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| 121 | The U.S. government is seeking software that can mine social media to predict everything from future terrorist attacks to foreign uprisings, according to requests posted online by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Hundreds of intelligence analysts already sift overseas Twitter and Facebook posts to track events such as the Arab Spring. But in a formal "request for information" from potential contractors, the FBI recently outlined its desire for a digital tool to scan the entire universe of social media -- more data than humans could ever crunch.
The Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence also have solicited the private sector for ways to automate the process of identifying emerging threats and upheavals using the billions of posts people around the world share every day.
"Social media has emerged to be the first instance of communication about a crisis, trumping traditional first responders that included police, firefighters, EMT, and journalists," the FBI wrote in its request. "Social media is rivaling 911 (emergency telephone) services in crisis response and reporting."
The proposals already have raised privacy concerns among advocates who worry that such monitoring efforts could have a chilling effect on users. Ginger McCall, director of the open government project at the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the FBI has no business monitoring legitimate free speech without a narrow, targeted law enforcement purpose.
"Any time that you have to worry about the federal government following you around peering over your shoulder listening to what you're saying, it's going to affect the way you speak and the way that you act," McCall said.
The FBI said in a statement to The Associated Press that their proposed system is only meant to monitor publicly available information and would not focus on specific individuals or groups but on words related to criminal... newsfactor.com » | | 122 | California is clamping down on nosy mobile applications, telling them they must give people advance warning if they want to keep pulling sensitive information from smartphones and computer tablets.
The crackdown comes six months after California Attorney General Kamala Harris began discussing the need for better privacy protections with six powerful companies that have shaped the mobile computing market, spawning nearly 1 million applications over the past four years.
Those talks led to an agreement requiring mobile apps seeking to collect personal information to forewarn users by displaying privacy policies before their services are installed on a device.
The companies working with Harris are: Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone and iPad; Google Inc., the Internet search leader and maker of Android mobile software; Amazon.com Inc., the maker of the Kindle Fire tablet; Microsoft Corp., which makes a mobile version of its Windows operating system; Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry; and Hewlett-Packard Co., which is donating its mobile software to the open-source community.
"We are assuming everyone is going to cooperate in good faith and not get cute," said Harris, who plans to review compliance with the guidelines in six months.
Harris, a Democrat, is taking her stand as lawmakers and regulators throughout the country are zeroing in on how technology has made it easier to pry into the lives of people who share personal information on Web sites and store sensitive data on their mobile devices.
The concerns have intensified in recent weeks as Google prepares to blend together a hodgepodge of privacy policies covering various services. The move will make it easier for Google to tie together personal information as it tries to sell more online advertising.
Harris and 35 other attorneys general sent a letter Wednesday to Google CEO Larry Page seeking a meeting with company officials to discuss... newsfactor.com » | | 123 | Symantec and VMware are tag teaming on a quartet of security integrations for the VMware cloud infrastructure suite. The idea is to offer stronger protection -- and operational cost savings -- for virtual and cloud environments.
What this means in practice is that customers who use both VMware and Symantec now have another security lever to pull to protect their virtual infrastructure and business-critical applications. Specific targets include data loss prevention, IT risk and compliance, data center protection, security information and event management, and endpoint protection solutions.
"Adoption of cloud services and virtualization technologies provide increased business flexibility, improved scalability and can create significant cost savings, but they also increase an organizations' exposure to external threats and increase risk," said Sergi Isasi, senior product manager at Symantec.
Safeguarding Sensitive Information
"IT security teams are tasked with keeping sensitive information safe while it's being stored and accessed in cloud environments, on mobile devices and across virtual infrastructure that is very dynamic in nature," Isasi continued. "On the virtualization side, security needs to be more than just antivirus."
