Data collection arms race feeds privacy fears

Google and Facebook last year both agreed to 20 years of privacy audits by the FTC

updated 2/19/2012 12:35:51 PM ET

 

SAN FRANCISCO — This week's revelations that Google Inc, Twitter and other popular

© Steve Marcus / Reuters / REUTERS

A Facebook logo is displayed on a Kodak photo kiosk during the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 11, 2012.

 

 

 Internet companies have been taking liberties with customer data have prompted criticism from privacy advocates and lawmakers, along with apologies from the companies.

They are the latest in a long line of missteps by large Internet companies that have faced little punishment for pushing privacy boundaries, which are already more expansive than most consumers understand.
Despite all the chatter about online privacy and the regular introductions of proposed data protection laws in Congress, Silicon Valley is in the midst of a veritable arms race of personal data collection that is intensifying.
Many innovative companies, most prominently Facebook, base virtually all of their services on the ability to personalize, which requires them to know their users well. Their business models likewise depend to an increasing degree on the ability to target a banner advertisement or other marketing pitch to an individual. Millions of times each day, the right to advertise to a specific user is auctioned off in a fraction of a second by computers talking to one another.
For both the buyers and the sellers of the advertising, the business advantage goes to the participant with the most knowledge, and that race is driving companies like Google to learn as much about its users as Facebook does. policies forbade it. On Friday, a Wall Street Journal report showed that Google was tweaking ads on Apple's Safari Web browser to install tracking cookies which, while commonplace on other browsers, are blocked on Safari unless the user specifically allows them.
Related: Why social media, mobile phones want your info
Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas), co-chairmen of the Congressional Privacy Caucus asked for a Google probe by the Federal Trade Commission, which declined to comment. Google said Friday that its intentions were innocuous but it nontheless dropped the practice. Twitter and Path said they would seek explicit permission before grabbing address-book contents, and Apple said it would update its software to prevent further leaks.

Related: 7 signs we're living in the post-privacy era
Promises, promisesThe developments fit what is by now a well-established pattern that has thus far kept major new laws off the books, longtime policy specialists said.
A company over-reaches, gets caught, and promises to do better. If a greater than usual display of outrage prompts introduction of plausible legislation, the industry counters with a new plan for self-regulation, such as the publication of privacy policies that users seldom read.
Sooner or later, the plan is rendered obsolete by new technologies in the data arms race, and the cycle repeats.
Google and Facebook last year both agreed to 20 years of privacy audits by the Federal Trade Commission after they made public customer information that users had considered private. But with few restrictions on data collection, the audits are not likely to have a major impact on business practices.
Internet companies and their investors argue that data-collection is essential to their businesses, and enables them to provide services that would otherwise be impossible. Consumers get more accurate search results, more relevant advertising, and more intimate connections with friends and others when Internet companies know something about them.
"For that value tradeoff, they're willing to provide information," said Ron Conway, a well-known Internet investor.
"I don't like people tracking my location, but I want to know, 'what are some nearby Italian restaurants that my friends have liked,'" said Auren Hoffman, CEO of Rapleaf, which compiles profiles of Internet users.
Related: Why social media, mobile phones want your info
The equation is different in Europe, which has long-standing data protection laws that limit some practices that are standard in the United States. The European Union is now weighing updated rules that would allow any resident to ask companies to delete the information on file about them; the United States only has equivalent rights for those under age 13.
Privacy advocates in the United States say they do not expect big changes anytime soon.
"Trying to pass a bill through Congress that's actually going to safeguard user records, especially when you've got huge advertiser lobbies trying to defang that law, is an incredible challenge," said Rainey Reitman, activism director with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

At best, they say, a law might allow consumers to opt out of some tracking.

"That is more likely today than it was 24 hours ago," said Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, which gets funding from foundations and major technology companies.
"But the 'right-to-be forgotten,' erase-button thing, you would see more of a fight."
Related:
Report: These tech companies sell spy tools to dictators
7 signs we're living in the post-privacy era

At Whitney Houston's funeral, faith more than fame

Uploaded by wesawthat1 on Feb 18, 2012

funeral service for whitney houston
from 11:14 am cst - 2:48 pm cst saturday 18 february 2012
recorded live
====
Stars mourn Whitney Houston at hometown service

NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Stars, family and friends mourned Whitney Houston in a spirited funeral service at her hometown church on Saturday, a week after the sudden death of the singer whose spectacular voice made her one of the biggest pop stars of her era.



