A consortium of some of the biggest companies in the technology field, as well as pressure groups from all sides of the political spectrum, have formed the Digital Due Process (DDP) group to change the laws on electronic privacy.

The group is seeking reform of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which was passed in 1986. DDP are arguing that the changes in electronic communications and commerce have made the current legal framework too complex and state that it is holding back e-commerce.

"The federal law protecting Internet and telephone users' privacy was written nearly 25 years ago, which is eons ago in 'Internet time,'" said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston.

"When it comes to privacy, EFF has had its disagreements with fellow Digital Due Process members such as Google and AT&T. But this diverse coalition of privacy advocates and Internet companies agree on at least one thing: the current electronic privacy laws are woefully outdated and must be updated to provide clear privacy protections that reflect the always-on, location-enabled, Web 2.0 world of the 21st century."

The DDP is aiming to change the law in four key areas. Firstly, the law needs to require law enforcement to get a search warrant before being able to get copies of any online information, and secondly any location information from mobile internet use.

Police must also demonstrate that there is a pressing need for an individual piece of data to be accessed and finally bulk data requests need to be regulated so that law enforcement cannot simply get a copy of all data.

"Citizens need government action to ensure that as more information moves from the desktop to the cloud, the country retains the traditional balance of privacy vis-à-vis the state," said Mike Hintze, associate general counsel for Microsoft.

"Many Americans take for granted the protections of the Bill of Rights that prevent the government from coming into people's homes without a valid search warrant. The rise of cloud computing should not diminish these privacy safeguards."

Posted by Iain Thomson on March 31, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Five days ago we brought you the story of Constance McMillen, a Mississippi student who was being denied entrance to her prom because she wanted to bring her girlfriend.

The news went viral online quickly and a Facebook campaign started, getting 40,000 fans in 12 hours. Well that total is now up to over a third of a million fans and Constance has been doing the rounds on the major news networks to make her case.

It's a great example of how the internet is bringing news to the fore in a way that would have been impossible 20 years ago, and this is something which is causing great concern to companies.

We're seeing increasing numbers of instances of customers taking their complaint online and seeing it go viral. A good example is the United Breaks Guitars song.

Some backstory: A band were flying to a gig and saw United loading crew throwing their guitars into the hold. When they arrived sure enough one of the guitars was broken and the owner got brushed off by three staff when he complained and nine months later he still had not received compensation.

The band then took an unusual revenge. They wrote a song about the experience and stuck it on YouTube, where it has had more than eight million hits. United caved in and apologised but the damage had been done.

Imagine you're a chairman or marketing director spending millions each year on marketing your company's good name. Then you log on to YouTube and see that. It would put rather a crimp in your day.

However, this doesn't always work, and this seems to be the case for McMillen. Her beef is with Itawamba County Agricultural High School, which is relatively immune to such attacks. The school is sitting it out, holding to its position and ignoring the online storm.

The power of viral internet memes is great indeed, but only in certain circumstances.

Posted by Iain Thomson on March 18, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A school in Mississippi is getting a first hand lesson in the power of the internet to take an issue and make it go viral.

Constance McMillen, a student at Itawamba County Agricultural High School, was planning to go to her senior prom. However McMillen is a lesbian and wanted to bring her girlfriend along and the school has rules that all dates must be of the opposite sex. McMillen did what any American youngster would do and took the school to court.

The ACLU got involved and it looked like McMillen was going to go to the prom after all. However, the school board decided, in its wisdom, to cancel the entire prom rather than let a same sex couple darken its door. It issued a statement saying it hoped someone would host a private party instead, which isn't covered by discrimination laws.

Now this would seem to have drawn a line under the affair, and pre-internet chances are it would have. But the school administrators had reckoned without the power of social media.

This morning a Facebook group called 'Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom!' was set up to support McMillen and it went from zero members to over 40,000 in less than 12 hours. It's one of the fastest viral developments we've seen in years.

The news media is, of course, all over the story and McMillen has been on CNN, ABC and the rest of the networks all day, and now the BBC has picked up on it and the story has gone international. Famed relationship adviser Dan Savage caught wind of the story and published the email addresses of the school board and suggested people send in polite letters of complaint. The response apparently caused the school to shut down the email addresses of some staff, presumably due to the volume of traffic.

From a tech standpoint we'll  be watching this closely. Viral issues like this tend to have a short half life so tomorrow will be interesting. If this rate of growth doesn't let up this could be a major meme and it'll be interesting to see how the school deals with it.

Posted by Iain Thomson on March 12, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

At long last the object of many geek's desires is on the market, a jetpack that actually works.

Older readers will remember Sean Connery's thrilling escape from the bad guys using a realistic looking jet pack in Thunderball. Younger readers may have seen the opening of the 1984 Olympics where a pilot flew a Bell Aerosystems rocket pack across the stadium.