Symantec is introducing the five new integrations with VMware cloud infrastructure suite in 2012, some of which are available now, to tackle that risk. Symantec and VMware also promised to keep collaborating to make sure their mutual customers have security and compliance controls necessary for cloud deployments both on- and off-premises.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is now available to protect intellectual property wherever it resides. Integration with VMware vShield App means Symantec customers can find and locate information across virtual environments. Symantec Data Loss Prevention works to make it easier for customers to identify and remediate potential data loss in virtual environments by automatically separating virtual machines that contain sensitive information from those that do not.
Also available now, Symantec Control Compliance Suite taps centralized vulnerability and control assessments... newsfactor.com » | | 124 | With so much focus on security as all things cloud computing continue to rise, Symantec just rolled out a new cloud information protection platform and a roadmap for its services. Symantec also partnered with Salesforce.com on cloud security.
Dubbed 03 Cloud Identity and Access Control, Symantec's security software offers three layers of protection for the cloud: access control, information security and information management. Companies that deploy 03 get a single, secure access point to cloud apps and services.
According to a recent Symantec survey, 44 percent of CEOs said they were cautious about moving business-critical applications to the cloud, with 76 percent citing security as a main concern. O3 hopes to help CEOs and CIOs overcome those concerns with a security solution built to protect business-critical apps.
No Federation Protocols Needed
"Symantec O3 is a new security control point for the cloud that allows IT departments to embrace cloud services without relinquishing control by applying their own policies into the cloud information stream," explained Sergi Isasi, senior product manager at Symantec. "Symantec O3 will also increase convenience for end users by enabling employees to leverage the applications, services, Single Sign On and mobile devices they prefer across any Web application."
As Isasi mentioned, Symantec O3 Cloud Identity and Access Control offers Single Sign On across any Web application -- even the ones that don't support federation protocols. The security software taps into an enterprise's existing identity infrastructure for authentication while allowing context-based authorization, password management and federation services.
O3 Cloud Identity and Access Control also comes pre-integrated with Symantec Validation and ID Protection Service so large enterprises can use existing VPN credentials to strengthen access to any cloud application. Symantec may get some fast traction with its partnership with Symantec to deliver O3 for Salesforce, which is built on Force.com, Salesforce.com's social-enterprise platform.
When it... newsfactor.com » | | 125 | FBI Director Robert Muller said Friday that cyber threats will one day pose a more significant danger to U.S. national security than terrorism, which is currently the FBI's top priority.
"In the not too distant future, we anticipate that the cyber threat will pose the No. 1 threat to our country," Muller told attendees at the RSA Computer Security Conference in San Francisco.
RSA conference attendees are often the first to see new threats coming down the road, and know what data is critically important and what could be at risk, Muller observed.
"Real-time information-sharing is essential [and] much information can -- and should be -- shared with the private sector," Muller said. "In turn, those of you in the private sector must have the means and the motivation to work with us."
Muller noted that the FBI's dual role in law enforcement and national security uniquely positions the bureau to collect the intelligence it needs to take down criminal networks, prosecute those responsible, and protect our national security. The problem is that Internet technology is evolving so rapidly that it is difficult for the FBI to keep up from a security perspective.
"We cannot confront cyber crime on our own," Muller said.
Reporting Security Breaches Is Crucial
The most dangerous cyber threats the FBI faces today are posed by the state-sponsored computer experts of hostile foreign nations seeking to steal corporate trade secrets and classified U.S. government documents ,as well as potentially wreak havoc on the nation's most vital infrastructure.
"State-sponsored hackers are patient and calculating, have the time, the money, and the resources to burrow in and to wait," Muller said. "They may come and go, conducting reconnaissance and exfiltrating bits of seemingly innocuous information -- information that in the aggregate may be of high value."
Though many companies may be reluctant to report security... newsfactor.com » | | 126 | Putting Google and Apple once again under harsh scrutiny of their privacy practices, a senior senator from New York called on the Federal Trade Commission on Sunday to look into apps that "are leaking user data."
Sen. Charles Schumer was reacting to news that both Google's Android operating system and Apple's iOS allow applications that send photos to third-party servers. In a letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Schumer also noted reports of apps that allow location data and address books to be "copied in their entirety and used for marketing or other purposes."
