Consumers Resist Retail BioMetrics

I saw this article in eWeek and it is pretty standard stuff about retail using biometrics (fingerprints) to help the check out process at Piggly Wiggly grocery stores go faster. What I found most amusing was the response by the bible thumping folks to this process

(Assistant director of information systems at Piggly Wiggly Rachel) Bolt said she didn't appreciate how emotionally intense some of the opposition was until she visited a store and saw a 70-year-old woman literally throw a Bible at an employee trying to enroll people in the program.

"She told him that God was going to rain hellfire on him and that he was promoting the devil's work," Bolt said, adding that she took that to mean the customer was not interested in enrolling....

The 70-year-old customer was reacting to the concern of some in the religious community that RFID (radio-frequency identification) and biometric programs are similar to a Bible story known as "the mark of the beast." The story from Revelation speaks of limits to sales or purchases "save
he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

Although I am not a fan of my super market finger printing me as a way to validate my credit card, I don't think this is the work of the devil, or as Dana Carvey's Church Lady used to say on SNL, "SATAN?"

State of the Union: 9/11 Beat the Clock

And finally today, from yes you guessed it the Huffington Post by Roy Sekoff, and this is priceless:

Guessing how long it will take before President Bush invokes 9/11 in a speech is one of our favorite diversions at the Huffington Post. The over/under is usually around 90 seconds. Will he best that during his upcoming State of the Union address? Given all the pomp and circumstance, it's not likely. But you never know.

The other question should be how many times will he evoke 9/11 in general tomorrow night? I am guessing 27. Someone else should count for me, since I can't watch that lying son-of-bitch, without wretching up months of stomach acid.

To Impeach or Not to Impeach

More from the Huffington Post this time from Donnie Fowler:

So, it is OK to have an impeachment and trial for a man who lied about sex, but it's not polite to discuss impeachment for lies about war or for deliberate, even arrogant and flagrant, flaunting of laws passed by Congress? Once again, the Mainstream Media and its twin sister Conventional Wisdom are being dragged kicking and screaming into inconvenient conversations about the direction our nation is headed...

(T)he San Francisco Guardian highlights the juxtaposition of a Democratic Party that is hesitant to demand accountability -- "The Democratic leadership is afraid of all the popular positions of the Democratic base" -- with a conservative movement bent on imposing its theory of unquestioned presidential power called the unitary executive -- an "obscure political philosophy" held by Cheney, Scalia, and likely Alito that "essentially holds that the presidency is the dominant branch of government, rather than one of three coequal branches."

The Guardian concludes that "if the public demands accountability and Bush and Cheney refuse to give up their imperial stands, impeachment might not just become an option. It may become the only option."

Things won't be so polite then.

This illustrates two points I have been trying to hammer home. President Clinton's impeachment was 100% partisan and had absolutely nothing to do with the constitution, (something the Republicans are getting very good at ignoring), and the Democrats have absolutely no idea how to get out of their own way. So please contact your elected officials, regardless of political party affiliation and ask them to make the president accountable to them and to the people of the United States.

Wide Eyed Innocents

Here is another blog from the Huffington Post by Tom Tomorrow, that is worth a read.

A letter to the editor in this morning's New York Times, on the topic of the NSA spying scandal, reiterates a familiar refrain: the innocent have nothing to hide.

You hear this a lot lately, from Bush supporters who are perfectly willing -- eager, even -- to trade essential liberty for temporary safety. Because the world is a very, very, very scary place. Because we've never faced such a dire threat before. And of course, because we learned on September 11 that oceans no longer protect us.

Those of you of a certain vintage probably remember how safe you felt growing up, with those great big oceans out there, when all you had to worry about was, you know, the constant threat of imminent nuclear annihilation.

Just remember it is not about hiding anything or willing to share with the government because you are not doing anything illegal. This is a much deeper issue than the President and his cronies want us to believe it is and it is important that the American people not forget or else the Bill of Rights will be become a figment of imagination.

Bush's Answering Machine

Lets Prevent this from Happening

Although this is presented in a tounge and cheek sort of manner of eCRM gone wildly wrong from Ad Critic. Hopefully it is not someone's actual vision. And it is pretty funny! Enjoy

Write a Letter to Congress

Dear Member of Congress:

President Bush has admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without obtaining warrants as required by law. This is a shocking abuse of power that erodes our fundamental freedoms.

Congress must conduct a full and thorough investigation into President Bush's domestic spy program that answers the following questions:

1. How many Americans were spied upon, and how were they chosen?
2. Why did President Bush break the law by bypassing the court that issues secret warrants for classified surviellance?
3. What private companies, if any, aided in the spying, and what is their relationship with the administration.

Most important, Congress must hold President Bush and any other member of his administration who broke the law accountable for their actions.

Senate Seeks Privacy Answers

Red Herring is now reporting the Senator Patrick Leahy, (D-VT) has sent a letter to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking about subpoenas requesting information from large tech companys (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL).

In his letter, Sen. Leahy criticizes the stated position of the DOJ that the government was data mining for information to help build support for the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), a 1998 law that was passed without debate in an omnibus appropriations bill. The law is now being litigated.

“I opposed this effort to regulate Internet speech, noting that there are better ways to protect children that have less impact on constitutionally protected speech, including the use of blocking and filtering tools,” Sen. Leahy wrote in the letter. “I predicted that the COPA would fail in the courts because these less restrictive means exist, and because Congress had not shown otherwise.”

In his letter Sen. Leahy asks the AG if any or all of the DOJ’s subpoenas were issued in connection with the resuscitation of COPA.

The Senator also asks for the type of data requested in the subpoenas and whether the DOJ requested or obtained personally identifying information in connection with the subpoenas, and how that information was and will be used.

Poll finds Mixed Support for Wiretaps

So I am riding the train to work this morning, and I spy (get it?) this headline on the NY Times:

Poll finds mixed support for Wiretaps:
Americans are willing to tolerate eavesdropping without warrants to fight terrorism

and I am thinking to myself, that this is a no brainer. It is also interesting to note, the sentence above continued, though not in bold type face.

but are concerned that the aggressive antiterrorism programs championed by the Bush administration are encroaching on civil liberties, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

In spite of my recent rants regarding the legality of the domestic wiretaps, or the "terrorist surveillance program" I suspect that most Americans are ok with the government trying to track down leads and capture bad guys. I have no problem with them using wiretaps, and data mining techniques or any other known or unknown method to help protect this country from a future terrorist attack.

The Republicans (Cheney, Rove) are clearly responding in their circles to the critism sent out on MLK day last week by the Democrats (Senator Clinton and former VP Gore). They are attempting to spin this situation as we are strong on terror and national security and they (Democrats) are weak. This was how they won in 2002, and it seems they are planning the same strategy in 2006. The question is, can the Dems learn from their mistakes, and I am doubting it, since they are too scared or stupid to actually unite and come up with a solid consistent message, but that is another story.

The neocons are saying that this program is helping to make us safer, which is almost impossible to argue with. I have no idea if this program has been any more or less successful than any other initiatives in the war on terror, which in my humble opinion will take at least 15-20 more years to completely determine the winner or even what winning looks like, long after W and company have riden off into the sunset. Most people are willing to sacrifice some in order to feel safer, because who is going to to argue with this strategy and since the Republicans have such a strong propaganda machine and are continously spreading this message people could easily forget that the President admits what he did was illegal.

