When Varsity mentions that his real voice sounds very different to the character that made him a household name, Lam Pou-chuen breaks into a laugh and launches into the memorable lines.
"Nobita! Wake up la! Wake up la! Hurry and wake up la! Its time to go to school la! Otherwise you'll be late again la!"
These words have been heard in almost every episode of the Hong Kong-dubbed version of the Japanese cartoon Doraemon over the past 30 years.
While Lam's voice is deeply etched into the minds of Doraemon viewers of all ages, the cat with the magical gadgets is just one of Lam's great achievements in his 42-year career as a voice actor.
"Voice actors are similar to chefs. If you create a delicious dish that becomes popular, you too will become well-known," he says.
Lam never set out to be a voice actor. After graduating from secondary school, he applied for bank jobs, but failed. At that time, the dubbing industry was still in its infancy. Lam wrote to Television Broadcasts Ltd to apply for a job as a voice actor and was hired, and has been voice acting since.
During his early days, Lam did not have the chance to dub even a single word of dialogue. There were no training courses for him and other rookies. They were only assigned to produce sound effects like footsteps, doors opening and phones dialing.
"We did not have as much professional training as now. We just sat behind the seniors and learned from them while they were voice acting," explains Lam. "These days, there are professional voice actors giving lessons."
Among his mentors, Lam most appreciated the actor Tam Bing-man, who belongs to the first generation of voice actors in Hong Kong.
"I followed and learned from him since the first day. I call him `master."' Lam recalls.
Lam did not just observe and learn while making sound effects at the back of the studio - he made use of his time to perfect his art. After arriving home at night, he would read newspapers out loud to improve his articulation and pacing.
After months of learning, practicing and waiting, Lam finally got his chance in front of the microphone. The editing technology of that time meant that if an actor made a mistake, they would have to start over. Lam remembers being extremely nervous when he walked into the studio - even if he had just one line of dialogue.
"My character was a cop, with only one line: `Freeze! Drop your gun! FBI!"' Lam recalls. His debut in the movie Federal Bureau of Investigation went smoothly and he made the cut.
In 1982, Lam encountered his favorite role, Ding Dong (Doraemon). "It is because Ding Dong is vivacious. Besides, it was easier to catch the shape of the mouth, as his mouth is very big," Lam laughs.
Ding Dong became very popular soon after the cartoon was first broadcast. It has been 30 years since he first came across the character, which later reverted back to its original Japanese name, Doraemon.
Whatever the name, the cat has become synonymous with Lam, but he still feels a deeper connection with the Cantonese name, Ding Dong.
While a big Ding Dong fan, he has attracted a fan base of his own. Fans write letters to Lam, sharing their everyday lives with him.Most of the Doraemon dolls and figures at Lam's home are gifts from his fans, or souvenirs from his colleagues.
Among the gifts, Lam likes a remote-control Doraemon toy the most. "A fan delivered it to TVB. It's more than 30 years old," he says.
Apart from fans and gifts, what warms Lam's heart most is that his biggest fan is his own daughter, who also loved watching Ding Dong and listening to her father's voice on TV.
Influenced by him, she is now also working at TVB as a voice actor. Father and daughter have already acted in the same scene.
"I remember it was in Desperate Housewives, but it was not that special to me," Lam says.
Ding Dong's success opened up more job opportunities for Lam, with his voice appearing more frequently in advertisements.
The boom times for the Hong Kong movie industry in the 1980s kept voice actors, including Lam, always hopping. He was the designated voice actor for action star Sammo Hung Kam-bo and heart-throb Alexander Cheung Fu-sheng.
"There were a few times when I worked continuously for three to four days," recalls Lam. "After I finished my work at TVB, I earned extra income by voice acting for movies outside. After that, I went to work in TVB again.
"As there was no live recording on location in those days, voice actors needed to grasp the personalities and tone of voice of the characters by studying soundless demos. Directors and sometimes even the actors of the movies would come and explain the characters to them."
Though it was more difficult than television work, Lam especially valued the experience of working on movies because it enabled him to learn more from studying the characters of his roles.
Among the hundreds of movies he has voice acted, Lam's most memorable is the mentally disabled character he voiced in The First Mission, played by Sammo Hung. As Hung's regular voice actor in martial arts films, Lam found it a challenge to voice act for one of his non-action roles.
Still, that character was not the most challenging role Lam ever came across. That distinction goes to the character of Yue Buqun in a Taiwan TV drama The Smiling, Proud Wanderer (Xiaoao Jianghu) in the early 1990s.
"It gave me a hard time as the actor spoke in an unstable tempo, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. This is the most difficult situation in voice acting. When actors do not perform well in their own parts, it creates problems for the voice actors."
With more than 40 years in the industry, Lam has seen remarkable changes, but remains a consummate professional with exacting standards.
On the negative side, he has noticed more young voice actors have a problem of so-called lazy sounds or pronunciation. He also finds it an unhealthy trend for movie companies to invite stars to do the voice acting for animation features. "They cannot catch the mouth shapes and the emotions of the characters. But movie companies need gimmicks," Lam says.
Still, he remains highly enthusiastic about his job and is never bored. "Since we act for many different characters each day, I see every day as a new challenge for myself," he says.
Another thing he values: "We [voice actors] see each other day and night. The relationships between us are very close. We are like siblings, seeing each other more than we see our families."
In order to continue doing what he loves, Lam needs to keep his voice in good shape, but surprisingly, he says he does not have any special methods to protect his voice. "I eat deep fried food like ordinary people!" he jokes.
As he gets older, Lam has noticed his voice is not what it used to be. "Nothing can be done about it," he sighs. "My voice was sharper in the old days, but now it is much deeper. All I can do is try to imitate my voice from the past."
Lam has also experienced health problems in the past few years. In August, he was invited to the opening ceremony of the 100 Years Before the Birth of Doraemon Exhibition in Harbour City. But he had to pull out after injuring his leg.
Lam is also a diabetic and his vision is getting worse. Although it improved after laser eye surgery, his work has been affected.
"My eyes get tired after looking at the monitor in the studio for a long time," says Lam. "I have to reduce my working hours in these few years."
He says he has slashed his working hours from 60 hours per week in the past to 10 hours.
Despite his poorer health, the 60-year-old Lam has never thought of retiring.
"Take Tam Bing-man; he is still working in the industry at the age of 78. There is no retirement age in this industry," he says, showing his continued passion for voice acting. "I will keep on as long as I am capable of doing it!"
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Police want access to private sector cameras
The Police Department wants to partner with private companies in the city willing to have security cameras on their property fed to a high-tech video surveillance center being built at police headquarters.
Police Chief Gary J. Gemme said his department does not intend to continuously monitor the video feeds. Instead, he said, the video will be accessed only in instances of a shooting, robbery or other serious crime.
"If there is an incident going on, if there is an armed robbery in progress or if we get information as part of our investigations that a crime is going to be committed in a certain area, we will be able tap into the video cameras that already exist at that location," the chief said.
He emphasized that the police surveillance center, known as the Real Time Crime Center, will not be able to store video surveillance data.