"These uses go well beyond what a reasonable user understands himself to be consenting to when he allows an app to access data on the phone for purposes of the app's functionality," Schumer wrote.
The third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Schumer is known for his weekly Sunday news conferences, usually on consumer protection issues.
Hands Full
The FTC already has its hands full policing the privacy practices of technology giants. It called Google on the carpet for opting Gmail users in to a now-failed social network, Buzz, without asking, and took on Facebook for making misleading promises about what information the world's biggest social network shared.
Apple, for its part, has faced critics on privacy issues before. Last year, it was discovered that iPads and iPhones track and keep the location data of users. The company blamed the data collection on a system bug.
On Feb. 28, The New York Times, based on information from developers, reported that allowing some apps to access information on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch allowed them to "copy the user's entire photo library, without any further notification or warning."
"It is my understanding that many of these uses violate the terms of service of the Apple and Android platforms through which the apps are marketed and sold,"... newsfactor.com » | | 127 | Comedian Steve Martin once came up with a novel way to fend off a mugger: "The first thing I do is throw up on my money," he said.
Why not take the same approach to the corporate "muggers" who rob us of our privacy by tracking everything from our search history, shopping patterns, entertainment choices and how we use our cell phones?
Consider: Search giant Google was recently found to have developed a code that bypasses private web-browsing settings on Apple's Safari browser, leading members of Congress to call on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate. The FTC had already taken Google to task for opting users into a social network without their permission and investigated Facebook for making false promises about privacy.
Late last year it was discovered that many top smartphones, including some versions of Apple's top-selling iPhone, contain Carrier IQ software that collects some information about their phone usage.
Most people have no idea the extent of information collected. When Austrian student Max Schrems convinced Facebook last year to turn over everything it had on him, he reportedly got back more than 1,200 pages of data, including his online chats, log-in and log-out times and a history of messages and "likes." Schrems is still fighting to get even more information he believes the social media behemoth has.
But information is only as valuable as it is accurate. What if we turned the tables on data collectors by poisoning the well?
Think about it. Hundreds of thousands of people using Google several times a day to search for things in which they have no genuine interest, like used motorcycle dealers in Kenya or former bat boys of the Chicago Cubs.
How about rotating cell phones with your family or friends, so mobile ad trackers will wonder why you're at the mall at 2 p.m.... newsfactor.com » | | 128 | Google's search engine outranks rivals by a wide margin, according to a Pew Internet Project survey released Friday. However, a majority of U.S. adults are opposed to receiving targeted advertising and view the delivery of future search results based on their own search history to be an invasion of privacy.
Of the 2,253 American adults surveyed earlier this year, 91 percent said they use search engines -- just one percentage point below those who said they send or read e-mail. Moreover, 83 percent of the survey's respondents said they use Google more often than any other search engine, with Yahoo ranking a distant second at a mere 6 percent.
What's more, 66 percent of the survey's respondents view search engines as fair and unbiased sources of information, and 52 percent say their search results have gotten more relevant and useful over time.
"There continues to be widespread faith in search results, and perceptions of fairness and bias have not changed at all over the past eight years," said the new Pew report's authors, Kristen Purcell, Joanna Brenner and Lee Rainie.
Still, 40 percent of searchers said they have received conflicting or contradictory search results and were unable to determine which information was correct.
"About four in ten also say they have gotten so much information in a set of search results that they felt overwhelmed," Purcell, Brenner and Rainie wrote.
Personalized Search Reservations
Though Google has been extolling the consumer benefits of the search engine giant's new policies concerning its collection and usage of the personal data across the company's swath of web properties, a substantial majority of search engine users hold a negative view of such practices.
For example, when asked about search engines collecting personalized information about their searches and then using this data to rank their future search... newsfactor.com » | | 129 | It's not Anonymous, but it's an emerging group of hackers that claims affiliation with the infamous "hacktivist" group. Its name: The Consortium.
