Parts of two long (and interesting) articles. Looks like ignorance of the law is a defense for “educators.”

EPIC Obtains FERPA Complaints from Education Department

From EPIC:

EPIC has obtained documents from the Department of Education detailing parent and student complaints about the misuse of educational records. The Department released the documents in response to an EPIC Freedom of Information Act request. The documents reveal that schools and districts have disclosed students’ personal records without consent, possibly in violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The documents also reveal that the Department failed to investigate many FERPA complaints. EPIC is expecting to receive more documents about the agency’s enforcement of the federal student privacy law. For more information, see EPIC: Student Privacy and EPIC: Open Government.

Having read through all the files EPIC shared, I think it would be more accurate to say that the Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) decided that no investigation was warranted in the vast majority of the complaints due to some common misunderstandings about what rights FERPA provides.

(Related) Also lloks like “educators” can't (or like students, don't bother to) read. TL;DR?

FERPA does not require data breach disclosure

Over on PogoWasRight.org, I’ve recapped the U.S. Education Department’s responses to privacy complaints filed by parent and students under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). In going through the data provided to EPIC in response to their Freedom of Information Act request, I noted that in a few cases, the Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) either responded to an inquiry about a data breach or reached out to university or school to offer technical assistance to help them comply with FERPA if they had had a data breach.

Here is part of their boilerplate response in 2011 to an entity that had experienced a breach involving missing folders with education records:

The preamble to the December 8, 2009, FERPA regulations explains the necessity for educational agencies and institutions to ensure that adequate controls are in place so that the education records of all students are handled in accordance with FERPA’s privacy protections.

Laws follow technology like shovels follow a snow storm.

http://www.bespacific.com/consumer-cloud-robotics-fair-information-practice-principles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=consumer-cloud-robotics-fair-information-practice-principles

Consumer Cloud Robotics and the Fair Information Practice Principles

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 20, 2014

Proia, Andrew A. and Simshaw, Drew and Hauser, Kris, Consumer Cloud Robotics and the Fair Information Practice Principles: Recognizing the Challenges and Opportunities Ahead (2014). Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology, Forthcoming. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2466723

“Rapid technological innovation has made commercially accessible consumer robotics a reality. At the same time, individuals and organizations are turning to “the cloud” for more convenient and cost effective data storage and management. It seemed only inevitable that these two technologies would merge to create cloud robotics, “a new approach to robotics that takes advantage of the Internet as a resource for massively parallel computation and sharing of vast data resources.” By making robots lighter, cheaper, and more efficient, cloud robotics could be the catalyst for a mainstream consumer robotics marketplace. However, this new industry would join a host of modern consumer technologies that seem to have rapidly outpaced the legal and regulatory regimes implemented to protect consumers. Recently, consumer advocates and the tech industry have focused their attention on information privacy and security, and how to establish sufficient safeguards for the collection, retention, and dissemination of personal information while still allowing technologies to flourish. Underlying a majority of these proposals are a set of practices that address how personal information should be collected, used, retained, managed, and deleted, known as the Fair Information Practice Principles (“FIPPs”). This Article examines recent frameworks which articulate how to apply the FIPPs in a consumer setting, and dissects how these frameworks may affect the emergence of cloud-enabled domestic robots. By considering practical observations of how cloud robotics may emerge in a consumer marketplace regulated by the FIPPs, this research will help both the information privacy and robotics fields in beginning to address privacy and security challenges from a law and policy perspective, while also fostering collaboration between roboticists and privacy professionals alike.”

Marcus Zillman's lists are always large and complete.

http://www.bespacific.com/new-llrx-information-quality-resources/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-llrx-information-quality-resources

New on LLRX – Information Quality Resources

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 20, 2014

Via LLRX.com - Information Quality Resources - Marcus P. Zillman’s guide focuses on the increasingly important topic of identifying reliable and actionable Information resources on the internet, a task specifically critical for researchers in all sectors. With the proliferation of non attributable, un-vetted, un-sourced information churning 24/7 through a spectrum of social media sites, getting it right takes time and skill, but is well worth the effort.

Another nudge toward mandatory full disclosure? Perhaps with statutory fines for incomplete information?

Vendini Ticketing Breach May Have Affected More Than 3 Million Customers – Attorneys

Remember the Vendini breach last year? Jeanne Price of idRADAR.com reports that according to attorneys representing plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit that has reached a settlement, over 3 million ticket purchasers were likely affected by the breach.

[From the idRADAR article:

The number of Americans now wondering who or what a ‘Vendini’ is now known to run into the millions. Many consumers had never heard of the company before this week when they received notification of a proposed lawsuit settlement involving a data breach that Vendini reluctantly disclosed early last summer. It now appears that the breach was bigger than several other recent big headliner breaches including one at Michaels Stores nationwide.

You may be unfamiliar with the name. It never appears when you buy tickets online or at the box office but the odds are good that if Ticketmaster isn’t involved, Vendini will have hands on your transaction.

So now everyone knows that you purchased ________. Shame on you!

Buyer Beware: NYU Researchers Uncover Security Breach That Reveals eBay Purchases

From PRNewswire:

Buyers and sellers using the online marketplace eBay may be revealing far more than their interest in vintage furniture or video games. Researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering and NYU Shanghai have discovered a privacy flaw that allows site visitors to view a buyer’s complete purchase history—including sensitive items like gun accessories and at-home medical tests for pregnancy or HIV.

