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Is Your Business Toxic-in the FCPA Compliance Context | Thomas Fox – JDSupra

September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Is your business toxic? I do not mean that it had holds the type of sub-prime Collateral Debt Obligation assets which were so prominently mentioned in the press just a few years ago. I mean is your business so devoid of anything close to a best practices compliance program that you are not able to obtain loans, manage risk through insurance or other equally traditional business practices? Yesterday I wrote about the new types of insurance available for investigation of, and claims based upon, alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). This also included Directors and Officers liability coverage if such persons are made parties in a stock holder derivative action based upon violations of the FCPA. I also wrote about banks and other financial institutions which are now reviewing compliance programs to determine if they meet some type of minimum best practices. However, now the failure to have a minimum best practices compliance program in place may have a more drastic effect; it may deny you the ability to access your company’s value in the capital markets.

via Is Your Business Toxic-in the FCPA Compliance Context | Thomas Fox – JDSupra.

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FCC sued over new Internet rules – BusinessWeek

September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A media and Internet advocacy group is suing the federal government over its new rules covering Internet traffic, saying they don’t protect wireless traffic from interference by phone companies.

The group Free Press filed its challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s so-called “net neutrality” rules in federal court in Boston on Wednesday.

The rules were adopted in December and are set to take effect in two months.

via FCC sued over new Internet rules – BusinessWeek.

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FCC sued over new Internet rules – BusinessWeek

September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A media and Internet advocacy group is suing the federal government over its new rules covering Internet traffic, saying they don’t protect wireless traffic from interference by phone companies.

The group Free Press filed its challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s so-called “net neutrality” rules in federal court in Boston on Wednesday.

The rules were adopted in December and are set to take effect in two months.

via FCC sued over new Internet rules – BusinessWeek.

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Digital privacy: Who’s guarding the guards? – Business Monday – MiamiHerald.com

August 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It is with some irony that in April, an article detailing the amount of private data collected on smartphones appeared in the Tech section of the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch’s flagship U.S. paper, which has been documenting the use of Internet-tracking technology and privacy implications for consumers in an investigative series titled “What They Know.”

In July, journalists at Murdoch’s British tabloid, News of the World, were accused of knowing all too well  how to surreptitiously locate and extract private cellphone data  for competitive advantage. Industrial level cellphone hacking was allegedly  enabled by abuse of press access and financial power with help from corrupt politicians and police — reaching all the way into Scotland Yard. News of the World editors were accused of savaging the privacy of anyone they chose, from royals and prime ministers to the final calls of a deceased 13-year-old girl.

Although Murdoch Sr. and his son James Murdoch Jr. have denied knowledge of the hacking, the incidents sound a recurring theme in privacy and technology law: Who will guard the guards? That is, corporate toying with personal data will continue to escalate until the pendulum of public opinion is willing to swing in the direction of greater protection of privacy.

Murdoch’s digital media problems should not be a catalyst for limits on press freedoms — it was, after all, a competing London paper, The Guardian, that stood by the story in spite of possible political reprisal — but  the News of the World  events should be a catalyst for legal and technological  efforts to improve privacy protection. One example: easier-to-use encryption technologies to help consumers protect data — especially Florida’s children and the elderly.

Anyone who has read the biographies chronicling the development of Murdoch’s digital news empire would quickly realize he had a gift for identifying and retaining some of the most talented technology developers on the planet.  For example, Murdoch retained  the world’s leading inventors in cryptography and data transmission to protect his digital  programming content  and efficiently transmit it to his satellite TV subscribers around the world. These alliances gave him a strategic technological advantage for his  global media enterprise.

via Digital privacy: Who’s guarding the guards? – Business Monday – MiamiHerald.com.

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Skype to Buy GroupMe Group Messaging Service

August 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The group messaging battle just heated up with the announcement Sunday that Skype has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GroupMe, a group messaging service that will enhance Skype’s ability to facilitate text and photo messaging.

With this acquisition, Skype said in a press release that GroupMe will provide “best-in-class text-based communications and innovative features that enable users to connect, share locations and photos and make plans with their closest ties.”

via Skype to Buy GroupMe Group Messaging Service.

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Best Practices During an FCPA Enforcement Action: The Armor Holdings NPA | Thomas Fox – JDSupra

July 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We will give some detail to the books and records scheme used by the company to disguise its bribes and then detail some of the factors listed by the DOJ in its Press Release (the NPA is not available as of the posting of this blog). These factors listed by the DOJ clearly show that a sustained, committed effort to cooperate with the DOJ and SEC in the investigation, coupled with a robust remediation program going forward can significantly help a company overcome what may appear to be clear facts which would seem to warrant a criminal penalty, in addition to a civil action.

via Best Practices During an FCPA Enforcement Action: The Armor Holdings NPA | Thomas Fox – JDSupra.

