News release: “The Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration today proposed a framework of regulations that would allow routine use of certain small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in today’s aviation system, while maintaining flexibility to accommodate future technological innovations. The FAA proposal offers safety rules for small UAS (under 55 pounds) conducting non-recreational operations. The… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: E-Commerce
The Target and Other Financial Data Breaches: Frequently Asked Questions
The Target and Other Financial Data Breaches: Frequently Asked Questions “In November and December of 2013, cybercriminals breached the data security of Target, one of the largest U.S. retail chains, stealing the personal and financial information of millions of customers. On December 19, 2013, Target confirmed that some 40 million credit and debit card account… Continue Reading
Lawmakers Call on Feds to Investigate Use of Supercookies
“A handful of U.S. senators are asking two federal agencies to investigate Verizon’s use of so-called supercookies that track cellphone users’ habits. In letters to the Federal Trade and Federal Communications commissions today, the lawmakers said the company’s use of supercookies warrants a thorough examination by both agencies. Among the lawmakers is U.S. Sen. Bill… Continue Reading
FTC Report on Internet of Things
Report Recognizes Rapid Growth of Connected Devices Offers Societal Benefits, But Also Risks That Could Undermine Consumer Confidence In a detailed report on the Internet of Things, released today, the staff of the Federal Trade Commission recommend a series of concrete steps that businesses can take to enhance and protect consumers’ privacy and security, as… Continue Reading
Bloomberg – Twitter Reaches Deal to Show Tweets in Google Search Results
Sarah Frier – “Twitter Inc. has struck a deal with Google Inc. to make its 140-character updates more searchable online. In the first half of this year, tweets will start to be visible in Google’s search results as soon as they’re posted, thanks to a deal giving the Web company access to Twitter’s firehose, the… Continue Reading
Social Network Privacy Social Networking facebook in re Facebook
EPIC – With New Policy Changes, Facebook Tracks Users Across the Web: “Over the objections of consumer privacy organizations, Facebook has implemented policy changes that allow the company to track users across the web without consent. The Dutch data protection commissioner launched an investigation after the original announcement. This week the a German privacy agency… Continue Reading
FCC Finds U.S. Broadband Deployment Not Keeping Pace
Fact Sheet: Chairman Wheeler Proposes New Rules for Protecting the Open Internet Appendix E Wheeler Statement Clyburn Statement Rosenworcel Statement Pai Statement O’Rielly Statement From Wheeler Statement: “Today, by issuing the first Broadband Progress Report of my chairmanship, the Commission offers its assessment of where we stand. We found that we have made notable progress,… Continue Reading
Google – Fighting Bad Advertising Practices on the Web – 2014 Year in Review
Google Inside Ad Words posting – “Online advertising helps fund content and businesses on the web, from small family-owned shops to large publishers. While online advertising helps the web to work for all of us, this ecosystem can also attract bad actors that aim to misuse ads for harmful or deceptive purposes. We work hard… Continue Reading
Analysis: It’s surprisingly easy to identify individuals from credit-card metadata
MIT News release: “In this week’s issue of the journal Science, MIT researchers report that just four fairly vague pieces of information — the dates and locations of four purchases — are enough to identify 90 percent of the people in a data set recording three months of credit-card transactions by 1.1 million users. When… Continue Reading
Computers are learning to read emotion, and the business world can’t wait
The New Yorker – Raffi Khatchadourian: “Today, machines seem to get better every day at digesting vast gulps of information—and they remain as emotionally inert as ever. But since the nineteen-nineties a small number of researchers have been working to give computers the capacity to read our feelings and react, in ways that have come… Continue Reading
Google Search – Deep Learning Revives the Neural Net Revolution
Follow up to previous posting – Google – Still in the Search, How Google Search Dealt With Mobile – The Never Ending Search by Steven Levy, see also parts two, three and four of this series: Part 2 – Google’s Secret Study To Find Out Our Needs – To improve search, ask people what they… Continue Reading
The Most Innovative Companies 2014
Boston Consulting Group – The Most Innovative Companies 2014, Breaking Through Is Hard to Do: “Innovating isn’t getting any easier. Nor any less important. Our ninth innovation report since 2005 finds that although innovation remains a top corporate priority, executives are feeling less confident in their innovation capabilities. It’s no longer enough to be good… Continue Reading