[...]

The privacy flaw operates as follows: Every eBay user’s profile includes a “Feedback as a Buyer” page, where those who have sold items to that person can post comments. An estimated 70 percent of sellers leave feedback for buyers, and this section is entirely public—a user need not even sign into eBay to access this information. Along with their comments, the seller also leaves a record of his or her own username and the time of sale but does not disclose the actual item purchased. By visiting the seller’s feedback page, however, it is relatively easy to match the time stamp of the sale and thus identify the item that was purchased.

In the event that more than one sale matches the time stamp, which may happen with automated sales, the researchers still found it fairly straightforward to identify purchase histories. eBay assigns a pseudonym to each username listed in sales records, and that pseudonym follows a formula that makes deriving the username possible in nearly every case: In a test database of 5,580 feedback records, the researchers matched 96 percent of buyers’ feedback records to a single seller feedback record, complete with purchase details.

In some cases, the researchers were able to take this attack one step further: Among a database of nearly 131,000 eBay usernames, they were able to link 17 percent to Facebook profiles, thus revealing the users’ real names.

[...]

This research was partially funded by grants from the National Science Foundation. The full paper is available at https://petsymposium.org/2014/papers/Minkus.pdf.

Read more from PRNewswire.

Another technology to tap. The NSA should be very interested in “off the grid” communications.

http://dailygadgetry.com/gotenna-modern-day-walkie-talkie/4049

GoTenna The Modern Day Walkie Talkie

Off the grid connectivity is now possible thanks to GoTenna, which gives people the ability to communicate with no data, network or signal connection.

GoTenna has been designed to connect your phone over Bluetooth and use a longer-range, low frequency radio to communicate to other GoTenna’s up to several miles away.

… GoTenna is specifically designed to be used when your phone is offline and out of cellular range and as long as the person you need to communicate with also has a GoTenna, you will be able to get through.

Currently, the GoTenna only supports text based chat however, unlike other off-the grid communication devices it does not use satellites or require a monthly fee to remain activated.

GoTenna is completely free to use and each network is self contained.

… GoTenna can currently be pre-ordered for $150 for two devices.

Yesterday I noted that Facebook and Twitter were making it easier for users to buy stuff without leaving their systems. Could they be next?

http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/mobile-business/eu-tells-apple-google--limit-in-app-purchasing/d/d-id/1297420?piddl_msgid=235834#msg_235834

EU Tells Apple, Google: Limit In-App Purchasing

As U.S. regulators continue to press mobile platform providers for failing to prevent children from making unauthorized purchases in apps, European regulators are doing the same.

… EU Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) authorities have decided that games advertised as "free" should not misrepresent the cost to consumers. In response, Google has removed the term "free" from Google Play store listings that describe games containing its In-app Billing API, even if that API is not actually used.

In so doing, Google has gone above and beyond regulatory requirements. The CPC rules require only that "an online game cannot be marketed as 'free' where the consumer cannot, without making in-app purchases, play the game in a way that he/she would reasonably expect." In many "free" games, in-app purchases are not required; they generally improve the player's situation without being critical to in-game advancement.

For my Ethical Hackers: “Hey kids! There's a McDonalds ahead! Mom & Dad can buy you a Happy Meal!”

http://www.upstartmagazine.com/new-toyota-minivan-helps-parents-yell-at-their-kids/295634/

New Toyota Minivan Helps Parents Yell at Their Kids

… Toyota Sienna minivan has a so-called “Driver Easy Speak” feature. It has a mounted microphone to amplify a parent’s voice through the speakers in the back seats.

For my students who read. Mortimer Adler wrote “How to read a book.” Perhaps now we need “How to read a Kindle.”

http://www.bespacific.com/better-online-reader-new-yorker/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=better-online-reader-new-yorker

Being a Better Online Reader – The New Yorker

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 19, 2014

“Certainly, as we turn to online reading, the physiology of the reading process itself shifts; we don’t read the same way online as we do on paper. Anne Mangen, a professor at the National Centre for Reading Education and Research at the University of Stavanger, in Norway, points out that reading is always an interaction between a person and a technology, be it a computer or an e-reader or even a bound book. Reading “involves factors not usually acknowledged,” she told me. “The ergonomics, the haptics of the device itself. The tangibility of paper versus the intangibility of something digital.” The contrast of pixels, the layout of the words, the concept of scrolling versus turning a page, the physicality of a book versus the ephemerality of a screen, the ability to hyperlink and move from source to source within seconds online—all these variables translate into a different reading experience.”

[From the article:

… the more reading moved online, the less students seemed to understand.

… Was the digital format to blame for their superficial approaches, or was something else at work?

(Related) Now find something to read and write about.

http://www.bespacific.com/discovery-hub/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=discovery-hub

Discovery Hub

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 19, 2014

“Exploratory search - Discovery Hub is an exploratory search engine built on top of the famous encyclopedia on the web, Wikipedia. The exploratory search is a new way to search the web, not to find what you are searching, but to find what you are not searching, and might be interesting for you! It allows performing queries in an innovative way and helps you to navigate rich results. As a hub, it proposes redirections to others platforms to make you benefit from your discoveries (Youtube, Deezer and more).”

