Silicon Valley Sleuth

Juror in hot water for guilty Facebook posting

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:44:51 +0000

Sleuth is starting to think that people serving on juries should be barred from using any electronics the second they swear in. VMworld is still in full swing but this deserves to be noted.

Hadley Jons, of Warren just north of Detroit, was on the jury in a case of resisting arrest. On a day off from the case she posted the following message on Facebook:

"Gonna be fun to tell the defendant they're guilty," Associated Press reports.

Leaving aside the obvious breach of ethics, it appears that the prosecution hadn't even finished giving evidence. Jons also seems to have little regard for Facebook privacy settings, since the posting was discovered by defence attorney Saleema Sheikh's son.

"I'm really proud of him," Sheikh said.

Jons has now been removed from the case and may be found in contempt when she returns to the Macomb County circuit court on Thursday.

"I would like to see her get some jail time, nothing major, a few hours or overnight," Sheikh said. "This is the jury system. People need to know how important it is."

VMware laughs off Microsoft guerrilla marketing

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:09:37 +0000

Guerilla marketing has always been a part of trade shows, but Microsoft may have shot itself in the foot with its latest effort.

At the official start of VMworld Microsoft took out a full page ad in USA Today, a newspaper seen more outside hotel rooms than news-stands in my experience, warning potential cloud buyers to avoid long term licence agreements.

"VMware is asking many of you to sign three-year license agreements for your virtualisation projects," said Brad Anderson, vice president for Microsoft's server and tools division.

"But with the arrival of cloud computing, signing up for a three-year virtualisation commitment may lock you into a vendor that cannot provide you with the breadth of technology, flexibility or scale that you'll need to build a complete cloud computing environment. If you're evaluating a new licensing agreement with VMware, talk to us first."

However, Paul Maritz, chief executive of VMware said the advert showed Microsoft's weaknesses and accused the company of hypocrisy.

"For Microsoft to talk about locking customers is a severe case of the pot calling the kettle black," he said.

"I think it's a very sincere form of flattery that they feel the need to take out a full page advertisement to address our customer effects. I smiled when I saw that this morning."

California tags school kids with RFID

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:29:44 +0000

RFID tags have a lot of uses, particularly in inventory management. But a school in California has decided to apply the technology to children.

Pre-school students at California's Contra Costa County have reportedly been issued with shirts tagged with individual RFID chips, so that their location can be monitored at all times.

It's not surprising that Silicon Valley has been one of the first areas to try this out. No-one is more paranoid about child danger than the US and the high-tech approach will make sure that no-one goes missing, or at the least will let the authorities know when or where it happened.

But however powerful the "think of the children" argument is there are wider issues at stake. The EFF is rather concerned about the situation.

"If readings are taken often enough, you could create an extraordinarily detailed portrait of a child's school day -- one that's easy to imagine being misused, particularly as the chips substitute for direct adult monitoring and judgement," it blogged.

"If RFID records show a child moving around a lot, could she be tagged as hyper-active? If he doesn't move around a lot, could he get a reputation for laziness? How long will this data and the conclusions rightly or wrongly drawn from it be stored in these children's school records?"

Sleuth is split on this one. While RFID tags on pets seem like an admirable solution there's something that feels wrong about putting them on people. It's unlikely that the tagged shirts would stop an attack, but they might provide some help. We shall see how this fares with parents.

Google pulls out of JavaOne

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:56:54 +0000

JavaOne's a good show that's small but popular with the right people. Google's been a part of it for many years but not this year, thanks to Oracle.

Google has announced that it's pulling out of the show because of Oracle's law suit over intellectual property used by Android. Joshua Bloch from Google's Open Source Programs Office, a man many regular attendees will be familiar with, explained why.

"Oracle's recent lawsuit against Google and open source has made it impossible for us to freely share our thoughts about the future of Java and open source generally," he wrote.

"This is a painful realization for us, as we've participated in every JavaOne since 2004, and I personally have spoken at all but the first in 1996."

The move is going to intensify the bad feeling in the open source community about Oracle, indeed Sleuth thinks it's calculated to do exactly that. The open source movement, when properly roused, can be a fearsome force - SCO found that out - and Oracle may be in for a rough ride.

