The CIA wants you

OK -- this was a flurry of activity after weeks of idleness, but the CIA has now joined the Facebook craze. No, not in the black helicopter sense of searching for your info (come on, they'd been doing that through DARPA for years). The CIA now joins the long list of recruiters using their Facebook to attract and market.

Is is a coincidence? New head of the department of defense a well known blogger and poster himself? DoD and CIA? You be the judge.

http://arkansas.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2223915657

And, Mr. Gates, let me point out for those working on my dossier at Langley that the above was joke about the black helicopers.

Publication is out

For those interested, a paper based on the work with our student-athletes regarding their SNWs was published this month in the CoSIDA Digest. It is a limited readership, granted, but if anyone wants a copy, let me know.

Where does Buckley end?

No, not William F. Buckley, but FERPA -- commonly known as the Buckley Amendment. When do protections stop covering the communications of college students? The common answer is that student emails are a part of the educational record, although I have found some debate as to whether content may color that question. For example, a message from a teacher with grade or course information to a student, or student-to-student discussions of educational matters, are clearly part of the record. However, are student-to-student emails regarding the weather covered as "educational records". Does that extend to non-student-to-student email?

Regardless, most agree that email in the email box at the ".edu" are protected, but does that protection follow forwarded email? I am curious if anyone out there has the answer. That might have wide ranging implications for the SNW world. For example, if a .edu account is needed to acquire an account -- the old Facebook scheme -- then does that by association carry Buckley protection to the content on the Facebook page? Highly unlikely, but still begs the question.

Fed sources seem vague on this -- at least what is searchable on-line -- but I'd be interested if any of the other folks working in the SNW world have any ideas. Email me direct at my .edu -- bismith@uark.edu.

Digital Assets are Easy, World Edition

What do major American sports personalities and the late Saddam Hussein share in common? They've both been the victim of cell phone technology. Is anyone really surprised that Saddam's hanging was available on the internet within 24 hours of the event? Equally so, anyone shocked that it was a guard's cell phone used to video the event?

BTW, as of today, two were arrested and a third soon to be added for taping the event.

Required listening today on NPR

On NPR's Day to Day, Madeleine Brand has a piece on how college students don't seem to get the difference between internet privacy and general privacy. In talking to a group of Southern Cal students, they don't think -- to use their own term -- "Facebook stalking" is that big a deal unless it invades the real world. However, when asked if the government should listen to phone calls or employers should Google their digital personas, they were, well, shocked, shocked and appalled at the invasion of their privacy. Brand has dug up a Harvard Law Review article by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandies that I will not do my own googling for a copy. It is scary on the mark to today, another example of what's old becomes new again. Writing in 1890:

"Instantaneous photographs and newspaper enterprise have invaded the sacred precincts of private and domestic life, and numerous mechanical devices threaten to make good the prediction that what is whispered in the closet shall be proclaimed from the housetops." -- transcribing the NPR story, quoting Warren and Brandies.

At the end of the story, there is a brief primer on privacy law cases, and posing the question of liability if one violates the privacy of another with your SNW.

Listen to the story at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6710445

Slowly back on line

Nothing, nothing like a close family death on Christmas day.

Anyway, back to the grind. Let me take a moment to point out a couple of retrospective items. The last two We're History segments are available now on the KUAF podcasting site (www.kuaf.org). Both will have extended play extras -- only the farewell to Pluto is posted as of today.

But, with bowl season well underway, enjoy the December edition as we take the We're History concept -- that the modern media has a very limited knowledge of history and lets that cloud its editorial work -- to the sports page.

Brut, Meinke, Champs bowls as shameless commercialism? Well, let us introduce you to the Refrigerator Bowl.

Really, I Have a Written Excuse

The pace of post slows during this hard stretch. While there are lots of things happening, I've not had a lot of time to put those items here on the blog.

Just to keep you up, it appears our family will be headed toward a fifth parent/grandparent funeral here at Christmas in six years. And the sixth year involved moving one parent into extended care after a major accident.

So, not to play for sympathy but if there isn't a lot of activity here in the next week understand it's because we're busy with hospice.

