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Sunday, September 30, 2012

THE Internet can be such a wild place, our lexicon created a word for such violations: cybercrime.

Yet a barrage of protests has met the passage last September of Republic Act (RA) 101751, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

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Bloggers, Netizens, civil rights activists and journalists are calling for the repeal of the law, which, aside from penalizing cybercrimes like online pornography and trafficking, includes more severe penalties for cyber libel.

Objections

Five groups representing lawyers, journalists and bloggers have questioned the law before the Supreme Court, reported Elias O. Baquero in Sun.Star Cebus Sept. 30 issue.

The same report quoted the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC), which, in a resolution, asked that the law be reviewed for provisions that (violate) the constitutional guarantee of free speech and free press, due process of law, and equal protection of the law.

The ambiguity of the laws definition of cyberlibel opens the implementation to abuses. According to the CCPC, this is a serious omission.

The CCPC cited the power of the Department of Justice to shut down websites without a court order. To prove suspicions, the authorities can tap and record a persons calls, e-mails and other private communication coursed through computers and mobile phones.

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Editorial: Self-regulating the Net

ARLINGTON -- The Battenkill Valley Supervisory Union delayed approval of a social networking policy that prohibits online communication between students and staff.

A motion to approve the policy was rescinded Wednesday after the board learned principals and the district's attorney had yet to review the policy that has been in the works since last school year. The policy would be the first of its kind in the area putting restrictions on social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter and other sites that continue to increase in popularity both among children and adults.

In addition to many common sense points in the proposed policy -- such as obeying all laws, following confidentiality requirements, and refraining from defamation of character, to name a few -- it also looks to separate employees' personal and professional lives.

The policy cautions employees about the content they post on their personal Websites, although it does not prohibit positing items that may be deemed inappropriate by some. Instead, Superintendent Karen Gallese said, the policy is intended to be less restrictive of rights of employee on their personal time, but to distance that personal time from their professions.

Gallese said the four-page policy was drafted by BVSU's three-member Policy Committee and herself using other districts' policies as templates. Although, there are few examples of such a policy. Neighboring supervisory unions -- Southwest Vermont and Bennington-Rutland --

A social networking policy was the idea of previous Superintendent Thomas Gallagher and the process began prior to Gallese's hire this summer. Gallese said she agrees there is a need for one with the intent to prohibit social networking at the schools and restrict personal or damaging information from being made public.

Part of the policy states "staff should never use or access social networking sites of pupils and should never accept an invitation to 'friend' a pupil."

Becoming Facebook "friends" with students or communicating with students through another media, the proposed policy says, "can be misconstrued as being part of a grooming process."

"I think for teachers this day in age, they need to protect themselves from that type of relationship with students. Particularly when teachers are putting up pictures of their personal lives and making comments with other friends. I just think they need to keep that private," Gallese said. "'Friending' students is a very fine line and a gray area, but to be on the safe side they should not be doing that."

Gallese acknowledged staff could run into problems with the policy when it comes to a teacher communicating with their child's friends online, or a younger relative, which the policy does not specifically provide an exception for.

Continue reading here:
Supervisory Union delays approval of stiff new social networking policy

By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer

LONDON (AP) - Britain's Health Protection Agency has published an early genetic sequence of the new respiratory virus related to SARS that shows it is most closely linked to bat viruses, and scientists say camels, sheep or goats might end up being implicated too.

So far, officials have only identified two confirmed cases and say the virus isn't as infectious as SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed hundreds of people, mostly in Asia, in a 2003 global outbreak.

In Geneva, World Health Organization spokesman Glenn Thomas told reporters Friday that so far the signs are that the virus is "not easily transmitted from person to person" - but analyses are ongoing. The agency said it's too early to tell how big a threat the new virus will be since it is unknown how exactly it spreads and whether it will evolve into a more dangerous form.

Global health officials suspect two victims from the Middle East may have caught it from animals.

"It's a logical possibility to consider any animals present in the region in large numbers," said Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Biologists now need to go into the area and take samples from any animals they can get their hands on, including camels and goats," he said. Baric said it was crucial to find out how widespread the virus is in animals and what kind of contact might be risky for people.

Baric suggested bats might be spreading the virus directly to humans since the two confirmed infections happened months apart. "If there was an established transmission pattern from other animals, we probably would have seen a lot more cases," he said.

WHO said it is considering the possibility the new coronavirus sickened humans after direct contact with animals. The agency is now working with experts in the Middle East to figure out how the two confirmed cases got infected but could not share details until the investigation was finished.

