Tag: netflix

Will Prince Andrew Leave his Official Residence?

On By southwerkIn business ethics

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/king-charles-reportedly-ultimatum-prince-165723091.html

Difficult people present themselves throughout our lives. A badly designed political system makes more difficult people than a functioning government like a republic or a democracy. One of the most, if not the most horrible forms of government is a hereditary monarchy. These are based on the idea that breeding is blessed by God to produce Heaven’s choice for a government. All of that, and in particular, the blessing of God, is complete and total nonsense.

History has demonstrated constantly and repetitively, over and over again, that giving people power, money and influence purely based on the circumstances of their birth is a formula for disaster.

For an example of a royal gone badly wrong, we only have to point to Prince Andrew. I believe that currently he is the worst of the Royal family. You may disagree and I freely admit in a world where royal descendants are common and their crimes and behavioral nonsense often well known, that maybe to you he doesn’t stand out. But I believe he is the worst.

Now the headline at the top of the page says that the King of England, (Scotland and Wales), wants him to move out of the official residence. Apparently because of all the bad press. And he does not want to go. Did I mention that besides being odious, that Andrew is also greedy and entitled? Please add that in.

There may be someone out that who does not know what Andrew is about. The “Prince” has labored all of his life to get more money in addition to the large sums from the British tax payer and he has had a laser like focus on young women, so much so that Jeffrey Epstein was a close personal friend.

There are books, magazine articles and pod casts about this person. I recommend you take my word for his awfulness not because I’m lacking in evidence but because it is so vile and disgusting. I’ve read about him at some length and as an American, I can’t help but think that with his position, all that money and power, that he could have made something of himself and been a bright and shining light with the example of his life. And that would have been a rebuke to me and my contempt for aristocratic government. But there was no danger of me being rebuked by a Royal’s good behavior. When presented with incredible opportunity, the prince chose the path of greed and sexual gratification.

And now, kind reader, you are probably wondering why I, who hold myself out as an expert on business ethics, am writing about an errant and foolish prince?

It is very simple. We still have the problem of those favored solely by birth, the boss’ son, so to speak. Nepotism and other forms of evil are still with us. Andrew is just an outstanding example of a problem that is never totally going away.

Okay, so what is the great truth here? In the United States, we should promote and reward based purely on merit. That should be our guide when choosing our leadership and much else. It is the right thing to do, the morally correct thing to do.

And every single time that Prince Andrew wiggles out of another predicament, gets forgiven for awful behavior and continues to act entitled and outside the conduct of a gentleman, he is an example to others of how goodness, mercy and kindness as well as all of morality and the law can be ignored in the race for money, sex and influence.

People like him make life harder for the people who follow the rules, work hard and depend on others realizing their merit.

It is with deep regret that I must confess that even Andrew is thrown out of his official resident, I am sure he will continue to misbehave and I may reluctantly, regretfully and painfully have to return to this topic. He and his ilk are just generally not fixable.

James Alan Pilant

Netflix Hammers Privacy Protections

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics
Netflix Hammers Privacy Protections

Netflix Hammers Privacy Protections
Netflix Hammers Privacy Protections

Netflix now has the right to share your viewing habits – Salon.com

After nearly two years of intense lobbying, Netflix has won the reform it needs to integrate its services with Facebook. Ars Technica first reported that the Senate quietly passed a reform to the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) last week, giving video streaming companies the right to share your data for up to two years after asking for your permission once. (Mother Jones notes that “The Senate didn’t even hold a recorded vote: The bill was approved by unanimous consent”).

Netflix now has the right to share your viewing habits – Salon.com

 

This is a government subsidy to a business, in this case, a particular business. The act gives away a right to privacy with no return to the consumer.

Is this good business ethics? One of the first tests of ethics is the question, “Is it legal?” The “reform” makes what was previously illegal into a legal act. It’s also intensely profitable. This passes the sole test of Friedman’s code, “Does it enhance shareholder value?” Yes, it makes more money for the company. I would expect the company’s value to be enhanced.

But this is slicing good business ethics pretty thin. It’s legal and profitable. But so are a great many things that we can be ashamed of.

