Tisha Thompson broke the story late Thursday night, just hours after she purchased a $20 Blackberry from the campaign.

Source - MyFOX

Ubiquitous surveillance is good? Failure to point out that this is true only in a perfect world (perfect as defined by me) suggests that someone has lost touch with reality – at least that's what their cellphone tells me. (I think this Prof. just wants to be on Oprah.)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081213061339647

Less Privacy Means Less Discrimination

Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 06:13 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Walking down a city street at night, you can already use your smartphone to check out reviews of the restaurant you’re considering. Should you also be able to check whether any of those teenagers a block away and closing have criminal records?

Yes, suggests Lior Strahilevitz, a professor at the University of Chicago. In fact, your phone might even automatically download that information from the teenagers’ phones.

Source - NY Times

[From the article:

An invasion of privacy? By many standards, yes, but consider current practice, Strahilevitz argued in a pair of articles this year in the law reviews of Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Most people encountering teenagers size them up by judging their clothing, demeanor and ethnicity — they “profile.” Give people more information, [e.g. arrest records, report cards, psych history Bob] and they can make better, more individualized judgments.

[Law Review article (I can only find one):

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/lawreview/v102/n4/1667/LR102n4Strahilevitz.pdf

REPUTATION NATION: LAW IN AN ERA OF UBIQUITOUS PERSONAL INFORMATION

The end of “process servers?” Next, virtual juries – sit at home, watch the case via streaming video, send in your verdict via instant messaging! “OMG! Guilty!” Perhaps “HSNI” (he's so not innocent!) or “FTB” (fry the bastard!)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081213061627566

Australian court serves documents via Facebook

Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 06:16 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The big question about Facebook is does it have any valuable commercial application? Well it seems that the courts have found one.

Today in what appears to be a first in Australia and perhaps the world, Master Harper of the ACT Supreme Court ordered that a default judgement could be served on defendants by notification on Facebook.

Source - The Age

Trying to find the balance between overreacting and under reacting

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008121306361772

Final Regulations Published on Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 06:36 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Following the tragic April 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, the U.S. Department of Education published in today's Federal Register final regulations to clarify and give schools greater flexibility in making determinations about disclosures of information from students' education records in order to address threats to the health or safety of students or other individuals. The department published draft regulations March 24.

... The final regulations include changes and clarifications as a result of public comments on the proposed rules that prompted comments from more than 100 individuals and organizations. The regulations will take effect on Jan. 8, 2009.

Among the highlights:

SCHOOL SAFETY

• In order to provide more flexibility to school administrators, language was removed requiring strict construction of the provision in FERPA that permits disclosure of education records, without consent, in order to deal with health or safety emergencies. Now, in making a determination concerning disclosures, a school may take into account the totality of the circumstances pertaining to a threat to the safety or health of the student or other individuals.

• The school must record the significant threat that formed the basis for the disclosure and the parties to whom the information was disclosed. If there is a rational basis for the determination, the Education Department will not substitute its judgment for that of the educational agency or institution in deciding to release the information.

• The final regulations clarify the Education Department's longstanding interpretation that "appropriate parties" to whom schools may disclose in a health or safety emergency include "parents of an eligible student."

[...]

SAFEGUARDING PRIVACY

• The final regulations contain important recommendations to help educational agencies and institutions meet the challenges of safeguarding education records, especially records contained in electronic data systems.

• The final regulations update the definition of "personally identifiable information."

Source - U.S. Dept. of Education Related - Final Regulations

Apparently it is more than a Japanese-US cultural difference – its a Sony cultural failure.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10122375-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Sony needs a common-sense czar

Posted by Greg Sandoval December 12, 2008 3:31 PM PST

... Is there any major consumer company around that seems to understand basic customer relations less than Sony? Isn't rule No.1 in the CR manual, "Don't spy on customers?" If so, then rule 1-A must be: "Take extra care to avoid spying on customers' children."

The latest example of Sony's disconnect with the masses came this week when the company's music division was fined for surreptitiously collecting information on children under 13-years old.