After the debacle of this week's OpenSolaris board voting themselves into extinction and Oracle's speedy commercialisation of Sun many in the open source community are now calling Larry Ellison the open source enemy number one.

Google's move is adding fuel to the flames, but is it going to be enough to force a change from Larry Ellison? Sleuth has serious doubts.

Gmail users place one million calls in 24 hours

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:18:47 +0000

British Telecom used to have the slogan "It's good to talk", but if Google's latest figures are anything to go by the US loves to even more.

In the first 24 hours since Google launched its click to call computer to phone telephony add-on to Google Voice, it has already exceeded expectations.

"Over 1,000,000 calls placed from Gmail in the first 24 hours!", the firm tweeted.

"Thanks to everyone using this new feature."

However Google gave no hint as to the type of calls made, and Sleuth suspects that the vast majority were used for free local calls. The US has a long tradition of free local calling.

What is going to be crucial is how many people use the international calls that Google hopes will subsidise the service. Google has cut rates to the bone and needs a large volume of calls to make money from the service.

If this strategy is to have long term success then Google needs to win over not only existing internet telephony users from Skype and others, but also to appeal to first time users.

Getting the support of Google's business apps services will also be crucial, but that may be an easier sell. Overseas calling rates are sky high in the US, and a chance for a cheap alternative could be very attractive.

Court OKs warrantless GPS tracking by police

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:19:31 +0000

If you live in California, or the eight other Western states, a court ruling today by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has just OKed the police using GPS to track you without a warrant.

The ruling hinged on a 2007 police investigation into Juan Pineda-Moreno, who was suspected of growing cannabis in Oregon. Police attached a device to the suspect's truck which was parked outside his trailer home.

The court ruled that because the driveway around the home was not completely enclosed the defendant had no expectation of privacy under his Fourth Amendment rights and the police could enter without a warrant. Furthermore the monitoring of the device was also legal.

However Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, a strong conservative appointed by Ronald Reagan, wrote a blistering minority dissension of the verdict.

"I don't think that most people in the United States would agree with the panel that someone who leaves his car parked in his driveway outside the door of his home invites people to crawl under it and attach a device that will track the vehicle's every movement and transmit that information to total strangers," he wrote.

"There is something creepy and un-American about such clandestine and underhanded behaviour. To those of us who have lived under a totalitarian regime, there is an eerie feeling of déjà vu."

The ruling means that any person within the nine Western states can now be tracked by police at will, and any area of their property not explicitly fenced off is considered open ground. Sleuth predicts that right now the EFF is a hive of activity.

This issue isn't settled yet - other cases have yet to be decided and it is certain to end up in the Supreme Court. The highest court is perceived by some to have a right wing bias but Kozinski's attack, from a conservative with such impeccable credentials, may give privacy advocates hope. Sleuth highly recommends you read the whole ruling, it's a classic.

"1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it's here at last," he warns.

"Some day, soon, we may wake up and find we're living in Oceania."

Philadelphia wants $300 in tax from bloggers

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:40:04 +0000

The cash crisis hitting the American government has taken a turn that will have bloggers across the land quaking in their Keens - a tax on blogging.

According to the Philadelphia City Paper the city has been examining last year's tax returns and has identified a new profit source. Bloggers and other online writers who derive a few dollars in advertising revenue from their hobbies are being asked to fork out $300 to purchase a business privilege license from the city.

For example, Marilyn Bess, who blogs about organic gardening, has received a letter instructing her to buy one of the licenses from the city and also requesting a cut of the estimated $50 in revenue the site generated.

"The real kick in the pants is that I don't even have a full-time job, so for the city to tell me to pony up $300 for a business privilege license, pay wage tax, business privilege tax, net profits tax on a handful of money is outrageous," Bess said.

The move will send a shock through the Silicon Valley blogging community. California is almost effectively bankrupt and a plan like this could start giving state legislators nasty ideas.

No charges in Lower Merion laptop spying case

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:27:42 +0000

The FBI and federal prosecutors have announced no charges will be brought against officials at Lower Merion School District who used remote control software to spy on students.

The software, which was designed to be activated if the school-issue Apple MacBooks were missing or dues were unpaid, was found to have recorded thousands of images of schoolchildren in their homes.

