p2pnet World Headlines: July 21, 2010
Website sued for selling individuals’ financial, personal data Xinhua
A Washington, D.C. resident has filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court against a website which is allegedly selling financial and personal information about individuals without their consent. In the proposed class-action lawsuit, Tom Robins alleges that Spokeo.com violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act(FCRA) by collecting data from online and traditional sources and publishing the information. The website allows Internet users to search for anyone by name, e-mail address or phone number. According to the allegation, Spokeo provides searchers with in-depth consumer reports, including the person’s address, marital status, age, occupation, wealth level and a credit/economic health estimate. Spokeo makes much of the information available for free, but reserves the most detailed and personal information for paid subscribers, Robins contended. The information about him available on Spokeo is mostly inaccurate and false, and the data is marketed to employers at a time when Robins is looking for a job, he said. The plaintiff seeks for injunctive relief and monetary damages for violating the FCRA. [Also see Spokeo: airing your dirty washing online?]
Lesbian teen accepts settlement after being denied prom date Rabble.ca
Itawamba County School District officials agreed to have a judgment entered against them in the case of a recent high school graduate who sued her school for canceling the prom rather than let her attend with her girlfriend. The agreement ends a precedent-setting lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of 18-year-old Constance McMillen, who suffered humiliation and harassment after parents, students and school officials executed a cruel plan to put on a “decoy” prom for her while the rest of her classmates were at a private prom 30 miles away. “I’m so glad this is all over. I won’t ever get my prom back, but it’s worth it if it changes things at my school,” said McMillen, who was harassed so badly by students blaming her for the prom cancellation that she had to transfer to another high school to finish her senior year. “I hope this means that in the future students at my school will be treated fairly. I know there are students and teachers who want to start a gay-straight alliance club, and they should be able to do that without being treated like I was by the school.”
Apple nightmare continues Big Pond
Users of Apple’s 3G iPhone are complaining that the latest software update make the operating system freeze and other Apps to run slowly. Once the upgrades are complete, there is no way to revert back to the previous version.
Autopsy tools used on Elvis go up for sale Reuters
Autopsy tools used to embalm and prepare Elvis Presley’s body for his funeral in 1977 and a toe tag used on the singer for identification purposes are set to go under the hammer at a Chicago auction house. The instruments up for sale at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on Aug. 12 include rubber gloves, forceps, lip brushes, a comb and eye liner, needle injectors, an arterial tube and aneurysm hooks, all of which the auction house say were used only once. The collection, saved for years by a senior embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home who wishes to stay anonymous, also includes a toe tag marked “John Doe” which was used as a replacement after the original was stolen by a fan during chaos at the hospital.
Ridiculating Sarah Palin Chronicle of Higher Education
Some times its two easy too make Fun of peoples, especially when those peoples are Sara Palin, whom was once govner in Canada and thereby weren’t tawt English, which is also the reason her daughter is engaged to a baby-daddy named after pants and shopping a realty show for the cabal television. Communicatering gets trippy when words get in the way.
Is the death of the CD looming? CNN
If you think the musical compact disc is dying or dead, you’re probably younger than it is. “Show me a teenager buying a Susan Boyle album on CD and I’ll show you someone buying a gift for their grandparent — for Christmas,” jokes Billboard senior chart manager and analyst Keith Caulfield. “There is definitely an age component to the consumption of music.” As the music industry as a whole struggles in a down economy and direct download business models like iTunes flourish, the compact disc — which was commercially introduced in 1982 — has the appearance of going the way of vinyl. And contrary to the recent declaration of singer Prince — who said that the Internet is dead and released his latest CD for free via European newspapers — there’s some evidence that consumers aren’t as enamored with ripping the cellophane off that new CD as they once were.
Internet company pulls plug on extremist’s websites National Post
A U.S. Internet company pulled the plug on the websites of a Canadian extremist today after receiving a complaint from Canada’s Attorney-General. One of the websites taken down by Arizona-based web host Go Daddy had been used by Salman Hossain of Mississauga to call for a genocide of the Jewish community. The other was a new site that was not yet on-line. ‘Go Daddy received a complaint from Canada’s Attorney-General regarding the domain names in question,’ said Ben Butler, the company’s Director of Network Abuse. ‘After reviewing the content on the sites, Go Daddy determined they are in direct violation of our terms of service and have been removed from our network.’
… and identi.ca
July, 2010
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July 21st, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Ground Water & Well Gone Dry
Protest at Coca Cola plant in India reaches 3,000 days
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/protest_at_coca_cola_plant_in_india_reaches_3000_days
Thursday July 8, 2010 marked the 3,000th day of action against the Coca Cola plant in Plachimada in the Indian State of Kerala where the local population has been struggling against the company over its water takings.
