Stuffed with spam

Has anyone else noticed that they are receiving more SMS SPAM these days?

Today, someone at +44 7541 686931 wrote “Due to new legislation, those struggling with debt can now apply to have it written off. For more information next the word ‘INFO’ or to opt out text stop."

Yesterday, what I took to be a claims management service on +1 (813) 384-7716 sent me a message that I’ve already deleted from my device.

Also yesterday, +44 786 306801 texted “FREEMSG: Need a quick end of month emergency Payday topUp? Get upto £750 TODAY!! No Docs or Checks Regd at SMSFORLOANS.COM Reply STOP to stop.”

While on Saturday, +44 7503 441947 texted “Hi. Want the latest iphone or smart mobile but can’t get a contract? Whatever your status we can help! NEWMOBILES.COM reply STOP to stop offers.”

I have not replied to any of these messages. I'm torn. The usual line is that we should say reply "stop" because if we don't, then the miscreant could well argue that the user has implicitly consented to receiving more messages by not having bothered to object when the option was offered to them.

On the other hand, replying "stop" could improve the utility of the marketing list, as the miscreants will know that the end user exists and cares sufficiently to react to messages. So they might react more positively to the next SPAM message.

So what’s happening at the moment? Have I made my way onto some suckers list, or has my provider slipped up by allowing some gungy marketing companies to send spam to its customers? Or, more likely (given that I know a thing or two about how these cowboys operate), has another communications service provider slipped up by failing to stop messages like these from being generated on their network?

The blame should fairly and squarely fall on the communication service provider that is being paid by the actual gungy marketing company to send spam to its customers. It’s much harder for the networks that are simply told to deliver SMS messages to intercept the content of the message and decide if it’s the sort that their customers would be likely to have consented to receiving. No provider really wants to get too close to being accused of intercepting messages and reading their content. That’s really not a very British thing to do.

Ironically, I’ve been working with a bunch of dedicated people from the enforcement end of the spectrum and am privy to some of their cunning plans to reduce this type of awful behaviour. But I do groan when I get this messages, as I appreciate that, despite the herculean efforts of a few, some of these cowboys are still roaming free. But rest assured everyone. An SMS posse is tracking them down. This group is not armed with Smith & Weston revolvers, but I guess it’s got come mighty clever IT tools to spot the bad guys - and perhaps video cameras so that the highlights of the raids can be posted on You Tube.

A recent favourite video site of mine is the welcomehomeblog.com. I dare you – watch it and fight away those tears as (mostly American) families are filmed reacting with unrestrained joy as they see their sons, daughters, fathers and mothers coming home safely from conflict zones. The website celebrates some amazing military homecoming reunions. Take a squint at the videos of members of our armed forces returning home to surprise their families & friends. There’s even a special page dedicated to the reactions of the soldier’s dogs when they are reunited with their owners.

And if we can see those people expressing so much pleasure when they are reunited with family members who have literally put their lives on the line for many months, I’m sure that, if we ask nicely, data protection laws will eventually allow us to see the surprise on the faces of those cowboys who are raided at unearthly hours in the morning (ie before 10.00am) when they are reunited with the ICO’s enforcers.

The usual prize will be awarded to the person who can think of the best name for such a website to post such videos. I would go for “www.Youvebeennicked.com”.


Source:
www.welcomehomeblog.com

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Introducing “Billy the Great”

I had an excellent booking last Thursday morning – I was the warm up act to introduce the keynote speaker – the Irish Data Protection Commissioner - to delegates attending the first IAPP Europe Data Intensive Conference ever to be held in London. As we all ought to know, Billy Hawkes was first appointed Commissioner in 2005 for a five year term, and again in 2010 for a further five years.

I won’t explain in any great detail just what my warm up act comprised - let’s say it didn’t take too long before some of it appeared on Twitter. But it was warm, from the heart, and had the audience ready and oh so willing to receive Billy’s address.

And what Billy had to say was very interesting. Again, as we all ought to know, his office has taken an extremely close look at Facebook recently, in the light of various complaints about some of their processes. He explained that he would be announcing the results of his latest audit, and his official response to the complaints that have been received, in July. He did not indicate what he was likely to say, other than to refer to the importance of the need for Facebook to better control the applications that use and share information that Facebook users transfer to their personal sites. But there were no other words of criticism about Facebook. They have evidently been as transparent as possible with their processing operations, and have fully respected the role that he, as an independent regulator, has to play in the current process.

Billy may be the type of man that prefers his local pub as his social network of choice, but I have full confidence in his impartiality, when it comes to assessing Facebook.