• “The DBpedia data set uses a large multi-domain ontology which has been derived from Wikipedia. The English version of the DBpedia 3.9 data set currently describes 4.0 million “things” with 470 million “facts”. In addition, we provide localized versions of DBpedia in 119 languages. All these versions together describe 24.9 million things, out of which 16.8 million overlap (are interlinked) with concepts from the English DBpedia. The full DBpedia data set features labels and abstracts for 12.6 million unique things in up to 120 different languages; 24.6 million links to images and 27.6 million HTML links to external web pages; 45.0 million data links into external RDF data sets, 67.0 million links to Wikipedia categories, and 41.2 million YAGO categories. The dataset consists of 2.46 billion pieces of information (RDF triples) out of which 470 million were extracted from the English edition of Wikipedia, 1.98 billion were extracted from other language editions, and about 45 million are data links to external RDF data sets.”

The NSA is in the intelligence gathering business. How else can it act and still achieve its goals?

The NSA’s Other Privacy Loophole

Alex Abdo writes:

Earlier today, a former State Department civil servant named John Tye published an important op-ed in the Washington Post, explaining that the NSA has created a giant loophole in Americans’ right to privacy. While we now know a good deal about the NSA’s spying on American soil, Tye explains, the NSA’s powers to conduct surveillance on foreign soil should trouble us even more.

Surveillance on foreign soil takes place under Executive Order 12333, an authority that contains few meaningful protections for the privacy of Americans.

Read more on ACLU.

Too good to be true?

Wiper

https://gowiper.com/

– is a free smartphone app which gives you private texting and calling. Just tap “Wipe” and your messages are erased instantly, everywhere. Wiper wipes all sides of a conversation – your phone and your friend’s, as well as any temporary record kept on Wiper servers. See when messages have been read or wiped. Plus, get notified if a friend snaps a screenshot or forwards a photo or video.

[From the website:

Call worldwide for free with Wiper’s app-to-app calling. To ensure privacy, calls are encrypted and Wiper keeps no call log.

Another case of not seeing the “self-surveillance” built into the “cool technology?” (Also another case of “that only applies to second class citizens”).

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-rise-of-the-wedding-drone/374655/

The Rise of the Wedding Drone

When most people hear the word “drone,” they probably think of killing machines that patrol war zones.

Now a new kind of commercial drone phenomenon has taken off in the United States. People now use small quad copter drones to even shoot photos and videos for their weddings.

What seems like a stranger than fiction phenomenon is actually a new craze across the country. A congressman last month used a drone to record his own wedding and now is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the government agency that regulates the nation’s airspace, because the agency still has an explicit ban on drone flights for commercial purposes. New York representative Sean Patrick Maloney reportedly hired a local videography company to operate the drone to get aerial shots of his big day in New York’s picturesque Hudson Valley. Ironically, Maloney sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee, which oversees the FAA.

...and then there are companies that try to grab everything the search engines are asked to remove.

http://time.com/3002240/right-to-be-forgotten-2/

There’s a “Right To Be Forgotten” Industry—and It’s Booming

… “Online image management has long been in the business of producing new content so you have a better persona online,” says Cayce Myers, a professor at Virginia Tech and legal research editor for the Institute for Public Relations. “Here they’re doing the reverse.”

Online reputation management is a growing business that is now being boosted by the E.U. ruling. For a fee that can amount to thousands of dollars a month, companies take on clients and scrub clean their search results by creating search engine-optimized content that hog up the first few pages of search results on Google.

… Bertrand Girin, the founder of a France-based reputation management company, Reputation VIP, has created a spin-off service that specifically to designed to help people make “right to be forgotten” requests to Google. Aptly named Forget.Me, it lets users choose from one of 40 boilerplate requests in nine separate categories in order to send Google a pre-formulated request. The service, which is free, allows users to bypass some of the thorny legal questions and the difficulty of properly structuring a request. “When Google put its form online, we looked at the demand from the public and we saw a gap,” says Girin. “We said, ‘let’s help people understand what their problem is.’”

Makes buying so easy you won't even notice that you bought something!

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/230315/let-the-follower-beware-facebook-and-twitter-get.html

Let The Follower Beware: Facebook And Twitter Get Serious About Commerce

… Facebook is doing a “limited” test that involves putting a “Buy” button within ads on its platform. For Facebook, the big deal is that clicking on that button doesn’t take prospective purchasers out of Facebook. They can buy whatever it is that’s being advertised and go right back to lengthy brawls about politics or sharing Weird Al videos. Talk about nirvana!

For my Data Mining and Data Analysis students.

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/integration/one-simple-reason-you-need-a-chief-data-officer.html?google_editors_picks=true

One Simple Reason You Need a Chief Data Officer

… articles and blog posts advocating for a chief data officer give me pause. On the one hand, I firmly believe data is an enterprise-wide endeavor and an incredibly important strategic asset. But I also realize I’ve become biased since covering the topic for all these years.

Data integration expert David Linthicum seems to shares my hesitation.

“I’m not a big fan of creating positions around trends in technology,” he writes in a recent Actian post.

… Nonetheless, he’s arguing that there is a very real business need for a Chief Data Officer — within the ranks of IT — because data, he writes, is not a trend.

… Linthicum offers a bulleted list of advantages that large organizations could gain from appointing a CDO. For instance, he says a CDO could help the organization achieve a common approach to data integration. I suspect that alone would pay for the position.

… Reading through his thorough and rational argument for a CDO, I realized there’s actually a very simple, single reason why a CDO makes sense: No one else is doing the job.