(CNN) -- A close friend of Whitney Houston's family may have said it best: They would have loved her, even if she couldn't sing.
But how she could sing.
Houston, the six-time Grammy Award winner and only artist to consecutively chart seven No. 1 hits, will be remembered Saturday in the Newark, New Jersey, church where she performed as a child in front of her family and community.
In addition to her family, those expected to celebrate Houston's life at New Hope Baptist Church will include entertainment mogul Tyler Perry; "The Queen of Soul," Aretha Franklin; Grammy Award winner Stevie Wonder; and Academy Award winner Kevin Costner.
The fact that Houston's funeral will bring a coterie of "A-listers" together is hardly surprising. After all, she had worked for nearly 30 years with the best in the business.
Whitney Houston funeral services live stream funeral time at New Hope Baptist Church New Jersey Saturday February 18th, 2012. Memorial tribute stars Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, and Kevin Costner will speak, performances. Cissy Houston, Bobby Brown, Bobbi Kristina Brown, Ray J, Brandy, Elton John, Clive Davis, Quincy Jones.


Whitney Houston Funeral Program 18 February 2012

Whitney Houston Obituary 18 February 2012
====
***COPYRIGHT NOTICE*** This video is posted pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 107 the "Fair Use" provision for purposes such as, including but not limited to, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research, church religious services study, due to Ms Houston's stature as a major figure in American culture and the immense public interest in her life, career and death.

Any DMCA Takedown Notice filed to YouTube over this video and its contents will be answered immediately by the uploader with a DMCA Counter-Notification...
========
Sec. 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
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Obama cancels defense programs tied to Ohio jobs

The administration cancelled

the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting

Vehicle after $3.2 billion was spent since

1996 to develop a next-generation

amphibious-assault vehicle. Prototypes

were being built at the General Dynamics

 Corp.-operated plant in Lima.

Two defense programs

that cost billions of dollars to develop

ended up on the scrap heap in President

Obama's budget proposal. The Obama

administration plans to terminate the

C-27J transport plane, which cost the

Army and Air Force a combined $1

billion in recent years.

By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 10:49 AM Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Army and the Air Force have spent a combined $1 billion in recent years to develop and acquire the C-27J transport plane, a program the Obama administration is canceling after the first batch of planes have been delivered.

Meanwhile, the Marine Corps has spent $3.2 billion since the mid-1990s to develop a next-generation amphibious assault vehicle, called the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The administration halted that program last year.

Both programs have fallen victim to cost-cutting as Washington looks for ways to reduce defense spending and redirect taxpayer money into priority programs that include long-range air and sea power, unmanned aircraft, intelligence and surveillance, and cyber warfare capabilities. They also represent a pattern that is all too familiar with development of expensive war machines: When programs are cast aside because of shifting priorities or budget realities, it often comes after billions of dollars have already been spent on them.

“The C-27 is a case study in government waste,” said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

“The Army had a need, the government funded it and, now that the planes are being delivered, the decision is to discard all of them,” Thompson said.

Ohio jobs were tied to both canceled programs.

The C-27J Spartans are part of the flying mission at the Ohio Air National Guard’s Mansfield base, causing some in the state’s congressional delegation to worry about that outpost’s future as Washington prepares anew to consider closing some bases to save money. The propeller-driven planes were also intended for bases in other states.

And before the Marines decided to upgrade the current generation of amphibious assault vehicles, the General Dynamics Corp.-operated plant in Lima built seven prototypes of the now-scrapped Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, 
D-Ohio, said the state’s congressional delegation will try to save both programs, despite the administration’s decisions.

Beyond providing jobs in Ohio, the manufacture of the planes and amphibious vehicles fill roles in national security and support job skills in America’s manufacturing base that need continuing work to maintain them, Brown said in a telephone interview.

“If you stop it and then try to restart it three, four, five years from now, you could lose that,” Brown said.

The C-27J was billed as a cargo plane that could land in rugged terrain — such as Afghanistan — and in tighter places than the Air Force’s larger C-130 transport could. The plan called for the Air National Guard to fly the planes. The Army initially expressed a need for the transport capability and the Air Force joined in.

By the end of the government’s current fiscal year on Sept. 30, the Air Force will have spent $540 million on the C-27J program and the Army $509 million, for a combined total of $1.05 billion, Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Cassidy said last week.