On Thursday, Sony agreed to pay $1 million to the Federal Trade Commission for collecting information on 30,000 children without obtaining parental consent. According to the Associated Press, Sony violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act when it collected the data from hundreds of fan sites, including those of such musical acts as Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Related? Commenters seems to think so...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081212134831437

Privacy: On Doing No Harm

Friday, December 12 2008 @ 01:48 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The launch of the AT&T-backed Future of Privacy Forum last month (see our own interview with principal Jules Polonetsky here ) sparked discussion about how digital media should best address the debate. Matthew Wise, CEO, Q Interactive and former senior vice president of account services at Draft, is a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau board who takes issue with some of the early statement by FPF members. Rather than start the debate over whether data is or should be collected, Wise argues here that the argument really should surround data's proper use.

Source - MediaPost

[From the article:

Wise: Our discussions at the IAB with regulators is that there is no pending legislation, but the risk of that has increased dramatically over the last 24 months. In the last 12 months there has been a stepped-up effort to establish guidelines and privacy processes so that legislation doesn't come about. Most of the legislation that we see is well-intentioned but poorly executed, and often more detrimental than positive to the industry. [I concur, but don't agree with their conclusion that self-regulation will solve all privacy problems Bob]

Interesting arguments

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081212135553959

CO: Judge halts arrests in Weld County tax probe

Friday, December 12 2008 @ 01:55 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A judge is questioning the legality of search warrants issued in a Weld County investigation into the alleged use of stolen or fake IDs to claim $2.6 million in tax refunds.

District Judge James Hartmann this week ordered authorities not to arrest anyone else in the case if the arrests are based on information from federal tax returns, saying that information is confidential.

He also demanded that District Attorney Ken Buck explain the legality of the search warrants.

Buck said last month that about 1,300 people may have used stolen or phony Social Security numbers to get refunds. About 35 had been arrested on charges of identity theft or criminal impersonation when Hartmann halted the operation.

Source - Examiner.com

[From the article:

Authorities seized two years of federal tax returns from a Greeley tax preparer's office last month in the investigation.

Hartmann, in a written order, said federal tax return information is protected by privacy provisions of federal law when it's in the possession of a tax preparer.

Buck said his staff researched the privacy issue and consulted with the IRS before getting arrest warrants.

... "I don't care for the order the judge issued because I think these people committed a crime and they need to be held accountable," he said. [Pivotal concept. Does this justify “illegal” evidence gathering? If so, let's wiretap everyone! Oh, wait, we already do that... Bob]

Culture is difficult to change in large corporations, and almost impossible in government where it is more important to protect your turf than to achieve your goals.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F12%2F2325208&from=rss

Report Rips Government Wireless Network Effort

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 12, @07:20PM from the effort-is-kind-of-a-strong-word-for-it dept. Wireless Networking Government United States Technology

coondoggie writes with this excerpt from NetworkWorld:

"Like a bunch of children in a sandbox unable and perhaps unwilling to share their toys, multiple key government agencies cannot or will not cooperate to build a collaborative wireless network. The Government Accountability Office report (PDF) issued today took aim at the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and the Treasury which had intended what's known as The Integrated Wireless Network (IWN) to be a joint radio communications system to improve communication among law enforcement agencies. However IWN, which has already cost millions of dollars, is no longer being pursued as a joint development project, the GAO said. By abandoning collaboration on a joint implementation, the departments risk duplication of effort and inefficient use of resources as they continue to invest significant resources in independent solutions. Further, these efforts will not ensure the interoperability needed to serve day-to-day law enforcement operations or a coordinated response to terrorist or other events, the GAO said."

Delay might be a valid legal strategy, but you gotta “know when to fold 'em...”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10122256-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Cisco discovers the FSF wasn't joking

Posted by Matt Asay December 12, 2008 2:07 PM PST

When I read that the Free Software Foundation is suing Cisco Systems over alleged violations of the GNU General Public License (GPL), my first reaction was, "Put that subpoena back in your pocket, FSF." A copy of the complaint is available on PDF.

After all, I figured that it was yet another BusyBox claim and, while I believe that everyone - including open-source developers - has a right and duty to protect its intellectual property, it has seemed lately that the open-source world is becoming as litigious as the proprietary world, and that's not a good thing.

However, reading OStatic's summary of the suit reminded me that for the FSF has never been particularly litigious, never visiting the courtroom in 15 years of license enforcement. For the FSF, through the Software Freedom Law Center, to take this action suggests that things must be very bad.

