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Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.

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Monday, April 18, 2005

No Free Lunch - Even In Norway

[...]

All this was illuminated last year in a study by a Swedish research organization, Timbro, which compared the gross domestic products of the 15 European Union members (before the 2004 expansion) with those of the 50 American states and the District of Columbia. (Norway, not being a member of the union, was not included.)

After adjusting the figures for the different purchasing powers of the dollar and euro, the only European country whose economic output per person was greater than the United States average was the tiny tax haven of Luxembourg, which ranked third, just behind Delaware and slightly ahead of Connecticut.

The next European country on the list was Ireland, down at 41st place out of 66; Sweden was 14th from the bottom (after Alabama), followed by Oklahoma, and then Britain, France, Finland, Germany and Italy. The bottom three spots on the list went to Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Alternatively, the study found, if the E.U. was treated as a single American state, it would rank fifth from the bottom, topping only Arkansas, Montana, West Virginia and Mississippi. In short, while Scandinavians are constantly told how much better they have it than Americans, Timbro's statistics suggest otherwise. So did a paper by a Swedish economics writer, Johan Norberg. [...]

Posted by:  Terry Frazier at 10:14 AM  | Permanent Link  | Trackback URL | 
Categories: Business & Finance, Policy & Regulation

Monday, April 11, 2005

rethink(ip) blog

A promising new intellectual property blog (which will, no doubt, have a wonderful Terms Of Service) – rethink(ip).

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that I will not hire a lawyer that does not blog. I’m currently embroiled with a dimwit lawyer for a bank. The lawyer has created a problem for me because he gave the bank an opinion on something he knew nothing about, and he was wrong. When presented with overwhelming evidence of his error (by my lawyer, who does blog) he refused to put his objection in writing, fumbled around, and then suggested we find another bank rather him admit to his client he was wrong. What a schmuck.

Blogging gives you some insight into a lawyer’s expertise, but also tells you something about how that lawyer relates to people. I guess, if you’re so inclined, you can also dig around for some sort of deep, personal insights but I’m not sure lawyers are worthy of that kind of interest. Mostly, you just want someone who knows their stuff, makes it understandable, is easy to do business with, and protects you from yourself. I’ve had great luck with Marty Schwimmer, the blogging trademark attorney, in that regard.

Thanks to Ernie for the link.

The Internet Bar Association's Patent Law Group

Steve Nipper, Doug Sorroco and Matt Buchanan all practice patent law.  They practice in different firms and have their own weblogs about patent law. Now they have a blog called rethink(ip) which seeks to talk about problems in patent law.  So why would they collaborate on a joint blog?  Maybe for the same reason that lawyers join bar associations and then form into sub-groups. [...]

Posted by:  Terry Frazier at 11:03 AM  | Permanent Link  | Trackback URL | 
Categories: Copyright, Policy & Regulation

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Senators to Hear Testimony on Data Theft

At least we’re getting a little traction on the data theft issues. I’m not optimistic anything substantive will happen. We’ll see… Found via Privacy Digest.

Senate Banking Committee to hold hearings on security of sensitive consumer information

Tomorrow, 10 March 2005, the Banking Committee of the United States Senate is holding hearings on "recent developments" related to the security of consumer information. By recent developments, they are referring to the ChoicePoint, Bank of America and LexisNexis incidents. Here is the notice of hearing, with the list of who is testifying (including the VP of ChoicePoint):

U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs:

"US Senator Richard Shelby
Chairman

US Senator Paul Sarbanes
Ranking Member

Committee: US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Title: Identity Theft: Recent Developments Involving the Security of Sensitive Consumer Information
Date: 3/10/05
Time: 2:30 PM
Place: 538 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Agenda: The Committee will meet in OPEN SESSION to conduct a hearing on "Identity Theft: Recent Developments Involving the Security of Sensitive Consumer Information."

Publication: Printable Hearing not available at this time

Witnesses

Panel 1

Honorable Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) , Unites States Senator

Panel 2

Honorable Deborah Platt Majoras , Chairman, Federal Trade Commission

Panel 3

Mr. Larry Johnson , Special Agent in Charge - Criminal Investigative Division, United States Secret Service

Ms. Amy S. Friend , Assistant Chief Counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Mr. Don McGuffey , Vice President, ChoicePoint Services, Inc.

Mr. Evan Hendricks , Editor, Privacy Times

Ms. Barbara J. Desoer , Executive Vice President, Global Technology, Service and Fulfillment Executive, Bank of America Corporate Center

- David T.S. Fraser [PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Law]

Posted by:  Terry Frazier at 8:07 PM  | Permanent Link  | Trackback URL | 
Categories: Policy & Regulation, Privacy

How Widespread is Data Theft?

This is a big deal, but until someone in Congress, the Judiciary, or the Executive branches of government are directly affected we're not going to get any protection. Our video rental records are protected by the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (VPPA) because one guy, Judge Robert Bork, got smeared by his video habits. One guy. We already have hundreds of thousands of regular Americans at risk, and with no recourse, because we have no rights to our own personal information –  it belongs to mega-corporations with no obligation to protect us. Found via John Robb.

More data theft, this time at Lexis/Nexis.  Where is this data flowing?  Offshore?  Nobody seems to want to tackle that question.  Also, what's the recourse if your data is stolen?  Not much, particularly given the recent legal reforms enacted.  Oh, those pesky class action law suits...

Posted by:  Terry Frazier at 11:40 AM  | Permanent Link  | Trackback URL | 
Categories: Policy & Regulation, Privacy

Amazon Patents Gender Stereotyping

Amazon patents gender stereotyping - ZDNet UK News

Matthew Broersma
ZDNet UK
March 09, 2005, 15:40 GMT

Girls like dolls, and their presents should be wrapped in pink paper. Whether it is obvious or not, Amazon now holds the patent on the idea.

Amazon.com has been granted a US patent on "Methods and systems of assisting users in purchasing items", including the use of gift-buying habits to determine the age, gender and birth-date of gift recipients, according to a US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) filing on Tuesday.

Posted by:  Terry Frazier at 11:23 AM  | Permanent Link  | Trackback URL | 
Categories: Copyright, Policy & Regulation

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