Governance and Risk
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March 30, 2010
JC Penney Wanted to Remain Anonymous Victim of TJX Hacker
Last week TJX and Hannaford Brothers hacker Albert Gonzales was expansion of Canada's CGI Group into areas of the rural U.S. for his role in stealing upwards of 130 million credit and debit card nu... More >
Facebook Proposes More Privacy Changes
Oh, look - Facebook is playing fast and loose with its privacy controls again. eWEEK reported Monday that Facebook plans to let select third-party Web partners have access to and use basi... More >
Google Users in China Experience More Disruptions
Sunday the latest reports out of China were that Google's mobile services were partially blocked. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that users in China who searched even "innocuous" words... More >
March 29, 2010
China Now Partially Blocking Google Mobile
Days after one of the largest mobile service providers in China announced it would no longer be offering Google search on its handsets, it appears that the Chinese government is also at least part... More >
'Facebook Firing' Not the Way to Go
A teenage girl in the UK was fired from her weekend job at a cafe via Facebook last week. Apparently it's the first instance of "Facebook firing," and frankly, it should serve as a glaring example ... More >
March 26, 2010
Is Net Neutrality Really Dead?
As much ink has been spilled covering the net neutrality debate and the Federal Communications Commission's proposed rules, I was surprised when the National Broadband Plan was released that we... More >
TJX Hacker Receives 20 Years for Credit Card Thefts
Albert Gonzales, who pleaded guilty last year to charges arising from data breaches at TJX, Hannaford Bros., Heartland Payment Systems, and Dave & Buster's, among others, was sentenced in Bost... More >
March 25, 2010
Google Defies Chinese Censors Again with Live Twitter Feed
Last week, Twitter creator Jack Dorsey said it would only be a matter of time before Chinese language access to the microblogging site became available. He noted that China's censorship law... More >
Digital Rights Group Leaks Draft of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
Thanks to the digital rights advocates at La Quadrature du Net , the world now has access to the latest draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) being negotiated by the United State... More >
Fallout from Google's China Decision Begins
Days after Google started redirecting Chinese searchers from Google.cn to Google.hk so that it would no longer be required to censor its own search results, one of its top mobile partners has decid... More >
Facebook, Google Gear up for Privacy Fight in Europe
European privacy regulators are looking more closely at whether the Facebook and YouTube practice of allowing users to post videos, photos or other information about others without their consent vi... More >
March 24, 2010
What You Need to Know for E-Discovery Success
Shortly after I came to IT Business Edge, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to include specific instructions regarding the discovery of electronically stored information, or ESI. Beca... More >
March 23, 2010
TJX, Heartland Hacker Was on Secret Service Payroll as Informant
When Albert Gonzales pleaded guilty last year to charges arising from data breaches at TJX, Hannaford Bros., 7-Eleven and Heartland Payment Systems, among others, we knew the guy responsible ... More >
Microsoft's IE Losing Market Share Thanks to Browser Ballot
As part of an antitrust settlement with the European Union last year, Microsoft agreed to allow Windows users to choose from 12 of the most popular Web browsers via a " browser ballot " rather than... More >
Google Reroutes Chinese Searchers to Hong Kong
Instead of leaving China or bowing to pressure from government censors, Google came up with a third option : It's maintaining research and development and sales staff in China, but when searchers ... More >
March 22, 2010
Continuous Controls Monitoring Should Include App Settings, Master Data
Any time I have read articles by the folks at Lumigent Technologies , I notice they expend most of their energy explaining how In fact, the same concept is also starting to be applied to business p... More >
National Broadband Plan Could Be Boon to Health Care
The Federal Communications Commission unveiled its real target is Google last week, complete with a Web site . The plan has already met with resistance from, among others, broadcasters who oppose ... More >
Google Could Make Announcement Monday About its Future in China
The announcement that Google is preparing to pull out of China completely, or at least close its Chinese search engines, could come Monday , according to Reuters . Response from many Chinese has be... More >
Apple v. HTC: Who's on First, Who's at Risk?
Apple's patent infringement suit against HTC is getting a lot of ink these days. We all have opinions on Apple's real motives, who the actual stakeholders are, what the outcome will be, and how that ... More >
March 19, 2010
Viacom, Google Still in Copyright Infringement Battle over YouTube
Google and Viacom are mobile device management (MDM) over videos that were allegedly uploaded to YouTube illegally. Viacom argues that YouTube's founders not only knew copyrighted videos were on th... More >
Senate Financial Reform Bill to Add Sarbox 404(b) Exemption?
