| China Cuts PC Makers Some Slack |
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China’s Xinhua News Agency reports that PC makers will not be required to install the “Green Dam-Youth Escort” filtering software on new PCs as of July 1. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the “massive installation demanded extra time”. As if 23 days wasn’t enough time. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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Comments (0)| “Orderly Shutdown” for Clear |
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Last week I posted about how Clear, the airport VIP service, had ceased operations. Here’s how they are dealing with your personal data and their computer storage so that there aren’t any security oopsies. Your personal data - Plan A is to sell it, if they can. If not, Plan B means they’ll delete it: “The personally identifiable information that customers provided to Clear may not be used for any purpose other than a Registered Traveler program operated by a Transportation Security Administration authorized service provider. Any new service provider would need to maintain personally identifiable information in accordance with the Transportation Security Administration’s privacy and security requirements for Registered Traveler programs. If the information is not used for a Registered Traveler program, it will be deleted.” Their hard drives -Lockheed Martin, Clear’s system integrator, is in the process of wiping them: “Each hard disk at the airport, including the enrollment and verification kiosks, has now been wiped clean of all data and software. The triple wipe process we used automatically and completely overwrites the contents of the entire disk, including the operating system, the data and the file structure. This process also prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis … The computers that Verified Identity Pass, Inc. [Clear’s parent company] assigned to its former corporate employees are being wiped using the same process described for computers at the airports.” Link via Wired. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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June 26, 2009
| The Barcode Turns 35 today |
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And what was the first item scanned using the device that changed retailing forever? A 10-pack of Juicy Fruit gum. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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June 23, 2009
| Gimme My Iris Scan Back. And My Fingerprints Too. |
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Clear, the screening service that would zip you through the airport check-in process, folded yesterday. According to the Website, “Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.” At least 2 of the 20 or so commenters on TechCrunch so far had either just subscribed or just renewed their membership. If that was me, I’d be ticked. But I’d be more interested in where the personal info I had to give Clear — name, address, previous addresses, height, credit card number, two pieces of approved government-issued identification, and images of my irises and fingerprints — will wind up. Given their previous history, I’d be concerned. FWIW Clear’s Privacy Policy (still available online) states the following: “When your account is cancelled for any reason, we will remove your personal information from our system automatically after 90 days. There are some limited exceptions. Our credit card processors require us to retain a record of the financial transactions we conduct for 24 months. This includes your name, credit card number, address, and email address, so we can notify you if the financial transaction is disputed. Also, a copy of your biometric information (but not your name) is retained by the Transportation Security Clearinghouse to prevent fraudulent enrollments under alternate identities.” I don’t know how all this will work if there’s nobody left to follow the procedures. It’s kinda like the digital version of On The Beach. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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June 22, 2009
| Steve Goes to the Head of the Line [UPDATED] |
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On Saturday the WSJ reported (sub required) that Steve Jobs had a liver transplant back in April in Tennessee to treat the medical condition that left him emaciated. Why not California? “Having the procedure done in Tennessee makes sense because its list of patients waiting for transplants is shorter than in many other states. According to data provided by [the United Network for Organ Sharing], in 2006, the median number of days from joining the liver waiting list to transplant was 306 nationally. In Tennessee, it was 48 days.” Curiously, given that this was a front page story, the Journal didn’t provide a source for their reporting. John Gruber of the Daring Fireball blog considers 3 possible avenues and concludes that it must have been a member of Apple’s board: “The scenario I am imagining here is that Jobs does not wish to reveal anything regarding his medical situation, but that a member (or contingent) of Apple’s board believes it is in the company’s interest to release the basic gist of the story, regardless of Jobs’s wishes. This scenario would explain the timing, the certainty, and perhaps even the lack of sourcing. (Although if this scenario is the case, certainly Jobs himself must suspect the source of the leak is from the board.)” Speaking of timing (actually TechCrunch is): “We’d be remiss if we didn’t note that the timing of this story appears favorable for Apple. This news breaks late on a Friday, after Apple has just held a successful launch of a very high profile new product, the iPhone 3G S, that sent the stock soaring today.” And what a successful launch it was: 750,000 new iPhones sold this past weekend. UPDATE like 10 seconds later - No, wait, it’s more like a million iPhones sold this weeked. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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June 8, 2009