"We don't plan on installing new cameras as part of this system and we don't have a system in place where we're going to set up cameras throughout the city that we're going to monitor from this location," Chief Gemme told the City Council Public Safety Committee Wednesday night.
"The Real Time Crime Center simply gives us the ability to look at what's out there, using existing cameras, very quickly for investigative purposes. It has no storage capabilities, so it's not a question of retaining data or monitoring multiple cameras around the clock to see what's going on in the city. To monitor all the cameras throughout the city, we'd probably need more than 1,000 monitors. This center will not be manned 24/7."
Chief Gemme said the Police Department has spent about $68,000 of the $75,000 state grant to create the Real Time Crime Center.
He said the video surveillance hub will be able to access video feeds from the cameras of private entities throughout the city. But to be able to do so, he said, the department first has to sign memorandums of understanding with each property owner.
"If we have a shooting or a homicide, we can immediately go into the Real Time Crime Center, (turn on) the existing cameras and take a look at the video to see if there is some information we can get out quickly to our officers as well as to the public," he added. "At that location, we're not going to access any information that we couldn't access by knocking on doors or canvassing neighborhoods, which is labor intensive."
Chief Gemme said police routinely use video from private surveillance cameras as part of their investigations. He said when there is an incident, police canvass the neighborhood to see if they can identify surveillance cameras that may be in place in that area.
"We do that on a regular basis and it's been instrumental in solving a lot of serious crimes in the city," he said.
The chief said when police identify a suspect or if there is information they need from something seen in the Real Time Crime Center, police will still have to go to the owner of the surveillance system to retrieve the video so it can be used as evidence in a criminal case.
He said that will need to be done because the Real Time Crime Center will not have any storage capacity within its system. Even if it did, he said, it wouldn't be practical to try to retrieve it once it was in the system because there would be no way of cataloging it.
Brian D. Halloran, president of the police patrolmen's union, spoke in favor of the Real Time Crime Center, saying it will be an invaluable tool in assisting police to do their job and, in the process, could help save lives as well.
"It's absolutely 100 percent the right thing to be doing and we back it," Officer Halloran said. "Having access to this kind of system will put officer safety paramount to everything else."
Enerati uses easy to deploy wireless sensors that give users real time feedback on how well their operations are performing. The solution gives small companies the ability to monitor electricity, gas and water usage in one minute intervals. In addition the service can track multiple locations concurrently. Enerati notification program alerts users automatically if certain events occur in real time and therefore allow users to react quickly, whether a freezer is not working properly in a small pizza restaurant or a pump is being overloaded at a local factory.
Low cost wireless sensors are manufactured by Current Cost, one of the largest suppliers of energy monitoring systems worldwide. The sensors wirelessly send real time updates to an internet connected gateway that automatically upload live data to the Enerati cloud. Installation usually takes less than one hour. Standard monitoring kits retail for $189 and are capable of monitoring the energy usage for one whole building. The standard kit can be expanded with 9 additional wireless sensors that can measure single outlets, other hardwired panels, solar installations, generators, water and gas meters.
Enerati offers three online subscription plans. The LITE plan is free and can be used single locations with only one sensor, The BASIC plan is $3 per month per location and shows up to 10 sensors with full analysis, reporting and alerts. The PROFESSIONAL plan is only $5 per month and is perfect for organizations with multiple locations.
Police Chief Gary J. Gemme said his department does not intend to continuously monitor the video feeds. Instead, he said, the video will be accessed only in instances of a shooting, robbery or other serious crime.
"If there is an incident going on, if there is an armed robbery in progress or if we get information as part of our investigations that a crime is going to be committed in a certain area, we will be able tap into the video cameras that already exist at that location," the chief said.
He emphasized that the police surveillance center, known as the Real Time Crime Center, will not be able to store video surveillance data.
"We don't plan on installing new cameras as part of this system and we don't have a system in place where we're going to set up cameras throughout the city that we're going to monitor from this location," Chief Gemme told the City Council Public Safety Committee Wednesday night.
"The Real Time Crime Center simply gives us the ability to look at what's out there, using existing cameras, very quickly for investigative purposes. It has no storage capabilities, so it's not a question of retaining data or monitoring multiple cameras around the clock to see what's going on in the city. To monitor all the cameras throughout the city, we'd probably need more than 1,000 monitors. This center will not be manned 24/7."
Chief Gemme said the Police Department has spent about $68,000 of the $75,000 state grant to create the Real Time Crime Center.
He said the video surveillance hub will be able to access video feeds from the cameras of private entities throughout the city. But to be able to do so, he said, the department first has to sign memorandums of understanding with each property owner.
"If we have a shooting or a homicide, we can immediately go into the Real Time Crime Center, (turn on) the existing cameras and take a look at the video to see if there is some information we can get out quickly to our officers as well as to the public," he added. "At that location, we're not going to access any information that we couldn't access by knocking on doors or canvassing neighborhoods, which is labor intensive."
Chief Gemme said police routinely use video from private surveillance cameras as part of their investigations. He said when there is an incident, police canvass the neighborhood to see if they can identify surveillance cameras that may be in place in that area.
"We do that on a regular basis and it's been instrumental in solving a lot of serious crimes in the city," he said.
The chief said when police identify a suspect or if there is information they need from something seen in the Real Time Crime Center, police will still have to go to the owner of the surveillance system to retrieve the video so it can be used as evidence in a criminal case.
He said that will need to be done because the Real Time Crime Center will not have any storage capacity within its system. Even if it did, he said, it wouldn't be practical to try to retrieve it once it was in the system because there would be no way of cataloging it.
Brian D. Halloran, president of the police patrolmen's union, spoke in favor of the Real Time Crime Center, saying it will be an invaluable tool in assisting police to do their job and, in the process, could help save lives as well.
"It's absolutely 100 percent the right thing to be doing and we back it," Officer Halloran said. "Having access to this kind of system will put officer safety paramount to everything else."
Enerati uses easy to deploy wireless sensors that give users real time feedback on how well their operations are performing. The solution gives small companies the ability to monitor electricity, gas and water usage in one minute intervals. In addition the service can track multiple locations concurrently. Enerati notification program alerts users automatically if certain events occur in real time and therefore allow users to react quickly, whether a freezer is not working properly in a small pizza restaurant or a pump is being overloaded at a local factory.
Low cost wireless sensors are manufactured by Current Cost, one of the largest suppliers of energy monitoring systems worldwide. The sensors wirelessly send real time updates to an internet connected gateway that automatically upload live data to the Enerati cloud. Installation usually takes less than one hour. Standard monitoring kits retail for $189 and are capable of monitoring the energy usage for one whole building. The standard kit can be expanded with 9 additional wireless sensors that can measure single outlets, other hardwired panels, solar installations, generators, water and gas meters.
Enerati offers three online subscription plans. The LITE plan is free and can be used single locations with only one sensor, The BASIC plan is $3 per month per location and shows up to 10 sensors with full analysis, reporting and alerts. The PROFESSIONAL plan is only $5 per month and is perfect for organizations with multiple locations.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Can Xi Jinping bring about the change China needs?