When the U.S. House of Representatives passed its financial reform bill in December , it contained a provision that would exempt non-accelerated filers (companies with a market capitalization of les... More >
March 18, 2010
FTC's Pamela Jones Harbour Takes Google to Task on Privacy
Weeks before she gives up her post on April 6, Federal Trade Commissioner Paula Jones Harbour is taking aim at tech companies and their privacy practices (or lack thereof). The Wall Street Journal... More >
HP Shareholders Get Advisory Vote on Executive Pay
One of the reforms suggested in the fallout of the recession and the risky business behavior behind it was those like Salesforce.com that argue that the goal should be to abstract IT infrastructure ... More >
HTC Will Fight Back Against Apple's Patent Lawsuit
When Apple filed a patent infringement suit against HTC earlier this month regarding patents related to the iPhone, HTC didn't respond immediately, but Google did , even though Google isn't named ... More >
Internal Threats Deserve More than Lip Service
When former Transportation Security Administration employee Douglas Duchak was indicted last week for attempting to load malicious code onto agency servers, it hopefully served as a reminder to all... More >
March 17, 2010
Google's Chinese Ad Partners Deny Demanding Compensation
Because a day can't go by without some new development in Google's dispute with China, a letter demanding that Google compensate its advertising agencies if it decides to pull out of China was pos... More >
Health Care Collaborative Offers Comments to HHS on 'Meaningful Use'
Since the HITECH Act became law as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act last year, health care organizations and those who do business with them have been curious about how the Departme... More >
March 16, 2010
Government Agencies Have a Way to Go on Open Government
Since before he took office, President Obama has been a big advocate of transparency in government , even going so far as establishing the Open Government Initiative and issuing the open government... More >
China: Will Google Go or Stay?
As much as has been written about Google (presumably) pulling out of China , there are also several blog posts explaining valid reasons Google also has for deciding to stay put - not the least of wh... More >
Google.cn No Longer Filtered?
Though Google is denying anything about its processes have changed, MSNBC.com reported Tuesday that searches on subjects that had been blocked as objectionable are yielding results. For example, ... More >
March 15, 2010
Google Probably Taking Moral High Ground and Search, Leaving China
From all reports, Google will soon decide to shutter Google.cn completely rather than censor search results to the satisfaction of the Chinese government. Company representatives have said more tha... More >
Netflix Drops Prize Sequel to Better Protect User Privacy
Remember last year when Netflix gave away $1 million to researchers who helped improve the algorithm it uses to recommend movies to customers? The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the compa... More >
Nokia Accuses Apple of 'Legal Alchemy' in Lawsuit
Last week, Apple's iPhone developer agreement raised hackles. This week, Apple's intellectual property litigation has reared its ugly head again. But for once it's not the HTC suit . It's Nokia's.... More >
March 12, 2010
LifeLock Identity Protection Service Settles FTC Charges
It's not news to anyone in the tech industry that identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes . And it's getting even easier with all the information people voluntarily put out there about t... More >
China Warns Google Not to Violate Chinese Law
It's fascinating to watch this dispute between Google and China play out, largely because the stories coming from either side seem so different. First Google says the parties are in "active... More >
Palin to Testify at Alleged E-mail Hacker's Trial
Here's a blast from the past for your Friday morning. Former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, will be in Knoxville, Tenn., in April... More >
March 11, 2010
Amazon's 1-Click Patent Validated After Four-Year Re-Examination
After four years of re-examination, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office certified as valid Amazon.com's patent on 1-Click purchasing technology. According to TechFlash : The 1-Click patent...was ... More >
Appeals Court Reaffirms i4i Patent Win Against Microsoft
i4i's patent victory against Microsoft late last year was significant not only because it was a true David v. Goliath, underdog wins kind of story, but also because it involved Microsoft Word, part... More >
FTC Queries Google Rivals About AdMob Deal
U.S. regulators are reportedly asking competitors questions about Google's pending AdMob acquisition, according to Bloomberg . More specifically, the Federal Trade Commission is asking Google's ri... More >
March 10, 2010
Don't Ignore New Massachusetts Data Privacy Regs
On March 1, new data privacy regulations became effective in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The new regs require organizations that have access to personally identifiable information belonging ... More >
A Day When Apple Takes the Heat
Remember Google's bad day last month? Whatever caused the multitude of bad press must be catching, because now it's Apple's turn. In the midst of significant scrutiny because of its recentl... More >
U.S. Considering Legal Action Against Chinese Censorship
Google has convinced the U.S. government to at least consider challenging China's censorship practices before the World Trade Organization, according to Reuters , but U.S. Trade Representative Ron... More >
Apple's HTC Lawsuit Hitting its Mark, Analyst Says
