June 2010 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

WSJ - Funds Invest in Privacy Start-ups

by Carmelo Fontana

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703438604575315182025721578.h… TECHNOLOGYJUNE 20, 2010 Funds Invest in Privacy Start-Ups Companies With Ideas on How to Protect Personal Information Are a New Favorite of Venture Capitalists By PUI-WING TAM And BEN WORTHEN As privacy snafus mount across companies such as Facebook Inc. and AT&T Inc., venture capitalists have spotted a new market opening and are pumping millions of dollars into privacy-related start-ups. This month, online privacy start-up ReputationDefender Inc. plans to disclose that it has raised $15 million in new venture funding—even though the company wasn't actively looking for new cash. SafetyWeb Inc., which helps parents monitor their kids' online activities, said Thursday it closed $8 million in funding. And Truste, which offers seals of approval to websites that meet certain privacy standards, raised $12 million earlier this month. Many of the investors include top-tier venture-capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Accel Partners. Venture firms such as Jafco Ventures, Atlas Venture and Battery Ventures also have invested in online-privacy start-ups in the past few months. As privacy snafus mount across companies such as Facebook and AT&T venture capitalists have spotted a new market opening and are pumping millions of dollars into privacy-related start-ups. Ben Worthen explains. "There are at least a dozen [online privacy companies] now in various stages of making the rounds in the venture world," said Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, a venture capitalist at Accel, which backed Truste and is also a major investor in Facebook. "We're actively looking for more [privacy] deals." The jump in privacy-related investments underscores how ways to protect privacy on the Web and on mobile gadgets is increasingly viewed as a real business. That's a shift from a few years ago, when companies struggled to sell such services, said Carsten Casper, an analyst at researcher Gartner. Among those that crashed earlier this decade was start-up Privacy Inc., which offered dummy email addresses for online purchases. But in the wake of recent privacy flaps involving AT&T, Facebook, Apple Inc. and others, consumer awareness has grown. "Privacy is a big issue and it's going to get bigger because people realize it can be used against you," said Ted Schlein, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins and a ReputationDefender board member. "That spells market opportunity." Many venture capitalists liken today's privacy market to the technology-security market a decade ago, when companies such as Barracuda Networks Inc. were searching for solutions to deal with viruses and hacking. Security has since become one of tech's hottest markets, with businesses increasing their security spending by 10% to $33.8 billion world-wide in 2009, even as total tech spending fell 9% to $1.5 trillion for the year, according to Forrester Research. Yet despite the surge of privacy investments, venture capitalists and start-ups still face a challenge in getting people to pay for confidentiality and discretion,, say analysts. A recent study by think tank Ponemon Institute LLC found that identity theft victims still don't behave differently online from others on social networking sites such as Facebook. Only 13% of the general public and 19% of identity theft victims said they are responsible for protecting their own privacy on social-media sites, according to the study. Investors acknowledge the privacy market is nascent and will evolve as regulations are introduced. Still, the venture investments are an early look at the solutions emerging to help combat privacy incursions. Some of the recently funded start-ups are aimed at giving consumers tools to defend their privacy. ReputationDefender, which launched in 2006, provides a service that costs between $10 a month and $1,000 annually to monitor what is said about an individual online. Its tools can help remove private information from certain websites. SafetyWeb, funded by Battery Ventures, and SocialShield Inc., funded by Venrock Associates and others, have launched websites that parents can use to help them track and analyze their children's online behavior. The services tell parents when others have posted and tagged photos of their kids online, giving them a chance to have them removed, among other thing. Abine Inc., funded by Atlas Venture, this month launched a product that can block online tracking and opt out of online ad networks. Truste, which until 2008 was a nonprofit, works primarily with corporations that want their websites certified as having met certain privacy standards. Executives involved in privacy start-ups say the interest by venture capitalists has become intense. Michael Fertik, chief executive of ReputationDefender, said more than 20 venture firms expressed interest in investing even though the Redwood City, Calif., company wasn't intending to raise new cash until late this year, he said. In the end, Mr. Fertik took $15 million from Jafco and existing investors' Kleiner Perkins and Bessemer. "It ended up being a competitive situation," he said. He attributes the interest partly to "everyone's being analyzed and digitized online."