In contrast to his predecessor, Hu Jintao, who always seemed to be reciting an officially approved text, the stocky, 59-year-old Xi seemed to speak with genuine personal feeling of what needs to be done in this nation of 1.3 billion people.
He talked of people's desire for a better life, for better jobs, education and health care – and for less pollution. He flashed his chubby smile unlike the ever dour Hu. His slightly bearlike stance contrasted with the ramrod backs of the Communist Party elite standing with him on the stage in the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
There was even an impromptu element in an unexplained hour's delay in starting this final event of the week-long Communist Party Congress which has installed the country's new leadership.
Some observers with long memories of the old Soviet Union compared it to the early appearance of Mikhail Gorbachev as he sought to move the USSR towards a more relaxed and responsible system. But any comparison with Gorbachev would be an anathema to Xi and his colleagues – Gorbachev is a dirty name in China as the man who relaxed the Party's grip and brought disaster down upon it.
On the one hand, its leaders acknowledge the major challenges facing them but, on the other, they are extremely reluctant to alter the power structure or the reliance of economic growth which have produced many of these problems. Meanwhile they indulge in backstairs politicking worthy of any Western party.
They fear that political reform would bring the whole edifice tumbling down, Gorbachev style. They stress Party unity above all, particularly since the drama surrounding the fall of the maverick politician, Bo Xilai, who crashed to earth this year accused of crimes, corruption and womanising after the mysterious death of the British businessman, Neil Heywood, in his southwestern fiefdom of Chongqing – but whose real sin was to have emerged as a challenger to the consensus machine that runs the People's Republic.
The bureaucracy and powerful vested interests, especially in the huge state sector of the economy, oppose reform that could affect their privileged positions. Popular protests, running to some 150,000 a year, have been met by an expansion of spending on state security, now larger than the military budget. Media are tightly controlled and censors patrol the internet.
While individual liberties have greatly increased, anybody who tries to organise political opposition is likely to end up in jail, as in the case of the Nobel Peave Prize winner, Liu Xiabao who is serving 11 years for having organised a petition in favour of democracy. Xi may smile for the cameras but this remains an iron-fisted regime which has control in all forms at its heart.
Yet, outside the serried ranks of delegates in the Great Hall of the People, everyday life in Beijing and across China went on last week in a way that takes as little account as possible of the ruling autocracy. Rather than Communism or Confucianism, the "ism" that rules in today's China is materialism. Having had a terrible 30 years under Mao, the Chinese have grasped the opportunities of market-led economic reform with both hands.
Fees from Chinese students boost university funding in Britain, Australia and the United States; Chinese leaders may extol the riches of their country's culture and civilisation but they often send their children to study abroad – Xi Jinping's daughter is at Harvard under a pseudonym and Bo Xilai's son also studied there after having gone through Harrow School and Oxford.
The disjunction between the opaque, hermetically-sealed one-party system and this rapidly evolving society is the main challenge for the regime. For all his apparent normalness on Thursday, Xi's steady rise through the ranks of the provincial bureaucracy to power at the centre as Communist General is symptomatic of how things actually work in China.
This is not the meritocracy which China boosters proclaim as being superior to messy Western democracy. You only move up the ladder in China if you belong to the Party, and that covers only 6 per cent of the population. How you rise certainly depends on your performance, but also on your contacts.
Xi is the son of a revolutionary general who was purged in the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76 – the young Xi was "sent down" to the countryside where he lived in a cave and looked after pigs. When his father was rehabilitated as Deng Xiaoping launched economic reform at the end of the 1970s, the son worked for a prominent general and then rose through administrative and Party posts in booming coastal provinces.
He talked of people's desire for a better life, for better jobs, education and health care – and for less pollution. He flashed his chubby smile unlike the ever dour Hu. His slightly bearlike stance contrasted with the ramrod backs of the Communist Party elite standing with him on the stage in the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
There was even an impromptu element in an unexplained hour's delay in starting this final event of the week-long Communist Party Congress which has installed the country's new leadership.
Some observers with long memories of the old Soviet Union compared it to the early appearance of Mikhail Gorbachev as he sought to move the USSR towards a more relaxed and responsible system. But any comparison with Gorbachev would be an anathema to Xi and his colleagues – Gorbachev is a dirty name in China as the man who relaxed the Party's grip and brought disaster down upon it.
On the one hand, its leaders acknowledge the major challenges facing them but, on the other, they are extremely reluctant to alter the power structure or the reliance of economic growth which have produced many of these problems. Meanwhile they indulge in backstairs politicking worthy of any Western party.
They fear that political reform would bring the whole edifice tumbling down, Gorbachev style. They stress Party unity above all, particularly since the drama surrounding the fall of the maverick politician, Bo Xilai, who crashed to earth this year accused of crimes, corruption and womanising after the mysterious death of the British businessman, Neil Heywood, in his southwestern fiefdom of Chongqing – but whose real sin was to have emerged as a challenger to the consensus machine that runs the People's Republic.
The bureaucracy and powerful vested interests, especially in the huge state sector of the economy, oppose reform that could affect their privileged positions. Popular protests, running to some 150,000 a year, have been met by an expansion of spending on state security, now larger than the military budget. Media are tightly controlled and censors patrol the internet.
While individual liberties have greatly increased, anybody who tries to organise political opposition is likely to end up in jail, as in the case of the Nobel Peave Prize winner, Liu Xiabao who is serving 11 years for having organised a petition in favour of democracy. Xi may smile for the cameras but this remains an iron-fisted regime which has control in all forms at its heart.
Yet, outside the serried ranks of delegates in the Great Hall of the People, everyday life in Beijing and across China went on last week in a way that takes as little account as possible of the ruling autocracy. Rather than Communism or Confucianism, the "ism" that rules in today's China is materialism. Having had a terrible 30 years under Mao, the Chinese have grasped the opportunities of market-led economic reform with both hands.
Fees from Chinese students boost university funding in Britain, Australia and the United States; Chinese leaders may extol the riches of their country's culture and civilisation but they often send their children to study abroad – Xi Jinping's daughter is at Harvard under a pseudonym and Bo Xilai's son also studied there after having gone through Harrow School and Oxford.
The disjunction between the opaque, hermetically-sealed one-party system and this rapidly evolving society is the main challenge for the regime. For all his apparent normalness on Thursday, Xi's steady rise through the ranks of the provincial bureaucracy to power at the centre as Communist General is symptomatic of how things actually work in China.
This is not the meritocracy which China boosters proclaim as being superior to messy Western democracy. You only move up the ladder in China if you belong to the Party, and that covers only 6 per cent of the population. How you rise certainly depends on your performance, but also on your contacts.
Xi is the son of a revolutionary general who was purged in the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76 – the young Xi was "sent down" to the countryside where he lived in a cave and looked after pigs. When his father was rehabilitated as Deng Xiaoping launched economic reform at the end of the 1970s, the son worked for a prominent general and then rose through administrative and Party posts in booming coastal provinces.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Real Cyberforensics Used To Snoop On Petraeus
In an increasingly weird and tangled affair, Former CIA director David Petraeus, Marine General John R. Allen, Paula Broadwell, Jill Kelley, an unnamed FBI Agent, and others all used various anonymous accounts and message-masking techniques pioneered by terrorists and teens alike. They thought they were communicating with each other with discretion and secrecy.