The Consortium is making headlines today for allegedly stealing the credit card records and other personal identifying information in a hack on porn site Digital Playground. The Consortium claims to have stolen information from more than 70,000 users of the Internet porn site.
"By and large, groups of hackers including Anonymous and the Consortium are putting large and small organizations on notice that they need to be far more prudent in securing their data," said Jonathan Spira, chief analyst at Basex and author of Overload! How Too Much Information is Hazardous To Your Organization.
"Today, individuals and organizations have far more information to manage than ever before, and it's critical to ensure that the appropriate measures and safeguards are in place to keep information safe and secure," Spira said.
Friendly Hackers?
Indeed, for its first major hack job, The Consortium stole about 40,000 financial details, spanning names, credit card numbers, CCV numbers and expiration dates. In a message, The Consortium claimed it has had access to DigitalPlayground.com for a while before it decided to strike.
"This company has security, that if we didn't know it was a real business, we would have thought to be a joke -- a joke that we found much more amusing than they will," The Consortium said.
"These credit cards are all plaintext but we will not be releasing or using as we do this for the love of the game, not for profit, and these people's only crime was wanting some porn. We cannot justify releasing these people's credit card info, but remember it is DP that allowed this to happen, this could have been a different group. And perhaps they may have done far worse when given this... newsfactor.com » | | 130 | As every business and many consumers know, information is power. And, once again, there's a public struggle between Facebook and some of its users over who controls that power.
The stimulus for this most recent firestorm is a revision by the company of its Privacy Policy. Last week, Facebook published its proposed changes for the site's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which describes its relationship with its users, including privacy issues.
The company said in a statement that "many of the changes are administrative," such as replacing the term Privacy Policy with Data Use Policy, but the revisions are not going over well with some users.
'I Reject the Changes'
The proposed statement draft was posted with the intention of receiving user comments for up to one week, but that was enough time for a significant number of thumbs-down opinions from users in the U.S. and elsewhere.
For instance, more than 30,000 members of the German-language Facebook site all delivered the same, single sentence in their native language, which translated as "I reject the changes."
One concern is the revised language describing what information is available to which apps. The relevant line currently reads, "When you use an application, your content and information is shared with the application." The proposed revision reads, "When you or others who can see your content use an application...."
To some users, that raises alarms about apps installed by friends being able to read your information. Facebook replies that their current policy already allows this, and that the new wording is simply intended to make the policy as clear as possible. The company noted that users can go into Privacy Settings and control whether apps have access to their information.
Another bone of contention is simply that the word "privacy" is being replaced by references to "data use," but Facebook and others... newsfactor.com » | | 131 | Having organized a big chunk of the world's information, Google is now getting ready to layer that information over your reality. On Wednesday, the technology giant confirmed that it has been working on developing a lightweight headset that allows the user to access the Web's information as an overlay on one's view of the world.
Called Project Glass and based inside the secretive Google X research division, the initiative is now making public a concept video of a pair of glass-less glasses frames that contain a transparent display over one eye. The video is posted on the new Project Glass page on Google+, called "Project Glass: One Day..." It gives an idea of what life might be like in a world with seamless access to information, sharing and communication, where smartphone-like features are integrated with one's everyday vision.
By End of 2012?
The headset includes a display, a camera and a microphone. Although the headset is currently only a concept and a video visualization, Google is making public the fact that a development project is under way.
According to a report in The New York Times in February, Google is intending to launch an Android-based, heads-up display product, possibly in the form of this kind of lightweight headset, by year's end. However, there recently have been indications from Google that such a timeframe for the launch is unlikely, and that the purpose of the new Google+ page and video is to receive feedback on the concept.
According to reports on the Web, the price for the product would be comparable to a smartphone. Since smartphones can range from $150 to $600, the price range appears to be fairly wide at the moment.