June 21, 2010

Economist: "The clash of data civilisations"

by J.C. DE MARTIN

Legal confusion on internet privacy The clash of data civilisations Sharply differing attitudes towards privacy in Europe and America are a headache for the world's internet giants Jun 17th 2010 | /SAN FRANCISCO / WATCHDOGS are growling at the web giants, and sometimes biting them. In May European data-protection agencies wrote to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! demanding independent proof that they were making promised changes to protect the privacy of users' search history. They also urged Google to store sensitive search data for only six months instead of nine. In April ten privacy and data-protection commissioners from countries including Canada, Germany and Britain wrote a public letter to Eric Schmidt, Google's boss, demanding changes in Google Buzz, the firm's social-networking service, which had been criticised for dipping into users' Gmail accounts to find "followers" for them without clearly explaining what it was doing. Google promptly complied. Such run-ins with regulators are likely to multiply---and limit the freedom of global internet firms. It is not just that online privacy has become a controversial issue. More importantly, privacy rules are national, but data flows lightly and instantly across borders, often thanks to companies like Google and Facebook, which manage vast databases. [...] Continua qui: http://www.economist.com/node/16377097?story_id=16377097

June 21, 2010

FINAL CALL: call for contributions for Torino 28-30 June 2010 (breakout sessions)

by J.C. DE MARTIN

Dear All, Those who might be interested in briefly presenting or discussing a case study or an idea related one of the track themes of the "University and Cyberspace" conference, please add your proposals to the conference wiki <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/communia2010/Main_Page>. Track leaders will identify salient topics and ask 2-4 individuals with proposals to participate in breakout sessions taking place on day 2 or day 3 of the conference. To add your idea to our list, you can find pages related to each breakout session here <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/communia2010/Main_Page#Breakout_Sessions>. Please be sure to include a short description of your idea or case study, any relevant links or resources, and your contact information. The tracks are: DIGITAL NATIVES - Lead: Urs Gasser INFORMATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE (open access, the evolution of the library, OERs, etc.) - Lead: Alma Swan SPATIAL INFRASTRUCTURE - PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL (architecture, virtual classrooms, virtual campus, etc.) - Lead: Jef Huang Many thanks, best regards, juan carlos de martin on behalf of the organizing committee *University and Cyberspace: Reshaping Knowledge Institutions for the Networked Age* http://university-and-cyberspace.org

June 21, 2010

Re: [nexa] Speakers e call for contributions per "University & Cyberspace" (Torino, 28-30 giugno 2010)

by J.C. DE MARTIN

puo' essere, vedremo cosa riusciremo a fare. per il momento, pero', "be there or be square" :-) jc Simone Aliprandi wrote (on 16/06/10 15:21): > Forse non riuscirò ad essere a Torino il 28-29... > Ci sarà uno streaming dell'evento o almeno delle registrazioni? > Ho cercato sul sito ma non ho trovato alcun riferimento. > Un caro saluto. >

June 16, 2010

Re: [nexa] Speakers e call for contributions per "University & Cyberspace" (Torino, 28-30 giugno 2010)

by Simone Aliprandi

Forse non riuscirò ad essere a Torino il 28-29... Ci sarà uno streaming dell'evento o almeno delle registrazioni? Ho cercato sul sito ma non ho trovato alcun riferimento. Un caro saluto. -- Simone Aliprandi - http://www.aliprandi.org

June 16, 2010

Re: [nexa] licenza standard per dati regione piemonte

by Simone Aliprandi

Ho letto bene la licenza e mi sembra davvero ben fatta. C'è solo una frase su cui sono perplesso. In chiusura del punto 4 (Estrazione) si dice "è comunque esclusa ogni utilizzazione fatta in concorrenza con i diritti di utilizzazione economica spettanti all'autore". Ma... in che senso??? Un caro saluto. Simone Il 11 giugno 2010 12.16, Simone Aliprandi <simone.aliprandi(a)gmail.com> ha scritto: >> E' questa, almeno al momento: >> >> http://www.regione.piemonte.it/geopiemonte/documenti/dwd/2009/dgr31_116791.… > > Grazie mille. > Certo... non facevano fatica a mettere un link nel documento stesso. > Giusto per restare in tema di accessibilità e reperibilità dei dati... > Va beh. ciao, Simone > > -- > Simone Aliprandi - http://www.aliprandi.org > -- Simone Aliprandi - http://www.aliprandi.org

