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BBC – US ambassador questioned on EU data sharing

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The US ambassador to the EU has said that security must be protected as well as privacy, during an evidence session with the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee on 25 October 2010.

William Kennard was speaking to MEPs as part of negotiations into a new “umbrella agreement” on the sharing of data with the US authorities.

There have been concerns that using the data of travellers to the US could constitute a breach of privacy.

Under the new proposal being negotiated, sensitive information such as religious beliefs – revealed by meal preferences – or health conditions would only be given in “very exceptional circumstances.”

The European Commission is also offering passengers the right to be informed about the processing of their data.

Earlier in the year MEPs blocked a similar agreement on the transfer of financial data – the so-called SWIFT agreement.

A new agreement had to be struck between the EU and the US that contained increased privacy safeguards.

Ambassador Kennard told the committee that the US had the same values as the EU on data privacy, but admitted that the two blocs had “different approaches”.

He expressed concerns about the retroactive aspect of any new agreement, saying it would be difficult to update existing bilateral agreements with various member states.

via BBC – Democracy Live – US ambassador questioned on EU data sharing.

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Travel Sites Oppose Google ITA Purchase – WSJ.com

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Several popular online travel companies are joining forces to oppose Google Inc.’s proposed $700 million purchase of ITA Software Inc., the leading provider of flight data, saying the deal would give it too much sway over the travel sector.

Expedia Inc., Kayak.com, Sabre Holdings and Farelogix Inc.—which operate half-a-dozen leading online travel sites—are forming a coalition called FairSearch.org to persuade the Justice Department to block Google’s latest deal.

The companies are also launching a lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill, making the case to members of Congress that the deal would allow Google to dominate the online air-travel market by giving it control over the software that powers many of its rivals in the travel search business.

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Google responds that buying the service will help it provide more useful information to consumers when they search for flight data.

But opponents of the deal worry that Google could limit access to ITA’s software, which is used by many of the flight-comparison sites operated by the members of the newly formed coalition. Expedia also runs Hotwire and TripAdvisor. Sabre runs Travelocity, while Kayak runs SideStep in addition to Kayak.com.

Separately, Microsoft Corp. has also opposed the deal in conversations with Justice Department investigators and lawmakers. Its search engine, Bing, relies on data from ITA to power travel searches.

Overall, ITA’s software handles about 65% of direct, online air-travel bookings for airlines, the company says. ITA declined to comment.

via Travel Sites Oppose Google ITA Purchase – WSJ.com.

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White House Council Launches Interagency Subcommittee on Privacy & Internet Policy « USDOJ: Justice Blog

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to promoting the vast economic opportunity of the Internet and protecting individual privacy, the National Science and Technology Council has launched a new Subcommittee on Privacy and Internet Policy. Populated by representatives from more than a dozen Departments, agencies and Federal offices, and co-chaired by the two of us, the subcommittee will develop principles and strategic directions with the goal of fostering consensus in legislative, regulatory, and international Internet policy realms.

In this digital age, a thriving and dynamic economy requires Internet policies that promote innovation domestically and globally while ensuring strong and sensible protections of individuals’ private information and the ability of governments to meet their obligations to protect public safety.

Recognizing the global nature of the digital economy and society, the Subcommittee will monitor and address global privacy policy challenges and develop approaches to meeting those challenges through coordinated U.S. government action.  The Subcommittee is committed to fostering dialogue and cooperation between our Nation and its key trading partners in support of flexible and robust privacy and innovation policies. Such policies are essential to the health of competitive marketplaces for online goods and services.

via White House Council Launches Interagency Subcommittee on Privacy & Internet Policy « USDOJ: Justice Blog.

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Google Privacy Lesson: Tighten Your Wi-Fi Security – Computerworld

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I hate to blame the victim, but people who inadvertently gave up personal data to Google’s Street View cameras were really asking for trouble.

That’s because a simple precaution, clicking the encryption option in your router’s set up page, will foil Google’s cyber vacuum cleaners.

Then there’s the never ending Facebook privacy leakage scandal. Last week we learned that Facebook’s largest apps, which collectively boast tens of millions of users, are capturing personally identifiable information about Facebook users and sharing it with advertisers–violating both Facebook’s and the app makers’ own privacy policies. And now thanks to a research paper that’s gotten little attention, it appears that gay men and women on Facebook may have been inadvertently outed to its advertisers.

via Google Privacy Lesson: Tighten Your Wi-Fi Security – Computerworld.