The main issue here and the primary thorn in my side, is not about protecting the United States. The issue is about the constitutuion and determining what power the President has, and how laws passed by Congress are enforced by the President and how the Judges interprets the laws enacted by Congress and enforced by the President. And the American people should not be so short-sighted as to lose track of the constitutional crisis that is potentially brewing, just to feel safer in the short term.

Remember the terrorists waited 8 years between attacks on the WTC, so they are in no hurry. They will bide their time, plan, wait, then attack when they are ready, on their time frame when we are least expecting another attack. But again, that is a different story

What I do have a problem with, and what I cannot understand for the life of me, is why the President cannot get "legal" approval for what he is doing today, right now! Assuming that he is truly only hunting terrorist and trying to make the US safe, then he should have no problem now even 4 years after the fact, going to a federal judge and obtaining a warrant for the past actions. Since this would still fall under the FISA act, the entire process would still be classified, so the public and more importantly those under observation would not know they are being watched.

However, the President (and by extension the entire executive branch, DOJ, NSA, CIA, BTAF, Agriculture, DOE, etc.) would have to demonstrate to this judge who has been under surveillance, what was the basis for putting this individual or group under surveillance, what information has been obtained to date, and what they plan on doing witht the information they have obtained on individuals within the United States, which they are no longer monitoring. It just makes me wonder what the President is really hiding.

It is interesting to note the words of Katrina Vanden Heuvel, from her blog on the Huffington Post

If NSA spying were really an issue of security, as the all-out media assault by the Bush administration claims it to be, it should accept the deal. But it's not. Rather this is all part of their neocon dream of an American Empire. You see, in a republic the lives of private citizens are private while the workings of public servants are public, but in an empire, Caesar's dealings remains shrouded in secrecy while he spies on citizens looking for threats to the regime. It is up to the Congress to put a stop to this idolatry: the emperor as God, mysterious and omniscient.

World Baseball Classic...Who cares?

Major League Baseball is being completely irresponsible by scheduling the World Baseball Classic in March, right in the middle of March Madness. They have pushed back spring training a few weeks to start in early February, rather than mid-February. Then they expect the cream of the crop to be ready and in game shape in one short month. It is ridiculous. I am just waiting for a player to break a leg, blow out an ACL, or damage an elbow or tear a rotator cuff. Wait and see how that team's general manager and ownership reacts, when a significant player misses a large portion of the season playing in what is essentially an exhibition.

For instance, Ben Sheets of the Milwaukee Brewers spent all of September last year on the DL with a torn back muscle. Doug Melvin, the Brew Crew GM, requested from the MLB that Sheets be exempt from the tournament to give him time to heal and work into the regular season. Buddy, the car salesman, is more interested in promoting his league (without steroids), and not concerned about the fellas who pay his salary. There is absolutely no reason this tournament could not be staged in November or December after the World Series.

George Steinbrenner was the only owner to vote against playing, since he rightly sees his investment in the Yankees, not in promoting MLB around the world, which is the point of the WBC. In spite of his protest, the Yankees will be well represented in the tournament (Damon, Jeter, Cano, Rivera, A-Rod, Wang, Williams) and I am hoping that none of these boys get hurt in this meaningless endeavor.

Go STEELERS!!!

The problem with politics

D.C. "Strategists" Panic As Dems Ignore Them & Fight Back

I was wathcing The Daily Show with John Stewart where he made the quote below and also saw this piece by David Sirota in the Huffington Post Blog and it really resonates.

Living out here in Montana, it has become very easy to spot storylines from the national media and Washington politicians that have positively no appreciation for the textured political views of the American public. It was John Stewart who said this week in a Daily Show interview with consummate Washington B.S. artist Fred Barnes that while people in Washington see things only in terms of Democrat vs. Republican, and "liberal" vs. "conservative" the rest of the country sees things at a much more gut level.

Too many politicians and Washington insiders are more concerned about Republican or Democrat and making sure that everything is a partisan issue. This applies all the way down to local finance and school board elections. No one is focusing on the way real people think or react. I am certainly not a conservative, nor do I support the Democratic party, so am to believe that politicians cares about my position, even though I still vote?

Sirota then goes on and give a pretty lengthy and detailed account of Washington Democratic strategistsand why they are responsible for the the dramatic Democratic loses in the past few years:

...that class of professional election losers quoted regularly trying to prevent just about any courageous Democratic lawmakers from actually doing much of anything. Just look at yesterday's piece in Roll Call where you had this same Democratic cabal saying the party shouldn't mount an aggressive lobbying/ethics crackdown, or look back at the Iraq War where you had the Democratic strategic class saying it was good politics to just blindly follow the Bush administration's lies (incredibly, they are still preaching this kind of acquiescence on Iraq even today). These "strategists" are the Washington, D.C. parasites who are far more concerned about protecting their own tiny rackets of DCCC contracts and candidate consulting gigs than actually helping the party take back the majority.

Today, these "strategists" are publicly worrying that Democrats challenging the President's illegal behavior "could threaten the party in this year's elections." The first quote in the piece goes to an unnamed Democratic "strategist" who says "If Democrats want to be the party of people who think [the government] is too tough and the Republicans are the party of people who are tough, I don't see how that helps us."

This is a yet another perfect example of the insiders influencing how our elected officials think and act, which is often counter-intuitive to their own beliefs. I doubt that 44 Democratic members of the Senate believe and support everything that their party does and say, ditto for the Republicans. However these machines have effectively been able to herd these cattle into line, and there is often harsh retribution if an individual attempts to go outside the party line.

Why is this being done at a public school?

ABC News is reporting that Eye Scan Technology is Coming to Schools

Parents who want to pick up their kids at school in one New Jersey district now can submit to iris scans, as the technology that helps keep our nation's airports and hotels safe begins to make its way further into American lives.

As many as four adults can be designated to pick up each child in the district, but in order to be authorized to come into school, they will be asked to register with the district's iris recognition security and visitor management system. At this point, the New Jersey program is not mandatory.

When picking up a child, the adult provides a driver's license and then submits to an eye scan. If the iris image camera recognizes his or her eyes, the door clicks open. If someone tries to slip in behind an authorized person, the system triggers a siren and red flashing lights in the front office. The entire process takes just seconds.

I know that child abduction is a serious concerns of parents and schools today, but this seems a little over the top, and presumably very expensive. In case you were wondering who is sponsoring this trial:

The Freehold Borough School District launched this high-tech, high-wattage security system on Monday with funding from the Department of Justice as part of a study on the system's effectiveness.

Why in the world would the DOJ be interested in installing this type of system into a school system? Also does the government (this is after all a public school) have the right to force a parent to submit a biological scan in order to pick up their child? This also opens up a Pandora's box of questions regarding the management of this type of systems; where are these iris scans being stored; how long will they be stored; who has access to them while they are being stored, etc.