... In a statement, Cisco indicated that it believes itself to be in "substantial compliance" with the GPL, but that's like saying it's almost a virgin. Either you are, or you're not. In this case, given the FSF's nonlitigious track record, I suspect that Cisco is not, in fact, in compliance with the GPL. This, however, is easy to fix: release the code.

Open Source is cheap enough (free) to give vendors a distinct price advantage.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F13%2F032242&from=rss

HP Pushes Open Source For Small Businesses

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 13, @02:28AM from the financial-motivation dept. HP Businesses Linux News

ruphus13 writes

"HP finally begins to actively push open source in its products. From the post, 'HP has been quirky over the years when it comes to open source. It has been, traditionally, a company that supports open source — especially in larger enterprises... Wednesday, it announced two new open source products, geared to small businesses and educational institutions. HP plans on including its 'Mozilla Firefox for HP Virtual Solution' on more of its business class desktop PCs (to a total of seven models between the HP Compaq dc/dx lines in the US, eight models worldwide). Come December 15th, HP will also offer Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop on its HP Compaq dc5850 model. The base SLED-equipped model will cost $519, and features the usual open source suspects for the small business setting — OpenOffice, and mail clients such as Evolution.'"

...but proprietary software is profitable enough to allow liberal bribes (campaign contributions) to politicians.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F12%2F2122206&from=rss

Windows Cheap Enough For $2B Aussie Laptop Deal

Posted by kdawson on Friday December 12, @06:31PM from the if-you-give-it-away dept. Education Windows Linux

An anonymous reader writes

"Windows-based netbooks aren't too expensive to be ruled out of the Aussie government's billion dollar promise to give a laptop to every school-aged child, according to several education departments. The admission follows an earlier report that open source machines based on Ubuntu or Mandriva are the only option to deliver up to four million computers to students for under $2 billion. Microsoft itself claimed it will keep costs per unit down by hosting a lot of the educational software in the cloud rather than on the netbook devices."

Another look at the Cloud

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10122003-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Handicapping cloud computing: The big picture

Posted by Larry Dignan December 12, 2008 10:17 AM PST

... Lindsay has cooked up this helpful chart that lines up the cloud stack that various vendors are trying to build. While Lindsay forgot a few vendors, the chart provides a handy overview:

For my Computer Forensics students. An example of poor evidence handling? Only one copy?

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F13%2F0057236&from=rss

Recovered Data From a Corrupt DVD Leads To Conviction, 24-Year Sentence

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 12, @10:14PM from the put-that-in-a-safe-place dept. Data Storage The Courts Technology

Lucas123 writes

"The Santa Cruz, Calif. DA's office had been counting on a DVD with the recorded testimony of a victim in case against a serial rapist, but when they popped the video into the player, nothing came up — the disc was blank. To make matters worse, the cop who performed the original interview with the victim told the DA she never said she was 'forced,' so the judge wasn't going to allow the witness to testify in a case where her original statement to police was in conflict with her current testimony. After two local data recovery firms said there was no way to restore the data, a third was able to recover the police interview from two years earlier, which led the defendant to plead guilty earlier this month. Close call."

[From the article at: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9123244&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top

He said police recalled her statements -- the ones on the corrupted DVD -- as being different from what the victim planned to say during the trial, Isaac said. As a result, Barnes' lawyers claimed that the victim's original police interview, as police remembered it, would have been inconsistent with her trial testimony and therefore would be exculpatory evidence. "The loss of exculpatory evidence is a bad thing and the judge was inclined to punish us by not letting the witness testify because of the allegation that we'd lost the evidence," he said.

Useful site but it still doesn't translate “wife”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10122005-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Nice Translator makes Google's translations sexy

Posted by Josh Lowensohn December 12, 2008 10:02 AM PST

If you like Google's translate service but want something that can do the same phrase in multiple languages at once and in real time, the Nice Translator is worth checking out.

This simple application uses Google Translate to do the heavy lifting. It lets users type in any phrase, in any language, then translates it into one of the other 34 available languages as they type.

The site works fairly well on mobile devices, including the iPhone, though not as well as Google's own mobile-translation page despite its one-language-at-a-time limitation.

Beyond e-Discovery. How do you find documents the other side hid? Disgruntled employees! (Let that be a lesson to you – keep your employees well gruntled!)