June 16, 2010

Sulla Dichiarazione Scritta 12/2010: raccolta firme MEP oggi

by J.C. DE MARTIN

Appello di Paolo Brini a proposito della dichiarazione scritta 12/2010: oggi e' il giorno per chiamare i propri rappresentanti al Parlamento Europeo a Strasburgo per chieder loro di firmare. Qui chi deve ancora firmare: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Written_Declaration_12/2010_signatories_li… Ci sono molti italiani. juan carlos -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [FrontiereDigitali] Dichiarazione Scritta 12/2010 Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:37:20 +0200 From: Paolo Brini <paolo.brini(a)iridiumpg.com> Reply-To: Frontiere Digitali <digitalfreedomweek(a)linux-club.org> To: Frontiere Digitali <digitalfreedomweek(a)linux-club.org> Salve! Un piccolo aggiornamento sulla Dichiarazione Scritta 12/2010 del Parlamento Europeo contro ACTA. Non mi dilungo in dettagli perché sono già stati riportati ampiamente in questa mailing list diverse volte, dico solo che è un'opportunità che potrebbe non ripetersi per fermare ACTA, e comunque tutti i dettagli dell'ultima campagna iniziata il 6 giugno sono qui: http://blog.tntvillage.scambioetico.org/?p=6227 Purtroppo dall'inizio della plenaria del 14 giugno hanno firmato solo 5 (avete letto bene: cinque) nuovi MEP. E' vero che le firme tendono a concentrarsi negli ultimi 2 giorni, ma qui siamo a livelli stranamente bassi. http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Written_Declaration_12/2010_signatories_li… Avremmo bisogno di sapere, se volete comunicarlo naturalmente, quante persone / associazioni di Frontiere Digitali hanno aderito a questa campagna (ho visto che c'è molta ottima attività intorno al DDL intercettazioni, che, per quanto concerne Internet e il suo ex art. 28, è come un bicchiere di acqua liscia rispetto all'alcool puro se paragonato ad ACTA) e quante telefonate agli europarlamentari sono state effettuate, anche perché abbiamo la sensazione, che non fa bene al morale, di essere soli in questa campagna. Vi ricordo che non è ancora troppo tardi, domani è possibile chiamare i propri europarlamentari italiani a Strasburgo (importante, NON a Bruxelles), trovate nell'articolo linkato tutti i numeri telefonici e gli argomenti tecnici e politici per indurre a firmare la dichiarazione. Mancano solo 145 firme (ne sono state raccolte 224 e la maggioranza assoluta, per far trasformare la dichiarazione nella posizione ufficiale del Parlamento, è 369) e ripeto, si tratta di un'occasione che potrebbe non ripetersi più vista l'intenzione di ratificare ACTA subito dopo il meeting in Svizzera fra poche settimane (quindi entro la fine dell'anno). Scusate se sottolineo ancora l'importanza di opporsi ad ACTA, ma la situazione appare abbastanza seria al momento, i giochi si stanno compiendo. Una telefonata di 5 minuti può fare la differenza. Ciao, Paolo _______________________________________________ DigitalFreedomWeek mailing list DigitalFreedomWeek(a)linux-club.org http://linux-club.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/digitalfreedomweek