That's because they're practiced in the field of cyberforensics--detailed Internet and technology detective techniques used every day all around the world. When it comes to the vast majority of activity by Internet users, it's amazingly easy to trace fake email addresses and anonymous blogs back to their owners. Or, put another way, if the director of the CIA's undercover ops can be cracked, so can yours. Here's how.
Cyberforensics firms regularly show up on retainer or on the payroll of law enforcement, lawyers of all stripes, lobbyists, and even intelligence agencies. Every activity on the Internet leaves identity breadcrumbs in the form of activity logs, cookies, GPS activity from mobile phones, and even logs of camera activity and keyboard use secretly copied from targets' computers. Given enough manpower hours, cyberforensics experts can reconstruct the tiniest minutiae of any phone or computer owner's lives. Law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies also retain their own in-house cyberforensics experts.
The FBI gained access to anonymous Gmail accounts traced to Petraeus and Broadwell through a law, more than 25 years old, that gives law enforcement carte blanche to snoop in email accounts. Provisions of 1986's Stored Communications Act (SCA) allow “government entities” to access email records in storage for less than 180 days “if there is reasonable cause to believe a crime has been committed.” For email records that are older than 180 days, a warrant is required. Using the SCA, FBI investigators were able to obtain access to emails Broadwell and Petraeus wrote via Gmail over the past six months. Google routinely discloses government queries into Gmail's archives, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others have raised concerns over the SCA, an email bill written back in the halcyon days of Compuserve and GEnie.
Both Petraeus and Broadwell were savvy enough to use Gmail accounts with fake names. But while Petraeus knew his way around email, he wasn't savvy enough for Broadwell and him to take precautions that could have hidden any incriminating emails. Neither used identity-obscuring VPNs and rerouting solutions such as the Tor Project, which could have hindered the FBI from tracing, for instance, Broadwell's fake email account back to her North Carolina home. Apart from Tor, commercially available end-user solutions such as Hotspot Shield and LogMeIn Hamachi obscure the origination points of email messages with varying levels of success. It is important to note that many of those services, especially those that use American servers, may keep IP address logs that are accessible to investigators or hackers.
Darren R. Hayes, the head of Pace University's Computer Information Systems program and a computer forensics expert, tells Fast Company that there are numerous ways for anonymous email accounts to escape detection, or to at least make the process much harder. Commercial services such as GuerillaMail and Mailinator offer disposable, throwaway email addresses whose data can be held on foreign servers outside the reach of the American government; VPNs also make tracing emails much harder.
The FBI, NSA, local police departments, and other government entities can all access email account records and histories via sending requests to Google, AOL, and others. These accounts customarily request all information associated with an IP address--meaning that all the email addresses from a household, whether involved in an investigation or not, are culled by law enforcement.
Cyberforensics, though not regularly discussed in the press, are a booming industry. “These days, virtually all cases involve digital evidence. Whether the case is counterterrorism, kidnapping, drugs, or a white collar crime, digital evidence is key,” AccessData's Erika Lee tells Fast Company. AccessData, which sells computer forensics software to investigators parsing electronic records and corporations tracing the perpetrators of hacking attacks, is part of a field that does everything from parse the physical locations Facebook status updates were posted from to uncovering the Chinese cybercafes where multimillion dollar attacks on banks were launched from.
That's because they're practiced in the field of cyberforensics--detailed Internet and technology detective techniques used every day all around the world. When it comes to the vast majority of activity by Internet users, it's amazingly easy to trace fake email addresses and anonymous blogs back to their owners. Or, put another way, if the director of the CIA's undercover ops can be cracked, so can yours. Here's how.
Cyberforensics firms regularly show up on retainer or on the payroll of law enforcement, lawyers of all stripes, lobbyists, and even intelligence agencies. Every activity on the Internet leaves identity breadcrumbs in the form of activity logs, cookies, GPS activity from mobile phones, and even logs of camera activity and keyboard use secretly copied from targets' computers. Given enough manpower hours, cyberforensics experts can reconstruct the tiniest minutiae of any phone or computer owner's lives. Law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies also retain their own in-house cyberforensics experts.
The FBI gained access to anonymous Gmail accounts traced to Petraeus and Broadwell through a law, more than 25 years old, that gives law enforcement carte blanche to snoop in email accounts. Provisions of 1986's Stored Communications Act (SCA) allow “government entities” to access email records in storage for less than 180 days “if there is reasonable cause to believe a crime has been committed.” For email records that are older than 180 days, a warrant is required. Using the SCA, FBI investigators were able to obtain access to emails Broadwell and Petraeus wrote via Gmail over the past six months. Google routinely discloses government queries into Gmail's archives, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others have raised concerns over the SCA, an email bill written back in the halcyon days of Compuserve and GEnie.
Both Petraeus and Broadwell were savvy enough to use Gmail accounts with fake names. But while Petraeus knew his way around email, he wasn't savvy enough for Broadwell and him to take precautions that could have hidden any incriminating emails. Neither used identity-obscuring VPNs and rerouting solutions such as the Tor Project, which could have hindered the FBI from tracing, for instance, Broadwell's fake email account back to her North Carolina home. Apart from Tor, commercially available end-user solutions such as Hotspot Shield and LogMeIn Hamachi obscure the origination points of email messages with varying levels of success. It is important to note that many of those services, especially those that use American servers, may keep IP address logs that are accessible to investigators or hackers.
Darren R. Hayes, the head of Pace University's Computer Information Systems program and a computer forensics expert, tells Fast Company that there are numerous ways for anonymous email accounts to escape detection, or to at least make the process much harder. Commercial services such as GuerillaMail and Mailinator offer disposable, throwaway email addresses whose data can be held on foreign servers outside the reach of the American government; VPNs also make tracing emails much harder.
The FBI, NSA, local police departments, and other government entities can all access email account records and histories via sending requests to Google, AOL, and others. These accounts customarily request all information associated with an IP address--meaning that all the email addresses from a household, whether involved in an investigation or not, are culled by law enforcement.
Cyberforensics, though not regularly discussed in the press, are a booming industry. “These days, virtually all cases involve digital evidence. Whether the case is counterterrorism, kidnapping, drugs, or a white collar crime, digital evidence is key,” AccessData's Erika Lee tells Fast Company. AccessData, which sells computer forensics software to investigators parsing electronic records and corporations tracing the perpetrators of hacking attacks, is part of a field that does everything from parse the physical locations Facebook status updates were posted from to uncovering the Chinese cybercafes where multimillion dollar attacks on banks were launched from.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Whisper App Allows Anonymous Dialogue
Whisper’s founder Michael Heyward further clarified how the app allows users to make connections locally. “The most important thing to remember is that Whisper is 100% anonymous. And we encourage people who download the app to enable [its] location feature because it makes the app more exciting. You can set it up so you get a notification anytime someone has whispered nearby you, keeping you engaged in the on-campus network. You can make your location or Whisper identity as private or public as you like. For instance, even if the location setting is enabled, you can put your location as broad as “Massachusetts” or as specific as “Mortimer Rare Book Room in Smith College Library.”