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F12%2F0116246&from=rss

Nintendo Slapped With Wiimote Strap Lawsuit Once Again

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday December 11, @11:52PM from the it's-not-a-hula-hoop dept. Input Devices Nintendo The Courts Games

GameCyteSean writes

"GameCyte is reporting that a new class-action lawsuit has challenged Nintendo's Wiimote straps once more. Interestingly, the suit was filed by the same lawyer who led the original 2006 attempt, and now argues that Nintendo hid records of broken TVs from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. From the article: 'This doesn't seem like a spurious accusation, either. Attached to the court filing (PDF) as a matter of public record is the very evidence Nintendo allegedly tried to hide: actual, internal Nintendo documents (PDF) where customer service reps received complaints of cracked televisions and broken Wiimote straps — and the corresponding Monthly Reports that Nintendo was compelled to file with the CPSC as part of their agreement.'"

Not foolproof. If they want your data, they'll pull the drive immediately.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F12%2F0050255&from=rss

Ericsson and Intel Offer Remote Notebook Lockdown

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 11, @09:02PM from the and-if-you-refuse-this-offer dept. Portables Security

MojoKid writes

"Ericsson and Intel have announced that they are collaborating on a way to keep your laptop's contents safe when your laptop goes MIA. Using Intel's Anti-Theft Technology — PC Protection (Intel AT-p) and Ericsson's Mobile Broadband (HSPA) modules, lost or stolen laptops can be remotely locked down. Similar to Lenovo's recently announced Lockdown Now PC technology, the Ericsson-Intel technology uses SMS messages sent directly to a laptop's mobile broadband chip. Once the chip receives the lock-down message, it passes it to the Intel AT-p function, which is integrated into Intel's Centrino 2 with vPro technology platform. Unlike Lenovo's anti-theft solution, the Ericsson module includes GPS functionality as well."

Now here's a guy I could like.

http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2008/12/open_pacer

Online Rebel Publishes Millions of Dollars in U.S. Court Records for Free

By Ryan Singel

If you want to search federal court documents, it's not a problem. Just apply online for an account, and the government will issue you a user name and password.

Through the postal service.

And once you log in, the government's courthouse search engine known as Public Access to Court Electronic Records or PACER, will charge you 8 cents a page to read documents that are in the public domain — a fee that earned the federal judiciary $50 million in profits in 2006.

... Now Malamud is doing something about it. He's asking lawyers to donate their PACER documents one by one, which he then classifies and bundles into ZIP files published for free at his organization's website. The one-year-old effort has garnered him 20 percent of all the files on PACER, including all decisions from federal appeals courts over the last 50 years.

... Back in 1995, the Securities and Exchange Committee decided to put corporate filings online only after Malamud essentially shamed them into doing so. For two years he operated a free site that published the filings, then abruptly pulled the plug and directed angry users to the SEC. [Yep, definitely my kinda guy! Bob]

Starbucks is the new Exxon?

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F12%2F0337259&from=rss

Waste Coffee Grounds Offer New Source of Biodiesel

Posted by timothy on Friday December 12, @02:54AM from the as-if-you-needed-another-reason dept. Power Biotech Transportation

Julie188 writes

"Researchers in Nevada are reporting that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks. Their study has been published online in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the world each year. Scientists estimate that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world's fuel supply."

Capture and playback your screens – build your own training video!

http://www.webbriefcase.com.au/2007-11/get-camtasia-studio-30-screencast-software-for-free/

Get Camtasia Studio 3.0 Screencast Software for Free

Posted by Bina on Fri 23 Nov 2007

... In the hope of persuading you to upgrade to their latest version of Camtasia Studio (version 5.0), they’re offering an older version (i.e. version 3) for free.

Here’s what you have to do to take up this offer.

1. Download the free trial version of Camtasia Studio 3 at:
   http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe

2. Go to the following promotion page, complete your name, country and e-mail address and Techsmith will send you the software key to unlock the program almost instantly:
   http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp

3. Just install the program you downloaded from step 1 above and then enter the software key you receive from Techsmith in step 2 and you’ll have a fully working version of Camtasia Studio 3 on your PC.

