links for 2009-08-04

birthers busted

I'm not overly concerned, but Rotenberg makes good sense: While Acxiom, Datran and some of their partners address their use of tracking in their privacy policies, such policies have become worthless, Mr. Rotenberg said. “Real transparency means that the user gets access to the information, not to a policy about the information,” he said. Paul M. Schwartz, a law professor and privacy expert at the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, said the unwitting participation by consumers makes online marketing different from offline. “Interactive media really gets into this creepy Orwellian thing, where it’s a record of our thoughts on the way to decision-making," he said. “We’re like the data-input clerks now for the industry.”

In the Georgia university system... "More cuts are coming. Perdue announced July 21 that the state must cut spending by an additional 5 percent because of revenue shortfalls. In response, each public college and university must develop plans for what it would cut if its budget was reduced by 4 percent, 6 percent or 8 percent. The state Board of Regents is scheduled to vote on the budget amendments later this month."