Heyward was careful to emphasize the positive aspects of anonymity when it comes to building supportive college communities. He believes that the app can be particularly useful for college students, especially those who feel isolated from their larger communities.
“So far, Whisper has been used to help people connect with each other about the realities of their campus experience,” Heyward said. “A lot of Whisper users respond to one another expressing shared feelings and compassion, so in this way it’s been a great tool for students to support one another in a safe manner. There are also starting to be instances of people on Whisper meeting up in “real life.” At UCLA, several students from Whisper “met” on the app and ended up meeting in person by the campus Bruin Bear statue.
Madeline Britvec ’15, however, questioned the safety of allowing users to give away their exact location. “Although the app seems to form a sense of community it seems a little invasive and possibly unsafe,” Britvec said. “I, personally, wouldn’t want to meet up with strangers who knew my ‘deepest darkest secrets.’” Past issues with the Smith College ACB and conflicts over the Smith Confessional have also led to concerns over anonymous bullying and harassment.
Heyward’s positive characterization of the app can be seen in many local – within about 50 miles – postings. In one exchange, a local Whisperer wrote, “My therapist is sending me to a psychiatrist today. I’m terrified,” to which others responded with encouragements such as, “Don’t be scared. You’re exactly where you need to be at this moment of time. Best wishes for your recovery.” But not all posts are so serious. Another Whisperer proudly posts a picture of his/her cat and the text reads, “My cat is my best friend.”
One reality that the app does not seem to address is socio-economic diversity, because the app is a mobile-only platform. Heyward expressed concern over this problem and explained the decision to create an iPhone app rather than a Web site.
“Creators chose to make it an app because they wanted it to be extremely interactive,” Heyward explained. “Whisper is more like its own social network. On the app, users are having dialogues by responding to each other’s posts. In terms of eliminating lower socio-economic classes, we certainly had no intention of this happening and we are actively working on a version of Whisper for non-iPhone users such as Android.” In such a case, the app would still require users to own a smart phone.
Losses suffered by businesses have been more difficult to quantify, with hundreds affected initially by evacuations that forced retailers, restaurants and other companies to shut down for more than a week and hundreds more losing bookings in the weeks after the 18,000-acre blaze. Lodging and tourism appear to have felt the brunt of the economic impact, with the occupancy rate in local hotels falling in July from the year before by the largest percentage in more than a decade.
Volunteers from the Colorado Springs Small Business Development Center, Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Colorado Springs Community Alliance contacted or were contacted by more than 1,500 businesses since June 29 in areas that were either evacuated or put on notice of potential evacuation. Based on those calls, the center estimates those businesses lost $7.1 million in sales as a result of the fire, but that estimate could increase as businesses close out their books for the year. More than 30 local businesses sought special loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration available to businesses hurt by the fire.
Here are the stories of five businesses who sought help from the Small Business Development Center and got assistance with marketing, legal issues, business and flood insurance, seeking new loans or restructuring existing loans. In the wake of the fire, each suffered sales losses totaling thousands of dollars that forced owners to cut back on hiring workers, delay paying some bills and cut back on new inventory purchases. All report that sales have come back in recent weeks, but each is still recovering from the financial losses they suffered as a result of the fire.
Heyward was careful to emphasize the positive aspects of anonymity when it comes to building supportive college communities. He believes that the app can be particularly useful for college students, especially those who feel isolated from their larger communities.
“So far, Whisper has been used to help people connect with each other about the realities of their campus experience,” Heyward said. “A lot of Whisper users respond to one another expressing shared feelings and compassion, so in this way it’s been a great tool for students to support one another in a safe manner. There are also starting to be instances of people on Whisper meeting up in “real life.” At UCLA, several students from Whisper “met” on the app and ended up meeting in person by the campus Bruin Bear statue.
Madeline Britvec ’15, however, questioned the safety of allowing users to give away their exact location. “Although the app seems to form a sense of community it seems a little invasive and possibly unsafe,” Britvec said. “I, personally, wouldn’t want to meet up with strangers who knew my ‘deepest darkest secrets.’” Past issues with the Smith College ACB and conflicts over the Smith Confessional have also led to concerns over anonymous bullying and harassment.
Heyward’s positive characterization of the app can be seen in many local – within about 50 miles – postings. In one exchange, a local Whisperer wrote, “My therapist is sending me to a psychiatrist today. I’m terrified,” to which others responded with encouragements such as, “Don’t be scared. You’re exactly where you need to be at this moment of time. Best wishes for your recovery.” But not all posts are so serious. Another Whisperer proudly posts a picture of his/her cat and the text reads, “My cat is my best friend.”
One reality that the app does not seem to address is socio-economic diversity, because the app is a mobile-only platform. Heyward expressed concern over this problem and explained the decision to create an iPhone app rather than a Web site.
“Creators chose to make it an app because they wanted it to be extremely interactive,” Heyward explained. “Whisper is more like its own social network. On the app, users are having dialogues by responding to each other’s posts. In terms of eliminating lower socio-economic classes, we certainly had no intention of this happening and we are actively working on a version of Whisper for non-iPhone users such as Android.” In such a case, the app would still require users to own a smart phone.
Losses suffered by businesses have been more difficult to quantify, with hundreds affected initially by evacuations that forced retailers, restaurants and other companies to shut down for more than a week and hundreds more losing bookings in the weeks after the 18,000-acre blaze. Lodging and tourism appear to have felt the brunt of the economic impact, with the occupancy rate in local hotels falling in July from the year before by the largest percentage in more than a decade.
Volunteers from the Colorado Springs Small Business Development Center, Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Colorado Springs Community Alliance contacted or were contacted by more than 1,500 businesses since June 29 in areas that were either evacuated or put on notice of potential evacuation. Based on those calls, the center estimates those businesses lost $7.1 million in sales as a result of the fire, but that estimate could increase as businesses close out their books for the year. More than 30 local businesses sought special loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration available to businesses hurt by the fire.
Here are the stories of five businesses who sought help from the Small Business Development Center and got assistance with marketing, legal issues, business and flood insurance, seeking new loans or restructuring existing loans. In the wake of the fire, each suffered sales losses totaling thousands of dollars that forced owners to cut back on hiring workers, delay paying some bills and cut back on new inventory purchases. All report that sales have come back in recent weeks, but each is still recovering from the financial losses they suffered as a result of the fire.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Satnav app maker Waze starts location-based ads
Mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze launched a global advertising platform on Wednesday, targeting its 30 million users based on their location.
Waze, founded in 2009 in Israel, uses satellite signals from members' smartphones to generate maps and traffic data, which it then shares with other users, offering real-time traffic info.
The quality of data improves as more drivers join the network and use it. The number of users has jumped to 30 million from just 7 million 12 months ago.
Smartphone users can use Waze's service for free and it aims to make money from ads of local merchants and big brands by attracting mobile customers on the road nearby.
Location-based advertising is often seen as a massive opportunity the mobile industry, but so far worries over privacy have hampered its growth.
Waze gets around this by displaying its information from drivers anonymously, with a delay, although members can choose to identify themselves if they wish.
