InformationWeek Daily - Monday, Dec 10, 2007

Never Apologize, Never Explain When it comes to a privacy breach, what's the best policy -- contrite or circumspect? Two incidents showcase different approaches. First, there's Mark Zuckerberg's act of contrition over the mess he made with a new collaboration/advertising feature in his social networking site, Facebook. The feature, called Beacon, shared online activity data among Facebook friends -- more data than users were prepared to accept, apparently, because howls of protest were heard not long after Beacon was introduced. Zuckerberg and crew were forced to retool the feature's opt-out capability. "We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it," Zuckerberg said in a long blog post on the site that explained the genesis of the Beacon project and what went wrong. "I'm not proud of the way we've handled this situation and I know we can do better," he said. I couldn't help but compare that with another privacy-related news story this week about TJX, the discount retailer that suffered a massive customer data breach that lasted more than a couple of years and which came to light earlier this year. TJX, which owns TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and other stores, has been fairly circumspect in what it has said about the security problem. In its first press release on the breach, dated Jan. 17, Ben Cammarata, chairman and acting chief executive officer of TJX Companies, said this: "We are deeply concerned about this event and the difficulties it may cause our customers." There was a follow-up statement from the company, in the form of a press release on Feb. 21. In it, newly appointed president and CEO Carol Meyrowitz commented, "Let me begin by telling our customers personally how much I regret any problems or inconvenience they may have experienced as a result of the unauthorized intrusion into our computer system." In a press release on Sept. 21 announcing its settlement offer related to the numerous customer class-action lawsuits against the company, Meyrowitz said, "We deeply regret any inconvenience our customers may have experienced as a result of the criminal attack on our computer system." Then she added this: "Importantly, we truly appreciate our customers' continued patronage." Amen to that, brother. TJX's financial performance hasn't suffered, despite the bad publicity the company has received over the last 11 months. In fact, quite the opposite: net sales for its fiscal third quarter, ended Oct. 31, increased 6% to $4.7 billion, according to the company. This week TJX announced a settlement proposal with Visa USA to compensate the banks that issued the credit cards that were compromised in the data hack. In a news story by my colleague Tim Wilson, one security expert points out that TJX hasn't done the one thing that interested parties and the consumer public at large would benefit most from -- explain exactly what happened. To read what that security expert had to say, and let us know what you think, visit the InformationWeek Blog. John Soat jsoat@cmp.com www.informationweek.com
"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." -- Martin Luther King Jr.
Apple Leopard Users Hit With 'Green Screen Of Death' The glitch may be caused by graphics card drivers not optimized for Mac OS X 10.5. Related Stories: Windows Vista Users Hit With 'Purple Screen Of Death' Leopard Puts Windows And Linux Together On A Mac Oracle Buys Moniforce To Bolster Its Application Monitoring Experience Of particular interest to Oracle is Moniforce's UXinsight module, which can uncover errors in logic in custom and packaged applications on non-Oracle and Oracle infrastructures. Opera 9 Browser To Power Archos Media Players Users can download and create personalized Widgets, such as weather forecasts, news, currency and unit converters, and calculators. Microsoft Releases HD Photo Plug-In For Photoshop The software is intended for use with Photoshop CS2 or CS3 running on Windows XP or Windows Vista. Verizon Sued Over GPL Code In Its FiOS Router The Software Freedom Law Center is taking issue with the Actiontec MI424WR wireless router, which may include open license infringing-BusyBox software. Macrovision To Buy Gemstar-TV Guide In $2.8 Billion DRM Play The company sees consumers with a personalized TV listing guide, accessing movie reviews before downloading a film or tap into their MP3 collection from any device. DOE Lab Hacked No classified information was lost but the personal information of visitors may have been stolen from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Western Digital Blocks Media File Sharing From Storage Device Some consumers are up in arms, but Western Digital said it chose to stay clear of any capabilities that could be seen as challenging the rights of copyright holders. German Wikipedia Outranks Traditional Encyclopedia's Online Version A review of 50 community-generated articles judged them more accurate, thorough, up-to-date and easy to read. Retail Advocates At Odds Over Internet Sales Tax The debate stems from a bill that would make it easier to require Internet merchants, mail-order houses and other "remote sellers" to collect across state lines. Motorola's Holiday Buzz, Er, Ring Fest As visions of ring tones dance in their heads, the lineup offers Moto Q smartphones with built-in HSDPA technology and worldwide capabilities, along with a slider phone that can stream live TV and Razr's that adjust volume in noisy rooms. CompUSA To Shed Additional Stores, Carlos Slim, Report Suggests The electronics chain's online auction effort and its strategy of targeting small and medium businesses haven't been enough to staunch the financial bleeding. YouTube Announces Film Contest Winners The winner, from a pool of 20 finalists, received a $5,000 debit card and a meeting with Fox Searchlight Pictures production executives. All Our Latest News See InformationWeek's daily breaking news on your mobile device, visit wap.informationweek.com and sign up for daily SMS notifications.	