InformationOverload

800-year-old Bamboo Shipment Records Recovered

Bamboo poles used as  records were recently recovered from an 800-year-old shipwreck found off the coast of Korea. Officials in Korea announced that they "found bamboo poles with shipment records, including types and amount of loads, departure dates, destinations and recipients. The poles were found inside the Mado ship, an ancient cargo ship that sailed about 800 years ago during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), that was discovered under the sea near Taean, South Chungcheong, last June. The institute said the poles will serve as a valuable reference to determine precise dates when shipments were made and shipping conditions at that time" the JoongAng Daily reported.

ARMA International

Many States Mishandle Student Data, Study Finds

An article in The Washington Post reported on a study from the Fordham University Center on Law and Information Policy. "States often collect far more information about students than necessary and fail to take adequate steps to protect their privacy, a national study concludes. The dossiers go far beyond test scores, including Social Security numbers, poverty data, health information and disciplinary incidents," the article summarized the study findings.

Other alarming information about how many states handle studednt data uncovered by the study included:

• failing to spell out protocols for purging records after students graduate
• noting "reasons for withdrawal from school such as jail, illness or mental health issues"
• count student absences
• tracking whether students are homeless or not
• using of Social Security numbers to identify studentsrecording whether a student is a single parent or not

"Nearly all states ... have built or are planning virtual education 'data warehouses,' aided by federal funding," the article noted. Further, "The study recommended that states tighten protocols to keep data anonymous, with special provisions for those in local schools who need to know more; that they articulate reasons for collecting data and jettison what is unjustified; and that they appoint officers to oversee compliance with state and federal privacy laws."

"Ten, 15 years later, these kids are adults, and information from their elementary, middle and high school years will easily be exposed by hackers and others who put it to misuse,"Fordham law professor Joel R. Reidenberg, who oversaw the study, was quoted in the article.

ARMA International

FBI Failed to Review 7.2 Million Electronic Files Related to Counterterrorism, Audit Finds

In an audit, the office of the Justice Department's inspector general "found that there were backlogs in reviewing ... electronic files, like e-mail messages and web pages," by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to an article in The New York Times, "The FBI had failed to review 7.2 million electronic files collected by counterterrorism investigators. Nearly all of that backlog dates from 2008, when the bureau’s intake of such materials for all types of investigations nearly tripled, to 46 million files, the audit said."

In its defense, the bureau "argued that as the volume of such files had increased, its analysts increasingly used sophisticated computer searches of databases to find high-priority files rather than opening each individual file by hand." A statement released by the FBI said that "it was working to reduce its backlog of unreviewed audio recordings and electronic documents..."

ARMA International

‘The Dog Ate the Mortgage’ Defense

On October 9, 2009, ruling that a "lender... hadn’t proved its claim to a delinquent borrower’s home in White Plains, Judge Robert D. Drain wiped out a $461,263 mortgage debt on the property. That’s right: the mortgage debt disappeared, via a court order," The New York Times reported. 

Therefore, the article contended, "If the lender can’t come forward with proof of ownership, and judges don’t look kindly on that, then borrowers may have a stronger hand to play in court and, apparently, may even be able to stay in their homes mortgage-free." The article also explained, " The reason that notes have gone missing is the huge mass of mortgage securitizations that occurred during the housing boom. Securitizations allowed for large pools of bank loans to be bundled and sold to legions of investors, but some of the nuts and bolts of the mortgage game — notes, for example — were never adequately tracked or recorded during the boom. In some cases, that means nobody truly knows who owns what."

Although it is doubtful that the "show me the title" defense will ever permanently win anybody a house, the risk for lenders is that they may be censured for not being able to produce the relevant documents in a timely manner.

ARMA International

Orwell was just off by two and a half decades...

An article in The New York Times takes us inside's Britain's surveillance society: "... Under a law enacted in 2000 to regulate surveillance powers, it is legal for localities to followresidents secretly. Local governments regularly use these surveillance powers — which they 'self-authorize,' without oversight from judges or law enforcement officers — to investigate malfeasance like illegally dumping industrial waste, loan-sharking and falsely claiming welfare benefits. But they also use them to investigate reports of noise pollution and people who do not clean up their dogs’ waste. Local governments use them to catch people who fail to recycle, people who put their trash out too early, people who sell fireworks without licenses, people whose dogs bark too loudly and people who illegally operate taxicabs."