"Waze is right to start building up location based advertising, but it shouldn't have inflated expectations. This is a busy and confusing field, and many advertisers will stick with the big brand players, such as Google and Facebook," said analyst Martin Garner from British consultancy CCS Insight.
Waze says it saw a jump in downloads of its app after Apple chief executive Tim Cook, in an unusual move after the launch of iPhone 5, suggested that customers download rival mapping services like Waze while Apple improves its own maps.
While other satellite navigation providers help drivers find the way to sites they do not know - something a typical driver needs on a holiday or in a new town - Waze aims to save drivers time on their usual routes by suggesting faster, alternative ways.
Waze sees Google as its most direct rival, but in the larger navigation market it also competes with TomTom , Nokia, Garmin and Telenav .
A new app aimed at providing politicians and other government officials with streamlined access to relevant information is currently being trialled ahead of an expected 2013 rollout – by none other than Prime Minister David Cameron himself.
South London-based start-up Adzuna, which specialises in aggregating online data via a vertical search engine, has produced the programme, codenamed "Number 10 dashboard."
The software, currently in beta stage, gives the PM at-a-glance access to a range of real-time and location-specific data, like statistics on employment and housing, as well as offering 'public mood' insight gleamed from social media.
In other words, rather than relying on aides to compile dossiers ahead of political engagements - which carries the risk of both human error and of information being outdated by the time it is presented - Adzuna's system utilises an advanced web crawler programme that draws on a range of third-party sources, like Google for search trends and YouGov for data, as well as compressing important social network activity.
Waze, founded in 2009 in Israel, uses satellite signals from members' smartphones to generate maps and traffic data, which it then shares with other users, offering real-time traffic info.
The quality of data improves as more drivers join the network and use it. The number of users has jumped to 30 million from just 7 million 12 months ago.
Smartphone users can use Waze's service for free and it aims to make money from ads of local merchants and big brands by attracting mobile customers on the road nearby.
Location-based advertising is often seen as a massive opportunity the mobile industry, but so far worries over privacy have hampered its growth.
Waze gets around this by displaying its information from drivers anonymously, with a delay, although members can choose to identify themselves if they wish.
"Waze is right to start building up location based advertising, but it shouldn't have inflated expectations. This is a busy and confusing field, and many advertisers will stick with the big brand players, such as Google and Facebook," said analyst Martin Garner from British consultancy CCS Insight.
Waze says it saw a jump in downloads of its app after Apple chief executive Tim Cook, in an unusual move after the launch of iPhone 5, suggested that customers download rival mapping services like Waze while Apple improves its own maps.
While other satellite navigation providers help drivers find the way to sites they do not know - something a typical driver needs on a holiday or in a new town - Waze aims to save drivers time on their usual routes by suggesting faster, alternative ways.
Waze sees Google as its most direct rival, but in the larger navigation market it also competes with TomTom , Nokia, Garmin and Telenav .
A new app aimed at providing politicians and other government officials with streamlined access to relevant information is currently being trialled ahead of an expected 2013 rollout – by none other than Prime Minister David Cameron himself.
South London-based start-up Adzuna, which specialises in aggregating online data via a vertical search engine, has produced the programme, codenamed "Number 10 dashboard."
The software, currently in beta stage, gives the PM at-a-glance access to a range of real-time and location-specific data, like statistics on employment and housing, as well as offering 'public mood' insight gleamed from social media.
In other words, rather than relying on aides to compile dossiers ahead of political engagements - which carries the risk of both human error and of information being outdated by the time it is presented - Adzuna's system utilises an advanced web crawler programme that draws on a range of third-party sources, like Google for search trends and YouGov for data, as well as compressing important social network activity.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
The simplest things can be the most important
What a mess, to even consider the ramifications of having your data center equipment be underwater or completely cut off from power and or networking. For many it’s almost too much to consider. The very fact that a situation like Hurricane Sandy could occur is the reason why you can’t bury your head in the sand about disaster planning.
You may not get the budget or buy-in to create a real business continuity plan, but if you can’t get one, then a communication plan might just be the best return on investment for the time and cost.
It seems simple, but communications is the single most critical capability post disaster. If your customers don’t hear from you, they assume you’re either out of business, or at a minimum unlikely to keep near term commitments. As anyone calling a customer support center will tell you, the black hole of “not knowing” is worse than being told, “it might be another day.” With a timeline the customer can react and plan, without it, she is at the whim of her vendor, which is now making her look bad with her customers.
During the disaster and the recovery these efforts will let you tell the customer know what’s going on. You can provide comfort to concerned families, partners and employees. Simple messages indicating what you’re doing, what your update schedule will be and how company representatives can be reached are all key objectives of the communications effort.
Of course, each communication tool has its advantages and disadvantages. I don’t recommend social media as the primary communication solution in lieu of email and phones. You still need the ability to provide targeted information to your customers and partners that would go way beyond the hit and miss capabilities of social media. Each of the tools listed above have capabilities that make them more suited for certain types of communication requirements.
In the case of social media the updates are really general and meant to satisfy the casual observer, while also updating those who do follow your tweets, LinkedIn updates, and Facebook posts closely. However, you shouldn’t consider it a substitute for direct communication with customers/partners via phone or email.
While these efforts aren’t an alternative to a real business continuity effort, like a weight loss plan or cleaning out the garage, taking small but measurable steps is often the key to making “something” happen. Each of the objectives listed above are relatively inexpensive and very easy to explain or justify to your leadership. At a minimum it will demonstrate that you’re taking the lead on “doing something” rather than ignoring the issue and blaming corporate inertia. You’ll certainly be doing your company a huge favor by ensuring that they don’t appear to disappear from the face of the earth when a disaster occurs.
You may not get the budget or buy-in to create a real business continuity plan, but if you can’t get one, then a communication plan might just be the best return on investment for the time and cost.
It seems simple, but communications is the single most critical capability post disaster. If your customers don’t hear from you, they assume you’re either out of business, or at a minimum unlikely to keep near term commitments. As anyone calling a customer support center will tell you, the black hole of “not knowing” is worse than being told, “it might be another day.” With a timeline the customer can react and plan, without it, she is at the whim of her vendor, which is now making her look bad with her customers.
During the disaster and the recovery these efforts will let you tell the customer know what’s going on. You can provide comfort to concerned families, partners and employees. Simple messages indicating what you’re doing, what your update schedule will be and how company representatives can be reached are all key objectives of the communications effort.
Of course, each communication tool has its advantages and disadvantages. I don’t recommend social media as the primary communication solution in lieu of email and phones. You still need the ability to provide targeted information to your customers and partners that would go way beyond the hit and miss capabilities of social media. Each of the tools listed above have capabilities that make them more suited for certain types of communication requirements.
In the case of social media the updates are really general and meant to satisfy the casual observer, while also updating those who do follow your tweets, LinkedIn updates, and Facebook posts closely. However, you shouldn’t consider it a substitute for direct communication with customers/partners via phone or email.