For my Math students.

http://colleenyoung.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/symbols/

Symbols

From the MathCentre this very clear nine page leaflet describes symbols and notation in common use in Mathematics, for each symbol we learn what to say, what the symbol means and where appropriate an example is given; it is also possible to search the Math Centre site for further details.

I'd say this is something for the student bike club, but in Colorado we actually look for hills (they're much smaller than mountains).

http://thenextdigit.com/9455/new-google-maps-8-2-shows-elevation-allows-voice-commands/

New Google Maps 8.2 shows elevation and allows voice commands

… The maps not only show you the cycling routes, but also the elevation. Along every route, small images are placed, letting the user know about the elevation. This information helps the cyclists on deciding whether it is wise to take a route, especially when it is uphill. It estimates the slope and distance of the hill.

Start laughing...

Hack Education Weekly News

… Australia’s head of curriculum review, Kevin Donnelly, says that corporal punishment is “very effective.” [I'm gonna make this into a BIG poster! Bob]

… From law professor James Grimmelman, who’s been leading the charge questioning the ethics of the research and publication of the infamous “Facebook study”: a lengthy letter (PDF) demanding a retraction of the PNAS article and a review of the practices surrounding human research and social media.

For all my students. I found this article on my RSS reader.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-rss-and-how-can-it-improve-your-life/

What Is RSS and How Can It Improve Your Life?

… Just three simple words can change the way you use and consume information – forever: Really Simple Syndication, or RSS.

Functioning like a customizable, digital newspaper, RSS benefits almost everyone – from working professionals wanting to keep abreast of the latest in their field to hobbyists looking for distractions.

… RSS simplifies, organizes and delivers web content, without visiting a website.

We know this can happen, yet we choose to ignore that troubling little fact.

http://www.bespacific.com/report-elite-russian-hackers-breached-nasdq-inserted-digital-bomb/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=report-elite-russian-hackers-breached-nasdq-inserted-digital-bomb

Report – Elite Russian hackers breached Nasdaq and inserted a digital bomb

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 17, 2014

BloombergBusinessWeek – Mike Riley: “In October 2010, a Federal Bureau of Investigation system monitoring U.S. Internet traffic picked up an alert. The signal was coming from Nasdaq. It looked like malware had snuck into the company’s central servers. There were indications that the intruder was not a kid somewhere, but the intelligence agency of another country. More troubling still: When the U.S. experts got a better look at the malware, they realized it was attack code, designed to cause damage… While the hack was successfully disrupted, it revealed how vulnerable financial exchanges—as well as banks, chemical refineries, water plants, and electric utilities—are to digital assault. One official who experienced the event firsthand says he thought the attack would change everything, that it would force the U.S. to get serious about preparing for a new era of conflict by computer. He was wrong.”

(Related) Gee, maybe everyone should read “The Prince.”

http://www.bespacific.com/global-cybercrime-interplay-politics-law/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=global-cybercrime-interplay-politics-law

Global Cybercrime: The Interplay of Politics and Law

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 17, 2014

The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) - Aaron Shull, June 2014

“Examining global cybercrime as solely a legal issue misses an important facet of the problem. Understanding the applicable legal rules, both domestically and internationally, is important. However, major state actors are using concerted efforts to engage in nefarious cyber activities with the intention of advancing their economic and geostrategic interests. This paper explores the recent unsealing of a 31-count indictment against five Chinese government officials and a significant cyber breach, perpetrated by Chinese actors against Western oil, energy and petrochemical companies. The paper concludes by noting that increased cooperation among governments is necessary, but unlikely to occur as long as the discourse surrounding cybercrime remains so heavily politicized and securitized. If governments coalesced around the notion of trying to prevent the long-term degradation of trust in the online economy, they may profitably advance the dialogue away from mutual suspicion and toward mutual cooperation.”

“If you build it, they will come.” (Makes me think I should start a new blog, titled: Field of Memes.)

Hogan Lovells White Paper Examines Governmental Access to Data in the U.S. and Latin America

Hogan Lovells today published Pan-American Governmental Access to Data in the Cloud, the fifth installment in a series of White Papers examining government access to data held by Cloud service providers. Examining the right of governments in the United States and Latin America to access data in the Cloud, the White Paper concludes that the physical location of Cloud servers does not significantly affect government access to data stored on those servers, and that it is fundamentally incorrect to assume that the United States government’s access to data in the Cloud is greater than that in the Latin American countries examined.

Read more on Hogan Lovells Chronicle of Data Protection.

“As goes France, so goes only France...”

One year of Data Protection Enforcement in France: what the CNIL’s Activity Report 2013 Reveals and what to expect in 2014

Marianne Le Moullec writes:

According to the French Data Protection Authority’s (“CNIL”) recently issued activity report for 2013 (http://www.cnil.fr/fileadmin/documents/La_CNIL/publications/CNIL_34e_Rapport_annuel_2013.pdf), the CNIL was especially busy in 2013. The main topics addressed by the CNIL in 2013 were the creation of a national consumer credit database, the right to be forgotten, the right to refuse cookies, the proposed EU Regulation, and, of course, the revelations concerning the U.S. Prism program and the surveillance of European citizens’ personal data by foreign entities.

[...]

