Microsoft: Privacy Champion?

"Microsoft: Privacy Champion? The tech giant and others are getting serious about giving Web surfers more control over how information from their online behavior is used

Source: BusinessWeek Online 07/24/2007

In its haste to build software that gives computer users new ways to communicate, store data, and scour the Web for information, the tech industry has unleashed a raft of threats to consumer privacy. Recently, though, companies from across the tech spectrum have begun taking pains to rein in such risks amid a backlash from legislators, regulators and consumer advocates. Are the efforts lip service aimed at quelling the furor or might the tech industry finally be getting serious about protecting privacy?

One of the biggest strides comes from Microsoft (MSFT), which on July 23 will unveil a new privacy policy that gives users greater control over what the company does with information it gathers about their online behavior. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, will let certain users decline to receive ads tailored to their Web surfing habits. The company will also sever the links between information about a computer and the Web searches carried out from that machine after 18 months.

What consumers do online and what companies do with that information strikes at the heart of the computing privacy debate. Companies are keen to cull and store such data so they can tailor products, services, and advertisements to a user's interests. But there's growing concern companies are learning too much about their customers' private lives and not doing enough to keep that information safe from prying eyes.

Senate Hearings Postponed Until Fall
Those worries will take center stage in Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on online marketing and a proposed acquisition that will give Google (GOOG) added control over the Internet advertising business. The proceedings had been scheduled for the week of July 23 but have been postponed until September or October. The committee will ask executives from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! (YHOO) to appear, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Competitors and privacy groups say Google's planned $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick would concentrate too much knowledge about Internet users' searching and Web browsing habits in Google's hands. The Federal Trade Commission in May began an investigation into the proposed tieup [see BusinessWeek.com, 5/30/07, "Much Ado About DoubleClick"]. Amid that grousing, Google said July 16 it will reduce the shelf life of "cookies," the software that embeds itself on a computer and tracks a user's Net habits. Google will ensure cookies expire after two years. Google also said it would make records of users' searches and other behavior on its site anonymous after 18 months.

The privacy battlefront isn't limited to ads. The next version of Apple's (AAPL) Mac OS X operating system, called "Leopard," will include new controls that can help users specify files they don't want backed up because they're too private to share. Leopard, due to be released in October, includes a feature called Time Machine that can continuously back up a Mac's hard drive to a server on a corporate network or a disk drive that's shared by users on a home network. Apple will let users elide certain files during the backup process, says Bud Tribble, Apple's vice-president of software technology and a designer of the original Macintosh software.

Brave New World of Hypertargeted Ads
Fears about online surveillance and misuse of personal information have been amplified as tech companies pitch ads to users based on their behavior to gain a bigger share of a U.S. online ad market that research company eMarketer estimates will swell to $21.7 billion in Weave in the ability to track users' whereabouts by collecting information from their mobile phones, and privacy advocates are warning of an emerging era of hypertargeted ads that could leave consumers open to privacy abuses.

"The very idea of identity and privacy is changing really fast," says David Holtzman, chief executive officer of identity software startup Pseuds and author of the 2006 book Privacy Lost [Wiley]. For one, when software is delivered as a Web service, every computer on the network over which it's delivered can be a weak link in the chain.
Loss of Anonymity
Sites that learn about a user's behavior can also present problems. Amazon.com's (AMZN) product recommendation feature stores a profile of users' tastes and interests, and credit-card companies including Capital One Financial (COF) are building psychographic profiles of consumers based on their purchases. Both approaches could capture information of users' interests that many consider private, says Holtzman, who's consulted to both companies.

The rise in popularity of social networks like Facebook and News Corp.'s (NWS) MySpace.com means some Web users are contributing to their own loss of anonymity by disclosing more information than ever about their identities and tastes. Google Street Views has given Web browsers candid close-ups of people's daily lives [see BusinessWeek.com, 6/22/07, "Google Is Watching You"].