What a refreshing change from the approach recently taken by some other opinion formers when considering complaints about Google’s processes. Those opinion formers preferred to publicly denounce the company for operating processes which, in their view, could conflict with European privacy laws, without even waiting for the results of the evidence they had requested to help them make up their minds as to whether the relevant laws had been breached.

Give me Billy’s approach, any time.

Billy was followed to the stage by Alessandro Acquisti from Carnegie Mellon University, the co-director of CMU Centre for Behavioural Decision Research. Alessandro astounded the audience with the results of his recent and ongoing academic research into how data controllers can get users to share ever more confidential types of personal information with either their friends – or with the data controller. In a stunning reveal, he gave us a glimpse into the way that modern processing speeds were capable, using facial recognition techniques, to gather significant amounts of other information from data freely available on the internet, to enable a data controller to peer deep into the soul of whatever individual was being photographed.

What I thought was science fiction is, perhaps, not that far away from reality.

But there is hope for us all – we all just need to wear our “Prince William” masks when we step onto the public pavement, and then we’ll be treated with courtesy and respect wherever we go.

Watch out for Alessandro’s work when the next batch of his research is formally published. This research (if it's right, and I have no reason to suspect otherwise), is literally changing the privacy game. If data controllers are going to be capable of using some of those techniques, and individuals are going to feel so engaged that they share ever more information about themselves with their friends and other data controllers, then we really do need to call for a stiff drink and ask ourselves what privacy actually means to emerging generations of citizens. We won’t need that Regulation. But I won’t explain why in this blog.

So, I sense that soon it will be time to quietly put away the European Commission’s current proposals for a new legal instrument to govern data protection matters. Then we’ll all be off to join Billy and his colleagues for a pint of two at his favourite social network in Portarlington, County Laois, to work out just how much this privacy stuff realistically can be regulated.


Note to event organisers:
From the end of May I’m available for bookings for other speaking gigs. Get in touch if you require a passionate and/or somewhat irreverent compere for your privacy event!

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ISEB Accreditation: The exam

Wow. The dirty deed has been done. I can relax and carefully store my ISEB coursework and revision notes in a safe place (but definitely where the sun won’t shine) until I get the result of today’s efforts.

If all does not quite go to plan, I’ll have about 4 weeks from the date I get the result of today’s exam to the date of the re-sit. But as I spend my professional life looking on the brighter side of things, I am determined to enjoy the rest of the spring and not start to panic until the summer.

What can I say to those who have not yet taken the ISEB exam? Despite my very considerable experience in applying common sense to problems that popped into my email box at work, the exam is not just focused on common sense. It’s focused on the wording of the 1998 Data Protection Act – that remarkable piece of legislation that will celebrate its 14th birthday on 16 July. And you know what 14 year olds can be like. Sometimes you just can’t understand a word they say – without professional help, that is.

Who can clearly remember as far back as July 1998? Well, who can forget The Spice Girls, who went to the top of the charts with “Viva Forever” at the end of that month? Or perhaps you prefer to recall the single “Three Lions 1998”, reworked by David Baddiel, David Skinner & the Lightning Seeds from their Euro 96 success? Unfortunately, the England Football team's success didn't reflect the song either time. I plan to have much more to celebrate when I get today’s result.

Anyway, what can I say about this experience? Well, it’s hard work. There is a lot to know. You can’t just wing it. No matter how experienced you are. But, having done it, I feel it ought to be valued to a far greater extent than it currently is.

If there’s anything useful to come out of that Regulation, it’s a wakeup call to data controllers to get their houses in order and to understand the data protection landscape. One of the biggest challenges, though, is that controller’s don’t fully understand their regulatory responsibilities, because it’s so low down on so many people’s risk radars.

As we’ve seen, the ICO is determined to do something about that, but is the message getting into the Boardrooms? I think there’s a long way to go. I also think that when the penny does drop about the significance of the issue, all of the data protection training firms are going to be swamped with applications to educate and help certify staff.

If I were a canny student, wondering where the next “job for life” were to emerge from, I would take a close look at issues relating to information risk management. Corporate reputations are so easy to lose should any sloppy practices or sneaky stuff come to light, and the scarcity of people with hands-on date protection experience, and a certifiable level of knowledge, ought to put them in a great position.

From my perspective, pass or fail, it’s been a great financial investment – and one that I’m sure will prove to be far more lucrative than wagering an equivalent amount on Neptune Collognes, who was this year’s Grand National Champion, coming home at odds of 33-1.

If you do take this data protection stuff sufficiently seriously, I do urge you to have a word with Chris Pounder and Sue Cullen over at Amberhawk and ask them how they can help you prepare for the ISEB exam.

You know it makes sense.


