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Google Buzz Gets Reshare Option, Competes with Twitter

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Google’s Difference

Okay, obviously it’s not exactly like retweeting. The invitation to add your own comments to the reshare is a concept Twitter lacks—and will likely never see so long as the 140 character limitation is maintained.

Currently, Twitter’s baked-in Retweet tool doesn’t allow any modification whatsoever, causing many Twitter users to retweet the old-fashioned way (typing RT @username, the tweet, and whatever comments will fit after all that).

This makes Buzz a bit more interesting, regardless of which platform currently has more users. As the 16th feature to be added to Buzz since its inception, we wonder what else Google has in store. According to Todd Jackson, Google product manager, the ultimate purpose of the platform is to solve the communication challenges of regular e-mail.

“Gmail should be the world’s best communication tool,” he said.

via Google Buzz Gets Reshare Option, Competes with Twitter.

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Transocean Says It Will Honor Legal Obligations – WSJ.com

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, will meet all of its legal obligations related to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the drilling contractor’s chief executive said Friday.

Separately, ExxonMobil Corp. said it has suspended drilling operations at the Hoover Diana well in the Gulf after the U.S. ordered a halt to current drilling in the area. Marathon Oil Corp. also said the company is in the process of abandoning the Innsbruck well in the Gulf.

President Barack Obama ordered Thursday the halt of activities at about 33 exploratory wells in the deep waters of the Gulf and also extended a moratorium on new drilling in the area to six months. The drilling ban will be in place until the underlying cause of the largest spill in the U.S. history is understood.

The Switzerland-based Transocean has been in the spotlight since April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 workers. The rig sank two days later and thousands of barrels of oil a day have gushed out of a broken pipe on the sea floor. BP PLC, which leased the rig and is responsible for the clean-up, has begun injecting drilling mud into the well in an effort to plug the leak.

Lawmakers have criticized the Transocean’s shareholder-approved $1 billion dividend payment and have called for a Justice Department investigation. At the same time, a ban on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico threatens the company’s U.S. operations, which account for about 25% of its revenue.

“The payment of the dividend will not affect the company’s ability to meet its legal obligations,” Steven Newman said during the conference call.

The company said it can still pay this dividend despite Thursday’s announcement of a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.

via Transocean Says It Will Honor Legal Obligations – WSJ.com.

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Goldman seeks settlement with SEC | FT.com

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Goldman Sachs is hoping to avoid the Securities and Exchange Commission’s charge of fraud by reaching a settlement on a lesser offence and agreeing to a fine of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to people familiar with the bank’s negotiating position.

Goldman, which has been accused of civil fraud over a complex mortgage-related security called Abacus, is trying to focus settlement talks with the SEC on the less serious charge of omitting or mis-stating material facts to investors.

Regulatory experts say that companies charged with fraud often seek a settlement on a lesser charge but it is unclear whether the SEC would agree to downgrade such a high-profile case.

A lesser charge would reduce Goldman’s risk of being sued by investors and help the bank avoid the reputational damage of having settled a fraud charge, according to people familiar with the situation.

People involved in the discussions say that, even if regulators agree to consider a lesser charge, Goldman would neither admit nor deny wrongdoing – a common practice among companies settling with the SEC.

Goldman and the SEC declined to comment.

In a note to clients on Thursday, Brad Hintz of Bernstein Research estimated that Goldman might pay a fine of $250m and compensate investors by buying out their exposure to the Abacus deal at a cost of $370m.

via FT.com / Companies / Banks – Goldman seeks settlement with SEC.

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Apple vulnerable in iTunes antitrust probe – Computerworld

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Federal antitrust regulators may be able to build a case against Apple over its iTunes business because the company has a dominant share of the U.S. music download market, an antitrust lawyer said today.

The Department of Justice is reportedly in the early stages of an investigation of Apple’s business practices, in part because of a complaint that the company pressured music labels to pull support of Amazon’s “MP3 Daily Deal,” a promotion in which the online retailer received exclusive access to new tracks.

Apple has an estimated 70% share of the U.S. retail digital music download market, significantly larger than Amazon and Wal-Mart, which each account for 12% of all sales.

And the size of Apple’s share matters to the government, said Hillard Sterling, an antitrust attorney at Chicago-based law firm Freeborn & Peters LLP.

