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CASCADES project: Cost-effective Outbreak Detection in Networks ( a study by School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University): "Rankings are based on the following question: Which blogs should one read to be most up to date, i.e., to quickly know about important stories that propagate over the blogosphere?
Budget=100 blogs: If I can read 100 blogs, which should I read to be most up to date? Unit cost (each blog costs 1 unit), optimizing the information captured -- population affected (we want to be the first to know about something with many people blogging about the story after us) read more »
Report: Data Mining Ineffective Anti-Terrorist Tool - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
A new National Research Council report cautions that government data mining programs cannot effectively identify patterns of terrorist activity. Pattern-based or predictive data mining was singled out as likely to generate huge numbers of useless leads. Because of this, the authors warned, pattern-based data mining should not be used to deny a person rights and liberties. This mirrors past conclusions that CDT and others have drawn about data mining efficacy.
The Committee that drafted the October 7th report, entitled “Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists,” recommended that all U.S. data mining programs be re-evaluated according to criteria set forth in the 376-page document. The authors – which included former Secretary of Defense William Perry – made the case that even well-managed data mining efforts are of only limited usefulness and can infringe on Americans’ privacy. read more »
NSA Spying on Americans in the Green Zone - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
The National Security Agency is intercepting and retaining communications of innocent Americans in Iraq's so-called "Green Zone"; agency workers even pass around the most titillating conversations, according to explosive allegations made by two NSA whistleblowers in an ABC News segment airing tonight. According to the report, collection of telephone conversations U.S. soldiers and aid workers in Iraq had with their families in the U.S. continued even after NSA analysts knew that the telephone numbers on which they were eavesdropping belonged to Americans who had no ties to terrorism. The report calls into question assurances the NSA and Justice Department repeatedly gave Congress that internally enforced "minimization procedures" are adequate to protect the private conversations of Americans.
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
Average privacy policy takes 10 minutes to read, research finds - Via OUT-LAW.COM :
Website privacy policies take on average 10 minutes to read and sometimes run into thousands of words, researchers have found. While some are short, others would take over half an hour to read, researchers said.
Researchers Aleecia McDonald and Lorrie Faith Cranor of Carnegie Mellon University looked at online privacy policies and how long it would take to read them. While one policy they looked at was just 144 words long, they found one policy on a popular site that ran to 7,669 words, around 15 pages of text.
The average length of privacy policies used by the 75 most popular US websites is 2,500 words, the research found. Using the reading speed of 250 words per minute which is typical for those who have completed secondary education, the average policy would take 10 minutes to read.
The length of privacy policies is often cited as one reason they are so commonly ignored. "Studies show privacy policies are hard to read, read infrequently, and do not support rational decision making," said the researchers, acknowledging the fact that the policies are rarely read. read more »
Judge Suppresses Report on Voting Machine Security - Via Freedom to Tinker:
A judge of the New Jersey Superior Court has prohibited the scheduled release of a report on the security and accuracy of the Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machine. Last June, Judge Linda Feinberg ordered Sequoia Voting Systems to turn over its source code to me (serving as an expert witness, assisted by a team of computer scientists) for a thorough examination. At that time she also ordered that we could publish our report 30 days after delivering it to the Court--which should have been today.
Three weeks after we delivered the report, on September 24th Judge Feinberg ordered us not to release it. This is part of a lawsuit filed by the Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic, seeking to decommission of all of New Jersey's voting computers. New Jersey mostly uses Sequoia AVC Advantage direct-recording electronic (DRE) models. None of those DREs can be audited: they do not produce a voter verified paper ballot that permit each voter to create a durable paper record of her electoral choices before casting her ballot electronically on a DRE. The legal basis for the lawsuit is quite simple: because there is no way to know whether the DRE voting computer is actually counting votes as cast, there is no proof that the voting computers comply with the constitution or with statutory law that require that all votes be counted as cast. read more »
Liberty, Technology and the Next President - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
[Ed. Note: this is the first in a series of blog posts addressing a range of technology and civil liberties issues we believe America's next President and Congress will have the chance to take a fresh look at, and the opportunity to set a policy course for the Internet that will keep it open, innovative and free.]