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KnowledgeTree Adds Simplicity, Security to Cloud-Based Document Management — RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ –

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KnowledgeTree, provider of cloud-based document management solutions, today announced a product update that strengthens user security and alleviates the problems associated with juggling multiple access passwords.  KnowledgeTree’s partnership with OneLogin delivers a single sign-on functionality that allows customers to use one set of secure log in credentials to access KnowledgeTree’s document management software as well as all their other cloud-based applications.

By partnering with OneLogin, an identity management and single sign-on provider for cloud companies, KnowledgeTree is again simplifying the document management process.  Users now are able to access and process invoices, contracts, and other documents faster than ever before through automated, secure log-ins.  Forgotten passwords are a thing of the past; users who lose their log-in information no longer have to waste time requesting the correct password be sent to them.  Accessing documents in the cloud has never been easier, and it’s never been safer, either.

KnowledgeTree is one of a growing number of OneLogin partners that leverages OneLogin’s free SAML toolkit to eliminate the need for passwords, making it safer and easier for users to access their documents in the cloud. Companies can eliminate the risk that comes with weak employee passwords (“123456″ and “letmein” won’t cut it anymore), and documents that are stored safely in the cloud stay there.

KnowledgeTree joins OneLogin’s existing directory of more than 1,000 leading cloud applications, including  Salesforce.com, Yammer, and Zendesk.  OneLogin users are now able access KnowledgeTree in one easy click, and can experience the value that KnowledgeTree’s SaaS solution provides to hundreds of midmarket organizations.

via KnowledgeTree Adds Simplicity, Security to Cloud-Based Document Management — RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ –.

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French Data Protection Agency Issues Guidelines to Help Companies Strengthen the Security of their Data Processing : Privacy Law Blog

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

To assist companies to comply with European data protection laws, in particular those implemented in France, the French Data Protection Agency (known as “CNIL”) recently issued a set of guidelines organized by topic which provide elementary precautions to be taken by data controllers in several subject areas, including what types of conduct are prohibited as well as the CNIL’s recommendations in these areas.

According to article 34 of the French Data Protection Act of January 6, 1978 (as later amended, the “Act”), data controllers must take all useful precautions, depending on the nature of the data and the risks involved in processing it, to preserve the security of the data and, in particular, to prevent its alteration and damage, or access by non-authorized third parties.

Failure to do so is punishable by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of €300,000.

This duty to ensure the security of data continues throughout all stages of data processing,  i.e. from the data’s creation, to its use, back-up, filing and through to its eventual destruction.

via French Data Protection Agency Issues Guidelines to Help Companies Strengthen the Security of their Data Processing : Privacy Law Blog.

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Data protection: how to bring Americans and Europeans closer together?

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Though the Swift data privacy issue not forgotten, Europeans and Americans are trying to overcome their data protection differences via a possible police and judicial co-operation agreement. At a Civil Liberties Committee hearing on Monday, MEPs debated a draft negotiating brief proposed by the Commission to the Council. Parliament will have a right of veto over the final agreement.

“We would like to adjust the trajectory” with this agreement, said rapporteur Jan-Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA, DE), the new text of which “must remedy certain shortcomings which we have identified in recent years”. Simon Busuttil (EPP, MT), welcomed a “change of approach” by the US authorities: “one year ago, the United States seemed unaware of the existence of this Parliament” during debates on the Swift agreement. The Americans “will have to be as flexible as possible, because we shall not be easy partners”, he warned.

Don’t bet security against privacy

Europeans and Americans should not bet security against privacy – “we want both”, said US Ambassador to the EU William E. Kennard. “Neither must take precedence”, acknowledged Alexander Alvaro (ALDE, DE), who wondered where the dividing line should be drawn between “what is legal and what is legitimate, especially when gathering personal data “becomes an end in itself”.

The EU’s Belgian Presidency would like the negotiating brief to be approved in December, said current President of the Council Stefaan De Clerck.

For the time being, “a patchwork” of sector-specific deals and “about a hundred” bilateral agreements

“Today we face a patchwork” of cross-Atlantic data exchange deals, “all of which have proven their worth, but the overall result is not very satisfactory”, said the European Commission Director-General for justice Françoise Le Bail, justifying the Commission proposal. “It’s a real puzzle, which complicates the work of  officials and policemen, as well as the exercise of citizens’ rights” added Mr De Clerck.

“We have different systems but common values” observed  Mr Kennard, expressing concern about certain aspects of the negotiating brief proposed by the Commission. “We fear that a possible retroactive application could compromise the one hundred various agreements already signed. They might have to be reopened and renegotiated”, which could take “years, or indeed decades”, he said.