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E-discovery: Ascending to the cloud creates negligible e-discovery risk

July 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Cloud computing platforms (a set of pooled computing resources that are powered by software and delivered over the Web) have been generating quite a bit of press in the last year. Indeed, in just recently computing giant Microsoft launched its Microsoft 365 cloud computing platform, designed to rival Google’s “mega-cloud” platform, which launched in May 2010. Since the release of the first commercial cloud computing platform by Amazon in 2006, cost-conscious companies have been racing to evaluate the pros and cons of moving their computing operations to “the cloud.” According to the Booz, Allen, Hamilton technology consulting firm, “Cloud computing may yield:

  • Life cycle costs that are 65 percent lower than current architectures
  • Benefit-cost ratios ranging from 5.7 to nearly 25
  • Payback on investments in three to four years

Notably absent from that cost-benefit analysis, however, is the effect cloud computing may have on the costs and risks associated with conducting electronic discovery. Those engaged in such activities may well ask the question, “Will the savings companies expect from moving their data to the cloud be absorbed by the additional costs/risks created by conducting e-discovery in the cloud?”

The short answer is no. Although there are risks associated with conducting e-discovery from the cloud, they are remote, manageable and eclipsed by the savings companies should expect from cloud computing. Some of the riskiest aspects of conducting e-discovery in the cloud are:

  • The loss/alteration of data and associated metadata
  • The potential violation of international data privacy laws by illegally disclosing data in the jurisdiction in which the cloud is located
  • The unintentional waiver of the attorney-client privilege by co-mingling data or disclosing attorney client communications to third parties
  • The failure to properly and timely implement and monitor litigation holds

via E-discovery: Ascending to the cloud creates negligible e-discovery risk.

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Amazon customer data to fuel companies’ new ad network

June 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Amazon will soon be branching out into the third-party ad business. According to a press release, Amazon will be partnering with the San Francisco ad tech company Triggit and will basically be launching an advertising network revolving around its visitors’ shopping habits.

Amazon has sold ad space on its own site as well as those sites it owns such as IMDB, but this time it will be buying Web advertising inventory and reselling it to marketers. The iconic e-commerce company will be selling this at a higher rate than other networks. The reason why Amazon’s prices will be justified is that the company will be using its customer and visitor data to “show the right ads to the right users”.

The process could mean lots of easy money for Amazon, though there is the potential for privacy concerns. The way it works is that Amazon uses its huge database of consumer information, containing choice bits such as what you looked at or bought, and creates pools of targets for marketing purposes. Amazon charges Triggit to track the targets through the Web , Triggit purchases ad inventory that the user is looking at and then Amazon pumps out an ad for the specific marketer.

AllthingsDigital points out that this is another take on “retargeting”, which may rankle privacy advocates but is theoretically anonymous. When retargeting, an advertiser will trail a target from site to site which people may not be aware of. The distinction is made that anonymity is preserved because advertisers are tracking Web browsers, not an individual person.

via Amazon customer data to fuel companies’ new ad network.

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Microsoft/Skype Press Conference: Service Will Still Support Non-MS Hardware

May 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Not Starting With a Kiss?

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Skype CEO Tony Bates took the stage just minutes ago to announce the Windows company’s acquisition of the VoIP company. In the hours since the deal was confirmed, it has become apparent just how far Microsoft can run with Skype, using it to power communications through the enterprise, in home computing, console and mobile worlds.

First up, it should be pointed out that Skype will continue to be offered on non-Microsoft technology. That includes Apple’s iPhone, Sony’s PlayStation Portable and other platforms/devices.

 

Steve Ballmer shows off the Microsoft ecosystem that Skype can thrive in

Ballmer: A Better Experience

“Today is a big day for Microsoft and Skype, bringing out the best of both,” Ballmer started, before going on to talk about communications and how it will be a seamless experience in the future regardless of device and distance. From group meetings to friends and family, Skype — so successful it has become a verb — can benefit almost anyone and Microsoft can see the opportunity for people to communicate across its products.

He also talked about engaged users, with Skype users racking up vast amounts of minutes and with over 25 million concurrent users on the service at a time. He went on to discuss how both companies already work together with Skype on Windows platforms. Talking business, he stated that Microsoft made an unsolicited offer for Skype, which was accepted in mid-April.

via Microsoft/Skype Press Conference: Service Will Still Support Non-MS Hardware.

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Businesses still ignorant of UK Bribery Act provisions – Deloitte – TrustLaw

April 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A poll by the global accounting firm Deloitte has found that the majority of business professionals think there will be an increase in global anti-corruption enforcement next year, but say they are not familiar with the provisions of the UK Bribery Act, a Wednesday press release said.

The UK’s controversial new anti-bribery law, the UK Bribery Act, will come into effect on July 1 and will have jurisdiction over any company that “carries out business” in the UK.

“Businesses have less than three months to revise their anti-bribery compliance programmes and retrain their employees,” Joe Zier, a leader in Deloitte’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) consulting services practice, said.

via Businesses still ignorant of UK Bribery Act provisions – Deloitte – TrustLaw.

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