Source (And no, this is not marketing...):
www.amberhawk.com

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Cookies: A new initiative from the Commission?

What measures could the European Commission next take to make European web masters wake up and realise that they absolutely have to observe the new cookie rules? Rules are rules, after all. Even European ones.

So, if I were an oik in the Commission, I would strongly urge that Jose Manuel Barosso, the current President of the Commission, exercised his reserve powers to force the European Broadcasting Union to accept a late entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, which is to be held between 22 and 26 May in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Spookily, the day after the final is held will be the first anniversary of the supposed coming into force of the cookie consent rules. And there aren’t going to be many television audiences much larger than those watching the Eurovision Song Contest that the Commission can reach out to and engage in the next few months.

So, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be a tragedy if another year were to pass with as little movement on the actual implementation of the rules as the first year has experienced.

"Tragedy" – yes – that’s a good name for a song. But the Bee Gees got there first, so my little ditty is called something more apt.

Given the fact that British television channels are currently screening “Britain’s Got Talent” and “The Voice” every weekend, there aren’t many vocal coaches available to get the very best out of our singers – which can comprise, say, 4 of the most presentable Data Protection Commissioners around. You can choose the top 4 – I’m going nowhere near that subject. But I do hear that Cheryl from Bucks Fizz is available to coach the group– and she’ll be great as she can also be a consultant on the costumes and the choreography, too. She’s got form with Eurovision, that girl.

The name of the group is obvious – "The Commissioners". And the lyrics – well, what about these as a starter:


APATHY

Here I am
In a cold and dirty part of town
Once held in awe
Now my words they ignore, I slowly drown

What’s the point
I’m making no headway in this joint
I really should be leading you, leading you
Telling you just what to do

Apathy
My motivation’s gone and I can’t go on
It's apathy
When regulation cries and you don't know why
I do declare
That no-one has noticed we’re getting nowhere

Apathy
Users lose control and Google gets their soul
It's apathy
When your laptop shows you what to buy and you don't care why
I want to swear
Since no one has noticed we’re getting nowhere

All my working hours
There's a need right down inside of me
Oh, burnin' lust
I’ll force you to get consent for your cookies – yes you must

Advertising ones
And performance too
Even the spyware
That records everything we do

Apathy
My motivation’s gone and I can’t go on
It's apathy
When regulation cries and you don't know why
I say a prayer
That someone must notice we’re getting nowhere

Apathy
Users lose control and Google gets their soul
(Repeat to fade)


Credit:
Tragedy, the brilliant song from which my lyrics have been lovingly ripped off, was written and recorded by the Bee Gees, and included on their 1979 album Spirits Having Flown. The single reached number one in the UK in February 1979 and repeated the feat the following month on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Image credit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bee-Gees-Tragedy.jpg

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Dogs and the data protection principles

In the final run up to my ISEB exam on data protection, I am finding it hard to concentrate fully on work-related matters. Other friends of mine are busy revising for exams run by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, which will also be held on Friday. So, I suspect that quite a few of us are more than usually concerned at data protection-type issues this week.

My mind is running wild, and, as a revision exercise, I’m constantly linking everything I do with the obligations in the Data Protection Act. I’m asking myself what Data Protection Principles are particularly relevant, and whether and how any of the Act’s exemptions might apply. Sad. But can it be helped?

Last night, for example, a friend came over for dinner – with her dog. So, naturally, my thoughts turned to how the Data Protection Act might be applied to dogs. This is what I came up with:


CANINE PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

1. Dogs shall be treated fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall not be handled unless-
a. at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and
b. in the case of the handler’s children, at least one of the conditions in Schedule 3 is also met.

2. Dogs shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further treated in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes. (They are not just for Christmas).

3. Dog food shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which dogs are handled.

4. Microchips shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.

5. Fur and claws shall not be kept any longer than is necessary.

6. About the rights of dogs e.g. They have the right to have fleas about them removed.

7. Appropriate collars, leads and muzzles shall be used to prevent unauthorised or unlawful biting and prevent accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, other dogs or handlers.

8. Dogs shall not be transferred to a place outside their familiar area or territory unless that area or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of dogs in relation to their welfare.

Wishing all fellow data protection candidates the very best of luck as they sit their exams on Friday!


Image credit:
http://endtimeobserver.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/working-like-dog.html

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Another rumour from the Westminster village

Word is reaching me of an interesting rumour sweeping Westminster. Someone is apparently running a book on the identity of the next European Commissioner to run DG Justice, when the term of office of the current incumbent, Viviane Reding, expires.

Bets are apparently being wagered on the probability of Viviane being promoted to the role of President of the European Commission, and today’s front runner to succeed Viviane Reding is the very popular Dutch politician, Neelie Kroes, who is currently the Vice President of the Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda.