With regards to of the CNIL’s auditing and sanctions in 2013, the CNIL’s priorities remained committed to training, promoting awareness on data protection and issuing guidance for companies. Imposing financial penalties remains an exception. Statistics of the CNIL’s auditing and sanctions activities in 2013 demonstrate this quite clearly

Read more on Proskauer

Good marketing. Now owning a multimillion dollar mansion, a yacht and a Ferrari don't mean a thing if you aren't recognized by Facebook as being a “real celebrity.” (Will you be able to opt out, so you can pretend to be humble?)

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/facebook-launches-new-app-for-celebrities-only-560895

Facebook Launches New App for Celebrities Only

Facebook has launched a new app aimed at celebrities only that will let public figures more easily interact with their fans.

The app called 'Mentions' is aimed at helping the Facebook-recognised or verified celebrities manage their public figure pages on the social network.

“What we got here, is failure to communicate!”

http://newsmaine.net/19983-lawmakers-ask-gm-fire-its-top-lawyer-michael-millikin

Lawmakers ask GM to fire its top lawyer, Michael Millikin

On Thursday, a Senate subcommittee asked automaker General Motors (GM) - which is currently dealing with a safety recall crisis of sorts - to dismiss the company's chief corporate counsel, Michael Millikin.

… The report alleged that the GM lawyers did not alert the company's engineers or top executives to a potential safety issue.

Against the backdrop of Valukas' report, McCaskill questioned why Millikin has failed to inform the GM board or the US Securities and Exchange Commission of the potential for punitive damages when the cases involving faulty ignition switches were being settled by GM. McCaskill said Millikin's actions amounted to "either gross negligence or gross incompetence on the part of a lawyer."

My Math students already know this. (I hope.)

http://mathandmultimedia.com/2014/07/17/math-calculations-google-search/

5 Cool Math Calculations You Can Do with Google Search

1.) Perform Basic Math Calculations

2.) Perform Advanced Math Computation

This includes trigonometric function, inverse trigonometric functions, hyperbolic functions, logarithms (base 10, e, and 2), exponential functions, factorial, and combinations.

3.) Convert Measures

it can convert currency, mass, length, volume, area, time, electricity, energy, and power. It is also capable of converting information (bytes, kilobytes, etc.) and number systems.

4. Set Timer or Alarm

5.) Graph Functions

Note that you can also display the Google calculator on your browser just by typing calculator on Google search.

For my researching students.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-free-online-pdf-tools-save-lot-work/

7 Free Online PDF Tools That Could Save You A Lot Of Work

Apparently, every state is already doing this. (Note to students: You can get SAS software FREE.)

CDC’s National Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is spying on kids & parents

Joe Cadillic excerpts reports by Government Technology and MtAiryNews:

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is using data analysis to identify children and families most at risk, and thus inform how time and money is allocated. When the DCF started this project two years ago, the goal was to see fewer dead children — and that’s what the department says is happening while spying on children & families.

The SAS report helped DCF identify what the highest-risk children looked like on paper, creating a detailed profile. “We needed to understand a lot more of the common factors in those cases,” Carroll said, “and we needed to be able to take that information and refine what we were doing from a case practice standpoint to see if we couldn’t intervene in a more effective way to prevent some of those child deaths.”

Florida is one of 50 states [So, all of them? Bob] conducting the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) with financial and technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Read more on MassPrivateI..

(Related) Did anyone ask why they started doing this? Was anyone in charge? Anyone?

Indiana storing blood & DNA of 2 million children without parents’ consent

It’s been an issue in Minnesota for years, but now WTHR alerts the public that Indiana also stores newborns’ blood and DNA without parental consent. Bob Segall reports:

As word of an Eyewitness News investigation spreads through Holliday Park, parents admit they are surprised.

“You’re kidding, right? I had no idea,” said Ramon Moore, playing catch with his 7-year-old son, Xavier.

“I didn’t know that at all,” agreed Holly Ruth, holding her 3-month old son, Lincoln.

“Nobody ever told me,” echoed Mallory Ervin, chasing her 4-year-old son, Theo, on the playground.

Xavier, Lincoln, Theo and millions of other Indiana children all have something in common: the state of Indiana is storing their blood and DNA in an undisclosed state warehouse.

“I’m curious why they didn’t share that,” said Ervin. “It now makes me think ‘what are they hiding?’ As a parent, I’d absolutely like to know.”

13 Investigates has discovered the Indiana State Department of Health is holding the blood samples of more than 2.25 million Hoosier children – without their parents’ permission. If your children were born in Indiana since 1991, chances are their blood and DNA is among the state’s massive collection.

Following WTHR’s investigation, state health officials are now seeking input on what to do with the blood samples after admitting they don’t have the consent needed to use them for anything.

Read more on WTHR.

(Related) When your hammer is substance abuse, every patient looks like a nail? If the doctors tell you they need this information to treat your broken leg, would you be in a position to refuse to answer?

MGH To Quiz All Patients About Use Of Alcohol And Illegal Drugs

CBS reports:

Massachusetts General Hospital plans to begin questioning all patients about their use of alcohol and illegal drugs starting this fall, even if they are at MGH for a totally unrelated issue.

Dr. Sarah Wakeman, director of substance abuse disorders at Mass. General, told WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Carl Stevens the purpose is to make substance abuse treatment part of mainstream medical care.

Read more on CBS.

Students: Should we start a Surveillance degree or just a specialization under Criminal Justice and Homeland Security?