Is it bad business ethics? It takes a public good, privacy, and converts it to private profit. What did consumers gain from allowing Netflix to sell their information to other companies? That easy, they won the right to be specifically targeted in advertising. Their viewing habits can be used to get a handle on their political beliefs, whether they have children, etc.

It might be argued that the consumer has to give permission to access his records. A blanket right has been abolished and replaced with a private opt out clause. One of the things I have learned is that few of my students even though they are computer literate have any concept of how their data can be used against them. Considering that observation and the mass of e-mails we are bombarded with, I find it unlikely an informed decision is going to be made in many cases.

A company has been profited at a cost to the public interest. It is a government subsidy with all that implies. The company could have done better.

James Pilant

From around the Web –

From the web site, 33 Bits of Entropy: (This article highlights another important issue in online privacy. jp)

New lines will need to be drawn defining what is acceptable data-release policy, and in a way that takes into account the actual re-identification risk instead of relying on syntactic crutches such as removing “personally identifiable” information. Perhaps there will need to be a constant process of evaluating and responding to continuing improvements in re-identification algorithms.

Perhaps the ability of third parties to discover information about an individual’s movie rankings is not too disturbing, as movie rankings are not generally considered to be sensitive information. But because these same techniques can lead to the re-identification of data, far greater privacy concerns are implicated.

From the web site, Tech of the Hub:

Today, Netflix presented at the F8 conference to talk about their planned integration with Facebook. You can see what you friends are watching and they can see what you are watching on Facebook. Not only on a granular level, but Facebook will present what it finds to be interesting trends among your friends’ viewing habits. Mark Zukerberg’s example showed that four of his friends just watched movies staring Johnny Depp. Netflix will be integrating with both Facebook’s newly announced Timeline as well as their OpenGraph platform. Facebook will have similar integration with Hulu.

And, finally, from the web site, Addicting Info:

An archaic 1988 law, the Video Privacy Protection Act, currently prevents the sharing of your video watch lists, such as with services like Netflix or Hulu, on social media outlets such as Facebook or Google+. Earlier this month, the US Senate put through an upgrade to the bill to address this issue, to little notice. It was a minor correction to an old set of laws. But when the US House got ahold of it, they put forth some edits, which is where the problem begins.

These changes, as reported by the ACLU, divorces the bill from a larger set of laws, called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. In so doing they eliminated protections which were in place to require a warrant for accessing of cloud-based private electronic communications and other content, such as email, private social network posts, any information stored on cloud based servers. Instead, a subpoena is all that is required, a legal process but one which does not require the due diligence of a warrant, not even requiring an active investigation to acquire.

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The Crime Report: Top Ten Criminal Justice Stories

On By southwerkIn White Collar Crime

06-069

The Crime Report Chooses the Top Ten Criminal Justice Stories

The Crime Report is an informative web site. This is some fine writing and some excellent choices. Please go, visit the web site and read these ten stories in full.

James Pilant

The Ten Most Significant Criminal Justice Stories of 2012

From Number One –

Some of the most notable efforts include the closure of juvenile training schools and other youth detention facilities around the country,  as authorities began a fundamental re-think of how they deal with juvenile offenders.

“The large congregate juvenile facility is a dinosaur,” Krisberg commented in a note to us, “as states increasingly move towards home-based care and the use of smaller facilities closer to home.”

Not coincidentally, “Close to Home” was the name of a landmark program launched by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2012, with bipartisan support, to create facilities for young offenders in their own communities rather than shipping them upstate—an innovative program which by its own merits would otherwise have earned  special mention in the Top Ten.

Adding to the impact of the Court ruling and state actions, efforts to end such egregious practices as solitary confinement for young offenders and placement of youth in adult detention took a huge step forward during the year.

The Ten Most Significant Criminal Justice Stories of 2012

From Number Two –

The nation’s so-called War on Drugs took a significant turn in 2012, when Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana use. Voters’ decisive approval of Colorado’s Amendment 64 and Washington’s Initiative 502 will permit those 21 years of age and older to purchase up to one ounce of marijuana.

Whatever your feelings on drugs, it’s hard to overlook the votes’ significance—as a sign of a new pragmatic approach towards grappling with the nation’s addictions. “It directly challenges the ‘reefer madness of the last century; and most importantly eliminates (in these two states) a widely used means of police control that’s resulted in criminal records for tens of millions of Americans,” comments TCR Los Angeles bureau chief Joe Domanick.