“This has much stronger promise than the mobile device case because Apple’s market share in digital music is much more attractive to government regulators,” said Sterling, referring to reports earlier this month that officials at the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are also looking into Apple’s ban of third-party development tools for creating iPhone software.

“The DOJ seems to be sniffing around for a stronger foundation for an antitrust case,” Sterling said. “And 70% is sufficient market share to raise the specter of a monopoly. It’s a strong indicator to the government.”

via Apple vulnerable in iTunes antitrust probe – Computerworld.

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EU seeks privacy enforcement rights in US courts through diplomatic agreement | Tech Policy & Law News – Betanews

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday, the Chairman of the European multi-national group of ministers overseeing online privacy policy enforcement, Jacob Kohnstamm of the Article 29 Working Party (WP29), sent letters to the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, urging them to alter their personal data retention policies in keeping with new EU standards. Kohnstamm wants their search engines to destroy personal data after six months’ retention rather than nine, as is Google’s current policy; and he simultaneously urged European Commission Vice President Viviane Reding for help getting that message across.

In less than a day, Kohnstamm got his wish: This morning in Brussels, Comm. Reding placed a public call on the United States to forge an agreement that would enable the EC to sue the search engine leaders in US courts for failure to follow EU guidelines for data protection.

“The EU and US are both committed to the protection of personal data and privacy. However, they still have different approaches in protecting data, leading to some controversy in the past when negotiating information exchange agreements (such as the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme, so-called SWIFT agreement, or Passenger Name Records),” reads this morning’s statement from Brussels. “The purpose of the agreement proposed by the Commission today is to address and overcome these differences. Today's proposal would give the Commission a mandate to negotiate a new data protection agreement for personal data transferred to and processed by enforcement authorities in the EU and the US. It would also commit the Commission to keeping the European Parliament fully informed at all stages of the negotiations.”

via EU seeks privacy enforcement rights in US courts through diplomatic agreement | Tech Policy & Law News – Betanews.

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RVM, Inc appoints Greg Cancilla as Director of Forensics

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

RVM’s forensic practice focuses on computer forensics, electronic data harvesting, data recovery, electronic data discovery, network security and the development of custom applications and solutions. RVM’s client base includes United States and international law firms and companies.

Mr. Cancilla is a Certified Computer Forensic Engineer and the Director of Forensics at RVM. He is experienced in the preservation, identification, extraction, documentation and interpretation of computer data using computer forensic tools. He has completed computer forensics training programs conducted by New Technologies Inc., Access Data, and Guidance Software, the developers of Encase Forensics Software, among others. As a certified forensic engineer, he has performed countless computer forensics investigations since his inception into the field in 2003. Additionally, Mr. Cancilla has offered testimony on numerous occasions, including presenting a key piece of evidence in Ronald Luri v Republic Services, Inc., et al., which rendered the largest verdict in the State of Ohio history.

via RVM, Inc appoints Greg Cancilla as Director of Forensics.

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U.S. businesses need gov’t cyber security: official – The China Post

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A U.S. government computer security system that can detect and prevent cyber attacks should be extended to private businesses that operate critical utilities and financial services, a top Pentagon official said Wednesday.

William J. Lynn III, the deputy defense secretary, said discussions are in the very early stages and participation in the program would be voluntary. The idea, he said, would allow businesses to take advantage of the Einstein 2 and Einstein 3 defensive technologies that are being developed to put in place on government computer networks.

Extending the program to the private sector raises a myriad of legal, policy and privacy questions, including how it would work and what information — if any — companies would share with the government about any attacks or intrusions they detect.

Businesses that opt not to participate could “stay in the wild, wild west of the unprotected Internet,” Lynn told a small group of reporters during a cybersecurity conference.

And in the case of Einstein 2 — an automated system that monitors federal Internet and e-mail traffic for malicious activity — companies already may have equal or superior protections on their networks.

“Einstein 2 is like a 1999 Mustang with a little rust,” said James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert and senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “For some companies it isn't a big deal. But for others who haven’t done much (to secure their networks) it would be a good idea.”

Lewis said the larger challenges would come with Einstein 3, a separate program being developed which would detect and actively block or prevent cyber intrusions.

via U.S. businesses need gov’t cyber security: official – The China Post.