Persistent Surveillance Systems Wide Area Surveillance in Support of Law Enforcement Presentation

From Public Intelligence:

The following presentation was produced by an Ohio-based company called Persistent Surveillance Systems that produces systems for wide area surveillance of large sections of a city for law enforcement purposes. The company has been the focus of numerous media reports over the last few months, including a long profile in the Washington Post and a recent video piece produced by PBS and the Center for Investigative Reporting. Despite several pieces about the company, no outlet has provided the public with access to the promotional materials that the company is providing to journalists.

Public Intelligence has made the materials available for download on their site (pdf).

(Related) I wonder what happens if you refuse?

State police now fingerprinting every Texan

Jon Cassidy reports:

The Texas Department of Public Safety has quietly embarked on a project to take the fingerprints of every Texan old enough to drive over the next 12 years, and add them to a statewide criminal history database.

Not only has the department made that momentous decision on its own, it doesn’t even have clear legal authority to do so.

Read more on Watchdog.org.

[From the Dallas News article:

Quietly, earlier this year, the Texas Department of Public Safety began requiring full sets of fingerprints from everyone who obtains a new driver’s license or photo identification card. This applies to those who come in as required for periodic renewals, but it doesn’t apply to mail-in renewals.

… Previously, DPS took only a thumbprint.

“We know where you are, we know what you search for, we know what you buy. What makes you think we don't know everything?”

What HIPAA doesn’t cover

Erin McCann writes:

Sure, HIPAA adds a layer of privacy protection for certain health data — if organizations actually comply with it — but there remains myriad avenues of mining health data and selling to the highest bidder that do not fall under the purview of HIPAA’s privacy and security rules. And they may surprise you.

Anything from what health data one Googles, to what medical products you purchase through online retailers are fair game for data brokers. What’s more, these companies are not liable under HIPAA and are able, without an individual’s consent, to track and collect health data for various purposes, says a new July report from the California Healthcare Foundation.

Often unknown by consumers, data elements including Googling for health data; using medical-related social networks; purchasing health products through online retailers; entering retail store preferences and locations into smartphones; or even buying any item related to health like fast food and cigarettes, can all be tracked.

Read more on HealthcareITNews.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

http://www.bespacific.com/global-survey-widespread-opposition-us-communications-surveillance-drones/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=global-survey-widespread-opposition-us-communications-surveillance-drones

Global Survey: Widespread Opposition to US Communications Surveillance, Drones

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 16, 2014

“A new survey from Pew Research finds overwhelming opposition to the US monitoring of emails and phone calls. There appears to be little variation by region or culture, with high levels of opposition found in countries in Europe, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. According to the survey “Global Opinions of U.S. Surveillance,” the four countries that believe US surveillance is acceptable are the United States, the Philippines, India, and Nigeria. A related Pew Survey found widespread opposition to drone strikes. For more information, see EPIC: Public Opinion on Privacy.”

Not sure it's “excellent,” but may be worth looking at.

UN Human Rights Report and the Turning Tide Against Mass Spying

Parker Higgins and Katitza Rodriguez write:

The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights has released an excellent report today on the right to privacy in the digital age, blasting the digital mass surveillance that has been taking place, unchecked, by the U.S., the U.K, and other world governments. The report is issued in response to a resolution passed with unanimous approval by the United Nations General Assembly in November 2013. That resolution was introduced by Brazil and Germany and sponsored by more than 50 member states.

Read more on EFF.

Another case of poor reporting? The “double-blind” reported here must be missing something. Unless Nielsen has access to the mobile devices Facebook will have to pull the name of the show and assign it a number on their servers. If Nielsen has access to the mobile devices, why do they need Facebook?

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/facebook-nielsen-will-soon-track-tv-habits-tablets-smartphones/

Facebook, Nielsen will soon track your TV habits on tablets, smartphones

Attempting to get a better grasp on how many television shows consumers are watching on mobile devices, the Nielsen company is partnering up with Facebook in order to track television viewing habits of U.S. consumers. According to representatives of the social network, if you have logged into Facebook on a mobile device, Facebook has the ability to pull data about what the user is watching on the device assuming the user hasn’t specially opted out of tracking. Detailed by the Los Angeles Times, the tracking collaboration should kick off as the Fall 2014 television season goes into full swing.

While privacy advocates aren’t thrilled at this collaboration, the two companies are keeping the data anonymous be using a double-blind study. Basically, Nielsen assigns numbers to the names of television shows and supplies those to Facebook. Facebook isn’t aware of which numbers correspond to which shows. In return, Facebook returns an aggregate of the age and gender of all Facebook users that watched a specific television show.

“Ready! Fire! Aim!” Perhaps they didn't think this through.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/eu-regulators-invite-google-microsoft-to-discuss-right-to-be-forgotten-1405592730?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304223004580034790032205852.html

EU Invites Google, Microsoft to Discuss 'Right to Be Forgotten'

European Union privacy watchdogs plan to raise concerns about the implementation by Google Inc. of the bloc's new "right to be forgotten" rule at a meeting with search engines next week, EU privacy officials said Thursday, raising the specter of a conflict over the implementation of the controversial court decision.

The main body grouping and the EU's 28 national privacy regulators have invited Google, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. to a meeting next Thursday in Brussels to discuss the surprise May ruling that gives individuals the right to request the removal of information about them from search results, the officials said.

Microsoft confirmed that it plans to attend the meeting. Google and Yahoo have said they plan to cooperate with privacy officials, but declined Thursday to comment on any specific meetings.