Essentially, the headset acts as a super-smartphone, but without the smartphone. It would apparently include a 3G/4G connection, GPS, voice recognition, and possibly other... newsfactor.com » | | 132 |  Корпорация Oracle объявила о поступлении в продажу аналитического решения для исследования данных Oracle Endeca Information Discovery Корпорация Oracle объявила о поступлении в продажу аналитического решения для исследования данных Oracle Endeca Information Discovery. Решение корпоративного класса, основанное на технологиях Endeca Latitude и Endeca MDEX, позволяет исследовать и ана it.siteua.org » | | 133 |  Хабы: Социальные сети и сообщества, Facebook
Социальная сеть Facebook старается следовать обещаниям своего руководства, которое в очередной раз сообщило о намерении сделать работу пользователя в среде Facebook более прозрачной. Ранее был создан инструмент «Download Your Information», позволяющий пользователю просмотреть и скачать многие свои данные, загруженные в социальную сеть в течение всего времени пребывания на этом ресурсе. Сейчас этот инструмент значительно обновлен.
Читать дальше → habrahabr.ru » | | 134 | The Federal Communications Commission fined Google $25,000 on Saturday for impeding its investigation of the company's collection of data through its Street View project. The agency also indicated it is closing its investigation.
Over a three-year period beginning May 2007, Google collected confidential "payload" data from open, non-password-protected Wi-Fi networks, as its Street View cars took photos on American streets for Google Maps.
'Deliberately Impeded'
When allegations first arose about the collection of payload data, the agency noted, Google denied it was doing so, but later acknowledged that the data had been "mistakenly" scooped up by its data collection software.
As the FCC began its official investigation into whether Google's conduct had violated provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, the FCC said, Google "deliberately impeded and delayed" its investigation by failing to respond to requests for information, adding that the company "willfully and repeatedly violated Commission orders" to deliver documents and other information.
The fine of $25,000 is for noncompliance with FCC requests, but, in the same announcement, the agency said it will "not take enforcement action" for the collection of payload data, because there is "no clear precedent" for applying the Communications Act in this case, especially because the data was unencrypted.
It also noted that efforts to obtain more information about the data collection were blocked because the key Google engineer, who was unnamed, had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
A separate inquiry by the Federal Trade Commission in 2010 had resulted in Google's agreement to set up internal privacy controls and methods. These included the appointment of a new director of privacy with authority across both engineering and product management, enhanced core training for staff, a new information security awareness program, and new processes for internal compliance procedures.
Brin on Openness
Google has said that the collected data, which... newsfactor.com » | | 135 | If your doctor is talking to an iPad the next time you see her, she may actually be flipping through your file.
Voice-recognition technology developers are introducing a slew of products aimed at getting doctors to document patient information more immediately and thoroughly. The technology has advanced far enough, its proponents say, that it can now do more than just passively receive doctors' input.
Nuance, the maker of Dragon voice-recognition software, is marketing a new product that is embedded into a hospital's electronic medical record system. As doctors input a patient's information via voice, it can highlight and validate medical facts, spot inconsistencies and ask follow-up questions, says Nick Van Terheyden of Nuance. They can edit to ensure accuracy.
M-Modal, a Nuance competitor, is working on a similar product that allows physicians to record information in real time on mobile devices as they consult with patients. "Physicians prefer to narrate and dictate. They don't want to point and click," says Juergen Fritsch, co-founder of M-Modal.
The companies' push into health care, where accuracy is of utmost importance, is enabled by constant improvement in voice technology. Apple's introduction of Siri on iPhone has also raised the public's awareness of its potential. The federal government's call for hospitals to install electronic medical record systems has also stirred the industry's curiosity about the technology, says Mary Griskewicz of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
Doctors have used dictation for years as they compile patient care history and post-care summaries, orders and prescriptions. Many speak into recording devices and pay transcribers to type the notes. In recent years, they've moved on to software that transcribes directly as they dictate.
