It's a very simple experiment in social networking and will likely die a slow, lingering and cached death.... but sure you never know :-)
I'm going to check this out when I have a chance.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Social Networking for Public Relations
Ning
I'm going to check this out when I have a chance.
I'm going to check this out when I have a chance.
Friday, March 16, 2007
John Kerry: FOIA should cover bloggers
JK Supports Strengthened Freedom of Information Act for Bloggers
Everyone with a blog can be an investigative reporter. This is great news for freedom of the press.
It is also good news for providers of software that helps federal agencies respond to FOIA requests.
In a speech delivered to the New England Newspaper Association this afternoon, JK spoke out about a strengthened FOIA which includes support for bloggers.
WASHINGTON, DC - Senator John Kerry today announced his support for a legislative initiative designed to assist the freedom of the press. The bill would make the federal Freedom of Information Act more powerful, primarily by making it harder for the Administration to deny or delay the release of information. It does that by requiring that an agency respond to FOIA requests within 20 business days and establishes a publicly available tracking system for requests.
In addition, the legislation would help bloggers, because it would prevent agencies from denying them a waiver on fees just because they are independent or not affiliated with any institutional news organization. In the past, the need to pay fees for FOIA requests discouraged many bloggers or independent journalists from pursuing FOIA requests.
Everyone with a blog can be an investigative reporter. This is great news for freedom of the press.
It is also good news for providers of software that helps federal agencies respond to FOIA requests.
Security crisis management
How to (and not to) Manage a Security PR Nightmare
Somebody respects our industry.
... *) Hire a PR firm that specializes in Crisis Management. They exist. They have been through it before. They have probably helped people who have been in more hot water than you can imagine. Exxon’s negligence killed cute baby animals. You got depantsed by a 20 year old with a disassembler. I think they can handle it. They can also help with the first bullet. ...
Somebody respects our industry.
Email abuse miscellany
Bachmann Email May Violate Federal Law, House Ethics Rules
Misuing the public's funds and violating their record keeping requirements, genius.
An email sent by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., may violate federal law and House Rules.The email from Bachmann's press secretary, Heidi Frederickson, was published on the weblog Dump Michele Bachmann. It had been sent from Frederickson's government account.
U.S. Attorney Firings and Abramoff-Related Emails sent from RNC and Other Outside Addresses Circumvent Mandatory Record-Keeping System
Misuing the public's funds and violating their record keeping requirements, genius.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Schneier on the Boston LiteBrite panic
Bruce Schneier: The Psychology of Security
If I hand you, I don’t know, a tuna fish sandwich and you run away screaming, I didn’t give you a hoax bomb, you’re just an idiot ...
Google, Viacom, and the Eustace Diamonds
Steve Bryant has Viacom's argument as presented in their official complaint. Information Week has an article with Google’s response.
I am guessing this case is a little like The Eustace Diamonds, more complicated than meets the eye. Of course I felt the same way about the SCO lawsuit, and that really seems to have been a simple case of patent warfare.
If you want to be the next Groklaw, this lawsuit offers a great opportunity.
Edit -
Nick Madigan, The Baltimore Sun
Edit ii -
Lawrence Lessig: Make way for copyright chaos
I am guessing this case is a little like The Eustace Diamonds, more complicated than meets the eye. Of course I felt the same way about the SCO lawsuit, and that really seems to have been a simple case of patent warfare.
If you want to be the next Groklaw, this lawsuit offers a great opportunity.
Edit -
Nick Madigan, The Baltimore Sun
Edit ii -
Lawrence Lessig: Make way for copyright chaos
The lawsuit represents the biggest face-off between old and new media since the Recording Industry Association of America forced Napster to shut down its song-trading system in 2001. And it could force changes in the delivery of the Internet's biggest draw, its free content, analysts say.
Or it could be a negotiating tactic: Media companies have watched with both fascination and fear as YouTube, which was purchased by search-engine giant Google in November for $1.76 billion, has exploded into a hugely popular online destination, where millions of people view and post videos and short films ranging from the mundane to the bizarre.
Past time for Microsoft to get serious about security
Today’s Washington Post has another story about malware and identity theft, also an interesting post on how the story was put together.
Malware happens because of security vulnerabilities in the code. Years ago I had a client, Security Tracker, who did a survey of security vulnerabilities by company and product line. By a factor of ten, Microsoft had the most security vulnerabilities. This is true across all their product lines.
You can’t solve this problem by using a Mac, somewhere, someone has information about you and your business stored on their Windows computer. Instructing Microsoft users how to secure their computer is not an adequate response. It is irresponsible to ship vulnerable software and then expect users to patch it after the fact. Microsoft’s product defects are a security threat to all of us and they need address their quality issues.
Malware happens because of security vulnerabilities in the code. Years ago I had a client, Security Tracker, who did a survey of security vulnerabilities by company and product line. By a factor of ten, Microsoft had the most security vulnerabilities. This is true across all their product lines.
You can’t solve this problem by using a Mac, somewhere, someone has information about you and your business stored on their Windows computer. Instructing Microsoft users how to secure their computer is not an adequate response. It is irresponsible to ship vulnerable software and then expect users to patch it after the fact. Microsoft’s product defects are a security threat to all of us and they need address their quality issues.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Towards a rational business model
Is DRM Doomed? The Case Against Digital-Rights Management
Customers don't like DRM, therefore it is doomed. You can't win a war with your customers.