The ruling has already become a battleground in the war over where to draw the line between freedom of speech and the right to online privacy in an era of instant access to data.

… One flash point is Google's refusal to remove name-search results from its main Google.com search engine. It prefers to make a narrower removal of name searches in the European versions of its search engine, such as google.fr or google.co.uk. That position has already raised hackles with regulators in Germany and elsewhere, privacy officials have said.

The value of “Big Data” comes only with analysis.

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140717-906411.html

Pratt & Whitney Taps IBM to Capture Value of Big Data to Improve Aircraft Engine Performance

… "Today's aircraft engines can generate up to a half terabyte of data per flight. This data deluge can be made into a critical resource if coupled with predictive analytics, creating a valuable asset for early warning or fault detection and improved visibility in to the overall health of aircraft engines," said Alistair Rennie, general manager, Business Analytics, IBM. "By applying real time analytics to structured and unstructured data streams generated by aircraft engines, we can find insights and enable proactive communication and guidance to Pratt & Whitney's services network and customers."

This could be cool.

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-amazon-unlimited-kindle-ebook-subscription-20140716-story.html

Amazon appears to be testing an unlimited Kindle ebook subscription

Amazon.com appears to be testing a new subscription model that would give members all-you-can-read access to more than 600,000 ebooks for $9.99 a month.

The Kindle Unlimited program was first spotted by eagle-eyed users over at a Kindle forum. Most details have since been removed from Amazon's website, although a cached version can be viewed here.

… The bulk of titles appeared to be from smaller publishers.

… The program also appears to include access to thousands of audiobooks.

… Kindle Unlimited would compete with similar offerings from digital libraries Oyster and Scribd. Oyster offers unlimited access to more than 500,000 books for $9.95 a month. Scribd users, meanwhile, can read unlimited books for $8.99 a month.

For my iStudents...

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-best-iphone-ocr-apps-tested/

The Best iPhone OCR Apps Tested

For those of us dedicated to going paperless, the ability to scan documents and have the text recognized and converted to text is an essential time saver.

There are many iOS apps that scan and manage documents, but apps with optical character recognition (OCR) are a little more difficult discern for their features and effectiveness.

CamScanner+ ($4.99, free version)

PDFpen Scan+ ($6.99)

Pixter Scanner OCR ($2.99)

Local: Another “we don't need no stinking encryption” breach. Also note that one of the first things we teach our Computer Security students is how to bypass “password protection.” (Who write these headlines? Did the laptop really cause the breach?)

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2014/07/15/stolen-laptop-causes-security-breach-for-dougco-schools/12717149/

Stolen laptop causes security breach for DougCo schools

… The district sent a letter to all of its employees recently stating the stolen computer contained some workers' Social Security numbers and bank account information.

The district said the computer was password protected but were notifying employees out of an "abundance of caution."

(Related) One of many, many encryption options.

http://www.securityweek.com/bring-your-own-encryption-it-right-choice-your-enterprise

Bring-Your-Own-Encryption: Is It the Right Choice for Your Enterprise?

Following the recent issues surrounding encryption and encryption tools, some organizations are turning to Bring-Your-Own-Encryption (BYOE), but experts warn that there are some aspects that need to be take into consideration before making the move.

To learn more about the advantage, disadvantages and the challenges posed by BYOE, SecurityWeek reached out to several experts in the field.

BYOE is a cloud computing security model that enables organizations [NOT indoviduals. Bob] to use their own encryption software and manage their own encryption keys. This is done by deploying a virtualized instance of the encryption software alongside applications hosted in the cloud to securely encrypt data.

Did you think you were immune?

http://www.securityweek.com/1-6-say-their-organization-had-least-5-significant-security-incidents-past-year-survey

1 in 6 Say Their Organization Had At Least 5 Significant Security Incidents in Past Year: Survey

A new report from ForeScout Technologies described a challenging world for IT security - one where one in six IT pros say their organization has had five or more significant security incidents in the past year.

The research, titled the '2014 Cyber Defense Maturity Report', was conducted by IDG Connect and features responses from 1,600 IT information security decision makers in organizations with more than 500 employees across five industries in the U.S. and Europe.

… Ninety-six percent of the 1,600 respondents said their organizations had at least one significant security event in the last 12 months, while 39 percent said there had been two or more. Though the majority of those surveyed said they were aware that some of their security measures were immature or ineffective, just 33 percent had high confidence their organizations would improve those controls.

"The top five sources of compromise recorded by survey respondents were phishing attacks, compliance policy violations, unsanctioned device use, unsanctioned application use and [unauthorized] data access, with as much as 25 percent of organizations across all vertical sectors experiencing five or more instances of phishing specifically in the past 12 months," according to the report (PDF).

This should be obvious. Apparently, it isn't.

http://www.securitybistro.com/?p=8888

Why Prompt Breach Notification Is Important

… According to a 2014 Identity Fraud Report by Javelin, nearly 1 out of 3 data breach victims in 2013 suffered identity fraud, compared with 1 in 9 in 2010. Obviously the connection between data breaches and fraud is growing. But the good news is that consumer awareness of breaches – and the potential for fraud on their accounts – is on the rise, too. This is probably because so many people have been notified one or more times about their personal data being compromised.

But notification is a good thing because it often prompts consumers to sign up for email or mobile alerts about their credit or checking accounts or to put fraud alerts on their credit reports. This makes data breach victims 15% less likely to suffer multiple fraud events compared with all fraud victims (i.e., the fraud doesn’t necessarily stem from a breach).