Further, the article reported, Britain's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), "...also gives 474 local governments and 318 agencies — including the Ambulance Service and the Charity Commission — powers once held by only a handful of law enforcement and security service organizations.Under the law, the localities and agencies can film people with hidden cameras, trawl through communication traffic data like phone calls and Web site visits... Sir Christopher Rose, the chief surveillance commissioner, said that local governments conducted nearly 5,000 'directed surveillance missions' in the year ending in March and that other public authorities carried out roughly the same amount. "

The story makes one ask the eternal question, "don't they have anything better to do?" Also, there was no mention in the article of how and where all this gathered data is stored and what, if any, safeguards are in place to protect the data.

 

ARMA International

'If there really was a CIA plot, no documents would exist'

Is the Central Intelligence Agency covering up some dark secret about the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Probably not, but they are witholding documents that feed "the conspiracy theorists who say, ‘You’re hiding something,' ” Gerald Posner said in an article titled "CIA Is Still Cagey About Oswald Mystery" in The New York Times. According to the article, "Posner, the anti-conspiracy author, said that if there really were something explosive involving the CIA and President Kennedy, it would not be in the files — not even in the documents the CIA has fought to keep secret. 'Most conspiracy theorists don’t understand this,' Mr. Posner said. 'But if there really were a CIA plot, no documents would exist.'"

ARMA International

Harvard to Help Digitize Large Collection of Rare Chinese Books

According to the Associated Press, "Harvard College Library and the National Library of China have agreed to digitize one of the largest collections of rare Chinese books outside of China." The goal of this project is to "increase access while reducing the amount of physical contact with the Harvard-Yenching Library’s 51,500 volumes, some more than 1,000 years old..."

“We need to change the mind-set that rare materials must be kept behind closed doors. A library is not a museum,” stated James Cheng, a Harvard-Yenching librarian, in the article.

ARMA International

Leaky Roof Threatens Indiana State Archives

FoxNews.com reported, the building that houses "the state's most treasured documents is plagued by a leaky roof that has resulted in parts of the collection getting wet at least three times this year. Officials say they're worried about protecting the archives, which include the state constitution, John Dillinger's prison records and the 1964 contract between the Indiana State Fair Board and the Beatles. But the state budget approved by lawmakers in an overtime session this year did not include money for repairs to the building. The Department of Administration had included $2.4 million for that purpose in its budget, but Gov. Mitch Daniels nixed the plan." 

Further, the article reported, "...leaks aren't the only worry. Several tornadoes have touched down near the building in recent years."

ARMA International

Internet the "soft underbelly of the U.S."

The Internet is the "soft underbelly of the U.S.," former national intelligence director Michael McConnell was quoted in a Associated Press article. McConnell also said the Internet has "introduced a level of vulnerability that is unprecedented." The article reported that "the Pentagon's computer systems are probed 360 million times a day, and one prominent power company has acknowledged that its networks see up to 70,000 scans a day..." Although most of these pings are harmless or just a nuisance, "the most dangerous are probes aimed at espionage or tampering with or destroying data," McConnell said. 

ARMA International

Kenya's Land Records Go Digital

Kenya has digitized the country's land records to "curtail the loss of documents and deter land grabbing," the Daily Nation reported. "Coming into effect in January next year, the (digitzed land record) system will be a great relief to millions of Kenyans after widespread reports of people being robbed of their land when their records are either stolen or altered," the newspapaper stated. The digitization project was funded by the Swedish International Development Agency. “The Ministry of Lands will ensure proper records keeping, tracking and retrieval,” Kenya's Ministry of Lands permanent secretary Dorothy Angote said in a statement.

According to the article, "When complete, Kenyans will be able to access information through Short Message Services (SMSs) and the Internet." Further, the article reported, "The land bank will also eliminate scams where ministries and agencies have been the biggest buyers of their own land."

ARMA International