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Advertising Guidelines To Enhance Privacy on the Web
07/03/2009 04:44 PM
The nation's largest media and marketing trade associations introduced a set of self-regulatory principles on Thursday to enhance privacy protection for consumers surfing the Web.
Among other things, advertisers and Web sites will be required to clearly inform consumers about the data-collection practices they use. The new guidelines also will enable online users to exercise control over their personal information.
"This historic collaboration represents businesses and trade associations working together to advance the public interest," said Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg. "We are acting early and aggressively on their concerns, to reinforce their trust in this vital medium that contributes so significantly to the U.S. economy."
The new set of principles represents the behavioral advertising industry's direct response to mounting criticism from members of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. Earlier this year, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz warned the industry that it needed to do a better job of delivering meaningful, rigorous self-regulation.
"Put simply, this could be the last clear chance to show that self-regulation can -- and will -- effectively protect consumers' privacy in a dynamic online marketplace," Leibowitz said.
Self-regulation, if it works, can be the fastest and best way to change the status quo, Leibowitz noted. "If there isn't an appropriately vigorous response, my sense is that Congress and the commission may move toward a more regulatory model," Leibowitz said.
The industry has incorporated many of the ideas that consumer advocacy watchdogs such as the Center for Democracy and Technology have suggested. On the upside, noted CDT Chief Computer Scientist Alissa Cooper, the guidelines include a robust framework for providing notice outside of privacy policies, and lay the groundwork for the use of a uniform link or icon that would appear on any Web site or advertisement where data is collected or used for...
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Teen Releases First Jailbreak App for iPhone 3GS
07/03/2009 03:34 PM
The first jailbreak application for Apple's new iPhone 3GS has been made available just two weeks after the iPhone debuted. George Hotz, a 19-year-old Google employee originally from New Jersey, created the application.
Jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS allows a user to install any programs directly onto the iPhone, including applications that are not from Apple.
Hotz, at the age of 16, was credited with being part of the team that unlocked the first-generation iPhone. The unlock, announced in a blog post, allowed users to operate the first-generation iPhone with any SIM card. Hotz traded his unlocked iPhone for three regular iPhones and a Nissan 350Z.
"Normally I don't make tools for the general public, and would rather wait for the development team to do it. But guys, what's up with waiting until 3.1? That isn't how the game is played," Hotz wrote in his blog Friday. "We release, Apple fixes, and we find new holes."
In his blog post, Hotz provides a step-by-step explanation of what users need to do to jailbreak the iPhone 3GS and teases that a jailbreak for the Mac OS is coming soon.
Before jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS, Hotz warns users to be prepared by having Windows (not Windows 7) installed on a PC, the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with 3.0 firmware. He also warns potential jailbreakers to first back up all their files and programs.
Once the preparations are complete, Hotz urges those interested in completing the break to go to purplera1n.com.
Once at the Web site, Hotz instructs users to click "make it ra1n" and wait. On bootup users need to run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app.
"Hopefully you'll figure out what to do from there," Hotz wrote. If not, users are instructed to e-mail purplera1n support or call a support hotline.
Purplera1n is small enough, Hotz wrote,...
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China Testing Mac Version of Green Dam Web Filter
07/03/2009 02:21 PM
Despite the delay in China's requirement to install Green Dam Web-filtering software on all new PCs, the controversy is not dead. PC makers are including the software with new PCs even though the July 1 deadline has been postponed indefinitely.
On Thursday, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told China Daily that the mandate has not been canceled, only delayed. News media reported that China definitely plans to require Green Dam.
In addition, Green Dam publisher Jinhui Computer System Engineering is reportedly testing a version for Apple's Mac computers, which so far have been exempt.
China says the Green Dam-Youth Escort software is meant to protect young people from pornography and violence on the Web. However, opponents say it would be used for political repression. A survey found that many Chinese would not pay for the software after a one-year free trial period.
China originally directed all PC makers to pre-install Green Dam on all PCs sold in China, with a July 1 deadline. However, the ministry delayed the deadline on June 30. Earlier, it had modified its mandate to say that the Green Dam CDs could be included with new PCs rather than pre-installed.
Multiple tests found the software vulnerable to malware, and Sony has included a disclaimer about the software with its PCs. Tests also showed Green Dam blocked images of cartoon cat Garfield and roast pork, and returned links to both soft- and hard-core pornography.
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MySpace Cyberbullying Conviction Reversed, for Now
07/03/2009 01:48 PM
On Thursday, a federal judge threw out the conviction of Lori Drew for her part in a MySpace ruse that ended with a 13-year-old girl committing suicide. Drew was convicted in November, but appealed her case.
The indictment alleged that Drew, along with others, registered as a member of MySpace under the name Josh Evans. Drew and her co-conspirators then used the Josh Evans account to contact Megan and began what the girl believed was an online romance with a 16-year-old boy.
After approximately four weeks of flirtations between Evans and Megan, Drew and her co-conspirators broke off the relationship. Within an hour, Megan hanged herself in her room. She died the next day.
U.S. District Judge George Wu acquitted Drew of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. The ruling is tentative until the judge puts it in writing and pointed to another case where a judge changed his mind after his initial ruling, signaling that the case is not final. Prosecutors are seeking a three-year prison sentence and a $300,000 fine.
The indictment alleged Drew and her co-conspirators violated MySpace's terms of service that prohibit users from using fraudulent registration information, using accounts to obtain personal information about juvenile members, and using the MySpace communication services to harass, abuse or harm other members.
In the government's theory, if someone signs up for an online service and then does not follow the rules of that service, the use of the service is unauthorized and thus (according to this indictment) a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. 1030. That law is used to prosecute people who break into a computer system.
However, Wu said to convict Drew would mean anyone who has ever violated MySpace's terms of service would also be guilty of a misdemeanor. Ultimately, he decided such a ruling would be unconstitutional....
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Web Retailers, States Tussle Over Tax Rules
07/03/2009 12:49 PM
In a big break for online shoppers, Web retailers generally don't have to charge sales taxes in states where they lack a store or some other physical presence.
Increasingly, states aching under the weight of the recession are seeking a way around that rule. Because companies like Amazon.com Inc. get help drumming up sales from online affiliates -- people who link to products on their blogs, promote Web shopping deals and offer coupons -- several states say the Internet retailers should charge sales taxes in states where those affiliates are based.
The financial benefits may not be quite what the states anticipate, though. Rather than gearing up to collect taxes, Amazon and other Web retailers are simply shutting down their affiliate marketing programs. As the small businesses that participate in these programs get cut off, a state could lose tax revenue rather than add to it.
A look at what the affiliates do helps explain why. They're just one of several methods that e-commerce companies have for driving visitors to their Web sites, so nixing them is not necessarily a big loss for the companies.
It's a far bigger deal to people like Rich Owings.
By running Web sites like GPSTracklog.com from his home in Asheville, North Carolina, Owings serves as an affiliate for Amazon and other companies. Owings, 53, spends most of his time reviewing GPS gadgets and covering industry news. He links to navigation products of his choosing on Amazon's site, and if his readers click through and buy one, he gets a commission.
Owings estimates he brought in about $80,000 in affiliate revenue from various companies in 2008, about $50,000 of which came from Amazon. After Amazon recently shuttered its North Carolina affiliate program in response to that state's attempt to collect sales taxes, Owings said he and his wife were thinking about...
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