When Apple filed suit against HTC , arguing that the company infringed 20 different patents associated with Apple's iPhone, observers suggested Google and its Android mobile platform were the rea... More >
March 9, 2010
Schneier Says Public Must Fight to Protect Privacy Rights
Speaking at the RSA conference recently, security expert and author Bruce Schneier warned that the public needs to speak up now if it wants laws requiring businesses to protect people's privacy. Ac... More >
Apple-HTC Continues Tide of Big Patent Cases
In the tech sector, patent litigation is just part of business. Monday, a federal judge put Apple's infringement case against Nokia on hold to give the International Trade Commission time to invest... More >
March 8, 2010
VA Problems Highlight Importance of EMR Standards Work
If this isn't a scary story, I'm not sure what is - especially considering the big push from the federal government for health care organiations to move from paper to electronic medical records. ... More >
Techs in Pa. School Webcam Spying Case on Paid Leave
Last month a Pennsylvania school district came under fire when a student and his parents filed a lawsuit alleging school officials had spied on them by remotely activating the webcam on a district-... More >
Most Agree Internet Access Is a Fundamental Right
A poll conducted by GlobeScan for the BBC World Service found that nearly four out of five respondents think access to the Internet is a fundamental right. BBC News reports that the results are th... More >
March 5, 2010
Microsoft Exec: Create Global Organization to Secure the Internet
The same day that Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and his colleagues on the Senate Subcommittee for Human Rights and Law heard testimony about Internet censorship and other human rights violations that U.... More >
Facebook's Beginnings Likely Shaped Its Privacy Policies
As is true most Fridays, today has been a rather slow news day, but thankfully, that gives me more time to read. And when I have more time to read, I can pass along gems like this one , published a... More >
Health Care Organizations Working for HITECH Stimulus Funds
Thursday I mentioned a new study from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society on health IT spending. I pointed out that 42 percent of those who responded said their biggest IT p... More >
Microsoft Stays in Chinese Search Market, Out of Google's Fight
Google may be threatening to pull out of China, or to stop censoring its Chinese servers to protest the human rights abuses that happen there, and the United States might decide to bring China's c... More >
March 4, 2010
Health Care IT Focused on 'Meaningful Use' Requirements
According to a recent survey by the H ealthcare Information and Management Systems Society, health care organizations are increasing IT spending in 2010 to get electronic health records systems u... More >
Google Wants WTO to Hear Case Against China
Google , China and censorship have been an ongoing theme this week. The latest wrinkle in the situation takes the whole thing up a notch. BusinessWeek reported Thursday that Google is aski... More >
Google Most Likely Apple's Real Target in HTC Lawsuit
When Apple filed suit against HTC Tuesday for infringing patents Apple owns on technology used in the iPhone, it wasn't clear which particular HTC devices were at issue in the case. Observers surmi... More >
March 3, 2010
Is it Practical to Ban Texting?
This week, the California Assembly speaker announced an intention to prohibit members from sending texts to or receiving texts from lobbyists when they are "doing the people's business," that is, in ... More >
Patent Office Working to Streamline Application Process
For years now observers and experts alike have agreed that the U.S. patent system is broken . What they can't agree on is how it should be fixed . Not to worry, says the Obama Administration. There... More >
Tech Companies May Face Penalties for Failing to Protect Human Rights
Google representatives have been vocal about the company's decision to stop censoring its Chinese servers for awhile now, but members of Congress want other U.S. Internet companies to follow suit -... More >
March 2, 2010
Latest Developments in Financial Reform, Regulation
The Senate Banking Committee is slated to introduce a bipartisan financial reform bill this week, according to InvestmentWeek . The legislation , sponsored by retiring Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Co... More >
Apple Hauls HTC to Court for Patent Infringement
Apple is on the patent warpath again. The Cupertino company most recently went after Nokia for using technology Apple claims to own in its phones. Tuesday, the iPhone maker filed a patent infringem... More >
Defense Department Gives Rank-and-File Green Light on Social Media Use
After years of different social-networking policies in each branch of the U.S. military, the Department of Defense this week announced that it would allow military personnel to use social-networki... More >
March 1, 2010
More Antitrust Fun -- With Microsoft This Time
Earlier Monday I wrote about Google's dispute with Microsoft regarding several antitrust lawsuits brought against the search behemoth by smaller companies. Google says Microsoft must be funding the... More >
Different Privacy Perspectives Collide in Google's Italy Case
Just when I thought we might get a break from online privacy issues for awhile, the privacy case against three Google execs in Italy is the focal point of a piece from The New York Times . It's no... More >
Google Faces Antitrust Litigation in Ohio
Google's antitrust woes just keep getting worse. When the online search specialist filed suit against a small Web site in Ohio recently to recover unpaid advertising bills, the tiny company ... More >
