b.cognosco
Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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Senators to Hear Testimony on Data Theft
How Widespread is Data Theft?
Amazon Patents Gender Stereotyping
Response to Cobb County Spend Fest
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. [...]
Terry Frazier at 11:03 AM
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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:- David T.S. Fraser [PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Law]"US Senator Richard Shelby
ChairmanUS Senator Paul Sarbanes
Ranking MemberCommittee: 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
Terry Frazier at 8:07 PM
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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...
Terry Frazier at 11:40 AM
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Amazon Patents Gender Stereotyping
Isn't gender stereotyping some sort of crime? How can you get a patent for that?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.
Terry Frazier at 11:23 AM
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Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Response to Cobb County Spend Fest
Jim, a technology coordinator in the education industry, has taken issue with my rant on Cobb County's $70 million case of technophoria.It's pretty good. If you care about such things you might want to read it. He gets a few things wrong, makes a few faulty assumptions, and fails to change my mind that a $70 million technology orgy is bad thing. But he obviously cares and I respect people trying to do the right thing to get kids into the future.Emotions Lack Rationale
[...] Anyway, I am home with a sick wife and child, and decide to check around for any posts on the Cobb County Laptop initiative. I came across this post by, who I assume is, Terry Frazier. I can sense his passion and delirium produced by the idea of Cobb County spending $70 million for laptops for students (which was a part of a referendum that obviously passed voter muster). Fine, be passionate-- it is something that should be required for all bloggers... no one likes a boring blog. Try, at the same time to be objective and study up on a subject or the validity of the alternative solution proposed-- which is something else all good bloggers should attempt.[...]
Here are four specifics in Jim's post I want to address:
- That Anne Davis is my tech messiah - Anne is a very nice lady and a great teacher. I blogged her ground breaking work with kids and blogs at a local elementary more than two years ago. I picked Anne because she's been in the trenches, taught kids, taught teachers, and has street cred far beyond what any outside consultant will have. Not because she's a tech guru. I don't think she is. I don't really know. But I know that when you start talking major change you have resistance and the word of a peer is worth the word of 10 outsiders.
- That I claim I can do the same thing as this program but spend only $18.5 million. I do not. I claim that Cobb County is doing the wrong thing and that doing the right thing will cost only $18.5 million (admittedly, I made this number up, but so what.) The one thing I would change is that rather than having only computer labs it's probably appropriate to equip more classrooms with computers, but they do not need to be in every class. And there is no way to justify giving one to every kid in the school district.
- That the paragraph in Cobb County's FAQ detailing training has it covered. Not hardly. This level of change is massive and the single biggest barrier to success is making teachers efficient, active technology users. I know lots of teachers. Not very many are active, effective tech users, nor are they all that interested tech for tech's sake. Once the new wears off and the drudgery of actually learning new stuff hits them it gets old. And a bunch of Apple consultants, however different they may think, aren't likely to get the job done with a few seminars and a help desk.
- Finally, that Apple Computer, Inc., the company that stands to make a $70 million sale to Cobb County, is in any way an unbiased source of info about the success of its programs in other areas.
This is not easy. Because of my business I've seen dozens of massive technology expenditures and "change initiatives" at major corporations (think ERP and CRM). They almost universally fail, have adoption rates in the low double digits after rollout, cost far more and take far longer than expected. All the proposals have great training plans in the budget, all get shortchanged, and all the consultants go on to their next gig after a while. I don't see a lot of difference in the Cobb County situation.
Jim says my emotions have gotten the best of me, but some of the dumbest ideas of the past 30 years have been justified on nothing more than the emotional cry "Think of the children!" That's exactly what this is, and there are lots of teachers and children in Cobb County who could use things a lot more basic than a Laptop.
I don't agree with you Jim, but thanks for writing.
Terry Frazier at 12:24 AM
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