But Nuance's technology -- in testing at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a few other hospitals -- takes the process a step further, employing a mixture of data... newsfactor.com » | | 136 |  Хабы: Учебный процесс в IT, Мероприятия, Поисковые машины и технологии
Good news everybody! В этом году снова состоится уже шестая по счету Российская летняя школа по информационному поиску (RuSSIR).
Если Вы занимаетесь задачами IR, то просто не сможете пропустить это мероприятие (чуть ли не единственное в России), позволяющее получить системные знания по информационному поиску. Даже если у вас уже большой опыт в этой области, скорее всего вы сможете найти что-то новое в программе, поскольку на школу приезжают лекторы со всего мира. А для совсем новичков предусмотрен вводный курс.
Читать дальше → habrahabr.ru » | | 137 | This time it wasn't Anonymous or some other hacking group trying to make a name for itself. The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services can blame one of its own for the security black eye it just took.
The agency last week discovered that a Medicaid employee inappropriately transferred personal information for 228,435 Medicaid beneficiaries to his personal e-mail account. Not only was it a blatant violation of agency policy, it also put the personal identities of nearly a quarter million Americans at risk.
Christopher Lykes Jr., 36, was arrested Thursday for allegedly committing the crime. Lykes, a project manager for the agency, was immediately terminated while law enforcement officials conducted their investigation. It is yet unclear what he planned to do with the information.
Blame the Browser
We asked Bill Morrow, executive chairman and CEO of Quarri Technologies, for his thoughts on the breach and what other organizations can learn from the internal theft. His first thought: Blame it on the browser.
"The risk of this type of transfer of confidential information by an employee is all too common at many organizations because they are increasingly using browsers as the primary platform for the delivery of information and making them the primary point of theft or data leakage," Morrow said.
As he has said before, standard Web browsers contain critical security gaps that create significant risks to organizations' confidential data, and online resources like Web mail and social networking sites can be open windows for data leakage. That sets the stage for a careless or malicious employee to easily steal company trade secrets, intellectual property or leak sensitive customer information.
"The end user is often the weakest link on any corporate network, since one malicious or unintentional click can lead to identity theft for hundreds of thousands of customers and patients," Morrow said.... newsfactor.com » | | 138 | House Republicans are pushing ahead with legislation to protect the nation's critical infrastructure and corporations from electronic attacks despite Obama administration objections that the legislation fails to protect Americans' civil liberties.
The House begins work Thursday on the bill designed to address the cybersecurity threat by getting the private sector and government to share information to thwart attacks from foreign governments, terrorists and cybercriminals. Although the information sharing is voluntary, civil liberties groups fear the measure could lead to government spying on Americans.
The administration objections run deeper.
"The sharing of information must be conducted in a manner that preserves Americans' privacy, data confidentiality and civil liberties and recognizes the civilian nature of cyberspace," the administration said in a statement Wednesday. "Cybersecurity and privacy are not mutually exclusive."
The administration also complained that the bill's liability protection for companies that share information is too broad and argued that the Homeland Security Department should have a primary role in domestic cybersecurity. In its current form, the administration said, the president's advisers would recommend a veto of the bill.
Yet White House opposition is not expected to derail the House bill, which has bipartisan support, Republicans and Democrats said Wednesday.
"It certainly will have an impact, I think, on the margin of the vote, but the bill is still likely to pass," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who had hoped to amend the bill by limiting the government's ability to collect information, such as birthdays, that could be used to identify individuals. His measure reflected the concerns of the White House, but Republicans refused to allow its consideration.
A final vote on the bill is expected Friday.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has worked closely with Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger of Maryland, the panel's top Democrat, on the overall legislation as well as on... newsfactor.com » | | 139 | The House of Representatives has passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, also known as CISPA, on a Republican-backed vote of 248-168. But free speech advocates are urging the Senate to block the legislation, citing privacy concerns.
CISPA makes it easier for the federal government to work with the private sector to get and share information obtained on the Internet to thwart cyber crime. The White House has threatened to veto the bill if the Senate passes it.