The case came to light after a fifteen year old pupil was punished for apparently taking drugs at home (they turned out to be candy), using pictures taken from the laptop as evidence. His parents sued and it was disclosed that the software was in widespread use by the school.

"After a thorough review of the evidence in this matter, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, the Montgomery County Detectives, and the Lower Merion Police Department, I have concluded that bringing criminal charges is not warranted in this matter," US Attorney Zane Memeger said in a statement.

"For the government to prosecute a criminal case, it must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person charged acted with criminal intent. We have not found evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone involved had criminal intent."

Memeger said that he wanted to make the announcement to clear the air before the start of the school year. The software has now been removed from the laptops.

The case inspired US Democratic senator Arlen Specter to propose a new law that would make such spying illegal, which is currently under consideration. The civil suit against the school district is still pending, and a second pupil has joined the case.

Geek Squad vs God Squad

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:13:55 +0000

In 1925 science and religion clashed when US courts debated the Scopes case.

Some 85 years later the two sides are once again clashing, though with decisively funnier results. It seems that US electronics retailer Best Buy is pitting itself against a church group in Wisconsin over a rather silly case of patent infringement.

Members of the Holy Family Catholic church decided to fashion a priest's car after those of the Best Buy "Geek Squad" computer repair service. The Volkswagen was given a similar logo and dubbed the "God Squad" in what was either an effort to lure in wayward sinners infected with malware from adult web sites or a promotional effort for a planned sermon titled, "Have you tried closing the Bible and opening it back up again?"

That we're reporting on this story should tell you just how well the idea went over with Best Buy. The retailer launched a cease and desist order forcing the church to get rid of the logo. While the company has since back-pedalled a bit and offered to work with the church on a new logo, you have to think that Best Buy and Geek Squad should know better.

After all, those uniforms do bare a striking resemblance to another religious sect.

Samsung readies first 4G handset

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:32:25 +0000

Earlier this year HTC released the first 4G phone, partnering with Sprint to launch the Evo 4G handset. Now Samsung is looking to get in on the 4G game.

Like HTC, the company is partnering with Sprint and its budding WiMax network to launch its Epic handset. The device has now been scheduled for a 31 August US release.

The Epic sports a 4-inch AMOLED touchscreen display along with a slide-down QWERTY keyboard. The device is powered by a 1GHz processor and removable storage through a microSD slot.

Samsung said that the device will ship with Android 2.1, though deployment of Android 2.2 is slated for release later this Fall.

Given the lack of Wi-Fi support in the UK, it's no wonder that Samsung hasn't given word on availability there (our request for comment went unanswered,) but those of us in Silicon Valley shouldn't get too smug, as there isn't any Wi-Fi down here either.

In fact, there are currently only a handful of major cities that are actually covered by Sprint's WiMax network. San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston are among the big markets that have yet to get any 4G coverage.

Hurd scandal claims another scalp

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:19:50 +0000

The fallout from Mark Hurd's resignation continues, with another senior HP figure leaving in the wake of the scandal.

Caprice Fimbres McIlvaine, formerly head of internal communications at HP and a top aide to Hurd, has left the company this week. According to sources from within HP, McIlvaine was responsible for hiring Jodie Fisher, the marketing consultant at the heart of the sexual harassment case, Fortune reports.

McIlvaine often travelled with Hurd and was instrumental in running the CEO Summit program, which is where Hurd racked up personal expenses on the company's account with Fisher. HP confirmed she had left the company but would not give details.

Sleuth has seen this sort of behaviour before. When a senior executive goes then some of the staff inevitably have to go too. McIlvaine was widely seen as Hurd's chief of staff and HP may have felt that it needs to clear the decks before a new appointment is made.

Meanwhile Ahmed Mahmoud has been named as senior vice-president of HP's global information technology portfolio today. All change it seems.

IT admin gets four years for government network lockdown

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:27:11 +0000

It was a busy Friday; Mark Hurd's shock resignation, followed by Apple's mobile hardware boss but one bit of news slipped by almost unnoticed. Terry Childs, the San Francisco government network administrator who locked his bosses out of the FiberWAN municipal network over a job dispute in 2008, was jailed.