This has a sneaky feeling of Big Brother sneaking into our lives. Is this another case of Bush's domestic spying, and the building of a data warehouse to track individual attributes and movements, without the public even realizing this is happening or just a school trying to protect its students? Too many questions, which hopefully those in Freehold NJ are asking before implementing this system.

Beating a Dead Horse?

The president is now calling the controversial domestic spying program a "Terrorist surveillance program" - not domestic spying without a warrant. This just sounds like more political spin of saying "I am the president, and I can do or authorize anyone to anything I want." This to me continues to sound like a constitutional breach of executive powers.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why W. cannot go to Congress and get clarification or ammendments to the existing legislation, that would clearly define his power in this area and put limits around what the executive branch (NSA) is and is not able to with regards to "a terrorist surveillance program." This will ensure that the civil liberties of individual citizens, which are currently guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and the 14th ammendment are not trampled upon by the government. If Terrorist surveillance program" is really all Bush is doing, what will prevent his successors, either Republican or Democrat, from extending this new executive power for additional surveillance outside the terrorist realm?

I doubt any right minded American would object to the government leading a "terrorist surveillance program" if we believed it would make us safer, and there were strong parameters around what they can and cannot do with regards to US Citizens within the borders of this country. As a side note, I have no objections to monitoring foreign nationals residing in this country, since I don't believe they are covered by the Bill of Rights, but that is just me and I am not sure that this would actually stand up in a court of law.

This is simply a case where Bush's arrogance and stubborness to see alternate opinions, taking a my way or the highway approach to government is killing him. If his intentions and his program truly are what he says they are (and just being a politician, I generally don't trust what he is saying), then he should have no problem going to congress to ammend and update FISA. But the fact that he continues to fight on, saying he has the authority, that he does not need specific legitslative or judicial approval, makes me wonder if additional shenanigans are going on in this "terrorist surveillnace program".

It begs the question of what other types of folks from the past would have fallen under a terrorist surveillance program?

Telcos on Privacy Hot Seat

Red Herring is reporting this week:

Michigan Representative John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent the letter to 20 companies, including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, Cingular, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and EarthLink.

The letter dated Saturday asked the companies’ leadership whether they have “allowed the federal government to eavesdrop on customer communications” through their facilities or whether or not they have turned over customer records “when not compelled to do so by law.”

The letter sent on the House Judiciary Committee stationery asks the leaders of the communications firms if access was indeed granted, what content was monitored, and how many customers were monitored.

The letter asks if the customers were notified of the surveillance and whether or not the government continues to monitor their customers’ communications.

“One wonders whether the government showed up with a court order or an opinion letter from the attorney general,” said Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. “The Bells should at the very least inquire about the law that governs their situation. I hope a conversation ensued after the government made the request.”

One has to think that if taken seriously this privacy and domestic spying investigation is going to get much larger and could (should) be a major thorn in the side of the President, which could have ramifications in the mid-term elections in November. I have written a letter to my Senators (Dodd/Lieberman) and Representative (Shays), specifically asking their opinion on this subject, what they are planning on doing about it, and expressing my concern that executive branch of government is overstepping its constitutional rights. I request you do the same. If we can get enough people to contact their representatives in Washington, maybe we can find out why the President believes himself to be above the law.

E-luv's Letter to G-d

Here is E-Luv's Big Mouth: Dear G-d. I link it here since I have often asked the same questions myself regarding this supposedly all knowing, all powerful deity.

How is it possible that this all loving being that I was raised to believe in allows death and destruction in his/her name. How as a Jew, am I to believe that we are the chosen people when every other religious group believes they are unique in their G-d's eyes? How is it that Judaism, Islam and Christianity, which are all based on the same fundamental principles are so intrinsically and often violently opposed to each other's views that have led to thousands of years of wars?

Although I have not yet seen Steven Spielberg's Munich, the main point of this film is that violence begets violence and someone needs to step forward and break the cycle. In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. 77th birthday, lets hope and pray that someone is willing to step forward and break this destructive cycle, and lead all mankind into a more tolerant and accepting world, which what the G-d I know would support.

Department of Homeland Security Funding

I came across this article, and it got me thinking where is all this money for DHS funding coming from? A few short years ago this department did not even exist, and now it seems that they have an unlimited amount of funds for almost anything security related. It seems that some of these funds should be allocated to getting the various agencies that make up Homeland Security working together and on the same page, rather than allocating pork that won't necessarily protect the homeland. But maybe that is just me.

Sony Settlement

According to CSOonline.com,

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is praising a U.S. District Court judge’s preliminary approval Friday of a settlement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment over two widely-criticized copy protection programs found on an estimated 15 million music CDs.

The settlement means that consumers can finally get music that will play on their computers without invading their privacy or eroding their security, EFF said in a statement Friday. EFF, a U.S.-based organization, studies technology-related legal issues...

For people who bought CDs with XCP, they can exchange the disks for new ones without the programs. Customers are also entitled to download a clean version of that same album in MP3 format, and receive a US$7.50 payment plus one free album download. Users can opt out of the cash payment and get three free album downloads, according to details released by EFF.

Two More Thoughts on Privacy

Privacy Group complains of London TV Plan

Residents of a section in London may get access to closed-circuit surveillance cameras via their TV.

Eleven cameras in the community of Shoreditch in east London monitor the area for safety, and a plan intended to improve the quality of life will allow everyone access to the footage (on their home televisions).

This does not seem so bad to me since they are putting these TV cameras in public places. If you are dumb enough to commit a crime or do something that requires privacy in public, then you shouldn't be doing it in the first place and you deserve to get caught. (And Samuel Alito doesn't care, since this is outside the US)

Added 1/17 - I did not realize the cameras were not fixed and the watchers were using these cameras for their own voyeuristic pursuits. Showing once again, that the system is only as good as those that run it.

Safeguarding the Privacy of Canadians
Who really cares about the Canadians? We should just annex them and be done with them altogether!!

Splitting constitutional hairs with Privacy

Interesting read from the Boston Globe on Samuel Alito's view of the 4th ammendment and the the 14th ammendment to the constitution:

For example, Alito has declared that he believes in a right to privacy -- but cited a different kind of privacy than the Supreme Court has cited in recognizing abortion rights. After being asked about privacy for the first time, Alito immediately brought up the Fourth Amendment's protection against having one's home searched, not the 14th Amendment's protection of liberty.

Both amendments create protections sometimes referred to as ''privacy rights," but only the 14th Amendment is relevant to abortion, said Richard Fallon, a Harvard professor of constitutional law. The Fourth Amendment protects only people's personal space, while the 14th protects their liberty to control their personal lives.

So I am guessing that with Alito's almost guaranteed confirmation, woman should begin to worry about their privacy rights, since it seems we will rolling back the clock to pre-1965 laws. Taking away a woman's right to choose is a bad precedent, and that is exactly the way the Supreme Court seems to be going. It is no longer if, but when this will happen. Very Scary!!

NFL Divisional Playoff Predictions

I have been negligent with my football picks since early in the season. Primarily because I was lousy at it. I predicted the Giants would self-destruct earlier than the first round of the playoffs. The fact that they won the division first, should be a good building block for next year. Just makes you wonder how big of an advantage did they get with that extra "home" game against the Saints in the September? Would they have made it with one less win? I doubt it, there whole season might have been different.