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International Arbitration Survey Gathers Pace | White & Case LLP

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A major survey on international arbitration by the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary University London (QMUL), sponsored by global law firm White & Case, is canvassing the views of in-house counsel in key markets worldwide.

This year’s survey, entitled “Choices in International Arbitration”, will consider the key factors that influence corporate choices about international arbitration. In doing so, the survey revisits and expands upon some of the themes of the first survey conducted by QMUL in 2006 which examined corporate attitudes towards arbitration.

The 2010 survey aims to have an extended geographical reach to consider international arbitration in some of the emerging markets and will include the following themes:

  • Policies about arbitration: whether organizations have policies in place regarding the dispute resolution mechanisms to be incorporated into their contracts and how they implement those policies.
  • Choice of law governing the substance of the dispute, the seat of arbitration and arbitration institution: the main reasons why respondents choose the key aspects of an arbitration including legal considerations, commercial factors, convenience, neutrality and proximity to evidence and witnesses.
  • Selecting arbitrators: key attributes for arbitrators, concerns regarding arbitrator performance and proposals for increased transparency.
  • Confidentiality: the importance organizations place on confidentiality and how corporate expectations interact with increasing challenges to confidentiality.
  • Effectiveness: how proactive corporate choices seek to maximise the benefits of arbitration and minimize the pitfalls including concerns regarding cost and delay.

“Arbitration is the dispute resolution method of choice in cross-border transactions and broadening our research into emerging markets and industry sectors will help to take our previous very well received surveys yet another step further,” commented Professor Loukas Mistelis, Director of the School of International Arbitration at QMUL.

The survey questionnaire can be accessed at http://www.arbitrationonline.org/survey and corporate counsel are strongly encouraged to participate. Those who wish to contribute have until the end of June to complete their responses. The report is expected to be launched at the IBA in Vancouver in autumn 2010.

“The survey will provide significant insight, not now available, into current trends in international arbitration and how the use of arbitration has developed in recent years, particularly in some of the emerging economies. The views of corporate counsel towards international arbitration, particularly in respect of the factors that drive their choices and confidentiality, will be of certain interest to all those within the community,” commented Paul Friedland, head of White & Case's global international arbitration group.

via White & Case LLP – News – International Arbitration Survey Gathers Pace.

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German agency not satisfied with Facebook changes | Reuters

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Germany’s national consumer-protection agency may take legal measures against Facebook if it finds that the social network’s new privacy controls do not meet German data-protection standards.

Carola Elbrecht, head of digital projects at the VZBV agency, welcomed the changes to privacy settings announced by Facebook late on Wednesday but expressed concern that users would still have to actively opt out of default settings making their data public.

“This obligates the user, and that’s a transgression of German law,” Elbrecht told Reuters on Thursday.

“We are currently examining the terms and condition of data storage and usage, and if it again does not comply with German data protection standards we will file for an injunction.”

Germany has some of the toughest privacy laws in the world as a result of its experience with state surveillance systems put in place by the Nazis and the former East German Stasi secret police, and Germans have been vocal critics of Facebook.

According to independent information service Inside Facebook (www.insidefacebook.com), 7.7 million of Germany’s 82 million people were active on Facebook in March. That compares with 113 million active U.S. users, of a population of 309 million.

via German agency not satisfied with Facebook changes | Reuters.

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Border searches of laptops may be conducted off-site for cause, court rules – Computerworld

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In recent cases, U.S. courts have supported the government's right to search the contents of computers and other electronic devices carried by travelers arriving at U.S borders.

A federal court in Michigan this week added that if such a search could not be performed at the border, the government has the right to seize and transport a computer to a secondary inspection facility, as long as there’s reasonable suspicion.

The issue of border laptop searches is important for business travelers who arrive at U.S airports carrying computers they use for work. Privacy advocates, security analysts and others have expressed concern that such searches could result in the exposure of sensitive company or customer data. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has previously asserted its right to inspect, copy or download the contents of computers or other electronic devices belonging to travelers at U.S. borders even without cause.

The federal court’s ruling was first reported by the Web site FourthAmendment.com. The ruling was in response to a motion filed by the defendant in a child pornography case, who alleged that U.S. customs officials violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they took away one of his computers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

via Border searches of laptops may be conducted off-site for cause, court rules – Computerworld.

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