The Center for Democracy & Technology is disappointed that CISPA passed the House in what it calls a "flawed form" under a "flawed process." CDT worked with the House Intelligence Committee to develop amendments to narrow some of the bill's definitions and to limit its scope. Some of those amendments were adopted, leaving the bill better for privacy and civil liberties than it was in its original form.
"However, we are also disappointed that House leadership chose to block amendments on two core issues we had long identified -- the flow of information from the private sector directly to [the National Security Agency] and the use of that information for national security purposes unrelated to cybersecurity," the CDT said in a statement.
Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., "wrote amendments to address those issues, but the leadership did not allow votes on those amendments," the CDT said. "Such momentous issues deserved a vote of the full House. We intend to press these issues when the Senate takes up its cybersecurity legislation."
Privacy Advocates Lash Out
The American Civil Liberties Union is also opposed to the legislation. The group called it dangerously overbroad and said it would allow companies to share citizens' private and sensitive information with the government without a warrant and without proper oversight.
"CISPA goes too far for little... newsfactor.com » | | 140 | The House of Representatives has passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, also known as CISPA, on a Republican-backed vote of 248-168. But free speech advocates are urging the Senate to block the legislation, citing privacy concerns.
CISPA makes it easier for the federal government to work with the private sector to get and share information obtained on the Internet to thwart cyber crime. The White House has threatened to veto the bill if the Senate passes it.
The Center for Democracy & Technology is disappointed that CISPA passed the House in what it calls a "flawed form" under a "flawed process." CDT worked with the House Intelligence Committee to develop amendments to narrow some of the bill's definitions and to limit its scope. Some of those amendments were adopted, leaving the bill better for privacy and civil liberties than it was in its original form.
"However, we are also disappointed that House leadership chose to block amendments on two core issues we had long identified -- the flow of information from the private sector directly to [the National Security Agency] and the use of that information for national security purposes unrelated to cybersecurity," the CDT said in a statement.
Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., "wrote amendments to address those issues, but the leadership did not allow votes on those amendments," the CDT said. "Such momentous issues deserved a vote of the full House. We intend to press these issues when the Senate takes up its cybersecurity legislation."
Privacy Advocates Lash Out
The American Civil Liberties Union is also opposed to the legislation. The group called it dangerously overbroad and said it would allow companies to share citizens' private and sensitive information with the government without a warrant and without proper oversight.
"CISPA goes too far for little... newsfactor.com » | | 141 | Bing has a new zing. On Thursday, Microsoft unveiled what it described as a "major update," the most significant since the search engine's launch three years ago. The rollout will take place over the next few weeks, and the company is working on a mobile-friendly version to complement this desktop browser incarnation.
Among other things, the new Bing is intended to enable recommendations from friends and experts via a new social sidebar. There's also a Snapshot feature for useful, ready-to-do information, and the new three-column design is intended to facilitate decision-making.
More than 'A Graph of Links'
Qi Lu, head of Microsoft's Online Services Division, said in a statement that the Web is now more than "simply finding information by navigating a topically organized graph of links." Instead, Lu said, search must now "empower people with the broad knowledge of the Web alongside the help of their friends."
In research prior to the updates, Microsoft found that 60 percent of users wondered if they had found the best information available for their inquiry, and slightly more than half responded that their search required multiple inquiries and many site visits. The redesign attempts to address those issues by providing more efficient and useful results.
The enhancements include faster traditional Web searches displayed into the new interface, and a separate Snapshot column that contains actionable related information compiled by Bing.
In an example given by Microsoft, a search for "Drake Hotel Chicago" results in a first column of search results, and a second column displays key info -- average room rate, check in/check out fields to find a more exact rate, a map, ratings for the hotel from three leading travel sites, and then relevant ads.