One of the biggest mistakes a new administration might make in its first 100 days would be to ignore the impact technology has had on the privacy of our communications and the striking need to update the law accordingly. If the President fails to act early in his first term he will miss a window of opportunity that won’t soon reopen, and it will be to the detriment of the Internet economy and to privacy rights.
The next President will have to resolve big-ticket items, like an economic meltdown, an unpopular war and an energy crisis. But when it comes to putting in place policies that will protect and promote Internet commerce, investing in timely solutions now will reap significant dividends for years to come.
Hi-Tech Discrimination read more »
On the “Anonymity” of the Facebook Dataset - Via michaelzimmer.org :
A group of researchers have released a dataset of Facebook profile information from a group of college students for research purposes, which I know a lot of people will find quite valuable. (Thanks to Fred Stutzman for bringing it to my attention.)
Here is the description from the Berkman Center’s announcement:
The dataset comprises machine-readable files of virtually all the information posted on approximately 1,700 FB profiles by an entire cohort of students at an anonymous, northeastern American university. Profiles were sampled at one-year intervals, beginning in 2006. This first wave covers first-year profiles, and three additional waves of data will be added over time, one for each year of the cohort’s college career. read more »
Commissioner Cavoukian outlines what will need to be done to protect privacy in the 21st century - Via CNW Group | OFFICE OF THE INFORMATION AND PRIVACY COMMISSIONER/ONTARIO:
TORONTO, Sept. 26 /CNW/ - Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian is unveiling a key white paper outlining what will need to be done to protect privacy in the future, at a special presentation at the University of Waterloo, on Monday, September 29, 2008.
"As a regulator, I have been called many things during my tenure," said the Commissioner, "but rarely have I been called a dreamer. But that is precisely the practice one must engage in if privacy is to not only survive, but thrive, well into the future. But dreaming is not enough. As a pragmatist, I must embed that dream into reality. One way of doing so is seeking to embed privacy into the design and architecture of all technologies, so that it may live well into the future. So you might call me a radical pragmatist, because I dream BIG - in technicolour; there is no black and white anymore." read more »
RIAA Lawsuit Campaign Losing Credibility - Via EFF.org Updates:
San Francisco - Five years after the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) began its massive litigation campaign against music fans suspected of sharing copyrighted music files over the Internet, the campaign has failed to get artists paid or reduce peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. Meanwhile, the legal foundation of the campaign is being questioned by several federal courts.
Since September of 2003, the recording industry has leveled legal threats against close to 30,000 American music fans. In a report released today, "RIAA v. The People: Five Years Later," the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) presents a comprehensive overview of the RIAA's litigation campaign and concludes that it is hurting music fans and artists alike, without making a dent in unauthorized file-sharing. The report notes increasing skepticism by courts, academics and state watchdog groups about the RIAA's investigation tactics and legal theories. For example, judges have repeatedly rejected the RIAA's "making available" theory, the notion that merely having a music file in a "shared" folder on a computer constitutes copyright infringement, even if no one ever copies the file. Just last week, a federal judge ordered a new trial for Jammie Thomas, found liable for more than $220,000 because the jury had been instructed erroneously that liability could be premised on this "making available" theory.
