Thursday, June 22, 2006

Tech worker group files complaints over H-1B job ads. (InfoWorld) - The Programmers Guild, a group representing IT workers, has begun filing what will amount to about 380 legal complaints against U.S. companies advertising that they prefer to hire foreign workers with H-1B visas. The group has filed about 100 complaints since May and plans to file about 280 more over the next six months, said John Miano, founder of the Guild. The complaints, made to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), accuse several companies of advertising that they specifically want H-1B workers, a violation of U.S. law. The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act requires that U.S. jobs must be available to U.S. workers. As several large U.S. tech vendors push for an increase in the annual H-1B cap of 65,000, the complaints are intended to show that problems with the program are common, Miano said. U.S. tech vendors frequently use H-1B visas to hire workers for positions they say are hard to fill. "Abuse of the H-1B program has become so widespread that companies apparently feel free to engage openly" in advertising seeking H-1B workers before U.S. workers, Miano said. The complaints stem from ads containing wording such as "We require candidates for H1B from India," and "We sponsor GC [green card] and we do prefer H1B holders," the Programmers Guild said. The Programmers Guild, looking for ads on major online job boards, has so far targeted only ads seeking computer programmers, the guild said. The Programmers Guild has not yet compiled a list of the companies targeted in the complaints, but most of the companies are what Miano called "body shops," not big-name technology vendors from the U.S. Some of the ads come from recruiters running operations out of apartments, the Programmers Guild said. The Information Technology Information Council (ITI), a Washington, D.C., trade group representing about 40 large IT vendors, said an increase in the H-1B cap is needed even if some abuses exist. The cap for the 2007 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, was reached May 26, but a comprehensive immigration bill that passed the U.S. Senate in May would raise the yearly limit to 115,000. ITI member companies are not violating hiring laws, said Kara Calvert, ITI's director of government relations. "It doesn't help [ITI companies] to try to circumvent the rules," she said. "If people are breaking the rules, they should pay the price." The Programmers Guild plans to continue filing complaints through November, Miano said. The guild is staggering the complaints to allow the DOJ to process them efficiently, he said. SEE ALSO: Cyber-budget lets citizens run the economy US government agencies look to efficiently convert old data By Grant_Gross@idg.com (Grant Gross). [InfoWorld: Top News] 2:24:03 PM    comment []

AT&T claims subscribers' data as its own. (InfoWorld) - On Friday, when AT&T Inc. goes into its next court hearing on a lawsuit about alleged spying on its customers, the carrier will also be instituting a privacy policy for Internet and video services that says it owns subscriber account information. "While your account information may be personal to you, these records constitute business records that are owned by AT&T. As such, AT&T may disclose such records to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process," reads the policy, which becomes effective Friday. It covers only the carrier's Internet services, such as AT&T/Yahoo DSL (digital subscriber line), and its emerging U-verse and Homezone TV services. U-verse delivers TV and video over a fast form of DSL, and Homezone is a combination of DSL and satellite TV. Both are set for commercial launch before September. AT&T is facing a class-action lawsuit led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil rights group that says the carrier handed over information on use of its Internet access services to the U.S. National Security Agency. Alleged law enforcement programs to collect information from carriers and Internet companies have raised alarm about how much information people may give up when they use the Internet or make a phone call. The new policy document isn't a change in approach, according to AT&T. The carrier wrote it to explain its policies for the video services and in the process reworked language it had used in earlier policies. "These policies clarify long-standing AT&T policy," said company spokeswoman Tiffany Nels. "We eliminated a lot of the legalese and used a lot of plain English." That's not necessarily cause for relief, according to Sherwin Siy, staff counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, in Washington, D.C. "Everything they say they will do under the new policy could be read into the old policy," Siy said. "Even a privacy policy that may look good in the abstract, if it's sufficiently vague and it's not specific in how it provides protection for consumers, really does nothing other than provide the company with a way out of taking responsibility for the uses of customer information." One new item in the document is a policy involving AT&T's video services. The carrier will collect information about what subscribers watch and record, Nels said. That data will help the company "personalize the viewing experience" through services such as show recommendations, she said. In addition, subscribers have to agree to the policy as part of their contract with AT&T. The video services will require a home visit for setup, and at that time the customer will have to sign a copy of the rules, Nels said. DSL subscribers are understood to agree to the policy by continuing to use the service -- that aspect hasn't changed, Nels said. The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 forbids cable and satellite TV providers from collecting subscriber viewing information, according to Michael Overing, an attorney and an adjunct professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. "Because they're not regulated in the same way by the FCC, they can collect the data on your viewing preferences," Overing said. "The problem ... is that this data's going to be collected in a database. ... The federal government sees those databases as a real opportunity to look for criminals." Without discussing whether AT&T's video services are subject to the Cable Act, Nels said the carrier's policies meet the privacy requirements of that law. SEE ALSO: Tech worker group files complaints over H-1B job ads Cyber-budget lets citizens run the economy By Stephen_Lawson@idg.com (Stephen Lawson). [InfoWorld: Top News] 2:19:46 PM    comment []