June 16, 2010

Fwd: [fcf_discussion] FTA Study Programme 2011 published and registrations open

by J.C. DE MARTIN

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [fcf_discussion] FTA Study Programme 2011 published and registrations open Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:25:53 +0200 From: Wouter Tebbens <wouter(a)freeknowledge.eu> Reply-To: fcforum_discussion(a)list.fcforum.net Organization: Free Knowledge Institute To: fcforum_discussion(a)list.fcforum.net From the Free Knowledge Institute about the Free Technology Academy Permanent link: http://ftacademy.eu/announce/7 FTA Announcement #7: "Study Programme 2011 published and registrations open" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Free Technology Academy does not only continue after the initial period supported by the EC's Lifelong Learning Programme, we also expand the number of courses available! We hope to keep growing and are working towards a complete International Masters Programme. In this newsletter the tentative programme for 2011, our discount policies, news on the fascinating lecture by Jon 'maddog' Hall and an introduction to our future plans. == 1. FTA Programme 2011 == The Free Technology Academy offers three rounds of courses in 2011. Registrations for these courses are now open! The programme is tentative and subject to changes. Should a module be cancelled by the FTA, tuition fees will of course be fully refunded. In the following list you will find all the courses available: * The Concepts of Free Software& Open Standards * GNU/Linux Basic * GNU/Linux Advanced * Free Software Utilities * Network Technologies * Web Applications * Software Development * Implementation of Free Software and Case Studies * Economic Aspects of Free Software * Legal Aspects * Software Architecture * Assessment of Free Software Projects (Quality Metrics) * Free Software in Public administrations * Software Engineering in Free Software Environments For the full details, including trimester starting dates, please visit: http://ftacademy.org/courses/programme/2011 == 2. Discounts available! == To facilitate the participation of a great number of students, we offer a range of discounts that are described below: * Course Package deal: register now for at least 3 courses of the 2011 programme and you get 1 course fee waived for a course in 2010 (for the third trimester, i.e. from September till December 2010). We appreciate it if you already commit to follow FTA courses next year and in return we offer you this special package deal. We hope you like it! * Early bird registration: 10% discount for registrations up to 2 months before the scheduled start of the FTA 2011 courses. If you want to participate in the third run of 2010, you can register now and receive 25% discount on available courses: "The Concepts of Free Software and Open Standards", "Legal aspects of the Information Society" and "Network Technologies". The discount counts for completed registrations up to 2 months before the scheduled start of each course. Notice that different discounts are not cummulative. See for more details the General Conditions: http://ftacademy.org/general-conditions == 3. Jon 'maddog' Hall lecture and interview == The famous Jon 'maddog' Hall recently popped in and gave a really interesting lecture for the FTA students. Now we present the lecture to you and anyone is able to watch it and re-use it. Jon 'maddog' Hall is the Executive Director of Linux International, a non-profit organisation of computer vendors who wish to support and promote Linux-based operating systems. The nickname 'maddog' was given to him by his students at Hartford State Technical College, where he was the Department Head of Computer Science. He now prefers to be called by this name. According to Hall, his nickname "came from a time when I had less control over my temper". The video lecture is available to watch and download from our site, under a Creative Commons BY-ND-NC 3.0 license. You can access the material by visiting: http://ftacademy.org/materials/videos/gl1 We have also published an interview with Jon in which he gives us his opinions on the "Open Source" term, Free Software specialists, markets and the future. Read it and spread it! http://ftacademy.org/interview-with-Jon-maddog-Hall == 4. Working towards a complete International Master Programme == The FTA has as a long term goal to offer a complete International Master Programme in Free Software. For that purpose it has recently set up a taskforce with representatives from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Open Universiteit Netherlands, Universitat Rey Juan Carlos, University of Agder and the Free Knowledge Institute. The study programme for 2011 has been established in collaboration with the taskforce and forms an important step towards a complete programme. See for more information: http://ftacademy.org/taskforce-international-master-programme-free-software == 5. About the Free Technology Academy == A Consortium formed by the Open University of Catalonia (Spain), the Open University of the Netherlands and the University of Agder (Norway) and led by the Free Knowledge Institute (FKI), the FTA has received the support from the EC's Lifelong Learning Programme to set up an international educational programme on Free Software. The courses are taught completely online in a virtual campus based on the Campus Project interoperability framework. Following the Open Educational Resources movement, all learning materials are freely available through the Internet. The use of Free Software (also referred to as Open Source software or Libre Software) is rapidly expanding in governmental and private organisations. However, still only a limited number of ICT professionals, teachers and decision makers have sufficient knowledge and expertise in these new fields. The Free Technology Academy aims to address this gap by providing high level courses that fit into larger Master Programmes at the participating universities. * More information: http://www.ftacademy.org * Contact information: contact(a)ftacademy.org * Digital version: http://ftacademy.eu/announce/7 _______________________________________________ For more info about the Free Knowledge Institute: http://freeknowledge.eu

