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Gator CPO at the Department of Homeland Security
Posted by
samzenpus
on Thu Feb 24, 2005 02:11 AM
from the fox-in-the-hen-house dept.
from the fox-in-the-hen-house dept.
pcidevel writes "D. Reed Freeman, the "Chief Privacy Officer" of Claria Networks (formerly Gator), the creators of the pervasive spyware package GAIN, has been appointed to the Department of Homeland Security's "Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee"."
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EULA (Score:5, Funny)
CNET News.com (Score:5, Informative)
Here's CNET News.com's version of the story:
Adware maker joins federal privacy board
Published: February 23, 2005, 5:19 PM PST
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
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An executive from Claria, formerly called Gator, will be one of 20 members of the committee, the department said Wednesday.
"This committee will provide the department with important recommendations on how to further the department's mission while protecting the privacy of personally identifiable information of citizens and visitors of the United States," Nuala O'Connor Kelly, the department's chief privacy officer, said in a statement.
Claria bundles its pop-up advertising software with ad-supported networks such as Kazaa. Recently, the privately held company has been trying to seek credibility by following stricter privacy guidelines and offering behavioral profiling services to its partners.
In an e-mail message to CNET News.com, Kelly defended the inclusion of a Claria representative on the committee. "I am proud of, supportive of and grateful for those individuals in the public and private sector who are willing to take on the hard tasks, fight the good fight, and who surprise us with creative, fresh and unconventional thinking, and who make change where change is needed through their hard work and personal dedication," Kelly said.
In the past, Claria's pop-up ad software has riled some users who claimed it was annoying, installed without permission, and not easy to delete. Publishers also were irked about pop-up ads for a rival's product appearing next to their own Web sites. Catalog retailer L.L. Bean sued Gator for alleged trademark infringement.
Claria's representative on the Homeland Security privacy board is company Vice President D. Reed Freeman, a former Federal Trade Commission staff attorney. Other members include executives from Intel, Computer Associates International, IBM, Oracle and the Cato Institute.
Kelly said Freeman will "bring his courage and conviction to the board, and will contribute productively--and constructively--to the board's and the public's dialogue on privacy and homeland security."
The committee is tasked with providing "external expert advice to the secretary and the chief privacy officer on programmatic, policy, operational and technological issues that affect privacy, data integrity and data interoperability."
In February 2003, Gator settled a high-profile case brought by The Washington Post, The New York Times, Dow Jones and other media companies. Terms of that deal were quiet, but Claria appears to have stopped delivering pop-ups to those publishers' sites.
Claria did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CNET News.com's Stefanie Olsen contributed to this report.
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and in other news (Score:5, Insightful)
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The Onion (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The Onion (Score:5, Interesting)
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In other news (Score:5, Funny)
M
Re:In other news (Score:5, Funny)
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Hmm... I've an analogy for this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Honestly... DHS doesn't need to be worrying about this sort of tripe- they've got bigger fish to fry. Why in the HELL are they bothering with this when the things they're doing right at the moment wouldn't have done a damn thing to prevent 9/11 from occuring and wouldn't prevent a repeat?
what a joke! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:what a joke! (Score:5, Funny)
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In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, wait...
talk about oxymoron (Score:5, Insightful)
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."
Tell me this is a joke (Score:5, Interesting)
I recently listened to a documentary on CBC radio [www.cbc.ca] about pervasive irony in today's world. It was an interesting program because they were suggesting that the political scene these days is like a living satire. It's just too weird... and this news about a spyware marketer being appointed to a privacy committee is just insane. I see four fingers!
There's No Bottom (Score:5, Insightful)
These days, I am no longer surprised at no longer being surprised by the ghastly things this Administration routinely does.
Claria has a Chief Privacy Officer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, "Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee" sounds much more like Ministry of Truth.
Only in America (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, though, I can almost see the logic in this appointment. One thing spyware companies know is computer security. They defeat it all the time. I'm surprised the fine folks from Cool Web Search weren't appointed.
On the other hand, the more cynical side of me sees how reminiscent this is of early 20th century American politics, when the government appointed Big Business leaders to commitees on workers' rights. Money and connections will buy you anything.
It's official now. (Score:5, Funny)
do something about it... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a sad day seeing this article exist, but it will be an even sadder day when 90% of these comments are scored "Funny" and we are doomed to sit idly by our world is taken away from us... thanks guys, i appreciate it.
What the heck is going on at homeland security. (Score:5, Interesting)
Normally I'd have no problems with a deputy CIO not having a degree but apparently the dept of homeland security did not check out their deputy CIO carefully enough and now they had to "put her on leave".
Now we find out they are putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
Something is seriously askew at this dept. How can we trust these guys to safeguard our country when they have shown such awful judgement?
Re:First Post (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:First Post (Score:5, Insightful)
Claria Corporation, www.claria.com, today announced that D. Reed Freeman, Jr. will assume the position of Chief Privacy Officer and Vice President of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs for the company. Mr. Freeman, a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC, will spearhead Claria's continued commitment to industry-leading online advertising privacy practices. He will also represent Claria's interests both in Washington and internationally, coordinating Claria's efforts on policy matters.
In other words, he's a lobbyist. He knows fuck all about the inner workings of spyware software, and this isn't at all analogous to hiring an ex-hacker to evaluate your security.
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Re:uh.. (Score:5, Funny)
My suggestions:
Hannibal Lecter for the national food and agriculture comission.
Osama Bin Laden for air transport dept.
Saddam Hussein for human rights jury.
Michael Jackson for child abuse prevention network CEO.
And of course Bill Gates for president of ISO.
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Re:uh.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why, that would be like appointing a Torture Advocate to Attorney General...oh wait...Alberto Gonazales
That would be iike appointing a person that misadvised a Nation to start a war that broke down International Relations to a postion that requires her to Strengthen International Relations...oh wait...Condeleeza Rice
That would be like having a former CEO of company that derives it's revenue from war be elected to a political office that can Strongly influence War Power making decisions...oh wait...Dick Cheney
To answer your question, no they aren't shitting you. They are shitting ON you. All of us, actually.
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Nuala O'Connor Kelly? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Makes sense (in a sick sort of way) (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, the people who go into the field of marketing have one well defined goal: to manipulate and deceive consumers for profit. I have studied alongside these people when I made the huge mistake of wanting to take some marketing courses. The ideas I learned and people I met literally made me sick to my stomach.
I do not know a single marketing person who is in it for academic interest -- those people tend to be psychologists. Marketers are business oriented and highly profit motivated to the extent where everything else (privacy, ethics, environment, culture) take back seat. These people sell their souls in pursuit of money.
You might think I'm exaggerating. But look at the specific people in question. Who works at DoubleClick or Gator, unless they have a genuine professional interest in the wide reaching manipulation of the public for profit sake? I really have zero confidence in these people's s ability to make an honest, well meaning effort towards the rights and privacy of consumers and citizens.
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