I could not foresee the Jets falling to pieces because of injuries, and now they are back to the drawing board looking for a new coach. I find it strangely odd, how more Jets coach wind up quitting and not being fired. I doubt any other team has that problem. Why is it that the Jets are only interviewing those that just got fired (Vitt, Tice, Haslett), with the exception of this Mangini kid up in New England? And in the coaching carousel, why would the Packers higher the offensive coordinator from SF, when the 49ers were virtually last in the league in offense. It seems they are swapping one bad coach for another.

I also missed the mark on the Saints. I really thought they would play more inspired ball for the folks of New Orleans, but I guess it is really tiring playing 16 games on the road, and having no consistent practice schedules when you need to be relocated for an NCAA volleyball tournament and high school events.

Oh well, so here goes my predictions for the final eight, which will be revised weekly, until Super Bowl XL

Chicago vs. Carolina - The Panthers looked good last against the Giants. I think the USC or Texas teams would have looked good against the Giants last week. Carolina showed they belong in the playoffs and are hungry to get back to the Super Bowl. However, they have been sporadic all year showing flashes of brilliance then terrible from week to week. Can they sustain the momentum from the big win in Jersey and take it to Soldier Field?

Chicago is a great defensive team with a chip on their shoulder to prove that their 2003 playoff appearance was not a fluke and they are for real. The return of Rex Grossman, though he has played sparingly, has been a much needed shot in the arm for the struggling offense. Assuming he can stay healthy and Mushin Muhammed can get open, which will free the running lanes for Thomas Jones. Bears will win (17-13) .

Seattle vs. Washington - On paper this looks like an easy Seattle win, however there has been a lot written this week about the intangibles of being coached by Joe Gibbs. He has won more playoff games than every other coach but Tom Landry and Don Shula, and the only coaches with better winning percentages are Vince Lombardi and Bill Belichick. Pretty impressive company. The rest of the Redskin team is pretty vanilla. A resurrected Marc Brunnell, throwing to former Jet Santana Moss and handing off to Clinton Portis. The defense has been good but not great. If they can stop Shaun Alexander, they will win.

Seattle did win the weak NFC West, and home field advantage with the best record in the conference, but until they win a playoff game, they will always be suspect to me. Holmgren had a great team in Green Bay led by a great QB in Brett Farve, and he has developed a good team in Seattle with a good QB Hassleback and a great RB Shaun Alexander. I am concerned that Washington this week or Chicago next week will put 8 guys in the box to stop the league MVP, and force Hassleback to beat them in the air. I don't see that happening, so I give the Redskins the upset win in Seattle.

Broncos vs. Patriots - The Patriots are looking like the defending champions now, after some early season struggles. The Broncos beat out two of the toughest non-playoff teams (Chiefs and Chargers) to win the AFC West. I have always like Jake Plummer, and figured he would eventually be the second coming of Joe Montana. He has finally demonstrated that this year, as coach Mike Shanahan has been able to contain the snakes gunslingers way. The knock against Shanahan is he has been unable to win in the playoffs since Elway retired, and I don't see this changing this year. The Patriots are too strong and know how to win on the road in January. New England is going move onto the Championship game.

Colts vs. Steelers - Bert Jones vs. Terry Bradshaw. Lydell Mitchell vs. Franco Harris. This is the playoffs as I remember them as a kid. Of course the Colts called Baltimore home then, but hey that was 30 years ago. This is gong to be a tough game for Indy for three reasons. First this is the first significant game they have played in almost six weeks. Second, how will Tony Dungy respond after returning from his sons funeral a few weeks back. Three, they are also facing a different Steeler team than they faced in the regular season. This team is playing very well, relatively injury free and coming together at the right time. This is going to be a dog fight. In past years, this would have been an easy Steelers win, but this year Indy is supposed to be different. Somehow, with the events of the past few weeks, I think Indy has lost their mojo. I am going back to the team I supported as a kid, the Steelers will upset the Colts in the dome, though I could see the Colts winning. Talk about a wimpy hedge on my behalf.

More on FISA and Impeachment

If you want more information on why the President's recent actions have been illegal, you should read these 2 articles:

1) By former Senator Gary Hart talking about why FISA was created in the first place and

2) By former Representative Elizabeth Holtzman writes why an impeachment proceedings should be considered now and it should not be considered simply for political reasons. Holtzman is the person who actually wrote the articles of impeachment for Richard Nixon. It is important to note that she believes impeachment should not be taken lightly. It was a very serious situation and not politically motivated. Most of the democratically controlled congress was opposed to impeachment, because after all Nixon was still their president. I am sure this feeling is true today with both parties as well, but that does not change the fact that this sitting president broke the law, and as soon to be confimed Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito said, no one is above the law.

King Kong and The Rangers Messiah #11

KING KONG
So a friend invited me to go see King Kong with him last night. I figure the movie started at 8:30, after the kiddies were tucked into bed, so why not go out for a change on Wednesday. I knew going in that this was a 3 hour movie, so I should not have gotten a medium (pretty darn big) soda, but I did anyways. What followed was 3 hours of complete crap.

This movie was almost as bad as Waterworld. It took almost 90 minutes before we actually see the big angry ape, as Jacob my 4-year old son says after the TV commercials. The green screen is terrible, and they have inserted this really world Jurasic Park/Lost World Dinosaur thing into the middle of the movie that adds nothing to the value of the picture. I assumed since Kong fought the dinos, he would be wounded, which would allow the men to capture him.

But that is not what happened. Kong escapes a battle with 4 T-Rex's, inspite of bites, scrapes and other contussions relatively unscathed and still with enough stamina to whisk a very hot looking Naomi Watts off to watch the sunrise/sunset on Skull Island. There was also this story about this kid on the boat, that had no relevance to the entire story and could have been dropped, which would have saved a good 10 minutes or so of the movie. What an incredible waste of time. If they had focused on the Kong and the girl this movie would have been much improved.

They apparently kept Kong sedated on chloroform from the South Pacific all the way to New York, got him into chains in a theatre and then they decided to let the monkey wake up. Surprise, he is pissed. There were a ton of continuity errors, too many to mention. By half way through the movie, we were cracking jokes at how back this was. As a follow up to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I would say Peter Jackson blew it big time. Don't waste your money on this piece of garbage.

The Messiah #11
Speaking of King Kong, the NY Rangers, will retire Mark Messier's #11 tonight before their match with the Edmonton Oilers. I agree that Messier is a big a New York sports hero as Joe Namath, Willis Reed, and Babe Ruth. He deserves this honor for what he was able to deliver to long suffering blue shirt fans. Now as he fades off into the sunset, and Brian Leetch's #2 to be raised to the rafters in the next few years, can we get over 1994?

The current team is beginning to show improvement and has a better than average chance of making the playoffs this year. Although it seems like we have the Czech National team playing here, especially now with the addition of Petr Sykora, they are winning and playing like a team more than ever since the year Stanley came to town. I doubt they will go far in the playoffs this year, the point is they are playing well under the new rules and are basically a young team who should be together for the coming years. So lets celebrate and remember The Captain tonight, but lets not speak of 1994 again, until #2 goes up to the top of Madison Sqaure Garden.