Related

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-free-screencasting-apps-for-creating-video-tutorials/

5 Free Screencasting Apps for Creating Video Tutorials

Feb. 27th, 2008 By Travis Quinnelly

For my math students. Not the best I've found, but another perspective always helps.

http://khanacademy.org/

The Khan Academy

...is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.

We have 600 videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, and finance

High profile (and perhaps a future case study) but unlikely to be of great concern to anyone.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081211064248262

Tom's privacy crisis

Thursday, December 11 2008 @ 06:42 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Many of Hollywood's famed stars are apparently frantic over the possibility that many a private piece of information has fallen into the wrong hands, as Tom Cruise lost his BlackBerry. [Perhaps a children's book title? Bob]

According to the Daily Star, 46-year-old Cruise's information laden [Some phone numbers? Bob] phone went missing while he was in Canada, promoting upcoming movie 'Valkyrie', and his many celebrity friends are now concerned about the inevitable breach of their privacy.

Source - iafrica.com

Sony again. Anyone else think they just don't get it? (Data for my “What is an identity worth” formula.)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081211063502421

Sony sued for collecting data on children under 13

Thursday, December 11 2008 @ 06:35 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the recording company of Justin Timberlake and Bruce Springsteen, has been sued by the U.S. for collecting and disclosing personal data about 30,000 young children without informing their parents.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday [and apparently it is already settled! Bob] in Manhattan federal court. The suit, which alleges violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, seeks unspecified money damages and an injunction.

"Sony Music collected, used and/or disclosed personal information from children without first providing their parents with notice of its information practices," the complaint says.

Source - Mercury News

[From the article:

The FTC claims Sony Music, a Sony unit that operates more than 1,100 music-related Web sites, collected information from more than 30,000 children under age 13 since 2004, despite claiming on its sites that visitors that young wouldn't be allowed to register.

Sony agreed to pay a $1 million fine and hire a compliance officer who will put a screening process in place to prevent the collection of such data, according to two people close to the agreement who declined to be identified.

Raising more questions than it answers...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081211064927939

Thousands affected in dealership data theft

Thursday, December 11 2008 @ 06:49 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Personal information from thousands of people in New Hampshire and Massachusetts has been compromised after a data backup tape from Bill Dube Ford/Toyota was stolen this summer.

The pilfered data include names, addresses, Social Security numbers and driver's license information, but no financial data such as credit card information, from customers at Bill Dube's dealerships in Dover and Wilmington, Mass.

Source - Union Leader

[From the article:

The data were discovered stolen on Aug. 5 and reported to police that same day. Customers were informed of the breach in a letter dated Dec. 5. [Four Months? Bob]

... A single data tape was stolen from a secure storage room at the Dover dealership on Dover Point Road in August, Silverman said. He said few people knew of the storage room and whoever stole the tape accessed the room via a staircase in the back of the dealership. [Backed up, but not taken off site? Bob]

... Silverman said company officials also had to figure out what data were stolen. [“We never know what files we back up. Makes it more adventurous that way! Bob]

... "The dealership executives feel very strongly that whoever did this, the intent was to give them a hard time and have them have to go through a process like this," he said. [Dream on... Bob]

Interesting. Note that this article is from the Military Tech section...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10120939-42.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Investigators now crack crime computers on the spot

Posted by Mark Rutherford December 11, 2008 6:00 AM PST

A new system allows investigators to boot, run and install investigative tools to examine computers used in the commission of crime or terrorism, without altering the contents or compromising the chain of evidence, according to the inventor.

It's common today for computers and their contents to be tagged as evidence. The problem has been how to boot and examine their contents, and still maintain "forensic soundness". Traditionally, this required painstaking hours of copying and transferring data. The result was a huge backlog in computer crime labs across the nation, while investigators waited months for forensic information to be processed, according to Voom Technologies Inc.(PDF)

The CyberCrime Unit is news to me. Should we expect more vendors to do this? Where's the payback?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10119287-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Fighting cybercrime in an economic downturn

Posted by Elinor Mills December 11, 2008 4:00 AM PST

... she's been preparing for the launch early next year of McAfee's Cybercrime Response Unit, a site where consumers can go when they think they've been victimized by online scams.

