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RAIN 11/1: Computer Audit, Stasi, DPA



There are 19 stories in this posting.

CFO 10/30/01
Everything must go: Business Process Outsourcing Part I
http://www.cfo.com/article/1,4616,0|83|AD|5561,00.html

by Russ Banham
Last year, General Motors was the world's leading travel agent - or so it would seem. The automaker sent more than 100,000 employees on the road, and that's just in the United States. Its peripatetic workforce racked up an eye-popping array of expenses for airfare, hotels, fleet transportation, entertainment, communications, and other business needs, most of them paid for via four different corporate-card accounts. The mountain of data produced by all that activity required a veritable company-within-a-company to process, flag questionable expenses, and record everything in the general ledger.



CFO 10/31/01
Everything must go: Business Process Outsourcing Part II
http://www.cfo.com/Pge_Channel_Article_Detail/1,4635,87|88|AD|5562,00.html

HotJobs.com is one company that had no problem divining core competencies from noncore business processes. "We are an online employment exchange with more than 8,000 corporate members," and more than $100 million in revenues, explains Lowell Robinson, senior executive vice president and CFO of the New York--based company. "We aren't, for example, a printing company. Yet sometimes it felt like that."


Chicago Sun-Times 10/29/01
Conferences go electronic
http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-conf29.html

by Howard Wolinsky
Before Sept. 11, the conferencing business, like most of the rest of the economy, was in a slump.
Since the terrorist attacks, increasing numbers of reluctant business travelers and budget-conscious companies adopted audioconferences, videoconferences and Web conferences as a way to be there --without being there.
Elliot Gold, president of TeleSpan, the Altadena, Calif., publisher and consultancy, has tracked the conferencing business for 20 years. He observes, "All teleconferencing, Web conferencing and videoconferencing jumped on average 40 percent in the days and weeks after the event. That traffic is still up, but TeleSpan estimates it will fall down to about 25 percent ahead of where we expected it to be."



Hartford Courant 10/31/01
Records raise questions on probe
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-rell1031.artoct31.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dlocal

by Jon Lender and Daniel P. Jones
A 1995 state investigation of Lt. Gov. Jodi Rell's son's connection to a stolen jet ski watercraft yielded nothing, and now the mystery is why.
Newly obtained public records show evidence that someone falsified documents to register a stolen jet ski watercraft that Michael Rell was found with in August 1995 at Candlewood Lake in New Milford - but there is no indication that state investigators pursued those leads.



Dallas Morning News 10/31/01
Audit finds 115 city computers visited pornographic websites
http://www.dallasnews.com/metro/stories/STORY.e9e0ce67d5.b0.af.0.a4.5f64b.html

by Dave Michaels
About 115 city computers were used to visit hundreds of pornographic websites during three months this year, according to documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
Results of an investigation by the city auditor's office were given to City Manager Ted Benavides in July. Mr. Benavides did not discipline any employees, deciding officials could not conclusively tie suspected employees to computers that were used to visit the websites. He did not inform City Council members of the auditor's findings.



Irish Independent 10/31/01
Off-shore documents 'shredded or mailed'
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=612672&issue_id=6139

by Marese McDonagh
documents relating to auctioneer John Finnegan's offshore company Foxtown Investments were either shredded or sent to Guernsey, his personal assistant told the Flood Tribunal yesterday.
Sandra O'Neill said there was a policy in the Finnegan Menton offices that documents relating to the company would not be kept there.



Las Vegas Sun 10/31/01
LV man pleads guilty in FBI case
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-crime/2001/oct/31/512557819.html

by Jeff German
A Las Vegas man has pleaded guilty to possessing stolen FBI records in the first local case related to the bureau's secrets-for-sale scandal.
William Reed faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine as a result of the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden announced on Tuesday.
His plea agreement with the government remains under seal.



Star Tribune 10/31/01
Minneapolis releases more data in Herron investigation
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/795834.html

by Mike Kaszuba
Minneapolis city officials Tuesday released 6,650 more pages of documents subpoeaned by federal authorities in the investigation related to former City Council Member Brian Herron.



The Australian 10/31/01
Hawke's words on web
http://news.com.au/technology_story/0,6257,3152297%5E15318,00.html

by Thea Williams
THE speeches and private papers of former prime minister Bob Hawke will be available on the internet through the University of South Australia.
The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library is a joint project between the university, where the Hawke Centre is based, and Fuji Xerox.
The digital library will include Hawke's prime ministerial speeches from 1983-1991, photographs and video and audio clips.



