A Global Privacy Standard?

A senior executive at Google stated today that he agreed on the need for a basic set of global privacy protections. See this CNET article for more.

Domain Name Theft

This Wall Street Journal article examines how domain name hijacking is becoming an increasingly prevalent phenomenon.

EU Data Transfer Regulations

U.S. companies transferring personal data from Europe to the U.S. must follow prescribed methods to protect data in accord with EU data privacy protection laws. Complying with this "adequacy requirement" means satisfying each European nation's data protection authorities. Binding Corporate Rules allow a company to design a single set of internal rules that work on their own data protection policies for intranet sites, databases and other electronic business tools that also comply with EU requirements. For more on this, see this article from the New York Law Journal.

Robot Exclusion Protocol

If you are concerned, as I am, about the privacy threats posed by Google's search bots, take a look at the following post from Paul Ford of Ftrain.com.

VOIP Security Whitepaper From IBM

This 16-page whitepaper from IBM discusses "vishing." From the intro, "Vishing is the practice of leveraging IP-based voice messaging technologies (primarily Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP) to socially engineer the intended victim into providing personal, financial or other confidential infor-mation for the purpose of financial reward." The term "vishing" is a contraction of the terms 'voice' and 'phishing.'

DOT Issues Memo On Loss of Personal Information

The US Department of Transporation issued this memorandum on the theft of two laptops belonging to the Office of The Inspector General. Both laptops contained large amounts of Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information.

National Security Archive Sues White House Over Emails

See this press release. The suit, filed in the US District Court of the District of Columbia, demands the recovery and preservation of 5 million emails which were allegedly deleted by the White House during the period of March 2003 and October 2005.

Source Code For Breathalyzer Softwere Held Not To Be Trade Secret

See this post from the DUI Blog. A number of manufacturers of breathalyzer software had refused to disclose their source close, claiming they were trade secrets. The Supreme Court of New Jersey, however, recently ruled that the source code for this software is not a trade secret and therefore the company should be forced to reveal the code.

Online Listing Qualifies For Copyright Protection

In a decision published on June 21 (BUC Int'l Corp. v. Int'l Yacht Council), the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that BUC International Corp.'s method of organizing its online listings of yachts for sale was unique enough to qualify for copyright protection. The defendant had "scraped" adds off of BUC's website.

Executive Office of The President Not Subject To FOIA

This page on the White House website states "The Office of Administration, whose sole function is to advise and assist the President, and which has no substantial independent authority, is not subject to FOIA and related authorities."