ABC Poll: Terror Trumps Privacy

ABC News poll is is reporting:

Three in 10 Americans believe the federal government has made unjustified intrusions into personal privacy as it investigates terrorism. That's nearly double the level of concern shown a few years ago, but it's still far from a majority view.

PRIVACY — Results in this survey indicate some shifts in the tug-of-war between investigating terrorism and protecting privacy. While still heavily outnumbered, those who call privacy a greater concern have increased from 21 percent in September 2003 to 32 percent now. And as noted, the number of Americans who believe the government is intruding on privacy without justification has risen from 17 percent to 30 percent.

Very sad. I wonder how this breaks out regionally? I wonder if blue states, which tend to run a higher risk of acutal terrorists attack (regardless of how Homeland Security dollars are allocated) than red states, would skew the same way.

Apple Enters the Privacy Arena

So it seems that the new Apple iPod 6.0.2, could be reporting your listening habits back to the core, and this opens up the the whole privacy issue, which got Sony in so much trouble late last year. According to betanews.com

A "Mini Store" pane has been added to the main iTunes window that provides more information on the song being played, as well as additional available tracks from the artist, and a list of other songs that users who own the track have bought.

This information may not be transmitted to or from your computer after the initial purchase, but could also be imbedded in the music file when it is downloaded. It seems so far, that it is only a one way communication from Apple to the iPod user, but it certainly opens up the two-way door and is worth keeping on eye on this situation.

American Imperialism and Democracy

I have been saying for a few years now, that we are living in the declining age of the American Imperialistic Empire. The United States of the 20th century wanted to take on the roll that the Great Powers of Europe embraced in the late 19th Century, then failed miserably to let go of after World War One. This idea was to expose other nations and cultures that our way is better and less civilized people of the world need us to be a protector, a teacher and this not only the right way but also the only way to govern. So much for Woodrow Wilson's idea of self-determination.

This idea of nation building through democracy and free elections, while overthrowing dictators is nothing new for those on the other side of the Atlantic. As their power and influence has shrunk since 1945, the United States has stepped into that role. For better or worse, the goal from 1945-1990 was to defeat communism, and our foreign policy was primarily driven by that goal as was our foray into Korea, Vietnam, and Grenada. From 1990-2001, it became about nation building and defending our (oil) interests in Kuwait, Somalia and the former Yugoslavia. It is highly ironic that George W. Bush campaigned against these so called Democratic Party issues in 2000, and now has turned his whole presidency into this very issue of nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now many large and small countries are beginning to resent the influence which the US is attempting to push onto them, which is exactly what led to the cracks in the British Empire after the Treaty of Versaille in 1919. The British Dominions and India began to see their own nationalism outside of those of the Great Britian itself. Trey Ellis is suggested that todays American NeoCons (Cheney, Wolfowitz, Libby, etc.) have pushed American strength to the brink which has

...greatly sped up the deterioration of American might...

They lied us into Iraq to create a beachhead to reshape the entire region. Meanwhile in our own backyard Latin America is slipping forever away from us. For over a century we viewed Central and Latin America as our unofficial colonies (the same way we conceded Eastern Europe to the U.S.S.R. after World War II). For decades Cuba was the only neighbor in the hemisphere who refused to do our bidding. Now Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Honduras are either out of our pockets or actively contemptuous of us. And in July, if current polling holds, left-leaning Lopez Obrador will replace Vicente Fox in Mexico.

On the other side of North America, Canadians are no fan of the U.S. either. In a poll last year by the National Post it was revealed that Canadians believe George W. Bush is almost as great a threat to Canadian national security as Osama bin Laden. And in Great Britain, just about the only U.K. citizen that doesn't vilify us is Tony Blair.

Perhaps it is time to stop focusing on forcing democracy on other countries, when in fact our democracy needs to be re-evaluated and perhaps revamped or even overhauled. Looking at current events in Washington, the Abramoff situation should be an eye opener for the public to demand a change in how our government operates and how our democracy is run.

In Andrei Cherney's blog, he talks about how democracy needs to evolve and change with its citizens, its culture and the times. He quotes Thomas Jefferson in 1800 as saying:

The purpose of government was "to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it."

Obviously, the world, the country and our government has changed in 206 years but if we can shift the focus back to this concept and away from lobbyists, corporations, foreign interests, and internal pork then we might be able to get more than 40% of our population out to vote. None of these influencers have the ability to secure this happiness which Jefferson sought. They are only are in this for themselves, following Gordon Gekko's motto from the 1987 movie Wall Street, "Greed is Good" As Cherney continues:

We once again have a corrupt bargain between powerful interests and pliant politicians. Energy policy is set not by citizens or their elected representatives, but behind closed doors by lobbyists and industry. Congress prohibits Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices. The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has doubled since 2000 and the amount these lobbyists charge their clients has increased 100 percent - and those clients are getting every cent of their money's worth. You don't have to look much further than this week's headlines to see that the voice of everyday people in ourgovernment is getting drowned out by the desires of a few.

It is imperitive that find a way to wrest control of our government from these special interests and give it back to the people.

Democracy can be so much more than it is today. The Information Age is fundamentally about democratization - about power to the people. Workers have more ability to make their own decisions on the job. Consumers have more choices and more ability to shape what they buy. Our challenge now is to make American democracy come alive. To use government to give power to our people. To truly tap the talents of all. To actively break down the barriers that keep people from choosing their own path. To make equality come alive again. To makedemocracy mean more than elections, but real self-rule.

So let's find ways to make college universal. Let's stop running our schools on a calendar set by harvest time and let's end one-size-fits-every-kid education. Let's not be anxious about globalization but excited and use America's economic strength not just to enrich a few but to lift billions out of persistent poverty. Let's open up our decision-making process so individual people and communities make decisions instead of the elected few and distant bureaucracies. This can be a moment where we make democracy not just a form of government, but a way of life.

You see, there have always been two views of American democracy. One is that the wealthy and powerful and the educated experts are better suited to making decisions for all of us and to having control. That's the view that now drives this country's policies. Then there's the other view that power and authority and a voice should be given to the people themselves; that prosperity flows from their efforts and that they should be given government's help in taking control of their own lives.

Let's put our faith back in people.
Let's defend our progress but never be satisfied with it.

Let's re-boot our democracy - and put it in sneakers and sandals and pumps and Tevas and ballet slippers and whatever else you want to wear as long as you get out their and put our democracy back on the march.

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past," said Jefferson. Let's go out there and dream again.

I realize this sounds like pep rally speech, and it was probably intended that way, but I honestly believe the time is right for the people to stand up and demand their representatives to be responsive to their needs, not to the needs of the organizations that are lining their wallets. I believe the people need a catlyst to lead the way out of these times and into the new century.