If it's good enough for the Secretary of Defense

Further confirmation of the apocalypse -- at least as the traditionalists are concerned. Deadspin.com is featuring a link from TexAgs.com that that particular board had a very special poster.

Ranger65 changed jobs, and upon heading to his new, higher security gig, he revealed his gig'um identity: none other than the president of Texas A&M, Robert Gates. Jump over the deadspin for details, but consider the implications of that.

The college president is weighing in and reading the message boards.

Obviously, his new job won't allow him to continue giving his opinion.

One of the days Facebook is a good thing

If you are a cross country runner in the northeast, you already know about the Facebook group entitled, “Victims of the NESCAC Rash." If you aren't, you probably needed today's newsfeed from the Chronicle of Higher Ed to call your attention to this event. Apparently a large percentage -- about 75% -- of the runners at this particular meet hosted by Connecticut College have a mystery skin rash. The group has photos and details.
So what's the big deal -- without a Facebook page that reached thousands of college students, would they have been able to come together and realize their common problem. This is one of the times the speed, immediacy and intimacy of the SNW world does good. Kudos on this one.

Digital Assets are Extremely Portable

This is a mantra that I continue to chant to our students (please note, that's not student-athletes -- I tell my 16-year old, our student workers, the Lady'Backs). I have been visited with a particularly nasty incarnation of why this is important.

As I have in the past, the origins of the school, the sport and the athlete are anonymous, but one must be very careful of who one parties with and who one allows to take your picture.

No less dramatic than Brittany and Paris' wonderful commando adventures, this athlete allowed herself to be photographed in a less than discrete lack of clothing. It obviously was made with a camera phone, and photoshopped to add a particularly nasty tagline. It is now being shared with other coaches around the U.S.

The photo was located on a U.S.-based photo server, and that has allowed for some access to have it removed by the offended party. However, if it was off-shore, whoever put up the image may have ultimate control.

It is a reminder of how the Northwestern soccer case broke. The photos were on a server that allowed for outsiders to browse, and that's how the privacy was breached.

I'm sure at the time the photo was taken, it seemed a little racy, some harmless soft porn fun. Harmless until it becomes part of your dossier.

Mahalo for staying in touch

It is hardly acceptable to let two weeks, less almost two months, come between posts, but it has been an interesting month for travel, Lady'Backs, family matters and emergency communications.

Travel took me from the Appalachian lowlands of South Carolina to the peak of Diamond Head on O'ahu -- with a side-trip to the heartland of Tennessee -- in the space of three weeks.

That was a part of playing 10 women's basketball games in 24 days, and all the complications of broadcast operations of those 10 games.

At the start of this November rush, it was time to form, execute and evaluate a major radio exercise for our county amateur radio operators.

To top it off, the health of my wife's adoptive mother took a turn for the worse.

So, as my Kahama aime family on the main island would say, mahalo for your patience.

This week is final exam for the team, and a forced 10-day break in the schedule. It allowed me to catch up on some correspondence, draft a new We're History on bowl games and -- tada -- make a new posting here.

There have been some serious events, particularly on the SNW world, and I will save that for a separate post today.

Word of caution for bloggers, SNW students

I have maintained from the outset that students who post details of their teams and departments are violating the proprietary information held by the University, and in turn are subject to sanctions. I get a lot of first amendment flak on that -- my counter is wait until you get into the real world. Well folks, here's the real world situtation; this is not a drill:

Blogger who posted Foley e-mails fired
BY LAURIE KELLMAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - A gayrights group has fired an employee who admitted posting the first publication on a Web site of Rep. Mark Foley’s emails to a former male page.
The e-mails and later disclosures of sexually explicit computer messages from the Florida Republican to other male pages sparked a campaign-season scandal.
“He inappropriately used Human Rights Campaign resources. He was fired,” Human Rights Campaign Vice President David Smith said of the employee.

You can go to your local newspaper for the rest of the details. This currently unidentified person -- cause that's coming by the end of this newscycle, I garr-OHN-tee it -- is supposedly a democrat who wanted to out the republican, and obviously did a good job at it. But oops, your private employer wasn't real keen on the potential blowback. No whistle blower act protection for you, private business employee.

