Gawker: valleywag, computer associates

Jailed CA chief fingers his pals

Paul Boutin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:20:00 EDT

Sanjay Kumar isn't going to take one for the team. The former CEO of Computer Associates is serving 12 years in a minimum-security prison in Fairton, New Jersey, for his admitted role in a $2 billion accounting coverup. Kumar and others had boosted CA's quarterly results reports by including contracts that had come in after the quarter was over. Now, Kumar has sworn in affidavits that former chairman Lew Ranieri, cofounder Russell Artzt, and former senator Alfonse D'Amato — currently a member of CA's board — were also involved in hiding the scheme from investigators. The reply from a spokesman for the accused: Kumar "from jail continues to be a stranger to the truth." (Photo by AP/Bob Goldberg)

Sears covertly spying for ComScore?

Tim Faulkner — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:20:49 EST

Sears, the department-store operator, is inviting visitors to its website to join an online "community." In the process, visitors may be unwittingly installing spyware from ComScore which monitors all of their online behavior "including ... filling a shopping basket, completing an application form, or checking your ... personal financial or health information." Sears defends this installation process as clearly and appropriately disclosed. Computer Associates, a Harvard Business School professor, and possibly the government disagree.

The researchers argue that Sears fails to disclose its relationship with ComScore. Mentioning the tracking application and its purposes pages into a dense privacy statement and end-user l icense does not count, they say. Sears disagrees, but the Federal Trade Commission may well think otherwise. The FTC has recently set standards for disclosure and consent related to third parties installing tracking software on users' computers. The required disclosure should be clear, prominent, unavoidable, and separate from any other licensing agreements.

While Sears is taking all the flak for the tracking software, it's really the problem of its business partner, ComScore, and the entire Internet-tracking industry. Why the deception? Because the benefits from the software flow to ComScore and other usage trackers, not the users being tracked. If Sears flashed even a token $5 discount at these people, you can bet they'd gladly hand over their privacy rights.

Does Facebook Beacon spy on you without asking?

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:13:17 EST

Facebook tracks user activity on sites affiliated with its Beacon advertising program, even when those users have opted-out of the program and logged off Facebook. So say security researchers at Computer Associates, who offers the following screenshots for proof.

CA's experts found that code embedded into Beacon-affiliated sites sends Facebook information about users' planned purchases. And if the user has ever selected "remember me" when logging into Facebook, the affiliate site sends Facebook the user's name.

If the member is logged into Facebook, a popup box will then offer the user an opt out. But CA says that by this point, private data has already been transmitted. Facebook executives dispute this claim and argues that the code only serves to check if the member is logged in. But Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been caught dissembling about Beacon before.