Microsoft said that the Snapshot second column allows users to avoid having to search different travel sites to read reviews, see interior... newsfactor.com » | | 142 | A federal appeals court has turned down a Freedom of Information Act request to disclose National Security Agency records about the 2010 cyberattack on Google users in China.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, which focuses on privacy and civil liberties, sought communications between Google and the NSA, which conducts worldwide electronic surveillance and protects the U.S. government from such spying. But the NSA refused to confirm or deny whether it had any relationship with Google. The NSA argued that doing so could make U.S. government information systems vulnerable to attack.
A federal district court judge sided with the NSA last year, and on Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the ruling.
In 2010, Google complained about major attacks on its Web site by Chinese hackers and suggested the Chinese government may have instigated them. The Chinese government denied any involvement. Soon after, there were news reports that Google was teaming up with the NSA to analyze the attack and help prevent future ones.
The privacy center's FOIA request drew a "Glomar" response, in which an agency refuses to confirm or deny the existence of records. The term refers to a case in the 1970s, when the CIA refused to confirm or deny the existence of the Glomar Explorer, a ship disguised as an ocean mining vessel that the CIA used to salvage a sunken Soviet submarine. Courts consistently have upheld Glomar responses.
"In reviewing an agency's Glomar response, this court exercises caution when the information requested" involves national security, Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote in the unanimous appeals court panel's ruling. "NSA need not make a specific showing of potential harm to national security in order to justify withholding information" under one of the law's exemptions because Congress has already, in enacting the FOIA statute,... newsfactor.com » | | 143 | Facebook is updating its data use policy in an attempt to give people more clarity on how the company uses information they share.
As part of the changes, Facebook is also signaling that it may start showing people ads on sites other than Facebook, targeting the pitches to interests and hobbies that users express on Facebook.
The move comes a week before Facebook Inc.'s expected initial public offering of stock. Facebook held events with potential investors this week, including one in Silicon Valley on Friday, and it has posted a version of its road show online. The offering could value Facebook at nearly $100 billion -- more than Kraft, Ford and other major brands.
The policy changes are in response to an audit by Irish data-protection authorities last year, Facebook said Friday. The commission had asked Facebook to be more transparent about how it collects people's data and uses it for advertising, as well as how long it keeps such information.
Facebook plans to notify its more than 900 million users of the changes through advertisements around the site and on its mobile apps. Users who want to dig deeper can read a version of the policy that highlights the changes word by word. Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, will host an online chat Monday to answer any questions.
Egan said the company wasn't substantially changing its business practices, but wants to "err on the side of providing too much information."
Facebook's overseas headquarters are based in Dublin, Ireland, a member of the European Union. This means the company is required to comply with European data privacy laws. Facebook said the changes were also a response to feedback from its users.
As part of the changes to the policy, Facebook has created a section to explain how it uses technologies such as cookies to deliver ads,... newsfactor.com » | | 144 | All eyes are on all aspects of Facebook. As the social-media darling sets its sights on an historic initial public offering, though, it's doing a little housecleaning on the privacy front. And that housecleaning is making many angry.
Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, let the world know on Friday what her team was doing to help Facebook's users better understand how it uses their data. She penned a blog post that outlined how Facebook has enhanced transparency in its data use policy.
For all Facebook's good intentions, though, its latest update has many users up in arms once again. In fact, privacy advocates organized flash mob protests against Facebook on Tuesday at locations in New York and San Francisco. Not exactly the kind of publicity a pre-IPO Facebook wants or needs, though it did not seem to affect offering share prices.
Privacy Changes Detailed
"We're adding more examples and detailed explanations to help you understand our policies. For example, we include additional tips, marked with a light bulb so you can find them easily. We've added new links to our Help Center," Egan wrote.
Facebook also created a new section explaining how it uses "cookies" and similar technologies and updated the corresponding explanations about cookies in its Help Center. Facebook went on to provide more information about how it uses data to operate the social network, to advertise, and to promote safety and security for its users.
Facebook also launched several new features in its Data Use Policy since its last update, including Activity Log. Egan described Activity Log as a new privacy tool that lets you see in one place the information you've posted to Facebook. From Activity Log, for example, you can control who can see each piece of information and decide whether it appears on your timeline.
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