Oracle Buys Moniforce To Bolster Its Application Monitoring Experience Opera 9 Browser To Power Archos Media Players Microsoft Releases HD Photo Plug-In For Photoshop Verizon Sued Over GPL Code In Its FiOS Router Macrovision To Buy Gemstar-TV Guide In $2.8 Billion DRM Play Virtualization At The Desktop? Examine how more than 250 companies plan to adopt server virtualization technology in this recent InformationWeek Research report, Server Virtualization. The BI Explosion Examine the business intelligence strategies of 500 companies, including deployment drivers and challenges, spending plans, and vendor selection, in this recent InformationWeek Research report. AMD Bitten By Barcelona Quad-Core Bug What AMD has here is a failure to communicate. That's the only judgment one can make, in light of the scrappy semiconductor maker's about-face Thursday regarding shipments of its Barcelona quad-core processor, launched on Sept. 10. For the past three months, AMD has downplayed reports of tight supplies and delays in ramping up manufacturing of the cutting-edge chip. Now, the company seems to be simultaneously admitting to a slow ramp while saying nothing's happening that it hadn't already said was happening. Got it? What Do You Want For Christmas? According to a new survey, the most-wanted high-tech toys for technology professionals this holiday season are HDTVs and video game players. But what's at the top of CIOs' wish lists? Another Network Management Startup Challenges The Status Quo PacketTrap becomes the latest startup to take on CA, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard in network management with the beta release of its pt360 management dashboard. Rather than being deterred by deep-rooted competitors, brash newcomers are taking them on. Top 6 Lamest iPhone Lawsuits Apple has always been a target for lawsuits. With close to $15 billion in cash gathering dust in its bank accounts, it's no wonder that disgruntled or disillusioned customers and competitors might seek a payday. Here are six of the most onerous cases. Get (And Give) The Gift of Open Source This Christmas I decided to give a few gifts to people in the open source community. I'm making donations to the maintainers of some of my favorite and most widely used software projects.  They've earned some payback! Google Adds AIM To Gmail :-) For Some :-/ For Me At first, I was excited by this announcement since I use Gmail, but I can see some definite disadvantages here for fans of AOL, iChat, and Trillian ... or if you like downtime, since you might not get any. For Carriers, An Open-And-Shut Case On Wireless The spectacle of the U.S. wireless carriers falling over themselves to look like proponents of "openness" has intensified with the launch of an AT&T campaign declaring itself "the most open wireless company in the industry." Pardon me if I don't break out the champagne. Is The H-1B Visa Cap Capping U.S. Innovation? Restrictions on visas for foreign IT pros to work in the United States will drive more tech jobs and creativity offshore, says a new study released today. While that argument isn't new, the report has a collection of government and other stats to help back it up. What Do You Call The Hobbling Of WGA? A Good Start Let's all say it together: Software piracy may be a problem for Microsoft. It is not a problem for Microsoft's customers. Microsoft's anti-piracy efforts are a problem for Microsoft's customers. Report: Firmware 1.1.3 On The Way For iPhone The latest scuttlebutt from the Interwebs suggests that a new version of firmware for the iPhone is about to be bestowed on the iPhone-toting public. Version 1.1.3 will bring in two new features: voice recording and use of the iPhone as an external hard drive. At Your Services: The CIO As Operations Chief More companies are adding business services to the CIO's responsibilities. Witness Fidelity Investments' latest move. 2008 U.S. Professional CRM Certification Seminar Series The 2008 U.S. Professional CRM Certification Seminar Series is scheduled to tour the following cities: Washington, DC, Atlanta, San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia. You can join the tour as a sponsor on one or all cities on the tour. Participants attending our seminars are from the global 1000 and US government. B2B Collaboration: Assessing the ROI of Process Integration Business and IT leaders are under increasing pressure to improve B2B collaboration and the electronic communication capabilities of their organizations. This report looks at the key drivers for B2B collaboration in both the purchase-to-pay and order-to-cash areas and provides an ROI framework to help companies assess their areas of opportunity. A Leading Power Utility Reaches for Transactional Efficiency A leading power utilities company had a substantial amount of money being paid out in duplicate payments and auditor's fees. The company's director of accounting services considered this a serious problem. The Oversight project originated with and was driven by finance professionals. 8 Ways Every Solution Provider Can Profit From Rollouts Right Now -- OnForce Capitalize on today's growing opportunities to profit from technology rollouts with this white paper from OnForce, the leading marketplace for on-site technology services. See how solution providers of all sizes are winning and fulfilling large-scale IT rollouts and installations profitably. Featured Jobs: T-Mobile seeking Analyst 3, Information Security in Dallas, TX Agilent seeking Field Technical Support Rep in Madison, WI Integral Systems, Inc seeking Software Build Integration Lead in Lanham, MD The MathWorks, Inc. seeking Program Manager in Natick, MA Openlink Financial, Inc. seeking Quality Assurance Analyst in Uniondale, NY For more great jobs, career-related news, features and services, please visit our "Career Center. 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