The need for tighter privacy is made all the more urgent by highly publicized cases of data loss. "If one company takes a step that looks like it protects privacy more, other companies feel the need to try to match it," says Joe Laszlo, an analyst at JupiterResearch. "If you're a company like Microsoft, Yahoo, or Google, the tradeoff has always been the more you know about the consumer, the more personalization you can give them. But you're also placing yourself in a position of trust. If you misuse that trust, consumers and regulators will come down hard on you."

Better Assessment of Web Ad Performance
Those concerns are at the crux of the policy changes at Microsoft and Google. In addition to setting time limits on its collection of private data, Microsoft on July 23 announced it's joining with Ask.com, a search engine owned by IAC/InterActive (IACI), to try to develop industry standards for data collection and online advertising. The standards could help ease consumer fears about disclosing too much personal information as Microsoft promotes new versions of its e-mail, photo gallery, and blogging software that combine data stored on users' PCs with software delivered over the Web, says Microsoft Chief Privacy Architect Jeffrey Friedberg. "This is where we focus a lot of our privacy energy," he says. "There's no such thing as a completely offline, contained product anymore."
Microsoft, too, must demonstrate privacy protection bona fides as it, like Google, pursues an acquisition aimed at garnering a bigger slice of online ads, while at the same time complaining that buying DoubleClick will give Google an unfair advantage. Microsoft is paying $6 billion for aQuantive to help it better place and measure the performance of ads [see BusinessWeek.com, 5/18/07, "Microsoft's Big Online Ad Buy"],
Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a public-interest research group, says she's pleased with some of the new policies being adopted by Microsoft and Google. Still, "these measures don't even begin to scratch the surface," she says. "We need substantive privacy protection." There's still considerable leeway for companies to assemble a lengthy dossier of information on consumers, she says. Why, for instance, do they need to retain information on servers for 18 months, she asks.
Questions like those will get plenty of air time amid ongoing scrutiny of the DoubleClick deal and other efforts by tech companies to mine customer data, and they'll keep up pressure on the industry to make consumer privacy paramount. "

U.S.A. Economy August 2007

Political, social and economic movement towards privation, capitalism purely in the pursuit of profit without regard for the public interest is precisely the trend, which has negatively set America’s economy on a downward spiral.

I predict the United States is due for several economic adjustments; Oil companies, Homeowner and health insurance and realtors just might in the end return the profit they greedily scooped up from trusting consumers.

It is time for the people and politicians to push for checks on corporate greed.

Hadithah Killings

The holding accountable of military officers for the killing of innocent civilians in my opinion possesses an absolute impossibility of being politically driven.

"MARINE OFFICER STATES HIS CASE IN IRAQI KILLINGS; HE CALLS PROSECUTION POLITICALLY MOTIVATED

Source: San Jose Mercury News 06/08/2007

CAMP PENDLETON -- The prosecution of seven Marines accused in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Al-Hadithah is so politically motivated they cannot be guaranteed a fair trial, a Marine officer said in testimony played in court Wednesday.
Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore, who was the intelligence officer for the battalion accused in the Nov. 19, 2005, killings, was called as a witness at the preliminary hearing for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, one of four officers charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the deaths.
''You told me that politically, the Marine Corps had made a decision to hang Lieutenant Colonel Chessani out to dry,'' prosecutor Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan asked Dinsmore.
''Yes,'' he replied.
Dinsmore, whose testimony was videotaped in March, said he doubted prosecutors could be objective given the political climate surrounding the case, and said Chessani was ''above reproach.''
Sullivan said his job as a prosecutor was to ensure justice was done fairly.
The Al-Hadithah killings sparked the biggest criminal case against U.S. troops in the war in Iraq, with three enlisted Marines charged with murder and the four officers accused of dereliction.
The two dozen people were slain after a roadside bomb killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, who was driving a Humvee. In the aftermath, Marines went house to house looking for insurgents.
They used fragmentation grenades and machine guns to clear the homes, but instead of hitting insurgents, they killed civilians.
Anti-war observers seized on the deaths as evidence that the troops killed indiscriminately. The Marines who fired the fatal shots say they reacted to a perceived threat the way they were trained, and the officers say they saw no evidence of a law-of-war violation.
Chessani's defense team called Dinsmore as a witness to describe what was happening around Al-Hadithah in the months leading up to the killings. He said insurgents regularly used hospitals and mosques to launch attacks. Men pretending to be asleep in a house shot and killed a Marine when he entered.
''They would exploit any hesitation in order to gain an advantage,'' Dinsmore said.
The bomb that killed Terrazas was only the first of a citywide series of attacks that left several other Marines injured and insurgents dead, Dinsmore said. He recalled Nov. 19 as being the busiest day of combat in the battalion's tour.
Dinsmore said the feeling among the Marine battalion at the end of the day was that they did well. The commanding general in charge of Marines in Al-Hadithah at the time, Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck, was briefed about the day's combat actions three days later, including details about women and children dying in their homes.
Huck was ''congratulatory'' about the battalion's actions, Dinsmore testified.