In fact the idea of a jet pack is as old as World War Two, where the German army developed a primitive jetpack that would allow engineers to jump over minefields. Since then the idea has been tried and tried again but one fundamental problem remained - fuel.

No-one has managed to come up with a jet pack capable of sustained flight, although a recent example that uses water power was a brave attempt. Now a New Zealand company, Martin Aircraft, is taking orders for a workable jet pack that gives half an hour's flight time and runs on ordinary unleaded.

I predict this is going to become the transport device of choice for the well-healed geek in Silicon Valley. The device itself costs $90,000 and consists of a five by five foot unit with twin turbofan engines and a carbon fibre body.

At 250lb it's hardly the easiest thing to move around but the cool factor is through the roof and you won't need a pilot's licence to operate one. Imagine arriving at the office in one of these babies, or stopping off at a petrol station to top up the tank.

Now I wonder where we can get a review unit...

Posted by Iain Thomson on March 10, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

In light of recent events in Iran and elsewhere the US government has announced that it is relaxing sanctions to allow internet communications tools to be exported to Iran, Cuba and Sudan.

In a statement issued today the government said it was relaxing the rules in the hope that the technologies will be used to allow those opposed to the established regime to coordinate their activities and protest effectively and communicate outside national borders.

"Consistent with the Administration's deep commitment to the universal rights of all the world's citizens, the issuance of these general licenses will make it easier for individuals in Iran, Sudan and Cuba to use the internet to communicate with each other and with the outside world. Today's actions will enable Iranian, Sudanese and Cuban citizens to exercise their most basic rights," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin.

The ban will be lifted on technologies covering personal communications over the internet, including web browsing, blogging, email, instant messaging, and chat; social networking; and photo and movie sharing. In addition other software sales could be allowed but these will be cleared on a case by case basis.

"As recent events in Iran have shown, personal internet-based communications like email, instant messaging and social networking are powerful tools," said Wolin.

"This software will foster and support the free flow of information - a basic human right - for all Iranians. At the same time as we take these steps, the Administration will continue aggressively to enforce existing sanctions and to work with our international partners to increase the pressure on the Government of Iran to meet its international obligations."

Posted by Iain Thomson on March 9, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The quality of people visiting stands at RSA 2010 has improved markedly, according to those manning the stands.

"It's a lot better this year," Chester Wisniewski, senior security adviser to Sophos told V3.co.uk.

"Last year we got about a third of people on the stand trying to sell us their companies. They'd lost angel funding and were just like 'Would you be interested in a company that does xyz?' Possibly, but we're here to sell, not to buy.

"This year there's a lot more customer engagement, we're doing a lot of good business."

Although visitor numbers won't be released for some weeks the exhibition hall has been packed and companies are reporting a significant amount of new business. Visitor numbers fell sharply last year as companies cut back on spending but anecdotal evidence from the show floor indicates this may be easing up.

"We're getting far more done here now," said Tom Murphy, chief strategy officer at enterprise application whitelisting vendor Bit 9.

"There's a lot of people interested in the concepts we're pushing and the quality of visitors is high."

Posted by Iain Thomson on March 5, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Visitors to the RSA conference spend thousands of dollars on the best tickets, and generally get their money's worth in information and contacts.

It's not widely known but the city of San Francisco and a major credit card company have struck a deal with a number of businesses in the city, and surrounding Bay Area, so that conference delegates can also get discounts and promotional offers.

There's a huge variety of things to choose from. Some of the best tourist attractions are covered, including the Academy of Sciences (well worth a long visit), the de Young museum (ditto, and handily right next door) and the Botanical Gardens bookstore.

A large proportion of businesses that opted into the scheme are vineyards, or wineries as they are known over here. You can get free tastings, private tours and discounted purchases just by showing your RSA 2010 conference badge.

However, as Sleuth scanned the list, some other businesses came to light that are a little more unconventional. Conferences can be stressful times and I'm hoping that not many delegates use their 15 per cent discount at the On the Mat Fight Shop. The last thing you need on the Expo floor is someone going nuts with nunchucks after getting jostled one too many times.

Then there are the purveyors of other services, notably strip clubs. I'm not sure how many delegates would be happy flashing their badge at one of these establishments but Larry Flynt's infamous Hustler Club offers 15 per cent off food and beverages, Beaver Bucks (I don't want to know) not included.

That said there certainly appears to be a lot more business being done on the floor, the Expo is bustling and the Thirsty Bear is doing great trade. Last year they were trying to keep stand staff away from sharp implements in case of mass depression. This year things seem a little more hopeful.

Posted by Iain Thomson on March 3, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)