The government had planned to buy 38 of the C-27J planes, which had a list price of $29 million in fiscal 2010. The Defense Department has contracted to buy 21 of the planes and 11 have been delivered, Cassidy said.

Defense contractors L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Alenia North America and Global Military Aircraft Systems lead the C-27’s manufacturing team. The Defense Department selected the plane in 2007 to fill Army and Air Force requirements to deliver cargo and supplies to forward tactical units in remote locations with short, unimproved runways, according to the manufacturers.

The government now considers the C-27J program to be terminated. The Pentagon is determining the fate of the planes, which could be cannibalized for parts, among other possible alternatives, Cassidy said.

Expeditionary 
Fighting Vehicle

The Marine Corps canceled its Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program in January 2011 “with the idea that savings from the program could be put into a new program,” said Emanuel Pacheco, spokesman for the Marines’ advanced amphibious assault program in Quantico, Va. That program includes the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, the prior land-water assault vehicle, an envisioned next-generation Amphibious Combat Vehicle and a personnel carrier that is being developed.

The Marines and Navy are evaluating alternatives for a new amphibious assault vehicle, Pacheco said. The Defense Department could be ready to request proposals from contractors in the second quarter of 2013, he said.

In the meantime, the government has been paying for a gradual shutdown of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program and funding testing of the prototypes by the contractor, General Dynamics Land Systems.

“The government and the contractor felt that was in the best interests of both, because we felt there were still things to learn to help determine the way ahead,” Pacheco said.

The Obama administration’s stated strategy to convert the military to a smaller, leaner, more agile force entails a broad array of program cuts that Congress might reverse or modify, but there are increases or firm commitments to priority programs.

The Pentagon has said it will proceed with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and U.S. allies, despite cost overruns that are escalating its price. The Air Force is cutting mobility aircraft including C-130s and C-5s, along with the C-27Js, but will get funding to acquire new aerial refueling tanker aircraft as well as design and develop a new long-range bomber.

The Army is reducing funding for tank upgrades, Blackhawk helicopter upgrades, Stryker armored vehicles and heavy trucks. The Navy is delaying an amphibious ship and a new carrier, and is cutting V-22 Osprey aircraft acquisition.

Cutting weapons systems is less painful than reducing personnel. And it isn’t surprising that military procurement is being reduced in tight times, since it had been built up during the more free-spending recent years, the Washington think tank Henry L. Stimson Center noted in an assessment of President Obama’s 2013 defense budget request.

“We often forget procurement not only pays more during build-downs, it also receives more during build-ups, which we also saw over the last decade,” Stimson Center analyst Russell Rumbaugh wrote.

Debate on Expanding Offshore Drilling for Oil and Gas

Feb 15, 2012
U.S. House of Representatives

LIVE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Grover Norquist on President Obama's 2013 Budget Tax Proposals

C-SPAN | Washington Journal

Feb 19, 2012
Grover Norquist talked about tax proposals in the Administration's 2013 budget, his thoughts on the payroll tax extension deal that passed both houses on Friday, and who he his thoughts on the 2012 election. He responded to telephone calls and electronic communications.

Keystone Oil Pipeline, Legisation Markup, Part 3

Feb 7, 2012
House Committee Energy &Commerce

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up a bill designed to force approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The measure would take that decision away from the State Department, instead mandating approval for the plan by .. Read More

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up a bill designed to force approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The measure would take that decision away from the State Department, instead mandating approval for the plan by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Keystone Oil Pipeline, Legislation Markup, Part 2

Feb 7, 2012
House Committee Energy & Commerce

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up a bill designed to force approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The measure would take that decision away from the State Department, instead mandating approval for the plan by .. Read More

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up a bill designed to force approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The measure would take that decision away from the State Department, instead mandating approval for the plan by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Keystone Oil Pipeline, Legislation Markup, Part 1

Feb 7, 2012
House Committee Energy & Commerce

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up a bill designed to force approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The measure would take that decision away from the State Department, instead mandating approval for the plan by .. Read More

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up a bill designed to force approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The measure would take that decision away from the State Department, instead mandating approval for the plan by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Keystone Oil Pipeline, Government Officals Panel

Feb3, 2012
House Committee Energy & Commerce | Energy and Environment

Witnesses testified on the Obama administration's decision to deny a permit for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would have carried oil from Canada to the U.S.