Tools & Techniques. Security for every small business. Something like this might work for lawyer-client communication... Just thinking...

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/07/wireless-live-cd-alternative-zeusgard/

Wireless Live CD Alternative: ZeusGard

I’ve long recommended that small business owners and others concerned about malware-driven bank account takeovers consider adopting a “Live CD” solution, which is a free and relatively easy way of temporarily converting your Windows PC into a Linux operating system. The trouble with many of these Live CD solutions is that they require a CD player (something many laptops no longer have) — but more importantly – they don’t play well with wireless access. Today’s post looks at an alternative that addresses both of these issues.

… The device I’ll be looking at today is not free, nor is the the tiny dongle that enables its ability to be used on a wireless network.

… The device, called ZeusGard, is a small, silver USB flash drive that boots into a usable browser within about 30 seconds after starting the machine. The non-writeable drive boots directly into the browser (on top of Debian Linux), and if your system is hard-wired to your router with an Ethernet connection, you should be good to go.

… At $24.95 for the basic ZeusGard and $14.95 for the wireless adapter, this device is likely to be more appealing to small businesses than the average Internet user.

Self-surveillance – 'cause you don't know where you've been?

Moves

http://www.moves-app.com/

– automatically records any walking, cycling, and running you do. You can view the distance, duration, steps, and calories burned for each activity. The app is always on, so there’s no need to start and stop it. Just keep your phone in your pocket or your bag. The app consumes battery power, so nightly charging is recommended.

(Ditto)

Visits

http://v.isits.in/

– With visits you can browse your location histories and explore your trips and travels. The unique map timeline visualization shows the places you have visited and how long you have stayed there. Add photos from Flickr to your visits and share your journey with your family and friends. Visits works with geo-tagged Flickr albums, data from Openpaths and Google Location Histories.

The “Right to be Forgotten” falls on hard times. I told you there would be a market for this service.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-unmasks-elite-hackers-ipads-can-give-rashes-tech-news-digest/

What Has Been Hidden From Google?

Hidden From Google is a new effort to track search results being hidden from Google as a result of the “right to be forgotten.” There are currently only a handful of examples of articles that have disappeared from Google search results, but Afaq Tariq, who created Hidden From Google, is asking for more tip-offs from eagle-eyed users.

As a rather fitting irony, the original articles are once again appearing in search results as a consequence of appearing on Hidden From Google. And people’s attentions are more likely to be drawn to them now than they were previously. The Streisand Effect strikes yet again.

One of those, “what's going on here” moments. Strangely, it looks like Western Union (and other “currency exchanges?”) sell the city stickers.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/07/15/clerks-office-extends-deadline-for-city-stickers-after-outages/

Clerk’s Office Extends Deadline For City Stickers After Outages

… Major outages with the city’s computer system led to long delays at currency exchanges throughout the city as Chicagoans raced to meet the original deadline of midnight Tuesday.

Another reason to move my students into the Cloud. (Does this mean Amazon gets to arm their drones?)

http://qz.com/235173/the-partnership-between-the-cia-and-amazon-will-revolutionize-intelligence/

The partnership between the CIA and Amazon will revolutionize intelligence

The intelligence community is about to get the equivalent of an adrenaline shot to the chest. This summer, a $600 million computing cloud developed by Amazon Web Services for the Central Intelligence Agency over the past year will begin servicing all 17 agencies that make up the intelligence community. If the technology plays out as officials envision, it will usher in a new era of cooperation and coordination, allowing agencies to share information and services much more easily and avoid the kind of intelligence gaps that preceded the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

… For the risk-averse intelligence community, the decision to go with a commercial cloud vendor is a radical departure from business as usual.

Another opportunity for my Ethical Hackers.

http://www.securityweek.com/google-quest-hire-elite-zero-day-hackers

Google On Quest To Hire Elite Zero-Day Hackers

… On Tuesday Google said it would create a new, “well-staffed” security team called Project Zero with the objective to significantly reduce the number of people harmed by targeted attacks.

“You should be able to use the web without fear that a criminal or state-sponsored actor is exploiting software bugs to infect your computer, steal secrets or monitor your communications,” Chris Evans, Researcher Herder at Google wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “Yet in sophisticated attacks, we see the use of “zero-day” vulnerabilities to target, for example, human rights activists or to conduct industrial espionage.”

This needs to stop, Evans said.

… Under Project Zero, Google says it will be committed to transparency, explaining that every bug they find will be entered in an external database.

Fun for my JavaScript students?

Breach

http://breach.cc/

– is described as a “browser for the HTML5 era”. Everything in the browser is a module, a web-app running in its own process. Construct your own browsing experience by selecting the right modules for you. The entire technological stack is open-source. Modify existing modules and create your owns to extend the behavior of Breach.

Al may be Weird, but he's also a genius.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-unmasks-elite-hackers-ipads-can-give-rashes-tech-news-digest/

Weird Al Details ‘Word Crimes’

Weird Al’s latest song, Word Crimes, tackles the tricky subject of bad grammar, particularly on the Internet. Word Crimes is a cover of Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, but the original misogynistic lyrics have been replaced by examples of common grammatical errors.

As a grammar Nazi who has previously argued that typos need to be eradicated, I love Weird Al for writing this song. Let’s just hope people take notice of Word Crimes and stop making the ridiculous mistakes he rallies against.