“I suppose you have a list” of these agreements, said Stavros Lambrinidis (S&D, EL). “Which of them would pose a problem?” he asked, adding that “if all the bilateral agreements more or less comply with the proposed data protection principles”, then “the obstacle should not be too difficult to overcome”.

via Data protection: how to bring Americans and Europeans closer together?.

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EFF Urges EU Data Protection Authorities to Call for the Repeal of the EU Data Retention Directive | Electronic Frontier Foundation

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This week, EFF is taking part in the 32nd Annual Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, where we urged the Privacy Authorities to call for the repeal of the European Union’s 2006 Data Retention Directive, which requires Internet service providers operating in Europe to retain telecom and Internet traffic data about all of their customers’ communications for a period of at least six months and up to two years, for possible use by law enforcement.

The Data Retention Directive is highly controversial, if not wildly unpopular throughout the European Union. The directive was strongly opposed by European privacy activists. For several years, mass protests have been held in cities across Europe under the banner of “Freedom Not Fear.” As each country in the EU has implemented the Data Retention Directive in their own law, they have faced challenges in state courts. In 2007, the German Working Group on Data Retention (AK Vorrat) filed a class-action lawsuit representing 35,000 people challenging the German law. The court found the law was unconstitutional and ordered the immediate deletion of all the data stored since the law went into effect in 2008 and the suspension of data collection until a revised national law is proposed. In 2009, the Romanian Constitutional Court ruled that the Romanian implementation of the EU directive fundamentally violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to respect for private life and correspondence. The Swedish government has so far refused to implement the Data Retention Directive at all, leading to a lawsuit from the European Commission.

As if the data retention obligations in the Data Retention Directive were not bad enough, European privacy Authorities have found that compliance at national level of Telecom and ISPs with the obligations required from national traffic data retention legislation was unlawful. Data retention periods were found to be as high as ten years, well in excess of the 24-month maximum set in the directive. While the directive itself is limited to the storage of traffic data, Privacy Authorities found that data relating to the contents of communications is also being stored. Several service providers were found to retain URLs of websites, headers of e-mail messages as well as recipients of e-mail messages in “CC”- mode at the destination mail server. And when monitoring phone traffic data, phone companies continuously track the location of the caller.

via EFF Urges EU Data Protection Authorities to Call for the Repeal of the EU Data Retention Directive | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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Using SharePoint to Enable Information Management within the Enterprise

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Enterprise Metadata

The ability to tag content in your content management system is critical. Tagging content improves search and results, allows an employee to more easily find content through navigation and assists in overall content management. As organizations become more sophisticated in their treatment of content, managing metadata across the enterprise has become a critical service.

In SharePoint 2010, Microsoft improved metadata support. First, they’ve created a concept of a “content type hub.” Companies already using SharePoint 2007 know that Content Types carry a collection of metadata field used to describe the content, content template settings and workflow settings. In 2010, SharePoint gives you the ability to syndicate content types across multiple site collections (using the hub concept), ensuring that firms can consistently tag and managed content regardless of its location.

In addition to Content Type hubs, Microsoft introduced a new service for managing enterprise metadata. This service allows organizations to create a proper, hierarchical metadata schema and manage it centrally. The service then syndicates that schema to specific metadata fields across the SharePoint farm. One big opportunity presented with the service is that it could also be used as a part of a master data management service outside of SharePoint (though it was probably not a use case for the service when Microsoft created it).

via Using SharePoint to Enable Information Management within the Enterprise.

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Using SharePoint to Enable Information Management within the Enterprise

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Enterprise Metadata

The ability to tag content in your content management system is critical. Tagging content improves search and results, allows an employee to more easily find content through navigation and assists in overall content management. As organizations become more sophisticated in their treatment of content, managing metadata across the enterprise has become a critical service.

In SharePoint 2010, Microsoft improved metadata support. First, they’ve created a concept of a “content type hub.” Companies already using SharePoint 2007 know that Content Types carry a collection of metadata field used to describe the content, content template settings and workflow settings. In 2010, SharePoint gives you the ability to syndicate content types across multiple site collections (using the hub concept), ensuring that firms can consistently tag and managed content regardless of its location.

In addition to Content Type hubs, Microsoft introduced a new service for managing enterprise metadata. This service allows organizations to create a proper, hierarchical metadata schema and manage it centrally. The service then syndicates that schema to specific metadata fields across the SharePoint farm. One big opportunity presented with the service is that it could also be used as a part of a master data management service outside of SharePoint (though it was probably not a use case for the service when Microsoft created it).

via Using SharePoint to Enable Information Management within the Enterprise.

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