Why? Because the bottom line is, nobody likes a tattle-tail. You can dress this up in whatever language and situational garb you wish, but some things don't change. People don't like people who rat others out. But what about those noble individuals who right a wrong? Depends on how many people are effected by the wrong. Now, this is no value judgment at all on what Foley may or may not have done. This is looking at the hard facts of secrets and the violation of trust. Think about your own life. Did you trust someone without reservation that you knew had once been a whistle blower?

Here's where it applies again to the SNW world and the millenials. How many friendships have ended because of Facebook, or some other service, because secrets were told to wide numbers of people that in the past would not have. Or more accurately, would have not been traceable to the source -- call that digital blowback cause you can't deny when they have your IP and account login; and there is no time for the poison pen letter to digest. Precious few people have the best of judgment at the speed of light.

Remember the old Harry Truman story about his daughter. She wanted to be a singer, and apparently wasn't very good. She got horrible reviews, probably from the combination of talent and who her dad was. Truman was mad about the media giving his daughter grief, but he usually wrote his letters to the editor complaints, sealed the envelope and stuck it into a drawer in his desk until the next day. The only one of those he regretted was the one he stuck into a mail slot instead of his desk drawer.

That was fun -- Let's hope it works

SEC Media Days were a little more fun than usual. Carting around the DV-cam to shoot footage of Brittney Vaughn's day made things different. It was amazing how much attention a simple idea like that generated.

Now, let's hope I didn't bung-up the audio. This was the first time in the field with that combo of GL-2 and wireless package, and I was the living embodiment of one of my greatest pet peeves: trying to perform without rehearsal.

Larger question remains of how we can regain some respect from the media. Granted, only 19 cared to vote on the women's poll and of that number I know only four that I would consider women's basketball beat reporters. You would think finishing in a tie for eighth WITHOUT your leading scorer who is back from knee surgery would count for something. Instead, we get dinged to 10th, and teams we handled last year are voted ahead -- significantly ahead. While many will complain that someone isn't getting the word out, the reality is this slap in the face from a group of media that will not take the time to learn about the game is a blessing. Any coach will tell you there's only two good places in a poll: first and last. With first, you can put the pressure on to maintain a high expectation. Easier with last -- or in this case way below expectations -- because team, you're much better than than, they don't think you can do it, etc.

Expect something different at media days

Our participant at the SEC Media Day, Brittney Vaughn, is a broadcast journalism major. To give her a chance to meet and greet among the press, as much as to promote our team, Brittney will show everyone what Media Day looks like to the players by wearing a wire. This should be interesting.

Oh my -- has it been weeks

Expletive.

First name reference to Judeo-Christian diety.

Compound expletive.

Now that the guide is off to the printer, I can get back to all that other stuff. Like sleeping.

Excuse while I veg another 24 hours in advance of tomorrow's soccer-a-thon.

Nothing like a press guide

. . . to get you behind on any other work. Along with preparing for the county's simulated emergency test and finishing the edits on the SNW paper for the CoSIDA Digest, doesn't leave much time for a blog.

But, couple of items. First, I've got to say I'm a little peeved with CBS -- their new show Jericho made the ham radio operator in the town seem like a lunatic.

Second, one of the more interesting student newspaper rants against the "restrictions" put on athlete's Facebook usage comes from Ohio State. The Ohio State editorial hit the nail on the head. Does a university only care about its athletes, and not the general student body? Exactly. The students, not just the student-athletes, need to be warned, be warry and be afraid.

Read this News Feed

While considering cough syrups . . .

I have to laugh between coughs at the shock, shocked and appalled -- they are, at the latest "improvements" at Facebook. Chalk it up to yet another I told you so, kids, you gave up your rights to privacy when you signed up for most of these SNWs.

This is the quote of the day, from our own student newspaper at Arkansas:
"It's all about reading the fine print and people don't do it. People don't like it because it's boring," Chris Medrano said.

Hey, guess what -- the adults know that, and the smart kids, too. That's why they scammed you into giving up all your rights when you clicked OK on the EULA.

