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Security Of Governor's Web Site Questioned
by Michael Martinez
A top government official in Massachusetts this week questioned the privacy controls of an Internet site maintained by Gov. Deval Patrick, sending Patrick's staff into a scramble to address the concerns.
Secretary of State William Galvin said the site, DevalPatrick.com, exposed the personal information of people who registered on it. The site is maintained by the Democratic governor's political committee. Galvin, a Democrat, noted specific problems that occurred when the site verifies the identities of users attempting to register.
"We go to great lengths to protect the confidentiality of voting lists from vendors and sales people, and we're concerned there is information out there that shouldn't be -- for instance, police officers' residential addresses, deceased voters, apartment numbers of elderly voters," Galvin told The Boston Globe. "I'm told there are people who have restraining orders on the list with their residential address."
Steve Crawford, a spokesman for Patrick's political committee, told The Boston Herald that technicians modified the registration process after Galvin noted the problems. But he said the committee has not planned any major reformatting for the site, which went live last weekend.
"We never said we weren't going to have to make some changes," Crawford said.
Patrick succeeded Republican Mitt Romney this year as governor after Romney opted against seeking re-election. Romney is now vying for the Republican presidential nomination.
Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, told the Herald that the fumbled launch of the site has hurt Patrick when it is crucial for him to establish his credibility. "It has backfired, no question about it," Watanabe said.
Online privacy also was a hot issue in California this week, where Secretary of State Debra Bowen closed a state site that she said exposed sensitive information on more than 650,000 residents. Bowen halted access to portions of the site that granted public access to Universal Commercial Code forms, which included private information on loan applicants.
The documents are publicly available on paper to people who request them and pay fees. But she said they should not be on the Internet until the state can guarantee that the sensitive information can be protected electronically.
"To make the agency more business-friendly, previous secretaries of state have made these records available on the Internet," Bowen said in a statement. "However, until we find a way to remove all but the last four digits of people's Social Security numbers from the records in the electronic database, I've decided to pull the plug on the system that ... gave people Web-based access to these documents."
Legislation to limit the number of digits from Social Security numbers that can be made available in public records is being considered. Bowen said she fully supports that measure, A.B. 1168.
S.C. Blogger Fired After Edwards Comments
A South Carolina-based political Web site this week fired a blogger and former aide to Gov. Mark Sanford for comments the blogger posted after Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards announced last week that his wife's cancer had returned.
SCHotline fired former Sanford spokesman Will Folks over a post he wrote on his FITSNews blog that blasted Edwards for remaining in the presidential race despite his wife's condition. SCHotline announced in a press release that it will "discontinue any editorial and or other professional association" with Folks, who recently had become a partial owner of SCHotline.
Folks had accused Edwards of shamelessly exploiting his wife's condition for his own political gain. Folks said most Americans were "completely hoodwinked" by the family's announcement that the cancer of Elizabeth Edwards was incurable.
SCHotline Vice President Jeffrey Sewell told the AP the company will buy back Folks' shares in the company, which he estimated are worth as much as $4,000. "He just wouldn't compromise with regard to his posts," Sewell said. "The Edwards' post was over the top."
Folks posted a tongue-in-cheek response to his termination the day after he was fired.
Indianan Convicted Of Software Counterfeits
An Indiana man accused of selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit software online was sentenced by a federal court this week to 27 months in prison.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Barker sentenced Courtney Smith after he pleaded guilty to buying counterfeit computer software through the auction site eBay and reselling it via the Internet. Smith admitted in court that he bought and sold copyrighted copies of Rockwell Automation software in more than 32 online auctions.
Prosecutors said the retail value of the stolen software was more than $700,000.
"Smith exploited eBay to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit software at drastically reduced prices, thereby illegally profiting on the back of the copyright holder," Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said in a Justice Department press release.
FBI agents raided Smith's home in 2004 and seized computers, compact discs and other devices they believed he was using to conduct illegal business online.
Ohio Accuses Web Firm Of False Advertising
Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann on Friday sued an Internet firm based in his state for allegedly lying in advertisements about its searching services.
Dann has alleged that Courts Online, which advertises unlimited searches of public and private databases for one-time fees of up to $30, failed to make good on such deals and to properly inform its customers of its refund policies.
Complaints about Courts Online have been filed with the Better Business Bureau and the FTC. Dann has asked a state court to bar the company from making future transactions until it pays restitution to customers who were misled by advertisements and not properly refunded.
"Because consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet to purchase goods and services, I will do all I can to ensure that companies based in Ohio are operating according to the law -- not operating scams," Dann said. "With that in mind, we are not filing this claim to put Courts Online out of business but to protect consumers by forcing the company to comply with the law."
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