Childs has been sentenced to four years in prison for his failure to hand over the codes to the network to anyone except the mayor. The prosecution wisely dropped the wiretapping charges against him after it was pointed out that every IT administrator has remote access privileges.

"Terry Childs violated the public trust and used his technical know-how to hold the city hostage," San Francisco district attorney Kamala Harris said in a statement.

"The four-year prison sentence reflects the magnitude of harm he caused the city and county of San Francisco."

The city of San Francisco spent $900,000 hiring consultants to regain control of the network, which took around 12 days. Sleuth was here at the time and the world didn't come to an end, no government systems were reported to have failed and no breaches were mentioned in the trial.

Under the circumstances four years sems rather harsh. Government sources have reportedly said that as Childs has already spent nearly two years in jail waiting for the verdict he will be out in four to six months. Even so, it's an awful lot of time for an IT manager who just couldn't let go.

Bigamist outed by photos on Facebook

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:18:12 +0000

If ever there was a case for reinforcing the need for Facebook's privacy settings this is it - a wife found out her husband's a bigamist via the social networking site.

Lynn France had her suspicions that her husband, with whom she has two children, was having an affair. He took an apparent business trip to China, but left his passport at home. Another time he left on a trip and left the web site of the hotel he was staying at on his computer. She followed him there and confronted him with another woman.

When caught her husband promised to end the affair but it seems he was being less than honest. Acting on the advice of a friend she typed the other woman's name into Facebook and saw photos of her getting married to her current husband.

"I was numb with shock, to tell you the truth," France told AP.

"There was like an album of 200 pictures on there. Their whole wedding."

To add insult to injury the groom was dressed as Prince Charming at the Walt Disney World wedding.

"People who engage in these sorts of behaviours now have the option of trying to keep things private or turning it into a spectacle and becoming their own reality show," said lawyer Andrew Zashin, a child custody expert who is representing Lynn France.

"In this case, it seems, the spouse may have crossed the line and gotten married while he was still married."

There's good reason to check your privacy settings and Sleuth happily admits to checking his one more time after reading this bit of news.

Reagan's son launches 'conservative' email service for GOP

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:31:45 +0000

Senior management at Google, Hotmail and Yahoo must be quaking in their boots at the recent news that they are enemies of the conservative movement and need some competition in the web mail space.

Michael Reagan, adopted son of the late president who is now venerated in certain parts of the country, has set up a private webmail service at Reagan.com, where proper conservatives can send each other messages without contributing to the coffers of those liberal West Coast hippies.

"People who believe in true Reagan Conservative Values are unwittingly supporting the Obama, Pelosi and Reid liberal agenda!" he writes on the company web site.

"Every time you use your email from companies like Google, AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Apple and others, you are helping the liberals. These companies are, and will continue, to be huge supporters financially and with technology of those that are hurting our country."

However, for just under $40 a year, you can get a @reagan.com email address of your very own. Of course, those evil liberals will still get their pound of flesh, since the site supports Windows and Apple and allows fast sync with the iPhone.

Quite how compelling this business plan will be compared to free services like Hotmail and Gmail time will tell, but for thos considering it today is the last chance to sign up and receive a free "Tear down this wall" DVD of Ronald Reagan's famous Berlin visit.

Senate fight looms over internet sales tax

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:03:15 +0000

There's a legal tussle coming up in Congress over the issue of an internet sales tax.

Internet commerce has enjoyed a tax holiday since it was created and a bill introduced last month by Democratic Party congressman William Delahunt introduced the Main Street Fairness Act [PDF], which would allow states to claim back sales tax on internet purchases, which he said is needed to level the playing field between e-commerce and physical retail spaces.

"We are facing unprecedented economic times and difficult choices," he said.

"Our first priority ought to be to help states collect the billions in tax revenues that are already owed, but are being lost. Instead of raising new sales taxes - let's collect these tax dollars first."

However, there's now a resolution introduced by a bipartisan coalition to enforce the tax-free status of e-commerce.

"Congress should not impose any new burdensome or unfair tax collecting requirements on small online businesses, which would ultimately hurt the economy and consumers," it reads.

The two sides are now squaring off but it's worth mentioning that a huge number of bills get introduced into Congress and few make it through the process. Sleuth suspects that the idea of taxing everyone more at the moment will be a tough sell.