While these efforts aren’t an alternative to a real business continuity effort, like a weight loss plan or cleaning out the garage, taking small but measurable steps is often the key to making “something” happen. Each of the objectives listed above are relatively inexpensive and very easy to explain or justify to your leadership. At a minimum it will demonstrate that you’re taking the lead on “doing something” rather than ignoring the issue and blaming corporate inertia. You’ll certainly be doing your company a huge favor by ensuring that they don’t appear to disappear from the face of the earth when a disaster occurs.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Should Citizens Be Allowed to Own Guns?
The rising case of insecurity in the country has given room for many debates, one of which included the creation of state police to tackle the spate of general insecurity in the country. However, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) added a new twist to the whole debate when it recently called the Federal Government to consider the relaxation of gun ownership laws as a way to reduce crime. In other words, he wanted more private citizens to have access to guns. Michael Oche examines the scenario.
"It will lead to anarchy" was the first response by Dr. Emmanuel Oga when the question was thrown to him. The suspicion however was suppressed by the NMA President, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, who argued that "in view of psychological fear factor among criminals or vandals, liberal gun ownership will curb criminality among hoodlums." The NMA's call for arms in private hands is premised on deterrence, that potential perpetrators are less likely to attack if they know their victims bear arms.
Another respondent, Ishiaku Abdul argued that "We are civilians, we should be like one and let the authorities handle the safety and security of us." But another respondent, Okoye Samuel countered that; "I believe that private individuals have a right to own guns. I do feel that there should be strict testing, though, before they are allowed to buy one. With the way the crime rates are now, individuals need ways to protect themselves."
The NMA argument also came amidst concern that "several doctors have been kidnapped even while on emergency and call duty within hospital premises."
"That will mean lawyers, teachers and even journalists should also carry guns because they have often been targeted as well," Abdul argued.
Amazingly, the debate seemed centered on the argument that with everyone having guns, killing rate will go up and later stablise. On the other side of the debate is also the argument that the large number of illegal guns in circulation in Nigeria is what has led to the increased insecurity.
NMA argued that over time, its members have become targets of kidnappers who make quick and easy money from the collection of ransom. One of such cases was the kidnap last year of a certain Dr. Stanley Uche, the proprietor of Victory Christian Hospital, Aba, Abia State. His corpse was recovered after a ransom of N30 million had been reportedly paid.
A few months ago, another doctor, Adegboyega Rufai, in Oko-Oba area of Lagos, was reportedly shot dead by unknown gun men who walked into the premises of his private hospital and requested an audience with him. Many medical directors of hospitals, including Dr. Adebowale Saddiq of Mount Arafat Hospital, Nsukka and Prof. Michael Ibadin of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo State, have also been victims of kidnapping since the escalation of the vice across the country.
However, Dr. Emmanuel Oga of the Society of Nigerian Doctors for the Welfare of Mankind (SNDWM) said "The gun control debate is one that has been around for decades, and is unlikely to go away; it is one issue we must continue to dialogue on. It is our opinion that the NMA remarks were wide off the mark and portrays a one-sided view of the problems in Nigeria.
While these remarks are borne out of the belief that private gun ownership reduces violence by serving as a "deterrent" to potential criminals, it is disingenuous to ignore the real possibility that easy access to weapons will worsen the security situation in this country.
He said further, "As rife as gun violence is in Nigeria, there is reason to believe it could and would not be abated with easy accessibility of guns. Also, the "deterrent" argument is flawed; a criminal (who had no plan to kill ab initio) is more likely to kill his victim if he perceives the victim as a threat to his own life, such as a victim who owns a gun. If the to-be victim has a pistol, the criminals will show up with automatic rifle and so on. It is difficult to see how this benefits society.
Another aspect of private gun ownership which he overlooked is that which makes it all the more likely for guns to cause domestic harm and acerbate lethality during episodes of violence among intimate partners: An unsuspecting child or ward, a careless adult relative or indeed the owner of such a gun might in a moment of curiosity and plane stupidity or needless machismo inflict permanent injury on loved ones."
"It will lead to anarchy" was the first response by Dr. Emmanuel Oga when the question was thrown to him. The suspicion however was suppressed by the NMA President, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, who argued that "in view of psychological fear factor among criminals or vandals, liberal gun ownership will curb criminality among hoodlums." The NMA's call for arms in private hands is premised on deterrence, that potential perpetrators are less likely to attack if they know their victims bear arms.
Another respondent, Ishiaku Abdul argued that "We are civilians, we should be like one and let the authorities handle the safety and security of us." But another respondent, Okoye Samuel countered that; "I believe that private individuals have a right to own guns. I do feel that there should be strict testing, though, before they are allowed to buy one. With the way the crime rates are now, individuals need ways to protect themselves."
The NMA argument also came amidst concern that "several doctors have been kidnapped even while on emergency and call duty within hospital premises."
"That will mean lawyers, teachers and even journalists should also carry guns because they have often been targeted as well," Abdul argued.
Amazingly, the debate seemed centered on the argument that with everyone having guns, killing rate will go up and later stablise. On the other side of the debate is also the argument that the large number of illegal guns in circulation in Nigeria is what has led to the increased insecurity.
NMA argued that over time, its members have become targets of kidnappers who make quick and easy money from the collection of ransom. One of such cases was the kidnap last year of a certain Dr. Stanley Uche, the proprietor of Victory Christian Hospital, Aba, Abia State. His corpse was recovered after a ransom of N30 million had been reportedly paid.
A few months ago, another doctor, Adegboyega Rufai, in Oko-Oba area of Lagos, was reportedly shot dead by unknown gun men who walked into the premises of his private hospital and requested an audience with him. Many medical directors of hospitals, including Dr. Adebowale Saddiq of Mount Arafat Hospital, Nsukka and Prof. Michael Ibadin of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo State, have also been victims of kidnapping since the escalation of the vice across the country.
However, Dr. Emmanuel Oga of the Society of Nigerian Doctors for the Welfare of Mankind (SNDWM) said "The gun control debate is one that has been around for decades, and is unlikely to go away; it is one issue we must continue to dialogue on. It is our opinion that the NMA remarks were wide off the mark and portrays a one-sided view of the problems in Nigeria.
While these remarks are borne out of the belief that private gun ownership reduces violence by serving as a "deterrent" to potential criminals, it is disingenuous to ignore the real possibility that easy access to weapons will worsen the security situation in this country.
He said further, "As rife as gun violence is in Nigeria, there is reason to believe it could and would not be abated with easy accessibility of guns. Also, the "deterrent" argument is flawed; a criminal (who had no plan to kill ab initio) is more likely to kill his victim if he perceives the victim as a threat to his own life, such as a victim who owns a gun. If the to-be victim has a pistol, the criminals will show up with automatic rifle and so on. It is difficult to see how this benefits society.
Another aspect of private gun ownership which he overlooked is that which makes it all the more likely for guns to cause domestic harm and acerbate lethality during episodes of violence among intimate partners: An unsuspecting child or ward, a careless adult relative or indeed the owner of such a gun might in a moment of curiosity and plane stupidity or needless machismo inflict permanent injury on loved ones."
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Why Privacy Is the Future of Competition
Data protection legislation may protect our data locally, but internationally privacy is not just a personal issue, it lies at the heart of ensuring competitive markets.