In the wake of Steve Jobs' call to eliminate anti-copying technology, are the music and movie industries poised to move from protection to monitoring?
The debate over digital-rights management is coming to a head. On the one hand, efforts to implement technology to prevent the copying of consumer-oriented entertainment is increasingly viewed as ineffective. Indeed, no less an industry figure than Apple CEO Steve Jobs has called for the elimination of DRM. At the same time, content providers continue to search for a magic technical elixir that'll protect their revenue streams against unauthorized copying.
Customers don't like DRM, therefore it is doomed. You can't win a war with your customers.
How to know when you have a security PR problem
Windows Vista's 90-Day Report Card
When the absence of reported security vulnerabilities constitutes news, that is when you know you have a terrible reputation for poor security.
Microsoft's new operating system hasn't revealed any gaping security holes, but some influential users are holding back for other reasons.
When the absence of reported security vulnerabilities constitutes news, that is when you know you have a terrible reputation for poor security.
Government Sites Aren't FOIA-Friendly
Study Finds Most Agencies Fall Short of Transparency Mandate
According to the National Security Archive, the government is dragging its feet. This is just a small part of a larger battle about government transparency that is currently raging in the United States.
In 1996, Congress intended to keep government ahead of the curve by amending the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to require that agencies put more public information on their Web sites. Posting important and most-requested records online, the theory went, would burn through a raft of hard-copy FOIA requests, save money and eliminate waiting time.
According to the National Security Archive, the government is dragging its feet. This is just a small part of a larger battle about government transparency that is currently raging in the United States.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure New Rule 34(b)(ii)
To Metadata or Not to Metadata?
I would be interested in hearing from techies in the civil service and the contracting community as to what they think about this.
I would suggest to my fellow flacks that records management and document management are very much a PR issue.
The new federal rules do not specifically address an important aspect of the e-discovery battlefield, though: what to do about "metadata," the "data about data" that is part of every electronically stored document or file that, typically, went unnoticed in the age when producing hard copy documents was the norm. So when must metadata be produced? Recent case law illustrates that the new rules do not address the question directly.
I would be interested in hearing from techies in the civil service and the contracting community as to what they think about this.
I would suggest to my fellow flacks that records management and document management are very much a PR issue.
SEC's 'Operation Spamalot' Targets Penny-Stock Hype
Trading Halted For 35 Firms Over E-Mails
Three cheers for the SEC.
Edit -
Via Thomas Claburn of Information Week,
Securities regulators yesterday halted trading in nearly three dozen companies -- the initial salvo in "Operation Spamalot," a campaign to block e-mails promoting stocks to unsuspecting investors.
Three cheers for the SEC.
Edit -
Via Thomas Claburn of Information Week,
The PR of the of the recording industry
Music Industry Tightens Squeeze On Students
Why does the recording industry think the schools would be shamed by such a list?
The actions of the RIAA are like the Luddites smashing looms, doomed to failure. The need to get together with the Future of Music and come up with a workable business model.
The recording industry is dusting off an old tactic in its never-ending effort to crack down on pirated music: Target the college kids.
So far this year, the music industry's trade group has sent out hundreds of complaints to students, pressured school administrators to take tougher anti-piracy measures and tried shaming colleges into doing better by putting out a list of the top offending schools.
Why does the recording industry think the schools would be shamed by such a list?
The actions of the RIAA are like the Luddites smashing looms, doomed to failure. The need to get together with the Future of Music and come up with a workable business model.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
There really is a New PR
With due respect for Tom Murphy, the internet really has changed everything. Just as the Gutenberg press changed the world, that is how profoundly the Internet is changing our world.
The Gutenberg press gave the world a cheap means of reproducing print. Thus who could distribute material and what they could distribute was greatly increased; but they still had the costs of the press and the costs of distribution.
The Internet solved the problem of distribution, but you still had technical barriers to entry, you had to know HTML, or have enough money to pay someone who did, and you had to pay for hosting. Blogging removed even those barriers, now anyone with a modem and an opinion is a press lord. Indeed, with YouTube, anyone with a digital camera a modem is a video lord. This is a very different world.
Organizations have to communicate with, and respond to, a far more diffuse group of influencers. We have more opportunities, but many more challenges. In a world of social software, who is a source? who is a journalist? who is a newsmaker? The roles are blurred. The whole phenomenon of blogswarms, the differences between the various social tagging sites, all this must be carefully studied. We still have the old reliable 250 word ASCII text email press release; but we also have a vast new world we must respond to.
The Gutenberg press gave the world a cheap means of reproducing print. Thus who could distribute material and what they could distribute was greatly increased; but they still had the costs of the press and the costs of distribution.
The Internet solved the problem of distribution, but you still had technical barriers to entry, you had to know HTML, or have enough money to pay someone who did, and you had to pay for hosting. Blogging removed even those barriers, now anyone with a modem and an opinion is a press lord. Indeed, with YouTube, anyone with a digital camera a modem is a video lord. This is a very different world.
Organizations have to communicate with, and respond to, a far more diffuse group of influencers. We have more opportunities, but many more challenges. In a world of social software, who is a source? who is a journalist? who is a newsmaker? The roles are blurred. The whole phenomenon of blogswarms, the differences between the various social tagging sites, all this must be carefully studied. We still have the old reliable 250 word ASCII text email press release; but we also have a vast new world we must respond to.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
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