She's increasingly focusing on protecting Internet users because malware attacks are up now that economic times are tough. Online scammers have been going into overdrive with phishing and other online schemes aimed at people confused about the banking consolidation or who are desperate because of a layoff or foreclosure. In fact, there are direct correlations between targeted cyberattacks on consumers and the stock market decline over the past few months. [Hackers invest too. Bob]

“We can, therefore we must!” What part don't you understand?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081210074245396

UK: Ex-MI5 chief 'astonished' at how many organisations use anti-terror law

Wednesday, December 10 2008 @ 07:42 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) was passed in 2000 to regulate the way that public bodies such as the police and the security services carry out surveillance. Originally only a handful of authorities were able to use RIPA but its scope has been expanded enormously and now there are at least 792 organisations using it, including hundreds of local councils.

... Now those campaigning against the abuse of RIPA have got a new ally – Lady Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5. In a speech in the House of Lords yesterday, she said she was "astonished" when she found out how many organisations were getting access to RIPA powers.

Source - Guardian

Wave a wand, consider implications only if the voters scream... What bozo thought this was a solution?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081210072223311

Colo. Changes Course on Maiden Name Rule

Wednesday, December 10 2008 @ 07:22 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Public outcry has forced the State of Colorado to throw out a new rule it enacted just weeks ago to thwart identity theft.

The rule prevented newlyweds from turning their maiden names into middle names.

But because of a crush of complaints, the Governor's Office intervened and asked the Colorado Department of Revenue to adopt an emergency rule undoing the new rule. It will take effect on Monday.

Source - MyFOX

Business Model: Talk the government into making people pay for the products I can't sell!

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F10%2F2138247&from=rss

Why a Music Tax Is a Bad Idea

Posted by timothy on Wednesday December 10, @05:09PM from the let-me-count-the-ways dept.

An anonymous reader writes with a followup to the story posted last week about Warner Music's plan for a music tax for universities.

"There's been some debate about this plan and Techdirt has a detailed explanation of why a music tax is a bad idea, noting that it effectively rewards those who failed in the marketplace, punishes those who innovated and sets up a huge, inefficient and unnecessary bureaucracy. Meanwhile, plenty of musicians who are experimenting with new business models are finding that they can make more money and appeal to more fans. So, why stymie that process with a new bureaucracy that simply funds the big record labels?"

Related “It's for the children!”

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/mpaa-urging-oba.html

MPAA Urges Obama to Embrace Internet Filtering

By David Kravets December 10, 2008 2:57:22 PM

Using technology to create a true democracy? Or perhaps a compu-tocracy? (If you can't afford a computer you can't afford a political contribution, therefore you are of no value to us.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10120713-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Digg-like tool lets Change.gov visitors pick policy questions

Posted by Stephanie Condon December 10, 2008 3:59 PM PST

Its "Open for Questions" tool allows visitors to submit a question for the transition team and, much like Digg, allows users to vote for other people's questions they find important or vote against questions they don't like. The most popular questions will be regularly answered by the Obama team. [And of course no questions will be manipulated... Bob]

Related? Or just an opportunity to blogify?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10120648-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Bush talks with international bloggers

Posted by Stephanie Condon December 10, 2008 3:26 PM PST

The president-elect has been showing off his Web savvy on Change.gov, but George Bush demonstrated Wednesday he also advocates using the Internet to facilitate democracy.

President Bush, in recognition of Human Rights Day, met with bloggers from Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, and Venezuela at the White House and via video teleconference to discuss blogging in favor of democratic change.

Worth the expense of a library card?

http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F10%2F1421202&from=rss

Enterprise 2.0

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 10, @12:17PM from the read-all-about-it dept. Businesses

mantex writes

"The title of this book combines two coded terms — 'Web 2.0' and 'The Enterprise' — for which read 'social networking software' and 'Big Business.' And the purpose is to show how the techniques and concepts behind Web 2.0 applications (blogs, wikis, tagging, RSS, and social bookmarking) can be used to encourage collaboration efforts in what was previously thought of as secretive, competitive businesses."

Read on for the rest of Roy's review.

[From the article:

... He gives a very convincing example of the creation of a wiki running alongside the company Intranet in a German bank. The IT staff started using the wiki to generate documentation, and within six months use of the Intranet was down 50%, email was down 75%, and meeting times had been cut in half.