As the digital revolutions continues to fueled in a large part by advertising spending, a data arms race is emerging, with a handful of multi-billion dollar corporations engaged in a battle to know more about us -- and therefore better target adverts -- than their competitors.
This race to the bottom, where respecting consumer privacy is an obstacle to greater profit is the stark reality of a digital world where services are free and data is valuable. We are not customers, but a product, to be repackaged and marketed to the highest bidder.
In March this year, perhaps the single most important test for this balance began. Google, in what was purported to be a simplification of their existing product-specific privacy policies, a new, all-encompassing policy was implemented, despite a request from European data protection regulators for more time to assess the impact for consumer privacy.
The silo-walls came down, with a tsunami of information released across Google's operations. European regulators launched an investigation, working together as the Article 29 Working party.
Last week, 36 global privacy regulators wrote to Google, endorsing a report that found Google "doesn't respect" European privacy law, is not transparent with users about what it does with their data. Crucially, they warned Google doesn't give consumers a real choice about how to protect their privacy.
Their concerns are not new -- indeed, as we warned when we highlighted that only 12% of people had even read the new policy, it was unlikely those who read it would have understood it. The policy uses eight different terms relating to data and personal information, which are seemingly the same and yet entirely different.
Following the report, I argued that Google was "keeping consumers in the dark" about how much data Google collects about them and what it does with that data. Consumer choice and consent relies on a full understanding of what is going on, and real choice. The Article 29 report highlights that consumers do not have such understanding, or a real choice.
The challenge going forward is not just how to protect privacy, but how to protect that choice. What use is a detailed understanding of a service's data collection if it's the only service to choose from?
Last week's letter details how Google currently controls 90% of the search market in Europe and around 50% of the smartphone operating system market. Combine that with details on billions of YouTube views, Gmails, websites visited where analytics software is installed and the full suite of Google services and you have an incredible wealth of data.
If more data means higher profits, or simply holding your own in the face of aggressive competitors, how do we protect privacy? By ensuring properly competitive markets. If data protection regulators cannot stop the collection of vast amounts of data -- a test failed long ago -- then competition regulators must step up to protect consumers. Limiting data collection and processing prevents one firm reaching the position where privacy regulator action becomes a cost of doing business, a price for staying on top.
Perhaps this is why we have seen so many arguably deliberate accidents in recent years at Google, from the illegal collection of Wi-Fi data from StreetView cars (and subsequent failure to delete all the data) to the Safari spying that saw iPhone users who had taken action to prevent tracking being tracked. The latter resulted in a $22.50 fine after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission found that Google had written code to deliberately evade the privacy protections in Apple's Safari Web browser, only a year after having signed an agreement with the same body to improve its privacy practices.
The test isn't just whether one company knows more about us than another -- it goes far broader than that. As our digital footprints grow exponentially, from the location data of our mobile phones to the videos we watch online, shopping habits to social media posts, we are gradually surrendering ownership of our identities.
The digital marketplace is already maturing, with the emergence of business models less dependent on advertising and privacy becoming a competitive advantage for some companies. The market is changing, but how can anyone compete in a marketplace dominated by Google -- the price of playing by the rules in a marketplace where one company can afford to set their own rules may well be total failure.
The investigation and global co-operation into Google's privacy policy is a good start, but the real test is if anything changes for consumers. The UK's regulator, the Information Commissioner, is limited to a maximum 500,000 fine, hardly likely to dent a company of Google's size. The time has come for privacy and competition regulators to act together, recognizing that it is essential for consumers not only to be fully informed about what happens to their data, but to have a real choice of service and on what terms those services are offered.
As the digital revolutions continues to fueled in a large part by advertising spending, a data arms race is emerging, with a handful of multi-billion dollar corporations engaged in a battle to know more about us -- and therefore better target adverts -- than their competitors.
This race to the bottom, where respecting consumer privacy is an obstacle to greater profit is the stark reality of a digital world where services are free and data is valuable. We are not customers, but a product, to be repackaged and marketed to the highest bidder.
In March this year, perhaps the single most important test for this balance began. Google, in what was purported to be a simplification of their existing product-specific privacy policies, a new, all-encompassing policy was implemented, despite a request from European data protection regulators for more time to assess the impact for consumer privacy.
The silo-walls came down, with a tsunami of information released across Google's operations. European regulators launched an investigation, working together as the Article 29 Working party.
Last week, 36 global privacy regulators wrote to Google, endorsing a report that found Google "doesn't respect" European privacy law, is not transparent with users about what it does with their data. Crucially, they warned Google doesn't give consumers a real choice about how to protect their privacy.
Their concerns are not new -- indeed, as we warned when we highlighted that only 12% of people had even read the new policy, it was unlikely those who read it would have understood it. The policy uses eight different terms relating to data and personal information, which are seemingly the same and yet entirely different.
Following the report, I argued that Google was "keeping consumers in the dark" about how much data Google collects about them and what it does with that data. Consumer choice and consent relies on a full understanding of what is going on, and real choice. The Article 29 report highlights that consumers do not have such understanding, or a real choice.
The challenge going forward is not just how to protect privacy, but how to protect that choice. What use is a detailed understanding of a service's data collection if it's the only service to choose from?
Last week's letter details how Google currently controls 90% of the search market in Europe and around 50% of the smartphone operating system market. Combine that with details on billions of YouTube views, Gmails, websites visited where analytics software is installed and the full suite of Google services and you have an incredible wealth of data.
If more data means higher profits, or simply holding your own in the face of aggressive competitors, how do we protect privacy? By ensuring properly competitive markets. If data protection regulators cannot stop the collection of vast amounts of data -- a test failed long ago -- then competition regulators must step up to protect consumers. Limiting data collection and processing prevents one firm reaching the position where privacy regulator action becomes a cost of doing business, a price for staying on top.
Perhaps this is why we have seen so many arguably deliberate accidents in recent years at Google, from the illegal collection of Wi-Fi data from StreetView cars (and subsequent failure to delete all the data) to the Safari spying that saw iPhone users who had taken action to prevent tracking being tracked. The latter resulted in a $22.50 fine after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission found that Google had written code to deliberately evade the privacy protections in Apple's Safari Web browser, only a year after having signed an agreement with the same body to improve its privacy practices.
The test isn't just whether one company knows more about us than another -- it goes far broader than that. As our digital footprints grow exponentially, from the location data of our mobile phones to the videos we watch online, shopping habits to social media posts, we are gradually surrendering ownership of our identities.
The digital marketplace is already maturing, with the emergence of business models less dependent on advertising and privacy becoming a competitive advantage for some companies. The market is changing, but how can anyone compete in a marketplace dominated by Google -- the price of playing by the rules in a marketplace where one company can afford to set their own rules may well be total failure.
The investigation and global co-operation into Google's privacy policy is a good start, but the real test is if anything changes for consumers. The UK's regulator, the Information Commissioner, is limited to a maximum 500,000 fine, hardly likely to dent a company of Google's size. The time has come for privacy and competition regulators to act together, recognizing that it is essential for consumers not only to be fully informed about what happens to their data, but to have a real choice of service and on what terms those services are offered.
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