Pointing out that modern technology has transformed the way personal information can be disseminated, she stresses that it should still be up to individuals what they share. “The human condition requires connection: We are social animals who seek contact with each other,” she writes. “We also seek privacy: moments of solitude, intimacy, quiet, reserve and control–personal control.” Full Story

KDDI Corporation has developed phone technology capable of deciphering precise movements such as scrubbing, sweeping and walking, for example. KDDI plans to sell the phone to managers, foremen and employment agencies, the report states. Some say it introduces an increased opportunity for abuse.

“…There will surely be negative consequences when applied to employee tracking or salesforce optimization,” said the director of the International University of Japan’s mobile consumer lab.  Full Story

• style of the books, “realistic, simple and precise…and stripped of unnecessary words”, that has a lot to do with it. The plain, direct writing, devoid of metaphor, suits the genre well.
• The Nordic detective is often careworn and rumpled. Mr Mankell’s Wallander is gloomy, troubled and ambivalent about his father. Mr Indridason’s Inspector Erlendur lives alone after a failed marriage, haunted by the death of his younger brother many years before in a blizzard that he survived. Mr Nesbo’s leading man, Inspector Harry Hole—often horribly drunk—is defiant of his superiors yet loyal to his favoured colleagues.
• Most important is the setting. The countries that the Nordic writers call home are prosperous and organised, a “soft society” according to Mr Nesbo. But the protection offered by a cradle-to-grave welfare system hides a dark underside. As Mary Evans points out in her recent study, “The Imagination of Evil”, the best Scandinavian fiction mines the seam that connects the insiders—the rich and powerful—and the outsiders, represented by the poor, the exploited and the vulnerable. Larsson is a master at depicting the relationship between business, social hypocrisy and criminal behaviour, and his heroes do not want to be rescued through any form of conventional state intervention.

Full story.

“The use of a full-body scanner which reveals graphic details of the human body, including the most private parts of it, very easily is a violation of human rights,” Scheinin says. He has told the UN Human Rights Council that different technology would better protect personal privacy, the report states. Full Story

“This video is a public record because the sheriff’s department took possession of it during the investigation into the trainer’s death. When the investigation is closed, the record becomes public. Sealing this video in order to uphold the family’s desire for privacy makes it more likely that future records will be sealed for reasons other than the public’s interest.”

First of all, I was shocked to see how blindly and adamantly Kelly McBride, the author of this column, advocates the public right of access at the expense of personal privacy. No, to be precise, she doesn’t seem to care about it at all, other than inserting the word “privacy” for pretending to make balance between access and privacy.

Is there not an alternative way to make true balance between the two other than disclosing the video that even this strong advocate for public access right admits “The video itself is bound to be sensational”?

Ms. McBride asserts the public exposure with this questions:

“But what if the video showed irresponsibility on SeaWorld’s part and a subsequent cover-up or complicity by law enforcement? Then, there would be a journalistic purpose for airing it. We won’t know until we see it.”

Oh, really? Then what police force, FBI, or any other investigative organizations are for? How can you not know “until we see it”?

Public has the right to see it – this mantra that has been used and too often abused by journalists sometimes sickens me. Where is the consideration of the personal privacy of the deceased person, and more importantly, of the person’s family members? There could be dozens of ways to achieve the balance between the public access rights and privacy without explicitly, shamelessly divulging the morbid images.

Another view is from a blog site Concurring Opinions, concerning a variety of legal issues including, and most notably, privacy issues. Professor Daniel Solove believes that the deceased person’s family “has a good case.” To quote:

“They want to prevent the sad events that happened to the family of Nikki Catsouras, whose gruesome accident death photos started appearing all over the Internet.  In that case, the court held that the family could bring common law privacy claims against the police department for improperly leaking the photographs.”

Dr. Solove suggests that, even if the video is viewed to the public, “the family’s redress could come in two possible forms: (1) a provision of the public record law that would not allow for the disclosure of the video; or (2) a constitutional right to information privacy challenge.“

It seems perfectly possible to make balance between public right of access and privacy, yet many people, including the ones who are supposed to be “intellectuals,” think the matter as zero-sum game, something over other. It’s unfortunate.

At issue, he says, is the lack of appropriate arrangements to ensure such records are either turned over to another medical professional or secured in an appropriate archive. Currently, those records could end up anywhere from a spouse’s basement to an empty office.

Acknowledging that some believe electronic health records will be the best solution, Dickson points out that the move to digitization will take time, adding, “If we do a crummy job protecting the privacy of patients now with paper records, is that not going to impair trust when it comes to electronic records?” Full Story

1. We can articulate the company vision in 140 characters or less, minus PR puffery and cliché.
2. We are willing to give credit to cool, innovative, or thought-provoking ideas, even if coined by someone else.
3. We are willing to challenge a potentially destructive position even if our position generates criticism.
4. We are willing to listen to and engage with others, even if “others” = employees, customers, or activists.
5. We will not get carried away, never tweeting about a fresh “cuppa,” or worse, some banal corporate achievement.
6. We will dedicate time each week to reading what others have to say and promise to retweet (“RT”) the most clever, valuable, and even humorous.
7. We will never include in a press release, speech, or annual report our “Twitter followers” figure, no matter how tempting.
8. We actually have something meaningful to say.
9. If we don’t have something to say, we’ll find the person in the organization best suited for speaking/tweeting on behalf of the company.
10. If we cannot live up to these commandments we will reflect on whether corporate marketing is the right role for us.
11. We will use our Twitter channel not just to bump out cheery news, but to keep customers informed in the event of bad news (i.e., a product recall, a hostile take-over, a PR crisis), too.

Source: The Big Money

A new McKinsey consultancy report suggests that the “Internet of things” is closer than ever to becoming a reality, The Guardian reports. The system would see everyday objects like shoes and food become capable of communicating data about their position, status and location through GPS and RFID systems, the report states.

“Pill-shaped micro-cameras already traverse the human digestive tract and send back thousands of images to pinpoint sources of illness,” the authors write, describing the potential benefits of the Internet of things. But they acknowledge the downsides, as well, saying that companies working on such technological advances must consider privacy, security and data protection concerns. Full Story

The theft of 57 unencrypted hard drives from BlueCross-BlueShield of Tennessee has given thieves access to personal data on upwards of 500,000 customers and is costing millions to fix, PCWorld reports.

The drives contained recordings of more than one million customer support calls as well as 300,000 screen shots, which in some cases included names, birthdates and Social Security numbers. BlueCross is now auditing its security practices, the report states. The process of investigating the breach and notifying customers has cost more than $7 million so far.

According to Michael Spinney of the Ponemon Institute, while the average data breach costs $6.75 million, the company could be paying much more due to the complexity of the breach. Full Story