Any shift towards legalization or even modification of federal policies will also have international ramifications—particularly in Latin America, where governments have keenly felt the murderous impact of drug cartels serving the U.S. market.

From around the web –

From the web site, Crime Story:

Imagine being a 14 year-old boy who takes a classmate on a bike ride one spring evening. In the days to follow, the classmate is found dead and you stand accused of rape and murder. There’s no direct physical evidence tying you to the crime, but that doesn’t matter. In a lightning fast trial you are convicted and sentenced to death. As far as the press and public are concerned, you are guilty and deserve to die. Such was the fate of Steven Truscott, living with his family on an army base in small-town Ontario in 1959. Read the shocking true story of a terrible case of injustice and the decades long fight to clear Truscott’s name.

From the web site, True Crime Stories:

The FBI has created a  list of different characteristics to identify serial killers.  In order to be classified a serial killer, murderers  must have 15 out of 21 of the characteristics; they must be methodical with their killings, killing three or more people over a period of time, spanning at least 30 days.  It’s fascinating to peek into the minds of serial killers, who are the most abhorrent examples of human kind.

From the web site, Movies Based on Crime Stories: (Yes, I am well aware that this is not about Hollywood movies but Bollywood movies. The facts are simple. Twenty years ago, American access to Bollywood movies was very tiny. Today, hundreds are available on You-Tube and commercial sites like NetFlix. Bollywood is a huge industry with offerings both delightful and dramatic. It’s time to get familiar with a larger world. JP)

Salman Khan’s Wanted Dead And Alive opened with very good response at Box Office. But received average talk from audience and poor reviews from most of the critics. By the end of the week movie went to super hit range. Finally managed to satisifie Salman Khan fans a lot

After 2 years Salman Khan has bagged a super hit. This is an action movie with some good comedy and romantic scenes. story revolves around Radhe ( Salman Khan) a goon joins with a mafia gang and kills opponent gang.

From the web site, LaeLand:

Crime stories often restore order to chaos, whether a police procedural or a gang story. Readers may or may not be aware that this is something they also want from a book; that is not just a story, but to know that even though the world is crazy, things will be ok, there is hope.

There are also many levels to crime fiction. When one looks deeper into a story, there is often a grain of truth to them, a subliminal message, that perhaps even the writer is not fully aware of and the full impact that their story can have. Sometimes this can be soul searching, or even a message about the society that we live in.

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What is SEO and could you do SEO? Either way, avoid scammers. Part II (via Social Media Directors)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Not only are his views on blog success excellent, he is a fan of net neutrality. in my judgment, he is an ally.

Best paragraph – Well-written, original and researched material with relevant, high-quality content that is rich, but not over-saturated, with properly researched keywords and is linked to content-related sites – both yours and others – is the type of copy that works best. Though it requires more effort and time, it is the fastest, longest-lasting and certainly most profitable way to get ranked high on Google and stay there. Some people call it White Hat SEO. I call it honesty.

Good stuff.

James Pilant

What is SEO and could you do SEO? Either way, avoid scammers. Part II In the offline world starting small makes sense. You start small and try to grow. But this is the Internet. It is not yet completely governed by politics. There are computers involved, and computers work using logic. Simple, reason-based logic. Often, these SEO experts who are trying to sell you their strategy will convince you to not even try to go for the big keywords. They attempt to make, and often succeed in making us pay for not trying. It … Read More

via Social Media Directors

Netflix Fires a Neutrality Shot Across The Bow (via 112 West)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This is the first blog entry which has a source discussing what might happen in terms of internet pricing in the absence of net neutrality. It appears that Net Flix is not just where I watch movies but where I look for an ally in the fight for the web.

I just discovered the blog, 112 West and I like his style.

Please Read.

James Pilant

Netflix Fires a Neutrality Shot Across The Bow Netflix posted better than expected growth Wednesday, adding 3 million users to top off at 20 million subscribers.  That’s good for them.  But what got the most attention was what the company had to say about that little inconsequential thing called “Net Neutrality” An independent negative issue for Netflix and other Internet video providers would be a move by wired ISPs to shift consumers to pay-per-gigabyte models instead of the curre … Read More

via 112 West