Where is the next Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., or Robert F Kennedy, who is willing to stand up for the people and fight for the people, not just the greedy special interest's. I will follow that person to the mountain because that is what made this country great, and it is what will prevent us from further decline. If we do not heed this call, then it is recommended in the words of Trey Ellis that we:

Start taking lessons in Mandarin

Privacy, Airport Security and Social Engineering

Black box in cars
I read an article in the paper today about how GM and Ford are putting black boxes in their vehicles to monitor what is going on with the car. This information can be used like an aircrafts black box which would provide investigators with details of the plane immediately prior to an accident. Now it seems to me that if the car black box would only keep 5-15 minutes of data and then would rewrite over itself every cycle and not report back to the mother ship then this is fine from my libertarian perspective. The problem is that the car companies will want to track all information about the car, as Fox News reports:

Black boxes, or "EDRs" have been fitted into every General Motors car in its 2004 line and is in a number of Ford models about 15 percent of all vehicles on the road today, according to road safety experts.

EDRs are certainly not new. Information gathered on black boxes typically everything from speed, brake pressure, seat belt use and air bag deployment...

I do believe car dealers have the right to sell cars with black boxes but with the responsibility to tell customers that the vehicle they are about to purchase contains this technology and also inform them of what information is being collected. The customer should demand to know what is being done with that information, who is compiling it, what they plan on doing with it, and finally if it is aggregated or if individual information is going to be tracked to them.

Currently only California has a law requiring car dealers to notify buyers when their cars are outfitted with an EDR

However, I don't believe the government should use this data to ticket speeders, monitor the activities of citizens or anything strictly prohibited by the constitution. I have no issues with the National Transportation Safety Board utilizing this information after an accident to help ascertain culpability. If the black box is used in a similar manner to the way it is used in the airline industry then we are good.

Airport Security Improvements

Last week, I was at a data center and noticed that they had a mantrap, much like a transporter in Star Trek, where the first door must close before the second door will open. This was operated by a magnetic card and a hand print. It got us discussing the idea of using the hand print as a way of increasing the effectiveness of airport security. The problem as we saw was the government would most likely screw this up as well and I am sure that it would be misused.

I could see the Homeland Security Department building a database that ultimately tracks every individual's movement, which would become big brothewatchingng us, rather than building a simple database of 10,000 or so folks on the suspected terrorist watch list. The latter solution would be simpler to implement and probably more effective at keeping bad guys off the planes. But government is too complex to go for a simple solution that would not offend folks like me.

Putting privacy into practice reports that Homeland Security is already considering using biometrics as a method of idenfication.

United States Federal Laws Regarding Privacy and Personal Data and Applications to Biometrics – demonstrates how, under the current US legal system and state of the law at the federal level, use of biometrics as a system to verify identity in virtually any situation is consistent with the law. The report also illustrates how, under certain circumstances, using biometrics to identify individuals through the use of databases is acceptable without sacrificing the objective of maintaining and protecting personal privacy.

Beware of Social Engineering:

Saw this article on one of my alerts about Social Engineering, very interesting and very scary

Claire Sellick approached a woman in London's tony theater district with a clipboard and a chance to win tickets to an upcoming show. All the woman had to do was answer a three-minute survey on locals' theater-going habits. Or so she thought.

The first question was easy. "What's your name?" Next came questions about her attitude towards the theater, with more personal inquiries interjected now and then. For instance, the survey company needed the woman's date of birth (to prove she was legally able to win the seats) and her mother's maiden name (for later verification) and her address, of course, to mail the tickets if she won the drawing. What about a phone number? Her pet's name? The name of the first school she attended?

At some point, the woman began connecting the dots. "I work for a bank and this information could be used to open a bank account."

Uh Duh!!! Don't you think that working for a bank would stop this woman from giving her personal information to a random stranger on the street, who has provided no identification of who they work for, what they are doing with the data or anything?

The article goes on and questions if Americans would be so gullible as the Brits (I suspect so, since we will often give up almost any personal information if promised something of value for free. The results are shocking.

Consider the following findings from the theater experiment:

• 100% provided their names upon request
• 94% provided pet's names (common passwords) and their mother's maiden name (common second form of authentication) when told actors frequently use both to create stage names.
• 98% gave their address in order to receive a winning voucher.
• 96% divulged the name of their first school. Combined with mother's maiden name, the two are key pieces of information used by banks for verification.
• 92% provided their date of birth and the same number supplied their home phone number.

The moral of the story is be careful with who you provide your personal information to, you never know what they are going to be using it for. Better to protect yourself, then expose your information and become a victim of fraud

Other Random Privacy Thoughts:

Illinois seems to be on the right path protecting citizens privacy.

Here is why Illinois is passing this law from the Chicago Sun Times

Stuff from last week

It is amazing when you are busy at work, how little free time you have outside to do these extra things like posting to the blog. Well this week should be back to normal after the holidays, so here we go...

This from my father, which is pretty darn funny. (I am sure he got it from somewhere else) :

George W. Bush has started an ill-timed and disastrous war under false pretenses by lying to the American people and to the Congress; ...he has run a budget surplus into a severe deficit; ...he has destroyed trust and confidence in, and good will toward, the United States around the globe; ...he has ignored global warming to the world's detriment; .he has wantonly broken our treaty obligations;...he has condoned torture of prisoners; ...he has attempted to create a theocracy in the United States; ..he has appointed incompetent cronies to positions of vital national importance. Would someone please give him a blowjob so we can impeach him?

Being a person interested in history, I found this article from the LA Times by Ronald Brownstein pretty interesting. It compares Pres. George W. Bush to Pres. James K. Polk:

Polk may be the only predecessor who matched Bush's determination to drive massive change on a minute margin of victory. Polk won by fewer than 38,000 votes of 2.7 million cast. Over four tumultuous years, he pursued an ambitious, highly partisan agenda that offered little to those who had voted against him. Sound familiar?

Strong on vision but weak on building consensus, Polk advanced his goals more than seemed possible in a closely divided country. But Polk's tactics deepened the nation's divisions and fanned the flames that later exploded into the Civil War. The war also profoundly divided the country....

The opposition Whigs, who would mostly dissolve into the Republican Party in the 1850s, accused the president of "deliberately provoking (The Mexican-American War of 1848-1850) war and then lying about Mexico's responsibility for starting the conflict," wrote historian Joel H. Silbey in his recent book "Storm Over Texas."
Among the Whigs most outraged by Polk's conduct was a freshman U.S. House member from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln. Doris Kearns Goodwin picks up the story in her panoramic new book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." Shortly after taking office, Goodwin writes, Lincoln voted for a Whig resolution that charged the president with "unnecessarily and unconstitutionally" initiating the war. To accept Polk's justifications, Lincoln later complained, would be to "allow the president to invade a neighboring nation … whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary."

Just makes you wonder, which opposition party member we should be listening to now, that has the potential to be the next Abraham Lincoln.

Polk failed to understand the cost to his presidency, and the nation, of governing in a manner that increasingly was seen as championing the priorities of just one interest, Southern slaveholders. The charge wasn’t entirely fair, but the impatient Polk never recognized the value of concessions that could broaden consensus. When Polk stepped down, Silbey writes, he left behind “ominous cracks” in the political and social institutions that had encouraged “national unity.

Reading this piece makes me wonder about the similarities and how it is possible that a President and his policies could lead to some tragic outcome down the road in time, long after the current president has left office and his legacy is supposedly secure

And finally from Maurice's Humor of the Day: Topical Humor...

In what some legal scholars are calling a crucial test of a controversial provision of the Patriot Act, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D- New York) was named an enemy combatant today and transferred to the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo, Cuba.