Keystone Oil Pipeline, Business Owners Panel

Feb 3, 2012
House Committee Energy & Commerce | Energy and Environment

Witnesses testified on the Obama administration's decision to deny a permit for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would have carried oil from Canada to the U.S.

U.S. and Global Energy Outlook

Jan 31, 2012
Senate Committee Energy and Natural Resources

Witnesses testified about broad trends of energy production and energy use in the United States and worldwide. They said the U.S. oil and gas industry was in the midst of a "major revival" and estimated that domestic crude oil .. Read More

Witnesses testified about broad trends of energy production and energy use in the United States and worldwide. They said the U.S. oil and gas industry was in the midst of a "major revival" and estimated that domestic crude oil production would increase over 20% in the next decade reducing in oil imports from 49% to 36% by 2035.

Keystone Oil Pipeline, Opening

Jan 25, 2012
House Committee Energy & Commerce | Energy and Power House Committee Energy & Commerce | Energy and Environment

Members made opening statements at a hearing on the Obama administration's decision to deny permission to continue with plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

Keystone Oil Pipeline, Testimony

Jan 25, 2012
House Committee Energy & Commerce | Energy and Environment

Witnesses testified on the Obama administration's decision to deny a permit for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would have carried oil from Canada to the U.S.

Keystone Oil Pipeline Decision

The next ten enteries are on Keystone, I do not know enough  to be for or against it.  I feel if they can work out the environmental aspect of the project, and keep our earth pristine and clean, than I am all for the pipeline, because it would mean lots of jobs, and it would mean our refineries would not be closed, and our need for oil from other countries would be greatly decreased. And maybe our payment for gas would also go down.  Eventually the President will okay the project, because it will be the best for our country and our economy.  And I do not think he really wants China to end up with the oil.  That would be an advantage we would not overcome.  It would give China an unfair advantage over the market, they would place a high tariff on the oil they produce and sell
and we could not afford that. 

Please President Obama, the study is important, but do not loli-gog, we do not want Canada to seek another country.  Because we know which one they are lokking to wine and dine. 


Jan 18, 2012
U.S. House of Representatives | Radio and Television Gallery

House Republican leaders reacted to President Obama's decision to reject the Keystone pipeline project.

Man planning to bomb US Capitol arrested in sting operation

5

hours

ago

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Federal agents arrested a man suspected of plotting to set off a bomb in Washington near the US Capitol. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

Updated at 5:31 p.m. ET: WASHINGTON — The FBI and Capitol police arrested a man who thought he was going to carry out a suicide bombing Friday at the U.S. Capitol as part of a larger al-Qaida terror campaign but who was in fact dealing with undercover operatives, federal officials told NBC News.
The man, Amine El Khalifi, 29, a Moroccan who has been living in the U.S. for 12 years, was arrested about noon ET near the Capitol after he received what he thought was a MAC-10 automatic weapon and a vest packed with explosives from people he believed were supporters of al-Qaida, sources told NBC News. In fact, the gun was disabled, the vest had inert material and the people were FBI agents.

"At no time was the public or congressional community in any danger," Capitol Police said in a statement.

As outlined in a Justice Department press release, El Khalifi was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against property that is owned and used by the United States. The office of the U.S. attorney for Eastern Virginia said he could face life in prison if convicted.
The Associated Press, quoting a counterterrorism official, reported that police were close to arresting an associate of El Khalifi's on charges unrelated to the conspiracy. Like El Khalifi, the associate was said to be a Moroccan living in the U.S. illegally.
James McJunkin, assistant director of the FBI's Washington field office, stressed that El Khalifi allegedly "followed a twisted, radical ideology that is not representative of the Muslim community in the United States."