At the end of Chessani's hearing, an investigating officer will make a recommendation about whether the charges should go to trial. "

A Shooting in Sarasota

"A workplace dispute turns deadly for two women Friday. Investigators say 51-year-old Jacquelyn Ferguson shot her boss to death before eventually turning the gun on herself. It happened in the 3000 block of Bee Ridge Road. Investigators say Ferguson was supposed to be fired from her job today, but instead fired shots first. 45-year-old Denise Keyworth, Ferguson's boss, was shot and killed. Ferguson escaped, but deputies found her at home a few hours later. She had turned the gun on herself. The shots rang out just after 8:30 Friday morning. "Two girls in the front office heard a couple of shots and a scream and a few more shots," says witness David Jones. Minutes after swat team members surrounded the doctor's office with snipers on rooftops and crouched behind cars. Deputies closed part of Bee Ridge Road during morning rush hour and evacuated nearby buildings. "We did have some people still in that building, we did get them out," says Sheriff Bill Balkwill. But deputies thought the shooter was still inside,” unfortunately when we went in, the suspect was not there." Instead they found the body of Denise Keyworth, witnesses say she was the Office Manager for Dr. Jeffrey Sack, she'd been shot and killed. Co-workers pointed to 51-year-old Jacquelyn Ferguson, a fellow employee investigators call disgruntled. They say Ferguson was supposed to be fired by the victim Friday morning, but an argument started, then gunfire, deputies launched a manhunt, the first stop Ferguson’s home. Deputies found Ferguson’s body on the lanai of her home the suspected killer dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Neighbor’s say they never saw it coming, "I thought there was no way. It had to be someone else," says Jessie Laiken. Co-workers say Keyworth had been the Office Manager of Dr. Jeffrey Sack's practice for the last 10 years. They say Ferguson had only worked there for about 6 months."

Canada’s Healthcare model for America

Universal Healthcare in my opinion should be a socialized government right just as much as the ability to drive on the road. This is my strong stance on Healthcare which will never change. One right wing conservative radio pundit said that if you want healthcare “to get out your wallet”. Honestly, let it be known this perspective is not one held by the general public; observation proves this to be the view of those where issues of the wallet are of no concern.

I believe there are sectors where capitalism, totally driven by the pursuit of profit void of morals and concern for the public good serve no benefit to the citizens of the United States. Healthy workers produce a healthy economy.

The Healthcare model of Canada is the direction America must go.

“Building is underway for the new North Bay General Hospital in North Bay , Ontario , Canada , four hours north of Toronto . It will be a state-of the art facility and the first new hospital construction to top one billion dollars.”



Original Checks & Balances content

President Dick Cheney

Vice President Dick Cheney will temporally serve as President while President G.W. Bush undergoes a medical procedure tomorrow.

Oh No!!!