The CIA now says it believes new Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not involved in the taking of U.S. hostages in Tehran 26 years ago. It turns out he was able to get out of hostage-taking duty by getting a cushy job in the Iranian National Guard.

New Years Resolution

Here is a resolution by N. Gregory Mankiw, I wish all politicians would agree to and Andrew Sullivan says "worth a read by left and right alike." Thank you David for sending this my way.

Now is a time when most of us sit back and reflect on the past year and on how to do better in the year ahead. Since I know, however, that economic policy makers inside the Beltway are often too busy for such introspection, my gift to them is a list of seven New Year's resolutions. Any senator, congressman or presidential wannabe is free to adopt them as his or her own. Just repeat after me:

#1: This year I will be straight about the budget mess. I know that the federal budget is on an unsustainable path. I know that when the baby-boom generation retires and becomes eligible for Social Security and Medicare, all hell is going to break loose. I know that the choices aren't pretty--either large cuts in promised benefits or taxes vastly higher than anything ever experienced in U.S. history. I am going to admit these facts to the American people, and I am going to say which choice I favor.

#2: This year I will be unequivocal in my support of free trade. I am going to stop bashing the Chinese for offering bargains to American consumers. I am going to ask the Bush administration to revoke the textile quotas so Americans will find it easier to clothe their families. I am going to vote to repeal the antidumping laws, which only protect powerful domestic industries from foreign competition. I am going to admit that unilateral disarmament in the trade wars would make the U.S. a richer nation.

#3: This year I will ask farmers to accept the free market. While I believe the government should provide a safety net for the truly needy, taxpayers shouldn't have to finance handouts to farmers, many of whom are wealthy. Farmers should meet the market test as much as anyone else. I will vote to repeal all federal subsidies to growers of corn, wheat, cotton, soybeans and price. I will vote to allow unrestricted import of sugar. (See resolution no. 2.) I will tell Americans that eliminating our farm subsidies should not be a "concession" made in trade negotiations but a policy change that we affirmatively embrace.

#4: This year I will admit that there are some good taxes. Everyone hates taxes, but the government needs to fund its operations, and some taxes can actually do some good in the process. I will tell the American people that a higher tax on gasoline is better at encouraging conservation than are heavy-handed CAFE regulations. It would not only encourage people to buy more fuel-efficient cars, but it would encourage them to drive less, such as by living closer to where they work. I will tell people that tolls are a good way to reduce traffic congestion--and with new technologies they are getting easier to collect. I will advocate a carbon tax as the best way to control global warming. Because we may well need to raise more revenue (see resolution no. 1), I'll always be on the lookout for these good taxes.

#5: This year I will not be tempted to bash the Fed. Ben Bernanke, soon to be the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, will not inherit Alan Greenspan's halo, and so may be a tempting target. But I will resist temptation. I know that the U.S. has an independent central bank for good reason. I know that sometimes the Fed needs to raise interest rates to fight inflation, even if it risks slowing growth in incomes and employment. I will let Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues do their job. Difficult as it is, I will hold my tongue.

#6: This year I will vote to eliminate the penny. The purpose of the monetary system is to facilitate exchange, but I have to acknowledge that the penny no longer serves that purpose. When people start leaving a monetary unit at the cash register for the next customer, the unit is too small to be useful. I know that some people will be upset when their favorite aphorisms become anachronistic, but a nickel saved is also a nickel earned.

#7: This year I will be modest about what government can do. I know that economic prosperity comes not from government programs but from entrepreneurial inspiration. Adam Smith was right when he said, "Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice." As a government official, I am not going to promise more than I can deliver. I am going to focus my attention on these three goals--peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice--and I am going to trust the creativity of the American people to do the rest.

I particulary like #6. The penny has become an absolutely meaningless measure of monetary policy. Most restaurants already round up or down to avoid pennies altogether. It is time for the rest of the country to do the same, and stop the penny. I wonder how much it costs to produce pennies annually, and if those costs could be redirected to something more relevant?

Demise of MNF and Movie Audiences

Here is my repsonse to my friend Dora's blog about the end of Monday Night Football:

I view this last game on ABC last week as a large non-event. It is not like MNF is really ending, it is just moving from a major network owned by Disney to a cable network owned by Disney. Now I realize that 10-20% of homes in the US still don't have cable, and therefore no access to ESPN, but the majority of homes and the majority of football watching homes already have ESPN, and if they were watching it now they will watch it next year too.

The problem is that the games have not been interesting or compelling. If the networks and NFL were worried about a big audience and the prime time games, then they should allow the games to be switched a week in advance so we are not put through a late season Packers Browns debacle. Every week there a few games that are interesting and would be a big draw. However, when you make the schedule before the season, you cannot begin which game is going to be a draw in July. Give the networks with the prime time games the option of switching games a week or two in advance and viewers will follow.

Speaking of another demise, the 2005 movie results are in, and the big studios are worried that audiences are down 6% from last year. The solution to me is simple, make better movies. The quality of the movies in the past few years, has significantly decreased. I don't see a Fargo, a Shawshank Redemption, or even a Gladiator. Once hollywood realizes that movie audiences want more than recycled TV shows, stupid movies with a hot cast or unnecessary sequals, then the audiences will return.

The Baseball Writers are voting (or have already voted) for this years Hall of Fame candidates. This year seems to be slim pickings of newly eligible candidates (Albert Belle, Dwight Gooden, etc.) You can read my opinion about who should and should not be in this previous posting. What I don't understand is why ESPN writers feel the need to vote for candidates who they over passed previously. For instance, Sean McAdam has decided he would vote for Jim Rice this year, even though he has been retired since 1989, and has never voted for him in 11 years of eligibility. It just seems odd, that a player would get extra consideration because the new class in insufficient for election. I think not electing anyone is fine, and will add a certain level of credibility to the process, since not every player is great and deserves to be enshrined.

American Idol is coming back soon and I think I am going to be sick. This is just a sorry excuse for television entertainment, that allows the powers in the recording industry to manipulate what crap is pumped into the radio. How is the world is Yes Dear and Twins still on the air, when Arrested Development is off? Television executives need to get a better understanding of their audience and stop insulting my intelligence. But that could just be me.

