Info-Tech Research Group’s April 12th Info-Tech Advisor (paid subscription required) poses an interesting Topic of the Week. It states:

The sad truth of Internet use is a certain percentage of employees will abuse it. Some companies track and bill them for non-business-related Web use. Is this an idea whose time has come or another reason for employees to mistrust management? Find out what other IT managers are doing about it – and whether billing is worth pursuing in your own IT shop.

Personally, I think that is a bad idea. Every business should have a technology use policy that sets out limits on acceptable personal use of any corporate technology – ranging from phones, to copiers, to the Internet. But to track and charge for personal employee Internet use seems to set the wrong tone – and is another “sledgehammer to kill a fly” response.

Go to the Info-Tech Research Group Site

Michael Stahl of the Oxford Consulting Group wrote an article that appeared in today’s London Free Press entitled Fear of online pricing unfounded.

He discussed a typical vendor strategy where it hides its standard prices. Prices are quoted only on a confidential basis. This leads to purchaser distrust, and for software, the suspicion that list prices may be artificially high just to keep annual maintenance costs high. (Watch out for maintenance fees expressed as a % of then current list price.)

To show how strange this approach is, Michael compares it to what a retail shopping experience would be like if done the same.

Read Michael Stahl’s article (Click on “news”, then “publications”)

Engadget reports that North Dakota is the first jurisdiction to pass a law making black box vehicle data the property of the vehicle owner. They state: It would require a court order before any of the information recorded by the box can be used in court, and prohibits insurance companies from making access to the box a condition of obtaining coverage.

Black box, or event recorders in cars have been controversial when the information is used as evidence for things like speeding tickets or accident litigation. Some insurers have programs where drivers get a discount if they regularly provide driving data showing what the insurer considers acceptable driving behaviour.

Read the engadget posting
Read my article “Cars may inform an bad drivers”

The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal hearing into the BMG Canada v John Doe matter will be heard on April 20. This is the case where the Judge refused to order ISP’s to release names of suspected music file sharers. The decision stated that it was legal to both download and upload music in Canada.

On another front, Slashdot points to an article in The Register saying that the recording industry is trying to get ISP’s to agree to a code of conduct. It would require the ISP to retain data and give out identities of suspected file sharers based on a mere complaint. Also to block sites and services doing excessive file sharing.

Good luck with that. If only that much effort would go in to giving the consumer what they want.

Read the Slashdot posting
Read the Register article

DAVID CANTON – For the London Free Press – April 9, 2005

Read this on Canoe

Having a website is a critical marketing strategy for any business, whether big or small.

Creating a website is not, however, a one-time exercise that can then be forgotten, as shown by a recent New Zealand court decision in which a restaurant operator was fined for misleading advertising due to neglecting to keep the website up to date.

In this case, the restaurant’s website posted out-of-date menus and prices. Many of the dishes listed on the menu were not actually available for order and for other dishes the prices had increased substantially from those posted on the Internet.

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Legal Blog Watch points to I/P Updates, which in turn points to a recent WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) magazine containing an article called Trademarks Past and Present.

The article points out that the use of trade-marks (Canadian spelling includes the hyphen) dates back to stone age cave paintings depicting the branding of livestock. 6000 year old Egyptian masonry includes quarry marks and stonecutter signs showing the source of the stone and who did the work.

The article also traces the history of 2 well known trade-marks – Ikea and Speedo.

Read the Legal Blog Watch posting
Read the I/P Update Posting
Read the WIPO magazine article

David Fraser points to a story in his PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Law blog about medical records being scattered around Cleveland after a box fell off a delivery truck.

That illustrates the point I have made before that everyone must consider how their actions might affect the information of both themselves and others. (See my April 3 post – which was my weekly Free Press article.)

Sure, it may have only been an “accident”, but tell that to the people whose medical records are blowing around the streets.

Read David Fraser’s posting

It was in a magazine article 40 years ago this month that Intel co-founder Gordon Moore expressed his now famous Moore’s Law which states that the number of devices on a chip doubles every 24 months.

An article in CNet points out that at the time, chips contained about 60 devices – while Intel’s latest Itanium chip has 1.7 billion silicon transistors.

For years some commentators have been saying that the trend can’t continue, as we are running up against physical limits – but so far breakthroughs keep occuring to keep the law alive.

Read the CNet article

engadget has an article about how watch manufacturers are concerned that many people now use their cellphones to tell time, and are not buying watches.

This trend is apparently more prevalent among those who view watches as a tool, rather than jewellery.

They report that a French watchmakers association has even sued a wireless carrier for running ads that show watches and clocks being thrown away.

And for the record – I wear a watch – but when it needs to be replaced??

Read the engadget posting

DAVID CANTON – For the London Free Press – April 2, 2005

Read this on Canoe

There have been a number of recent high-profile incidents involving the violation of personal information.

Bank of America, ChoicePoint and T-Mobile, to name a few, have had to explain to customers how others were able to access personal information.

We — meaning any person, business, organization or government that touches personal information in any way — must do a better job of keeping information secure, allowing access only to those who need it and keeping only the bare minimum information necessary.

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