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With new Bing, is Microsoft the first to get ‘social search’ right? – The Washington Post (Ellis Hamburger)

May 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“90 percent of people consult with a friend or expert before making a decision,” Microsoft says in promotional materials for the new Bing, announced Thursday and rolling out over the next few weeks. The pitch sounds just like Google’s plan for Search Plus Your World, which peppers your search results page with content from Google+, the company’s social network. Microsoft’s doing a few things differently: it’s including social data from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Blogger, and soon, LinkedIn, Quora, and Foursquare. The idea is that these social results will be inherently more relevant than Google’s simply by virtue of including more social networks, and in an unobtrusive manner.

With its “most significant” Bing update ever, is Microsoft the first to get “social search” right? Read on to find out.

via With new Bing, is Microsoft the first to get ‘social search’ right? – The Washington Post.

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Defining ‘big data’ depends on who’s doing the defining – Computerworld (Brandon Butler)

May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Big data is an IT buzzword nowadays, but what does it really mean? When does data become big?

At a recent Big Data and High Performance Computing Summit in Boston hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), data scientist John Rauser mentioned a simple definition: Any amount of data that’s too big to be handled by one computer.

Some says that’s too simplistic. Others say it’s spot on.

“Big data has to be one of the most hyped technologies since, well the last most hyped technology, and when that happens, definition become muddled,” says Jeffrey Breen of Atmosphere Research Group.

The lack of a standard definition points to the immaturity of the market, says Dan Vesset, IDC program vice president of the business analytics division of the research firm. But, he isn’t quite buying the definition floated by AWS. “I’d like to see something that actually talks about data instead of the infrastructure needed to process it,” he says.

via Defining ‘big data’ depends on who’s doing the defining – Computerworld.

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How electronic discovery during litigation is impacted by information stored in the cloud | Smart Business

May 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Cloud computing is the marketing focus of many IT companies.

Ads touting the benefits of cloud computing and the “cloud readiness” of software products are visible in airports, print media and on TV, and surveys predicting the rapid adoption of cloud computing solutions appear regularly. But how do cloud computing solutions affect the production of electronic documents and information in a litigation setting?

Smart Business spoke with James P. Martin, CMA CIA CFE, managing director of Cendrowski Corporate Advisors, regarding the issues that can arise when attempting to obtain information when a party has information stored in the cloud.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing describes an IT model in which computing resources can be obtained and utilized on an as-needed basis; this is why cloud computing is often referred to as ‘utility computing.’ The end user is provided a turnkey solution that is supported and maintained by the service provider at a remote location.

Cloud computing is enabled by rapid, reliable Internet communications, and, in fact, ‘the cloud’ is a term referring to the pool of resources hosted on the Internet.

What are some common cloud solutions that should be considered in litigation?

Cloud computing applications include hosted email products, such as Gmail or Hotmail, picture hosting services, text message services, hosted document processing, as well as social media services such as Facebook, Myspace, or dating sites. These sites would potentially have data that could be relevant to the litigation.

How does a cloud solution affect electronic discovery?

Moving to a cloud computing solution does not remove an organization’s document retention requirements, and many cloud solutions tout their ability to help the organization meet statutory requirements.   If the cloud vendor performs services to the public, access to the data stored in that solution would be subject to the restrictions of the Stored Communication Act.

It is also important to understand that this is an emerging area of law. Third-party solutions are evolving rapidly, and social media services are creating issues and carrying information that was inconceivable a few years ago. The legal system is dealing with emerging issues related to these new technologies and case law is changing rapidly.

via How electronic discovery during litigation is impacted by information stored in the cloud | Smart Business.

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FBI: We need wiretap-ready Web sites — now | CNET News (Declan McCullagh)

May 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.

In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned.

The FBI general counsel’s office has drafted a proposed law that the bureau claims is the best solution: requiring that social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail alter their code to ensure their products are wiretap-friendly.

“If you create a service, product, or app that allows a user to communicate, you get the privilege of adding that extra coding,” an industry representative who has reviewed the FBI’s draft legislation told CNET. The requirements apply only if a threshold of a certain number of users is exceeded, according to a second industry representative briefed on it.

via FBI: We need wiretap-ready Web sites — now | Security & Privacy – CNET News.

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Predictive Coding Gets A Chance | Dechert LLP – JDSupra

May 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In the high-tech morass that is ediscovery, parties have tried various ways to do something about the disparity between cost and benefit.  An approach is to attempt to use new technology to fix – or at least ameliorate – the problems caused by the explosion in electronic information caused by existing technology.

One such proposed technological fix is called “predictive coding.”  Googling that phrase yields far more technical information than we could possibly provide (or maybe even understand), so in the nutshell of a very small nut, predictive coding takes advantage of artificial intelligence software that enables a computer to learn from its mistakes and adjust its processes accordingly.  The need for attorneys to review produced edocuments is a major aspect of excessive ediscovery cost.

Predictive coding can reduce that cost by using computers to extrapolate actual attorney review of a small subset (a “seed set”) of edocuments over the entire proposed production of documents.  The attorneys review the seed set – then the computer does a similar set of documents based upon the attorney coding.  The attorneys review that set and correct errors.  The computer does another set, having incorporated the attorney’s revisions.  That review process is repeated however many times, until everyone is satisfied the error rate (both false positive and false negative) is acceptable.  The vendors claim predictive coding ultimately makes fewer mistakes than review by actual human attorneys.  Take those financially interested claims with however many grains of salt you believe they deserve.