June 15, 2010

WikiLeaks may be under attack

by Paolo Brini

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: WikiLeaks <wl-office(a)sunshinepress.org> Date: Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 1:56 PM Subject: [Announce] WikiLeaks may be under attack To: announce(a)immi.is WikiLeaks may be under attack. You were generous enough to write to us, but we have not had the labor resources to respond. Your support is important to us. Please read all of this email to understand what is going on. We apologize for not getting back to you before. It is not through any lack of interest on our part, but an enforced lack of resources. One of our alleged sources, a young US intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, has been detained and shipped to a US military prison in Kuwait, where he is being held without trail. Mr. Manning is alleged to have acted according to his conscious and leaked to us the Collateral Murder video and the video of a massacre that took place in Afghanistan last year at Garani. The Garani massacre, which we are still working on, killed over 100 people, mostly children. Mr. Manning allegedly also sent us 260,000 classified US Department cables, reporting on the actions of US Embassy's engaging in abusive actions all over the world. We have denied the allegation, but the US government is acting as if the allegation is true and we do have a lot of other material that exposes human rights abuses by the United States government. Mr. Manning was allegedly exposed after talking to an unrelated "journalist" who then worked with the US government to detain him. Some background on the Manning case: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/06/11/transcript-daniel-ellsberg-says… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/leak/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/wikileaks-chat/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/state-department-anxious/ http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2010/06/143011.htm [ note that there are some questions about the Wired reportage, see: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/13/video-wikileaks-foun.html#comment-8096…] WikiLeaks a small organization going through enormous growth and operating in an adverserial, high-security environment which can make communication time consuming and the acquisition of new staff and volunteers, also difficult since they require high levels of trust. To try and deal with our growth and the current difficult situation, we want to get you to work together with our other supporters to set up a "Friends of WikiLeaks" group in your area. We have multiple supporters in most countries and would like to see them be a strong and independent force. Please write to friends(a)sunshinepress.org if you are interested in helping with Friends of WikiLeaks in your area. You will receive further instructions. We also have significant unexpected legal costs (for example flying a legal team to Kuwait, video production. Collateral Murder production costs were $50,000 all up). Any financial contributions will be of IMMEDIATE assistance. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Special:Support Please donate and tell the world that you have done so. Encourage all your friends to follow the example you set, after all, courage is contagious. Julian Assange Editor in Chief WIKILEAKS

June 15, 2010

WIPO Report: SCOPING STUDY ON COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS AND THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

by J.C. DE MARTIN

*Scoping Study on Copyright and Related Rights and the Public Domain *7 May 2010* *http://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/agenda/news/2010/news_0007.html It is recalled that the Thematic Project on Intellectual Property and the Public Domain, dealing with the Development Agenda Recommendations 16 and 20 (document CDIP/4/3 Rev) includes the preparation of a "Scoping Study on Copyright and Related Rights and the Public Domain" (Activity 1.3). The Study has been completed and the English version of the Study is available <http://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/agenda/pdf/scoping_study_cr.pdf>. Other language versions will be made available in due course. Member States and observers to the CDIP are invited to provide their comments, if any, on this Study. A deadline for providing comments will be set once other language versions are available, enabling the Secretariat to present the Study and the comments to the sixth session of the CDIP. *SCOPING STUDY ON COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS AND THE PUBLIC DOMAIN * PREPARED BY Séverine Dusollier, Professor, University of Namur, Belgium URL: http://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/agenda/pdf/scoping_study_cr.pdf juan carlos

June 14, 2010