Yearlong investigation

The criminalcomplaint alleges that a confidential source told the FBI that El Khalifi attended a meeting on Jan. 11, 2011, in Arlington, Va. — a suburb of Washington — where one of the participants produced an AK-47 assault rifle, two revolvers and ammunition. The informer said El Khalifi agreed that the "war on terrorism" was a "war on Muslims" and said the group needed to be ready for war.
On Dec. 1, El Khalifi was introduced by a man he knew as "Hussien" to a man he knew as "Yusuf," who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. Through December and January, El Khalifi plotted a bombing attack, the complaint alleges, proposing U.S. military offices, a synagogue, Army generals and a restaurant frequented by military officials as targets, it says.
The complaint says El Khalifi "indicated his desire" to "kill people face-to-face," conducted surveillance to determine the best time and place for the bombing and bought materials as part of the operation.
El Khalifi understood that his attack would be part of a larger al-Qaida operation that would include his bombing and a second attack against a military installation by others in al-Qaida, according to the charges.
The crucial turn came on Jan. 15, when El Khalifi announced that he had changed his plans and wanted to carry out a suicide bombing at the Capitol, according to the complaint, which said that as part of the sting, El Khalifi "detonated" what he believed was a real bomb at a quarry in West Virginia, using a cell phone as the trigger. He said he wanted a bigger explosion and chose Friday as the day of the operation, according to the affidavit.

Over the next month, El Khalifi conducted surveillance of the Capitol Building and asked "Hussien" to remotely detonate the bomb he would be wearing if he was stopped by security, it alleges.

Jonathan Dienst of WNBC in New York contributed to this report by NBC News justice correspondent Pete Williams and M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Santorum says Obama agenda not "based on Bible"

1 of 2. Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum speaks during a Tea Party Rally in Columbus, Ohio February 18, 2012.
Credit: REUTERS/Matt Sullivan

Photo 2 / 2

Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum speaks during a Tea Party Rally in Columbus, Ohio February 18, 2012.
REUTERS/Matt Sullivan

By Samuel P. Jacobs

COLUMBUS, Ohio | Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:19pm EST

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum challenged President Barack Obama's Christian beliefs on Saturday, saying White House policies were motivated by a "different theology."A devout Roman Catholic who has risen to the top of Republican polls in recent days, Santorum said the Obama administration had failed to prevent gas prices rising and was using "political science" in the debate about climate change.
Obama's agenda is "not about you. It's not about your quality of life. It's not about your jobs. It's about some phony ideal. Some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology," Santorum told supporters of the conservative Tea Party movement at a Columbus hotel.
When asked about the statement at a news conference later, Santorum said, "If the president says he's a Christian, he's a Christian."
But Santorum did not back down from the assertion that Obama's values run against those of Christianity.
"He is imposing his values on the Christian church. He can categorize those values anyway he wants. I'm not going to," Santorum told reporters.
A social conservative, Santorum is increasingly seen as a champion for evangelical Christians in fights with Democrats over contraception and gay marriage.
"This is just the latest low in a Republican primary campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness, and searing pessimism and negativity - a stark contrast with the President who is focused everyday on creating jobs and restoring economic security for the middle class," said Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt.
The campaign's response signaled a new respect for Santorum. Until this week, the Obama campaign appeared exclusively focused on Mitt Romney. Republicans are waging a state-by-state contest to pick a candidate to challenge Obama in November's election.
At a campaign appearance in Florida last month, Santorum declined to correct a voter who called Obama, a Christian, an "avowed Muslim."
Santorum told CNN after that incident, "I don't feel it's my obligation every time someone says something I don't agree with to contradict them, and the president's a big boy, he can defend
himself."

QUESTIONS ROMNEY RECORD ON OLYMPICS

On Saturday, Santorum also took aim at Romney, his main Republican rival, on one of the central accomplishments of his resume, saying the former Massachusetts governor's rescue of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics required millions of dollars in handouts from the federal government.
The attack was a response to the Romney camp trying to portray Santorum as a proponent of big government because of his use of earmarks while he served in the U.S. Senate.
"He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake Olympic Games - in an earmark," Santorum said.
"One of his strongest supporters, John McCain called it potentially the worst boondoggle in earmark history. And now Governor Romney is suggesting, 'Oh, Rick Santorum earmarked,' as he requested almost half a billion dollars of earmarks as governor of Massachusetts to his federal congressmen and senators. Does the word hypocrisy come to mind?" Santorum said.
Romney often talks of how he turned around the struggling Olympics organization and is appearing in Utah on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the Olympics.
In a statement, the Romney campaign said Santorum was in a weak position to challenge its candidate on big spending.
"Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you end up shooting yourself in the foot. There is a pretty wide gulf between seeking money for post-9/11 security at the Olympics and seeking earmarks for polar bear exhibits at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Mitt Romney wants to ban earmarks, Senator Santorum wants more 'Bridges to Nowhere,'" said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul.
(Editing by Peter Cooney)