Google testing cost-per-action ads. (InfoWorld) - Google is testing an ad model that in theory isn't vulnerable to click fraud, a serious problem that some believe puts in danger Google's main source of revenue: search engine-based advertising. Google has built its business on displaying text ads based on a keyword or phrase entered in its search engine or included on a Web page published by Google or by a partner publisher. In this model, known as pay per click, Google collects the entire click fee for ads displayed on its pages. If the ad is displayed on a third-party Web site, Google splits the fee with the publisher of that Web site. While very successful, pay-per-click ads are vulnerable to click fraud, which occurs when someone clicks on a pay-per-click ad maliciously, without any intent to do business with the advertiser. Click fraud perpetrators engage in this practice for two main reasons. First, a company may want to run up a competitor's advertising costs. Second, a Web site publisher may want to increase its commission revenue. Click fraud is hard to track and detect, and estimates of its incidence vary widely, with some suggesting as many as 20 percent of clicks may be fraudulent, in which case Google's business could be in jeopardy. Google derives virtually all of its revenue from pay-per-click ads. To a lesser extent, Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft's MSN division also stand to lose from click fraud. Now, Google has begun inviting some of the publishers on its AdSense Web site advertising network to test cost-per-action (CPA) ads, which are similar to pay-per-click ads but with a major difference: advertisers only pay when the click yields a specific result, such as a concrete business lead or an actual sale. Some niche players already provide CPA ads, but Google's entry into the market would bring the concept to a critical mass of advertisers. A Google spokesman confirmed via e-mail that the company is conducting this test. "We’re pleased with how the test is progressing and will continue to gather feedback from advertisers and publishers," he wrote. "This type of program helps Google and other portals [like Yahoo and MSN] pursuing this type of ad product in several ways," said Kelsey Group analyst Matt Booth in an e-mail commentary. Namely, actions like telephone calls, leads, or transactions are more valuable than mere clicks, because they deliver customers who are closer to doing business with the advertiser, Booth said. Word of Google's test surfaced on Wednesday when a publisher in the AdSense network wrote in his blog that he had received an invitation to this test. David Jackson, editor and founder of the online financial publication SeekingAlpha, posted the full text of the e-mail, which the Google spokesman confirmed as legitimate. In part, the e-mail reads: "The CPA ads come from a limited group of high quality advertisers that are interested in displaying ads on a CPA basis. They pay you whenever a site visitor performs a specified action, such as generating a lead or purchasing a product." SEE ALSO: Adobe to distribute Google's toolbar Search battle just starting, Yahoo says By Juan_Carlos_Perez@idg.com (Juan Carlos Perez). [InfoWorld: Top News] 1:02:56 PM    comment []

USDA says hacker may have stolen employees' data. A computer hacker may have stolen "personal identity information" for 26,000 current and former Agriculture Department headquarters employees, agency officials said. [Computerworld Breaking News] 12:58:27 PM    comment []

Once again the Bush Administration wants to SPY on you! I am sick and tired of hearing my Republican friends, actually friend as only one of them still calls himself a Republican. It all seems to be directly connected with how often you attend church. Well Church going Americans here is a News Flash, Christ would not have been a Republican! Republicans act much more like the mod who crucified christ. Just think of the last abortion rally you saw on TV, all those great Republican Christians standing there yelling Baby Killer, Now dub out the voices and Crucify Him, It fits huh, pretty scarey tell that one to your pastor. Anyone the following article is another article of how the Bush administration is threatening to kill the internet if more information about Americans is not turned over to them. How soon is the next election? I long for the days of a sexually depraved President who has relations with his assistants in the oval office and leaves... The Consititution of The United States Of America Intact! Story To Follow: We preview the agenda(s) ICANN Marrakech There will be much to discuss at ICANN's Marrakech meeting which kicks off this Saturday, but one question rises about all others: what will happen to the internet on 30 September 2006?… [The Register] 9:52:31 AM    comment []