New York Times 10/31/01
Germans piece together nation's Stasi-riven past
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/31/international/europe/31ZIRN.html?searchpv=nytToday

by Steven Erlanger
Zirndorff, Germany Oct. 30 -- At this pace, it will take them more than 150 years to finish. But 16 civil servants still toil away here, with tweezers and tape, trying to piece together the files that the East German secret police, the Stasi, tried to destroy.
"Sometimes you can read here the truth, sometimes lies, sometimes complete banalities," said Peter Neubeck, sitting at a desk piled high with shreds and shards of paper, some handwritten, some typed, some partly restored. "You see a name and follow it. You find a whole case file. You develop a certain relationship with the person and those who informed, and you see it through the eyes of the Stasi writer."



The Irish Examiner 10/31/01
Hospital chiefs questioned over waste disposal methods
http://www.online.ie/news/irish_examiner/viewer.adp?article=1561702

by Sean McCarthaigh
MANAGEMENT at three Dublin hospitals have been asked to provide details about waste disposal methods after the discovery of dangerous medical waste at an illegal dump in Wicklow last week.
Hospital representatives were questioned at a meeting held by Wicklow County Council yesterday.
Managers from the Blackrock Clinic, St Vincent's University Hospital and the Mater Public Hospital attended.



St. Petersburg Times 10/31/01
Theater owner files complaint over tape from council meeting
http://www.sptimes.com/News/103101/Pasco/Theater_owner_files_c.shtml

Zephyrhills theater owner Larry Rutan filed a complaint recently with the Police Department, alleging that the city altered audio tapes of City Council meetings.
City officials have called the charge ridiculous and unfounded.



Providence Journal 10/31/01
Judge orders police to turn over policies
http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/metro/06450881.htm

PROVIDENCE -- A Rhode Island Superior Court judge ordered yesterday the Providence Police Department to provide the ACLU with copies of its policies governing the use of surveillance cameras in police cars and public locations in the city.
In granting the motion of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, Judge Vincent Ragosta rejected the city's motion to have the records declared secret.


Providence Journal 10/31/01
Court orders release of gas station records to DEM
http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/northwest/06450591.htm

by Douglas Steinke
PROVIDENCE -- A Superior Court judge yesterday ordered an environmental consultant to turn over its records relating to the Pascoag Main Street Mobil station to the state Department of Environmental Management so the agency can continue its investigation of a gasoline spill on the property.



The Age 10/31/01
Victorian opposition red faced after FOI search backfires
http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/2001/10/31/FFX34CZYFTC.html

AAP
The Victorian opposition's efforts to dig up alleged government waste have backfired in a recent Freedom of Information request.
The request, lodged by Opposition Waste Watch Committee spokesman David Davis, revealed Liberal and National Party staffers spent more on taxpayer-funded lunches than government counterparts.



Network News 10/31/01
Ryanair admits to serious website flaw
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1126560

by Liesbeth Evers
Ryanair has admitted that its online recruitment website has a serious security flaw which exposes job seekers' details to the eyes of crackers.
Sensitive personal information, such as credit card details, health records and career history, is collected by the unsecured site and sent in unencrypted email to the company's back office.



Vunet 10/17/01
The Data Protection Act: it's time to comply
http://www.vnunet.com/Features/1126346

by SA Mathieson
On 24 October, the Data Protection Act of 1998 comes into effect for most businesses in the UK. Parliament gave organisations processing personal data prior to 1998 three years to comply, and your time is up.
"The IT department deals with personal data all the time, but other staff may not be aware of these changes," says Dave Clancy, strategic policy officer for the Information Commissioner's Office, the government body responsible for policing data protection.



Vunet 10/30/01
Data Protection: It's time to Act
http://www.vnunet.com/Analysis/1126525

by Rob Jones
Network News
The Data Protection Act is coming into full force. Reports suggest that many companies are still unprepared and unaware of the impact it will have.
The immediate question that springs to mind is: why not? There has been plenty of time to get ready. When the 1998 Act was first introduced, concerns saw parts of it suspended to give companies more time. But instead of using that time, complacency set in as organisations figured that they could always tackle it tomorrow.



VUNET 10/18/01
Managers open to DPA prosecution
http://www.vnunet.com/Features/1126264

by Liesbeth Evers
Network News
Would you go to prison for your boss? This is the question network managers face as the Data Protection Act (DPA) comes into force next week.
Although jail is unlikely, information commissioner Elizabeth France has said she will prosecute individuals who deliberately ignore the Act. An unlimited fine is the most likely outcome, but on being asked if that meant an individual would never face a jail sentence, her reply was simple: "Never say never."





Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
pakurilecz@aol.com
Richmond, Va