| China Outsources the Whole Justice Potter Stewart “I Know It When I See It” Pornography Thing [UPDATED] |
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The Chinese government has announced that all new PCs sold in China must have a porn filter installed on them. They’ve given the PC manufacturers all of 2 1/2 weeks to comply — the law takes effect July 1. The software, called “Green Dam-Youth Escort” regularly checks a list of banned sites so that it can “[construct] a green, healthy, and harmonious Internet environment, and preventing harmful information on the Internet from influencing and poisoning young people.” The software was created by a company with “ties to China’s security ministry and military” says the Wall Street Journal (sub required). So will the filter limit itself simply to blocking sites with adult content? Given China’s track record, I think not. But at least the Chinese have given the PC makers a sort of plausable deniability. They can claim to have loaded the porn filter while having no responsibility over which sites get blocked. It’s the price you have to pay to access the huge Chinese market. UPDATE, June 10: Oh, Chinese surfers are just thrilled by how Green Dam works. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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June 3, 2009
| “Closing Bell” For Business Method Patents? |
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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear In Re Bilski, the poster child for business method patents. You may recall that back in October 2008 the Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences rejecting the claims of this particular business method patent application dealing with hedging risk in commodities trading. The NY Times quotes George Washington University law professor John F. Duffy: “This is the most important patent case in 50 years, in particular because there is so much damage and so much good the court could do. The newest areas of technology are most threatened by the issues at stake here. The court taking this is likely to make a lot of people nervous, including software manufacturers and biotechnology companies.” (The article also contains the “closing bell” quote I used in the title. Pithy, huh?) “By agreeing to weigh in on the case, the high court is venturing into controversial terrain. Critics of business-method patents say it was never the intent of the law to protect such things, which in their view are often far closer to abstract concepts or mathematical algorithms rather than physical inventions. Proponents say they are key to promoting innovation in today’s knowledge- and service-based economy.” (BTW, here’s another take on the whole “knowledge-based economy” thingie. I just started reading the book today.) The case is on the docket for the next term, starting in October. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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May 28, 2009
| AOL’s Lost Decade to End Soon |
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Time Warner’s board has stated the obvious — they’ve “enthusiastically endorsed” spinning off AOL — the poster child for the dot-com bubble — as a separate company by the end of this year. As part of the deal, TW will have to buy back Google’s 5% stake in the company. But there’ll still be a bit of Google left in AOL — back in March Google’s head of U.S. advertising sales, Tim Armstrong, became AOL’s CEO. I think this means that the 1990s are now, finally, officially over. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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May 22, 2009
| Another Oddball Wolfram Answer |
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I’ve noted previously how the answers can morph in Wolfram|Alpha. Here’s another example: a search for gdp tells me that the U.S.’s is $13.78 trillion. (Ditto for gdp U.S.) However, a search for gdp U.S. by state gives me an answer of $13.74 trillion. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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May 18, 2009
| I Just Found My New Favorite Business Search Tool [UPDATED] |
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A lot of folks are writing reviews of Wolfram|Alpha, now that it’s finally launched. Some are good, some are not. Some have even found some interesting Easter eggs tucked away in the system. Now that I’ve finally had a few minutes to poke around WA, I think I’ve found my new favorite business search tool. Aren’t these cool answers? UPDATE, 5/19 - One interesting thing I’ve noticed: you can sometimes trigger more current data, based on the query you use. Compare the results for per capita u.s. gdp (2005) vs. u.s. gdp / u.s. population (2007). |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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