Resume

JEFFREY HERZ
jeffrey_herz@yahoo.com
47 Cascade Court Stamford, CT 06903
h: (203) 322-7988 c: (917) 913-5019

SKILLS
Strategy Development, IT Security, Identity Management, Use Case Development, Portal Implementation, Single Sign-On (SSO), Budgeting, Business Process Re-engineering, LDAP, Workflow Automation, Requirements Gathering, Technical Assessments, Product Management, Project Management, Strategic Planning, Quality Assurance, Regression Testing, Load Testing, System Security, Infrastructure Support, Application Support and Maintenance

TOOLS
Vignette Business Collaboration Server, IBM Websphere Portal, Empirix, Rational Rose, Rational Performance Test, Mercury, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Visio, Pelagon Spinnaker, IBM TIM/TAM

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Independent Contractor, Stamford, CT 9/2005 - Present
Technical Project Manager – Epsilon Interactive
Security Business Analyst – SBC IT Security-IdM
Technology Strategy Consultant – Pelagaon LTD

• Wrote Business Requirements documenting security, connectivity and encryption needs of an credit card client in order to manage their email communications channel
• Reviewed Technical Requirements
• Matched business requirements to technical requirements to ensure that all requirements were properly addressed in the technical solution
• Developed project plan to coordinate multiple initiatives and tracked open issues
• Built a data flow diagram to represent the business processAssisted in the creation of the
• Created technical requirements documenting how the solution was going to be deployed
• Managed the client relationship, centralizing the account relationship
• Brought organization and process to organization and project management best practices
• Utilized standardized templates for documentation
• Assisted advertising agency on software vendor technology assessment
• Help sell potential clients on the benefits of an automated workflow application
• Created GAP analysis between vendors, solutions and requirements
• Wrote Use Cases to demonstrate Technical and Business Requirements for consumer portal, designed to provide service access for 20 million users
• Utilized Common Criteria EAL 3 to validate that the system is secure and compliant
• Reviewed requirements for Identity and Access Management system
• Kept abreast of IT Security issues, Privacy, Identity Management and Access Management

Euro RSCG Worldwide, New York, NY 9/2001 –8/2005
Director IT Strategy – Global Applications Manager
General Responsibilities:

• Managed, supported, and maintained all enterprise level applications
• Liaison between network agencies and office of the CIO
• Established Project Management Office (PMO) for developing standards, tracking project progress and reporting guidelines
• Participated in the development and execution of the IT Strategic Architecture that provided a 24-month road map for the Global IT organization with IT Security oversight
• Product managed client extranet (collaboration) and enterprise intranet (portal)
• Regression tested all new releases of hardware (HP Blades, Cisco Routers. EMC SAN) and software (IBM WebSphere Portal, VBCS, SQL) to ensure successful implementation and no incremental losses of functionality with each release
• Directed and prioritized the work for 4 software developers, 4 network engineers and 2 information architects
• Worked with marketing to ensure that content and applications were updating properly
• Responsible for a $3.6M IT budget
• Interfaced with finance department to reconcile monthly budgets and expected expenditures

Project Responsibilities:
Project – Portal Intranet

Goal: Migrate existing global intranet to IBM Websphere Portal; develop additional functionality that provides a single location for various corporate applications ensuring appropriate security

• Utilized Sun Access Manager to provide an LDAP based solution that allowed users to access multiple applications from one directory providing enterprise single sign-on (SSO) capabilities
• Documented business requirements pertaining to Identity Management and application security
• Reviewed security procedures and access policies to ensure proper access and rights to various applications accessed through the portal
• Tested and developed metrics to determine portal scalability,

Project – Workflow Automation

Goal: Establish a standard global workflow process and develop a global application that will help reduce G&A costs by 25% by Dec 2007

• Met with Managing Directors of major international advertising agencies to build project consensus and to gain support for project
• Built business case with ROI projections to justify the need for this application
• Defined and established global agency workflow standards
• Reviewed specifications and developed implementation plan for local agencies
• Sold the application to agency CFO’s to raise funds during the budgeting process

Project – Extranet and Client Collaboration
Goal: Build a collaborative workspace where account team and client can share, comment, review and approve assets that are stored in a standardized format utilizing VBCS

• Gathered requirements from Managing Directors, Account Services and Clients to determine business rules and major functionality needs of the applications
• Evaluated vendors technology solutions and built functionality matrix evaluating each solutions against client and user requirements
• Oversaw a vendor proof-of-concept to ensure that software functionality met requirements
• Completed software development life cycle in 6-months by customizing the Vignette Collaboration Business Server and kept project under budget
• Trained clients and account teams to use the application, using different sessions and content for administrators and general users
• Ensured the application security and rights matched the business requirements granting user the correct access rights to the pertinent information
• Developed and executed test plans based on functional requirements documentation
• Utilized Empirix regression testing tool to test validate and verify software releases

Project – Digital Asset Management and Delivery
Goal: Establish an online repository for high-resolution digital assets, which can be accessed by all network agencies, and delivered consistently to vendor or client for review or printing

• Evaluated companies and technologies to determine if they suit the Strategic Architecture
• Gathered requirements to understand the global agency creative needs
• Provided oversight to ensure time and cost guidelines

Euro RSCG 4D, Wilton, CT Director Technology Operations

• Closed $650,000 worth of business in the second half of 2003
• Ran a $5 million enterprise level migration project spanning 18 months
• Wrote statements of work and reviewed client bound documentation and deliverables
• Led security audit validating email addresses in database
• Implemented an iterative development process for new software projects
• Wrote use cased to test new functionality
• Managed proprietary eCRM software development and implementation process into clients approved standards hosting environment
• Initiated Change Management Process to ensure smoother delivery
• Re-Engineered Business Processes to create a smoother workflow

Safety Director, VP Development and Operations 1/2001 – 9/2001

• Managed two projects to produce a B2B eCommerce Catalog and a Reporting/Tracking Tool for Safety and Health Compliance Market
• Gathered business requirements and wrote functional specifications

iXL, New York, NY 7/1998 – 12/2000
Director of Technology Services, Director of e-Commerce Operations

• P&L responsibility with $28.5 million in revenue and $17 million in COGS
• Responsible for operational budget for a 105-person technology department
• Managed 7 Development Managers, who were responsible for technical strategy, infrastructure, design, development and deployment of backend web systems
• Formed strategic partnerships with technology vendors
• Established Quality Assurance practice
• Oversaw and managed 9 person QA Department
• Implemented and deployed QA best practices while utilizing the Mercury suite of testing tool
• Supervised multi-functional project teams as they went through a risk analysis of potential outcomes based upon client requirements
• Conducted project reviews to ensure communication among creative, technical and strategy team members to ensure projects progressed towards client goals and that milestones were being achieved on time and budget
• Worked with clients to manage deliverables, deadlines and the change management processes
• Developed organizational best practices to streamline the delivery mechanism

Bloomberg, L.P, - New York, NY 7/1995 – 7/1998 Project Manager/Analyst

• Supervised three analysts and worked with NOC team, which was responsible for keeping the global application running 24/7 which processed high dollar transactions
• Responsible for all incoming transactional financial data; including equities, fixed incomes, and F/X running on an Intel Operating System
• Verified that live transactions were successfully passed to trading system for processing
• Liaison with client technical team to verify dedicated Asynchronous and TCP/IP network was receiving the data in the correct format and that the data was being parsed correctly by system
• Monitored and trouble-shot issues with network (circuits, lines, T1, T3) and application to resolve delays and breakages in the data feeds
• Wrote Unix scripts to deploy new releases to production
• Managed projects for installing data input and output and responsible for maintaining production environment

Paradysz, Matera & Co., Analyst 3/1994 – 6/1995
Herz Water Supply, Owner 5/1991 – 12/1993

ADDITIONAL LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE
Jewish Family Services, Board Member 7/2003 – Present
JCC –YCG, Co-Chairperson 1/2003- 1/2004
Ithaca College Alumni, Connecticut Chapter President 11/2003- 11/2004

EDUCATION
Binghamton University, MBA Finance & International Business
Ithaca College, B.S. Marketing & Speech Communications