One patient was a Saudi Arabian man who died several months ago while the other is a Qatari national who traveled to Saudi Arabia before falling ill and is currently in critical but stable condition in a London hospital.

Earlier this week, WHO issued a global alert asking doctors to be on guard for any potential cases of the new respiratory virus, which also causes kidney failure.

Read more:
Animals suspected in spread of new virus

Whatever they claim, deflect the blame, and never explain. Vindication might be unlikely, but victimhood means never having to say you are sorry. A rag-tag army of attention-seekers, rabble-rousers and conspiracy theorists will rally to the most incoherent cause.

Sport's culture of complicity and denial has never been more entrenched. Yet, with rare exceptions, the level of popular debate sparked by John Terry, and sustained by the likes of Luis Suarez and Lance Armstrong makes the Jeremy Kyle show seem positively Ciceronean.

A member of a Wham! tribute band, later identified as the former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, offered such philosophical gems as: "First it's kick out racism, then it's kick out homophobia, what next? Kick the smokers out? Kick the drinkers out?"

A gap-toothed Terry apologist, the former politician David Mellor, metaphorically took that Chelsea shirt out of the wardrobe before suggesting the verdict of the FA's "kangaroo court" was "outrageous". M'learned friends may be unsurprised to discover he no longer practises as a barrister.

No one lacks an opinion, however banal. One TV programme featured JT's psychodrama alongside such profundities as "Could you ever be in a relationship with someone who supported a rival club?"

There is a serious point here, buried in a landfill site of deceit, malice, prejudice and blind faith. Since sport reflects society, no one feels the need to apologise, or even acknowledge the concerns of their accusers. Contrition tends to be theatrical and transparent.

Individuals and institutions are unable, or unwilling, to accept the link between actions and consequences. When challenged, even on such a fundamental issue as racism, they simply cling to assumptions of authority, or approximations of reality. Little wonder we are lost in a moral maze.

Millions still accept the myth of Armstrong's martyrdom. Terry and Suarez exploit illogical tribal loyalty. All three have indulged, shamelessly, in the worst type of emotional blackmail: believe in me, or lose faith in your instincts and convictions.

The FA, quietly congratulating themselves for channelling the spirit of Clarence Darrow, have no room for complacency. Their disciplinary process is opaque yet, despite Parliamentary calls for greater independence, deemed untouchable. Such lack of scrutiny is, to use the word of the week, untenable. The system is deeply flawed, open to abuse. Since the media are not allowed access, public opinion is shaped by off-the-record briefings rather than a contemporaneous report of proceedings. The written judgment in the Terry case will be filtered through lawyers and communications specialists.

Rules are there to be applied when convenient or massaged when politically expedient. David Bernstein has received approval for a one-year extension to his contract as FA chairman, through to 2014. The statute requiring him to retire at 70 he will be 71 at the next World Cup has been quietly rewritten.

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The Last Word: Blame is the game and everyone is primed to kick it into touch

NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael Pranikoff, PR Newswire's Global Director of Emerging Media, will be the featured morning speaker at the CONVERGE Chicago Social Media & Mobile Marketing Symposium taking place on October 1- 2, 2012 at the Union League Club in Chicago.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110719/NY37427LOGO )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090310/NY81216 )

CONVERGE Chicago, presented by The Institute for Social, Search & Mobile Marketing,is an educational and networking event that features 16 world-class speakers from leading brands who will provide real-world, branding business cases. Attendees will also enjoy a Monday Night Football Social Tailgate Party sponsored by the Chicago Bears and Sony Electronics.

Michael will be presenting "Social and Mobile, the Future of the B2B Audience" on October 1st at 8:30 AM Central, detailing current conversations and trends around social and the push to mobile for B2B companies today and in planning for 2013.

Pranikoff said, "For the past few years, many companies in the B2B world have watched, with anticipation, as B2C companies moved into the social sphere. B2B companies, however, are strategizing on how they can use social and integrate that with the power of mobile communications to drive business and reach audiences on any screen."

To register for the CONVERGE Chicago Social Media & Mobile Marketing Symposium and receive 25% off the registration rate, visit http://converge-chicago.eventbrite.com/?discount=CMC.

About PR Newswire:

PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 58 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content from rich media to online video to multimedia and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company.

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PR Newswire's Michael Pranikoff to be featured speaker at CONVERGE Chicago Social Media & Mobile Marketing Symposium ...