Here's your black helicopter moment: Did you catch the story last week about Project Strike Back? The FBI data mining of Department of Education financial aid records. It comes a couple of years after the outcry over Talon, the DoD's surveillance project to look for key words in emails. Then there's the continuing program for FBI direct access to Sevis records of foreign students. By the time this generation gets it, it may be too late to get off the grid.

Michael Ostrokenk with the Liberty Coalition summed it up in The Chronicle:
"This is another example of Big Brother gone wild. In the age of everything is a national security issue, we are destroying the very liberties and privacy rights which make our country unique and great in the history of the world."

Hey, but if you can get a free email account and free spam blocker, why not?

Random Thoughts

While considering why astronomers can't think of anything better to do than to revise text books . . .

You know it's not going to be a good parent-teacher night when by the third class visit, you are the only parent at the school. Out of seven periods visited, four had less than four parents attending.

And about Pluto, is there nothing else to discover in near space? Is that the best your field has got, revising the definitions? So you can feel superior to those stodgy old fogies that got it all so wrong. Here's a thought -- do something. Achieve something. Find something. Instead, let's get rid of the only planet discovered by an American. Hey, that's it. Along with high gas prices, flooding New Orleans, screwing up Iraq and generally ruining the Earth, the government is responsible for a false planet.

Last time I checked, the old farts with slide rules and crew cuts:
Went to the moon.
Send a probe beyond the solar system.
Created many of the current concepts of space.

This generation:
Space telescope that needed contacts.
Meters? The distance to the surface of Mars wasn't in feet?
Uh, . . . . OK, we've got XBox360; all they had was Pong.

Just when you thought the hard sciences would not be prone to revisionism, we have the anti-Plutoians who want to fix the errors of the past. Personally, makes more sense to add Xena and the other new "minor" planets. But, that goes against the gated community mentality of the world -- we must exclude those we don't want to be around.

More I think about it . . . here goes the next Ozarks at Large rant.

Last Weekend (sort of)

A nice weekend of house cleaning and grilling before the real big stuff begins to roll with next week. This will be an awkward year -- a home vb tournament and fb game before Labor Day weekend. It seems like things start earlier and earlier.

At least I can try to finish some side projects before throwing the 12-16 hour days at press guide season, which starts really next week. The Corona box project is me -- even with SP2 and patches it still locks when it gets on line. And I'd like to have that finished before the next road trip set -- soccer swings to Tulsa soon -- for the car computer stuff -- GPS tracking, mp3's, etc.

Next week also, finishing the first draft of a paper for CoSIDA Digest on the survey results from my SNW work this summer.

Messages from the Ungrateful

Most of the feedback from surveys on my SNW talk was positive, but as one would expect a few were less than enthused about the adults looking in. Coincided with some of the interesting profiles and photos -- surprise. The one that stuck with me, howevever, was I treated them like "ignorant little miscreants". I'll give props for the creative use of language, but as a colleague says, no good dead goes unpunished.

At the same time, they really are not getting the true message. You are giving up too much of your personal privacy.

I had to laugh at similar indignant comments from some media who are shocked, shocked and apalled to discover that big athletic departments are infringing on the First Amendment rights of students. And it's just because we're worried about our reputations.

Stunning ignorance -- are media members so unaware of the current culture to miss that if anything, athletic departments may be behind the curve on this? Go ask the frats and sororities if they have "house rules" about SNW postings. Check out the lock-step compliance required on political blogs. For that matter, do the same really believe they can rant to their heart's content against their employers and think they will not have an impact.

Look, NPR today added further confirmation with its Morning Edition story. HR departments across America are looking into candidate SNWs. You can whine all you want about this being an invasion of privacy, but is it an invasion of privacy if you stand in the public square drunk and half naked? And if that makes a police report, that's not fair game to ask about?

Consider the flip side. How many lawsuits to come when a predator gets hired, causes some injury and then the liable party is the employer because they did not look, or knew and did not act?

Think about this one -- 10, 15 years ago, who really verified every degree claimed on a resume? High security positions maybe, but rarely was that done across the board. There isn't a person hired in our department without a DegreeCheck run.