But until recently, no court anywhere had authorized the use of predictive coding in actual ediscovery.  Now that’s changed.  A presentation we heard at the PLAC spring meeting last week (by David Cohen of Reed Smith), mentioned four decisions in three cases where predictive coding had been judicially authorized as an ediscovery tool.

via Predictive Coding Gets A Chance | Dechert LLP – JDSupra.

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Apple, Samsung Ordered to Scale Back Patent Case | PCMag.com (Chloe Albanesius)

May 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Apple and Samsung were ordered this week to scale back their ongoing patent battle so as not to subject jurors to “cruel and unusual punishment,” a California judge said.

As reported by IDG News Service, Judge Lucy Koh ordered Apple and Samsung to streamline their cases so jurors can get a better grip on the issues at hand. Having to sort through dozens of patents, trademarks, and other claims is “cruel and unusual punishment to a jury, so I’m not willing to do it,” Koh said during a Wednesday status conference, IDG said.

In a Tuesday joint filing, Apple said it would be willing to ditch one of the eight patents it is asserting, as well as “several dozen patent claims.” They deal with touch-screen hardware, tap to zoom and navigate technology, and status bars, among other things.

via Apple, Samsung Ordered to Scale Back Patent Case | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.

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13 Million U.S. Facebook Users Not Using Privacy Controls | PCMag.com (Chloe Albanesius)

May 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The debate over how much information to reveal on social networks is not a new one, but despite an increased awareness of the security issues associated with over-sharing on Facebook, a new report finds that many users still don’t bother with privacy controls.

According to a survey of about 2,000 households with Internet access, Consumer Reports projects that about 13 million U.S. Facebook users don’t use or are not aware of the social network’s privacy controls.

With more than 900 million users, however, that’s only about .01 percent of those on the social network.

via 13 Million U.S. Facebook Users Not Using Privacy Controls | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.

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Google Offers Big-Data Analytics – NYTimes.com (Quentin Hardy)

May 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Google is selling some of its analytic guts as an online service, in an effort to compete with the likes of Amazon Web Services in the market for enterprise cloud computing.

In November, Google offered a limited number of developers access to some of its most powerful data analysis software, part of what Google uses to index the Internet, in a product called BigQuery. On Tuesday, Google announced that it was selling that software, which can scan terabytes of information in seconds, as a service to corporate customers.

“When you have really large data sets, we have the capability to analyze them,” said Ju-kay Kwek, product manager for Google’s cloud data effort. “A query with five terabytes of data involved could be returned in 15 seconds.” That is, he said, about 10 times faster than the speed of many corporate data systems. He noted that in companies today, “it’s not uncommon to have problems that take half a day to analyze.”

Google’s aim may be to sell data storage in the cloud, as much as it is to sell analytic software. A company using BigQuery has to have data stored in the cloud data system, which costs 12 cents a gigabyte a month, for up to two terabytes, or 2,000 gigabytes. Above that, prices are negotiated with Google. BigQuery analysis costs 3.5 cents a gigabyte of data processed.

via Google Offers Big-Data Analytics – NYTimes.com.

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Skype Investigates IP Discovery Flaw | Tech News World (Richard Adhikari)

May 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Skype is investigating a tool published recently on Pastebin that captures the last-known IP address of the VoIP service’s users.

“This is an ongoing, industry-wide issue faced by all peer-to-peer software companies,” Adrian Asher, Skype’s director of product security, told TechNewsWorld. “We are committed to the safety and security of our customers and we are taking measures to help protect them.”

This particular flaw was discussed in a paper presented by an international team of researchers in November at the Internet Measurement Conference 2011 in Berlin.

The flaw could lead to serious attacks, warned Randy Abrams, a security consultant.

“There’s a lot more at risk than simply IP disclosure,” Abrams told TechNewsWorld. “The ability to redirect to another Web page implies the ability to frame someone for accessing child pornography, among other non-trivial attacks, for example.”

via Technology News: Exploits & Vulnerabilities: Got Your Number: Skype Investigates IP Discovery Flaw.

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Which Facebook Apps Steal Your Data (and How to Stop Them) | PCWorld (Dan Tynan)

May 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The biggest privacy problem with Facebook isn’t Facebook itself, it’s Facebook’s apps. There are more than 500,000 games, puzzles, quizzes and other time wasters in the Facebook platform, many of which exist for the sole purpose of sucking data out of your account. Worse, these apps not only can access your information, they can also grab data from your friends’ profiles, depending on their privacy settings. Thank you, obnoxious Farmville fans.

Facebook establishes limits about what data apps can access and what they can do with it, but they don’t appear terribly motivated to enforce those rules. For example, in October 2010, ten popular Facebook apps were found to be slurping up user data in direct violation of Facebook’s own terms. In response, Facebook removed some of those apps on a Friday, then reinstated them on the following Monday.

Now you can take matters into your own hands and find out who the real data vampires are. PrivacyScore from PrivacyChoice is a Chrome plug in that rates how each app deals with your data on a scale from 0 to 100. It can also do the same for Web sites. You can view these scores on the Web, on Facebook or, if you’ve installed the Chrome extension, by clicking the PS icon in the browser bar when you install an app.

via Which Facebook Apps Steal Your Data (and How to Stop Them) | PCWorld.

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