Mid Day Distraction

Choose Privacy Week Video from 20K Films on Vimeo.

Senators urge Facebook CEO to change privacy settings

By GottaLaff

I'm beginning the entire world needs to change its privacy settings. It's fairly obvious that there is no such thing any more:

Four Democratic senators called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Tuesday to reconsider the recent changes in its privacy settings and asked the Federal Trade Commission to streamline guidelines regarding privacy on all social networks. [...]

Schumer, Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Begich of Alaska and Al Franken of Minnesota sent a letter to Zuckerberg about Facebook's decision to allow third-party sharing of user's information.

"We are writing to express our concern regarding recent changes to the Facebook privacy policy and the use of personal data on third party websites," the senators wrote. "The expansion of Facebook – both in the number of users and applications – raises new concerns for users who want to maintain control over their information."

They went on to say how the "opt out" option should be an "opt in" option. It is pretty confusing, and the default setting is less, not more, privacy. The responsibility falls to the user, and if someone is unaware of that, or if they can't figure out Facebook's system, then information is shared with other sites.

Facebook is glitchy enough without having to worry about personal info being inadvertently shared on the InterWebs.

Obama orders hospital visitation rights for gays, lesbians

About fracking time.

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama has told the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a rule that would not allow hospitals to deny visitation privileges to gay and lesbian partners.

The president's memo Thursday notes that "There are few moments in our lives that call for great compassion and companionship that when a loved one is admitted to the hospital ... Yet every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides ... "

Gay and lesbian Americans are "uniquely affected" by the relatives-only policy at hospitals, Obama said, adding that they "are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives - unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated."

Obama requested that the regulation should make clear that any hospital receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding, which mean the vast majority of U.S. hospitals, to allow patients to decide who can visit them and prohibit discrimination based on a variety of characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

Library of Congress will acquire all Twitter messages

By GottaLaff

"The Library of Congress will acquire all public tweets", the Library of Congress publicly tweeted :

A Library spokesman later expounded on the new archive in a blog post, writing that its primary function will be to assist researchers and educators.

Well, if it's going to assist researchers...

This is a learning opportunity, said the Library spokesman, who failed to tweet his thoughts:

"I'm no Ph.D., but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data," wrote the spokesman, Matt Raymond. "And I'm certain we'll learn things that none of us now can possibly conceive."

Like teenagers filling us in on what they're about to eat? Like Jim Carrey splitting up with Jenny McCarthy?

Like Keith Olbermann yummily zapping Glenn Beck?




I guess there are some tweets that are educational.

Here comes the Big H. However:

The acquisition could pose concerns for privacy advocates, who could argue that too much private information will soon become part of the public domain.

If privacy becomes as optional as choosing to publicly tweet or Direct Message (a private, e-mailed tweet), Library, we have a problem.

Privacy Watch: Declassified Files Detail Massive FBI Data-Mining Project

By GottaLaff

While I was data-mining the Internets, I came across this:

A fast-growing FBI data-mining system billed as a tool for hunting terrorists is being used in hacker and domestic criminal investigations, and now contains tens of thousands of records from private corporate databases, including car-rental companies, large hotel chains and at least one national department store, declassified documents obtained by Wired.com show.

Headquartered in Crystal City, Virginia, just outside Washington, the FBI’s National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) maintains a hodgepodge of data sets packed with more than 1.5 billion government and private-sector records about citizens and foreigners, the documents show, bringing the government closer than ever to implementing the “Total Information Awareness” system first dreamed up by the Pentagon in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Such a system, if successful, would correlate data from scores of different sources to automatically identify terrorists and other threats before they could strike. The FBI is seeking to quadruple the known staff of the program.

But the proposal has long been criticized by privacy groups as ineffective and invasive. Critics say the new documents show that the government is proceeding with the plan in private, and without sufficient oversight.

Much, much more here.

H/t: Gr8RDH, mparent77772

Cornyn Hits White House For Collecting Emails, But So Does His Senate Web Site

By GottaLaff

All those accusations that the Big Bad White House was creating their Ultra Super Duper Secret E-Mail List of Unsuspecting Citizens? Bull pucky, brought to you by the King of Bull Pucky, Senator John Hyp. O. Crite:

Over on Cornyn’s Senate Web site, for instance, you find that people who want to contact the Senator are asked to submit personal info, such as their names, addresses and emails, which are all required.

Oh noes! He's compiling an Ultra Super Duper Secret E-Mail List of Unsuspecting Citizens! Socialist Commie Dictatory Marxist!

Following Cornyn’s logic about the White House, the DNC says, shouldn’t those who write in to Cornyn’s Web site to criticize the Senator ask what his office will do with their personal info? Isn’t it also fair to ask Cornyn to “purge” the email addresses of such critics, too?

Says a DNC official: “The only thing ‘fishy’ is John Cornyn’s sudden newfound interest in internet privacy.”

Nice try, Corninny.

Accused Palin Hacker Says Stolen E-Mails Were Public Record

By GottaLaff

Surprise!

A surprise legal maneuver by the defense in the Sarah Palin hacking case could undermine key charges carrying the stiffest potential penalties.

A lawyer for the Tennessee college student charged with hacking into the Alaska governor’s Yahoo e-mail account last year says his client couldn’t have violated Palin’s privacy because a judge had already declared her e-mails a matter of public record.

Ooo, the smart college student's lawyer is smarter than the dufus governor's lawyer.

Additionally, photos that 20-year-old David Kernell allegedly obtained of Palin and her family were not private since the Palins are “the subjects of untold numbers of photo-ops,” the lawyer argued last week, in one of a slew of motions and memorandums attacking the government’s four-count federal indictment against Kernell. [...]

Davies implies in his motion to dismiss that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that Palin’s Yahoo correspondence was a public record, and cites case law showing that information that already appears on the public record can’t be considered private.

As for photos of Palin and family members that Kernell allegedly obtained from the account, Davies says there’s no expectation of privacy for the images, because the people depicted in the photos “continue to regularly and voluntarily appear in the national media.”

Without the privacy violation, the government has no felony case, Davies argues. Therefore he wants the charge reduced to a misdemeanor.

Calls to Davies and federal prosecutors in Tennessee were not returned, but Rasch finds the argument compelling.

“He’s also saying that what was in the e-mails would ultimately have been revealed [under litigation] therefore she had no expectation of privacy in it,” says Rasch. [...]

Rasch says the argument that e-mail is not property is “interesting” but will likely fail to get the wire fraud charge dismissed. However, if the matter goes to trial, he says the attorney might be able to convince a jury that Kernell simply accessed the e-mail out of curiosity, not out of an intent to defraud.

He notes that the issue over whether e-mail constitutes property and therefore carries privacy protection is one that the laws don’t cover sufficiently.

I have no idea whether the legal arguments will be successful or not, but they certainly provide additional Palin spectator sport amusement.