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Outgoing federal CIO warns of ‘an IT cartel’ – Computerworld

July 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In a wide-ranging discussion Friday with President Barack Obama’s top science advisors, Federal CIO Vivek Kundra warned of the dangers of open data access and complained of “an IT cartel” of vendors.

He also believes the U.S. can operate with just a few data centers.

Kundra, who is leaving his job in mid-August, offered a kaleidoscopic view of his concerns about federal IT in an appearance before President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

In particular, Kundra is worried about the “mosaic effect,” the unintended consequence of government data sharing, where data sets are combined and layered in ways that can strip away privacy and pose security threats.

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In the age of Facebook and Twitter, where a lot of personal data is already available, government data that may have been “innocuous in the past,” can be used to “identify people that may not want to be identified,” Kundra said.

At this meeting, he was sharply critical of government IT contracting and told the committee “that we almost have an IT cartel within federal IT” that’s made up of “very few companies” that benefit from government spending “because they understand the procurement process better than anyone else.”

via Outgoing federal CIO warns of ‘an IT cartel’ – Computerworld.

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International Cooperation & Collaboration on Asset Forfeiture « USDOJ: Justice Blog

June 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It is becoming increasingly common for criminals to commit their crimes in one country and launder illicit proceeds in another.  Law enforcement partners from around the globe must work together to locate and forfeit the proceeds of these criminal activities, increasing the need for cooperation and collaboration.

To foster this cooperation and collaboration, forfeiture experts from the United States and Latin American countries are gathering in Lima, Peru, to discuss the use of asset forfeiture to fight international crime, including drug cartel operations in Latin America. The event is hosted by the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, in partnership with the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) of the U.S. Department of State and the Public Ministry-Fiscalia de la Nacion of Peru.

Many of the countries represented at the conference have successfully investigated and assisted in the restraint and forfeiture of criminal funds related to narcotics trafficking, fraud, smuggling and other serious crimes.  Speakers from Colombia, Mexico and the United States, as well as panelists from Peru, Paraguay, Brazil and Guatemala, will describe their experiences in using asset forfeiture as a tool in combating these types of crimes, including sharing successful investigative techniques and discussing current challenges.

via International Cooperation & Collaboration on Asset Forfeiture « USDOJ: Justice Blog.

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EU Slams LCD Panel-Makers With Price-Fixing Charge – Law Blog – WSJ

December 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

We’re not in the business of advising people how best to commit their crimes, but a brief note to all those executives looking to boost profits by fixing prices with competitors: don’t do what a group of LCD panel makers have been accused of doing.

The EU on Wednesday fined Asian companies $860 million for fixing prices of liquid-crystal display panels.

Among those charged: South Korea’s LG Display, and Taiwan-based companies Chi Mei Optoelectronics, AU Optronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, and HannStar Display Corp.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest LCD maker, evaded a fine because it blew the whistle on the cartel. Click here for the Dow Jones story; here for the Bloomberg story.

According to Bloomberg, the method behind the price-fixing was far from sophisticated. The six manufacturers in the cartel simply met every month in hotels in Taiwan to agree on prices. No code names, no clandestine late-night rendezvous. Just: let’s got a hotel and agree.

AU Optronics told Bloomberg that it “expects to appeal the decision to the General Court in Luxembourg and to vigorously defend itself.”

LG Display said in a statement Thursday it may appeal the fine, but doesn’t expect the decision to impact its business. LG Display’s price-fixing penalty follows a $400 million fine after a price-fixing investigation in the U.S. two years ago.

The four Taiwanese makers also said Thursday the fines won’t have a significant impact on their operations. Chunghwa said in a statement it had set aside funds for the fines as expenses last year. The company added it hasn’t decided if it will appeal the ruling. Chunghwa had also pleaded guilty to price fixing in the same investigation.

via EU Slams LCD Panel-Makers With Price-Fixing Charge – Law Blog – WSJ.

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E.U. Fines Computer Chip Makers for Price-Fixing | NYTimes.com

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
European flag outside the Commission
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The European Union fined a group of computer chip makers €331.3 million, or $421 million, Wednesday for price-fixing in the first-ever settlement of a cartel case in Europe.

Samsung of South Korea, the market leader, received the highest fine, €145.7 million, and Infineon, based in Germany, was second at €56.7 million.

Those amounts were less than they could have been — by about 20 percent for Samsung and about 50 percent for Infineon — partly because of the settlement and partly because of other leniency arrangements. The new procedure allows for reduced fines in exchange for an agreement under which the companies are expected not to appeal the European Commission’s decision to court.

Micron of the United States, which first reported the cartel to authorities in 2002, escaped a fine.

The E.U. Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia said that the new policy was designed to speed up investigations, free up resources to deal with other cases and generally improve the efficiency of its antitrust enforcement.

via E.U. Fines Computer Chip Makers for Price-Fixing – NYTimes.com.

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