‘Water, not soft drink’ — 1 litre of Coca Cola requires 14 litres of water
Anti-Coca Cola Agitation Committee chairman Vilayodi Venugopal, Plachimada Agitation Solidarity Committee secretary R. Ajayan, and convener Velur Swamithan have demanded that the government constitute a tribunal to decide on the compensation from the company.
July 21st, 2010 at 5:51 pm
There’s Money to be Made in “Premium Privacy” Says VC Fred Wilson
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/theres_money_to_be_made_in_premium_privacy_says_vc_fred_wilson.php
“The challenge is to get someone [whether business or consumer] to pay $2-$10 dollars per month to ensure that sort of premium privacy.”
Found via PrivCom’s twitter
Premium privacy? I’l still reeling at tiered internet and now these people want tiered privacy?
I get the feeling that when Canada’s current Priv Com leaves this year we may see a jump by business to turn privacy into another cash cow. Hope she doesn’t leave.
July 21st, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Decent post on Slaw
Blogging Is a Vulnerable Method of Publication
http://www.slaw.ca/2010/07/21/blogging-is-a-vulnerable-method-of-publication/
July 21st, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Google Lobbying Spending Nearly Doubles, $1.34M Spending Focused on Privacy
http://www.fastcompany.com/1672973/google-lobbying-spending-nearly-doubles-spending-focused-on-privacy
This past quarter, Google spent $1.34 million on Washington lobbyists, an increase of 41% over last year’s spending during the same period. That brings the company’s lobbying money up to $2.72 million for the first half of 2010, according to Consumer Watchdog. With all that spending, who and what is Google trying to influence?
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People who cherish privacy have something to hide.
July 21st, 2010 at 6:36 pm
More states join Google privacy probe
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1572376.php/More-states-join-Google-privacy-probe
San Francisco – A probe into alleged privacy violations by Google Street View service widened Wednesday when 37 other states joined an investigation initiated by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal into the web search giant.
The 38-member coalition sent a letter demanding information from Google about the Street View software, which Google has already admitted collected data from open wi-fi networks without authorizations – possibly including passwords, emails, browsing history and other confidential information.
The letter demanded information about Google’s testing of the program, the types of data the program had been designed to collect and whether Google sold or otherwise used any of the unauthorized data that it collected.
[...]</em.
July 21st, 2010 at 8:30 pm
U.S. Jailed, Abused & Deported Citizen to More Abuse in Honduras
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/07/21/29001.htm
In a perfect immigration nightmare, a U.S. citizen claims the Department of Homeland Security arrested her in her own home, imprisoned, threatened and intimidated her and denied her food, water and medication unless she admitted she was someone else. Then it deported her to Honduras, where she was immediately imprisoned as an illegal alien, held in prison for 3 weeks and sexually assaulted by “an officer of the Honduran government.” Even after she returned home, she says, U.S. immigration agents continue to harass her and threaten to arrest her again.
Nothing new here.
July 21st, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Head of StatsCan resigns over census crisis
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/838401–head-of-statscan-resigns-over-census-crisis?bn=1
Canada’s chief statistician has resigned over the Conservative government’s decision to eliminate the long census form.
Munir Sheikh announced his resignation in a statement posted on the Statistics Canada website.
He said that a voluntary survey, as that proposed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, can not be substitute for a mandatory census.
Sheikh said that under the circumstances, he tendered his resignation to Harper.
The long-time bureaucrat and economist said that he would not go into the details of the discussions he had with Industry Minister Tony Clement about the census.
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Lots of crap spilling out on this. Posts and input by the people who need these numbers (ie Canada’s digital economy consultations) are being deleted by the Canadian gov.
Something to hide?
July 21st, 2010 at 9:34 pm
In relation to the RW post a few stories up, “Ground Water & Wells Gone Dry, due to Coca Cola”
‘Access to clean water is most violated human right,’ says Maude Barlow
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/council-canadians/2010/07/view-%E2%80%98access-clean-water-most-violated-human-right%E2%80%99-says-ma
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow writes in the Guardian UK today that, “On 28 July, for the first time ever, the general assembly of the United Nations will hold a historic summit on the human right to water.”
“It will consider and debate a resolution supporting the right to ’safe and clean drinking water and sanitation’ that was presented on 17 June by Pablo Solon, the Bolivian ambassador to the UN, and co-sponsored by 23 other countries.”
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I guess if clean drinking water becomes a human right, the Toronto police won’t be able to torture people by giving them on a few ounces every second day.
July 21st, 2010 at 9:34 pm
on=only
July 21st, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described the 2003 invasion of Iraq as illegal on Wednesday, putting the new coalition government under pressure to clarity its position on the war.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-07/22/content_11033064.htm