"If the RIAA wants to keep suing hundreds of people each month and collecting these huge settlements, it can't take shortcuts," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "It's not enough to say the law 'could have been' broken and demand thousands of dollars to make the accusation go away. The recording industry must prove its case and show that infringement actually occurred." read more »
Slashdot | Positive Rights News From Europe - Via Slashdot :
Various readers are sending in good news from Europe on the rights front. First, at the EU level, Mark.J brings word that the European Parliament has canned a number of controversial amendments to its updated Telecoms Package, which could have resulted in ISPs being forced to disconnect customers for involvement in illegal file-sharing of copyrighted material. Next, SplatMan_DK writes from Denmark on a recent ruling by the Danish High Court that means that Danes are still innocent until proven guilty read more »
A National “REAL ID” Database Is Not the Answer - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Back in January I wrote an op-ed criticizing the Department of Homeland Security for flirting with the idea of creating a national ID database to implement the REAL ID Act. While CDT has been supporting the repeal of REAL ID or its major amendment, we believe that, should the law stand, it must be implemented responsibly.
The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), a private organization representing the interests of state DMVs, has been a key proponent of creating a national ID database, which would hold highly sensitive personal information on virtually all Americans, because it already manages a similar central database for commercial drivers.
Although AAMVA is clearly pushing the centralized model, it has heard the cries of privacy advocates who have warned of the significant privacy and security risks of creating a national ID database. To its credit, AAMVA is putting together a white paper, due out in the next few weeks, analyzing the different system models that could ensure that an applicant doesn’t already hold a REAL ID card from another state (which is a requirement of the Act). read more »
CDT Policy Post: Closer Look at ISP-Ad Network Partnerships - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
CDT issued a policy post today that takes a closer look at the privacy concerns raised by the ISP-ad network partnership model within the online behavioral advertising field. Behavioral advertising involves the compilation of detailed information about an Internet user’s online activities. That data, when collected, can be turned into detailed consumer profiles including articles read, web sites visited, and items purchased. Today's policy post says the ISP-ad network model may violate federal law if it deployed without express consent of subscribers. CDT notes that Congress is taking a closer look at the practice and that online consumer privacy law may be introduced to address concerns.
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
The Latest on DVD Copying - Via EFF.org Updates:
Real Networks has received quite a bit of attention thanks to the launch of its Real DVD software, designed to allow people to copy their DVDs to their hard drives for later playback. (Why is that a big deal? Because Hollywood DVDs are encrypted with CSS, and if you decrypt them without permission, the motion picture industry's lawyers may come a-callin'.)
Today there are two approaches for those who want to make and distribute DVD copying tools. First, you can just build a DVD decryptor, the U.S. court cases that have held that the distribution of those products violates the DMCA notwithstanding. Despite those legal precedents, there is no shortage of free, easy-to-use tools that take this approach, including Handbrake (Win/Mac/Lin), DVD Shrink (Win), or MacTheRipper (Mac). (The motion picture studios argue that anyone who uses these tools violates the DMCA, as well.)
The other approach is the one pioneered by Kaleidescape: read more »
Privacy Policies are Great — for PhDs - Via Technology Industry Blog | BNET:
Major Internet companies say that they inform their customers about privacy issues through specially written policies. What they don’t say is that more often than not consumers would need college undergraduate educations or higher to easily wade through the verbiage.
When the House sent letters to 31 major Internet-related companies asking them about their privacy practices, included was a question of whether the businesses tell clients what they are doing. The common answer was, “Certainly, we proudly post our privacy policy.” I wondered about how user friendly those policies might be, so ran many through online readability software. The result: consumers need a whole lot of education to be able to casually read through what they find. read more »
Gonzales Violated Security Rules with Spy Docs, Lied to Cover it Up - Via Threat Level:
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales repeatedly violated federal secrecy rules by mishandling documents containing "zealously protected" secrets about government's warrantless wiretapping program, then lied to investigators to cover up his actions, Justice Department investigators reported Tuesday.
Before his ouster in August, 2007, Gonzales was prone to storing an ultra-secret document about the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program in his briefcase at his home -- near, but not inside, a personal safe. And at his office, he stored at least 18 top secret documents about the NSA's wiretapping in a safe used by at least five employees not cleared to know about the program, according to a 29-page report (.pdf) from the department's Inspector General. read more »
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