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/20/bush.colonoscopy/index.html

Impeachment of President G.W. Bush, Part II

Chatter on the topic of removing Dick Cheney from office and the Impeachment of President G.W. Bush is increasing everyday.

Such ideas however can only come to fruition if Congress is compelled to act on demand from the public simultaneously with bold independent legal investigations. The reality of such legislation movement is far out of reach. For example, one can look at the vast public call to end the War in Iraq. However, neither the President nor Congress has responded accordingly.

The leaders of the liberals have other agendas, are focus on money rather than organizing, and the younger members do not have the experience to funnel protest energy into political results. We see the harvest of liberal and Democratic efforts is an empty basket.

Therefore, the fragmented individuals, organizations especially activist whom form the base of these movements must put place second tier their agenda items and form one strong coalition to unify on this movement to impeach.

Senate Debates Deadline in Iraq

1. Senate sets all-night Iraq war debate, Reuters, 07/16/07
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1635629920070716

2. "Deadline in Iraq," Chicago Tribune, http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/469521,CST-EDT-edits16.article

Live Earth Pledge

I PLEDGE:

1. To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth;
   


2. To take personal action to help solve the climate crisis by reducing my own CO2 pollution as much as I can and offsetting the rest to become "carbon neutral;"
   


3. To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the CO2;
   


4. To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of transportation;
   


5. To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal;
   


6. To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests; and,
   


7. To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crisis and building a sustainable, just, and prosperous world for the 21st century.

2007 World's Most Ethical Companies

The best companies in the long run do in deed value ethics.

"Ethics are absolute. Business ethics are relational. And ethical leadership requires a position of influence.

What does that mean? Certainly there are absolutes to business ethics, such as respecting employees and stakeholders, competing fairly and within the law, and being a responsible corporate citizen.

Companies routinely compete for recognition for their “corporate citizenship” or “best place to work” award. And predictably, a select few pharmaceutical companies, a handful of consulting and high-tech firms, and a couple of retailers appear near the top of the list.These lists are based only upon absolutes.

Not surprisingly, the companies that appear on those lists usually are from high net margin industries that can afford to invest in self-promotion, and may have a more vested interest in the awards than other companies. For example, the consulting firm that knows it will help them in the ‘war for talent’; the pharmaceutical company that wants to blunt criticism over patent practices or high prices; or the retailer that wants to attract the higher spending ‘ethical’ demographic shopper.

Yes, many of those companies truly are ‘ethical’—but those industries represent only a minority (less than 20%) of the overall industry of global business, commerce and workforce.

What about the rest of the economy? How can we accurately examine and compare business ethics practices and leadership when we only look at a small portion of the economic landscape?

Frankly, we can’t. We need to look at the relational context.
The absolutes are the necessary grounding for a company to have strong core values to build upon. The context is the environment in which a company operates, both geographically as well as industrially.
The best lens through which to view a company’s ethical leadership behavior is to examine a company compared to other companies in the same industry. Are they leading, are they following, or are they ignoring? And to be a leader, the company needs to have or build a competitive edge, such as size or technology, which allows it to be influential.

In assembling the 2007 rankings of the World’s Most Ethical Companies, the researchers and editors of Ethisphere examined more than 5,000 companies across 30 separate industries looking for true ethical leadership.

We looked for absolutes. We examined companies in relational context of their industries. And we looked for influential leadership that moved others to change or follow.

Companies were measured in a rigorous eight-step process and then scored against nine distinct ethical leadership criteria.Some may ask, “How can McDonald’s be on the list?” The answer is that the food service industry is the largest industry in the world—and McDonald’s has clearly stood apart in introducinghealthier food fare, sustainable packaging, food safety, and ethical purchasing practices.

The winners of the World’s Most Ethical Companies are the standouts. Each of these companies has materially higher scores versus competitors in their industries. Each forces other companies to follow its leadership or fall behind. Each uses ethical leadership as a profit driver. And each of these companies embodies the true spirit of Ethisphere’s credo: Good. Smart. Business. Profit."