This week in data: spying, lying and being human.

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"Human", being human, breach, Colorado, Colorado Hb1423, Congress, data, data collection, data privacy, data tracking, Dataminr, Ethics, Facebook, FTC, Garnett, Global Education Futures Initiative, Google, Lundeen, Microsoft, morals, Privacy, privacy bills, surveillance, Twitter

Missouri Education Watchdog by Cheri Kiesecker

NO this isn’t everything that happened in data, not even close. When you start paying attention, you see that data breaches are happening daily , internet outages, cables cut, privacy bills passing, privacy bills getting killed or weakened by the very industry taking the data, internet as a human right, tremendous expansion of online education and blended learning, lawsuits, who’s spying on who…it’s everywhere and it’s enough to make your head spin. So, today, I write on just a few of the data stories of this week. You will want to read- They are big stories. Click on the links to read the full stories. Be sure to read the last one from Microsoft on being human.

 

Twitter -Dataminr have been providing U.S. intelligence agencies with data

[T]he chilly relationship between government bodies and private tech businesses is growing frostier by the day. In the latest development, it has emerged that Twitter requested one of its key B2B partners, Dataminr — a service that offers advanced social media analytics and early detection of major events like terrorist attacks or natural disasters — stop providing U.S. intelligence agencies with their tools and content.

But Dataminr isn’t ending its relationship with the government altogether: Dataminir still counts In-Q-Tel, the non-profit investment arm of the CIA, as an investor. Dataminr has taken investment from Twitter, too, highlighting some of the conflicts that remain as tech companies fight for more transparency and autonomy from government control. Interestingly, the agencies who are at the center of today’s news were using Dataminr in an unpaid pilot, TechCrunch understands. That pilot, which was coming to an end, could not be continued as a paid deal because of pre-existing Twitter policies that forbid selling data for use in government surveillance. The news of Dataminr cutting off intelligence groups was first reported by the WSJ, and we have confirmed the details directly with sources.

What exactly is Dataminr? The company uses Twitter firehose data — the unfiltered, full stream of Tweets from Twitter’s 300m+ users — along with other primary sources,

[…]

Continue Reading — This week in data: spying, lying and being human.

Will journalists wake up in time to save journalism from Obama’s FTC?

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Dictatorship, Dirty bureaucrats, Dirty Politicians, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, FTC, Government corruption, Government coverups, Government War on Individual Constitutional Rights, Govt Intervention, Govt Regulation, Govt War on Constitution, Govt's War on America, Internet, Manipulation, Media, obama, Obama Administration, Obama Appointees, Oppression, Power Grab, Progressivism, Propaganda, Propaganda Tool, socialism, suppression, Tyranny

And so the Obama administration is escalating its assault on freedom of the press and the internet.  It’s very disturbing that the media, the cowards that they are, is taking this lying down.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Release of the Federal Trade Commission’s working paper on ‘reinventing journalism’ makes it clear that there is no more time for diplomacy about this issue: President Obama is determined to federalize the news industry just as he has banking, autos, and health care.

Everybody who wants independent journalism had better wake up to these three facts about what is going:

* Journalists must understand that there is no way the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press will survive if the federal government regulates the news industry as envisioned by the FTC. Those who accept at face value protests to the contrary or the professions of pure intentions by advocates of government takeover of the news business are, at best, incredibly naive.

* Journalists who remain silent or apathetic about what is being prepared by the FTC for their profession become unintentional accessories in the strangulation of independent journalism.

* Journalists who support or assist, for any reason, the FTC process are accomplices in the strangulation of independent journalism.

Those in the administration who clearly view independent journalism as an obstacle to ‘change we can believe in’ and their numerous allies in the old media, non-profit, and academic communities who either share a similar ideological vision or see the FTC process as their salvation against the Internet, will no doubt dismiss my assertions as extemism or alarmis.

Fine, call me whatever, but what they cannot deny is what is clearly written in the FTC document and what it reveals about the intention behind the initiative, which is to transform the news industry from an information product collected by private individuals and entrepreneurs as a service to private buyers, to a government-regulated public utility providing a ‘public good,’ as defined and regulated by government.”

Cont.

FTC: Bloggers Must Disclose Payments For Reviews

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FTC, Government War on Individual Constitutional Rights, Govt Regulation, Tax Hikes, Tax Increases, Taxes

We knew that it was just a matter of time before they came after us.  The FTC has decided to start with bloggers who do product reviews and get paid for it. 

I find it hard to believe that consumers don’t realize that bloggers who do product reviews and are getting paid have a vested interest in a given product.  It is clear, however, that much of this is about government control and government regulation. 

In light of same, the FTC is moving to require that bloggers disclose any freebies or payments received for writing reviews of a company’s products.  Oh yes and it’s also about tax revenues as well. 

The rules and regulations will take effect December 1, 2009.  Rest assured that Timothy Geithner is writing something into the tax code for this as well, i.e., fines up to $11,000 per violation.

YAHOO FINANCE

“The FTC said Monday its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final Web guidelines, which had been expected. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could bring fines up to $11,000 per violation. Bloggers or advertisers also could face injunctions and be ordered to reimburse consumers for financial losses stemming from inappropriate product reviews.

The commission stopped short of specifying how bloggers must disclose conflicts of interest. Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC’s advertising practices division, said the disclosure must be ‘clear and conspicuous,’ no matter what form it will take.

Bloggers have long praised or panned products and services online. But what some consumers might not know is that many companies pay reviewers for their write-ups or give them free products such as toys or computers or trips to Disneyland. In contrast, at traditional journalism outlets, products borrowed for reviews generally have to be returned.

Before the FTC gave notice last November it was going to regulate such endorsements, blogs varied in the level of disclosures about these potential conflicts of interest.

The FTC’s proposal made many bloggers anxious. They said the scrutiny would make them nervous about posting even innocent comments.

To placate such fears, Cleland said the FTC will more likely go after an advertiser instead of a blogger for violations. The exception would be a blogger who runs a ‘substantial’ operation that violates FTC rules and already received a warning, he said.

Existing FTC rules already banned deceptive and unfair business practices. The final guidelines aim to clarify the law for the vast world of blogging. Not since 1980 had the commission revised its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials.

Cleland said a blogger who receives a freebie without the advertiser knowing would not violate FTC guidelines. For example, someone who gets a free bag of dog food as part of a promotion from a pet shop wouldn’t violate FTC guidelines if he writes about the product on his blog.

Blogger Linsey Krolik said she’s always disclosed any freebies she’s received on products she writes about, but has stepped up her efforts since last fall. She said she adds a notice at the end of a post, ‘very clear in italics or bold or something — this is the deal. It’s not kind of buried.”

No doubt this is only the beginning.  Let us see how far they think they can take this.