However, around the same time of the reshuffle, David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, is expected to appoint a new European Commissioner, too. It’s understood that this will be to reward that particular individual for their years of faithful service to the British Government. That person will have had enough of Britain by that time. Or, Britain will have had enough of them. Anyway, being British, I would hope they’ll only be satisfied with a big job, running a big department, when they actually get to Brussels.

So, in honour of these rumours, I’ve penned this little ditty:


AND VIVIANE BEGAT

No-one yet knows
If Neelie Kroes
Will get DG Justice
When Viviane goes.

Neelie’s clever, Neelie’s quick
She likes the open web and Arabic
Frequently clad in designer clothes
Wonderful teeth, painted toes.

So, what will our Neelie do
When you know who
Finally gets permission
To rule the whole European Commission?

Let’s all plead with Neelie to stay on
And flourish as our data icon
For we must hope and we must beg:
It must be Neelie - not Nick Clegg.


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Progress on “that” Regulation

The recent news that the Article 29 Working Party is concerned at the costs of enforcing the proposed General Data Protection Regulation prompted me to wonder how the (fictional) Headmaster of St Berlaymont’s College (pictured) might respond to a similar situation.

Perhaps he might write a memo like this:

MEMO
To: Senior Prefect(Justice)
From: Headmaster Rumpoy

Subject: Next College Production

Dear Viviane

Your house mistress has spoken to me because she is very worried about the state of the preparations for the next college production of “Hector, the Perfect Data Protector”. I am grateful to you for volunteering the members of your house to mount the production, but after hearing what she has had to say, and after having kept my ear to the ground over the past few days to pick up other rumours, I am also getting increasingly concerned at the evident lack of progress.

I would have hoped that, by now, you would have finalised at least the first proper draft of a script, so that the other members of staff can decide whether it’s an initiative they really want the college to support. But I hear you have run into difficulties. I have been told that while you circulated a rough draft in January, everyone who has seen it has found different ways to criticise it. It still hasn’t got a proper beginning, middle and end. The jokes are poor, the songs are awful, and it really doesn’t properly reflect the cultural diversity that our college takes pride in demonstrating to the other schools.

You can’t just take something that young Angela M wrote a few years ago, and expect the rest of the college – or the schools in the surrounding neighbourhood - to appreciate it. You have to cast your net much wider. I want bigger parts for many more students. It’s not just meant to be a soliloquy, you know. If you can’t write a big enough role for each of the 27 students under your care, then I’m going to have to ask another prefect to submit a script.

You also have to be mindful that a number of the students in the production will be entering other talent contests over the coming months, and I don’t want you saying or doing anything that will harm their chances in those competitions. Obviously, these pupils care about the good name of the school, but they all have their own self interests at heart, too. They’ve got to win their own local contests, as well as make sure that the college has a critically acclaimed hit. Otherwise you’re going to have new students arriving just before the production is to be staged, and that will require you to do some re-writing to reflect the personalities of these new students.

I am also very concerned about the budget for the project, as it appears to be extremely expensive, even though you haven’t submitted a detailed breakdown, yet. Where do you think the money is going to come from? You know that the school hasn’t got much money. We are still we paying the bills from last year’s production of “Grease”, and I have no idea when those creditors will stop writing to me. Your proposal to fine parents 2% of their annual salary if they arrive late to take their seats simply won’t work as a way of raising funds. It is highly irresponsible to budget on the basis that some people will not turn up on time, and it’s not fair that they should pay for the entertainment that will be provided to everyone else. We cannot know, in advance, just how many parents will turn up late, but we have to know, in advance, financially just what we are letting ourselves in for.

And, you’ve been so rude to our corporate sponsors recently that I don’t think they’re going to be willing to stump up funds for a Facebook page to promote it this time.

I want to see you, in my office, after prep tomorrow night so you can tell me why your proposals are so good, and why the rest of the college staff – and all the parents - are going to like it. I still haven’t shaken off the blame for the chaos that was caused when the Catering Department tried out that new cookie recipe recently. No-one liked them, and cook still can’t work out whether he followed the instructions properly, or not.

I’m not going out on a limb to support this show, you know. I want my impending retirement party to be known as a sad event when a well loved headmaster left the college. I don’t want people to feel glad to see the back of me because I made them sit through a turgid production, that no-one understood, or liked, and which almost bankrupted the other college departments that had to pay for the costumes and the sets.

If I’m not happy, it’s not going ahead. We’ll arrange to show a good film, like “Titanic”, instead.

Regards

Van


Image credit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlaymont_building

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