Metadata (meta data, or sometimes metainformation) is “data about other data”, of any sort in any media. An item of metadata may describe an individual datum, or content item, or a collection of data including multiple content items and hierarchical levels, for example a database schema. In data processing, metadata is definitional data that provides information about or documentation of other data managed within an application or environment. The term should be used with caution as all data is about something, and is therefore metadata.
For example, metadata would document data about data elements or attributes, (name, size, data type, etc) and data about records or data structures (length, fields, columns, etc) and data about data (where it is located, how it is associated, ownership, etc.). Metadata may include descriptive information about the context, quality and condition, or characteristics of the data. It may be recorded with high or low granularity.
Please check the following sites for metadata control advice:
A new tech device for phones has definitely caught our attention.
Plug any phone line into the Magic Jack device and you instantly have free local and long distance calling and call waiting, forwarding and emergency calls. Magic Jack is a small, portable device that plugs into any pc or laptop’s USB port (broadband required) and transforms the phone into a free service. The reception is crystal clear as the call goes over a phone line, not the net.
Many of us travel; often. I’ve paid hotel phone bills that were more costly than the room rate. Magic Jack eliminates that cost completely. For overseas travelers, Magic Jack allows for free calls to the U.S.
Review the brief tutorial video below and read the NYT and CBS News reviews on the Magic Jack site.
Most webmail users (i.e., nearly everyone with a pulse), at best, guess how long their dormant free email accounts are kept alive. (It’s important to define “dormant” in the sense of webmail accounts. Dormancy generally relates to login. Most webmail hosts, e.g., Yahoo, Gmail, AOL…, will reset the “scheduled removal” of unread email at regular intervals. This interval appears to reset if you simply login to your account,; you don’t have to necessarily read your mail.)
Mashable recently conducted a survey with the four major free webmail hosts, with the following responses to the question, “How long do webmail services keep an email account alive?”
From Yahoo answers: “A Yahoo! account which hasn’t been logged in to over a 4 month period is called dormant account. Dormant accounts are de-activated at the end of four months.”
“If you don’t log in to Gmail within three months of it being labeled dormant — or for nine consecutive months — GoogleGoogle reviews may delete the address.”
“We reserve the right to cancel any free e-mail account that is inactive for more than 30 days, and any data on a deactivated account may not be retrieved later.”
“Free Windows Live Hotmail accounts become inactive if you don’t sign in for 120 days, or within the first 10 days after signing up for an account. After an account becomes inactive, all messages, folders, and contacts are deleted, but the account name is still reserved. If the account stays inactive for an additional 90 days, the account name may be permanently deleted. If you don’t use your Windows Live ID (The user name and password that you use to sign in to any Windows Live, MSN, or Office Live sites and services. If you have a Passport Network, Hotmail, or Messenger account, you can use it as your Windows Live ID.) for 365 days, your Windows Live ID may be permanently deleted.”
Tip: Forward all of your email addresses to one email. We do it here at BNI and have found it has reduced “lost” email to nearly zero. Watch the brief tutorial below (or forward it to your IT/admin person.) It’s worth the 60 seconds it takes to forward an email address.
We’re going to continue last week’s topic regarding defamation suit awards for online commentary. Pursuant to my Bulletin article, Buffalo 14228 weighed in with this follow up:
What I find interesting it that a $7500.00 award was given to someone for allegedly interfering with another’s opportunity to make money. Something was written they didn’t like it, so they sued and won. The ruling apparently means you can only say nice things about people and particularly businesses/businessmen.
Very simple cut and dried case isn’t it?
Not so fast, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled in a case argued before it by the Fox Cable News Channel that “The media in general has no legal obligation to tell the truth.
So what does it all mean? There is no such thing as law. Law has come to mean what is acceptable within a certain space and time until the next retroactive court ruling. It is not about free speech, opinion, observation, etc. It is about money and the making of it without hinderance.
Posted by Mike Wrona
Given the global reach of the internet, several questions come to mind, i.e. can we now get an updated (apparently) definition of defamation, who has jurisdiction, do the same statutues of limitations apply? E.g., I have an ongoing business relationship with a vendor. Three years ago I posted something not so flattering but truthful about his business. My comments were cited in various subsequent complaints against this same vendor. Can I now be cited for inteference of business?
We’re experiencing a trend in public profile search requests. Our attorney and corporate clients are requesting that we patrol cyberspace for negative press attributed to their firms. We conduct a comprehensive online sweep and return the results to our clients.
This cyer-vigilance of ones career is not limited to the legal field. Recently, a journalist, Lee Kaplan, was awarded $7,500 for “business interference” from a blogger with a overly critical interest in Mr. Kaplan’s journalism.
Lee Kaplan, a journalist who writes on Middle East controversies for (among other outlets) David Horowitz’s conservative Front Page, attracted the critical interest of a Berkeley student named Yaman Salahi, who set up a blog entitled Lee Kaplan Watchthat assails Kaplan and his work. Kaplan proceeded to sue Salahi on charges of “business interference” in small claims court, a venue lacking in the extensive fact-finding and procedural protections that would attach to a conventional suit for, say, defamation. Last month the court awarded Kaplan $7500. The blogosphere has begun to notice the story with some alarm: Seeing the Forest for the Trees, Dean’s World, Ann Althouse, Slashdot.
Casey Defamtion Suit
Aside from an interesting legal trend to follow, it is good business to know how your firm is being perceived. Seemingly small negative comments can snowball into creating a very damaging profile. There are steps that can be taken to secure and preserve your firm’s reputation.
1. Make sure your site’s information is current. It is a static online billboard.
2. If an employee or partner has been terminated, immediately remove his/her information from your site.
3. If your firm handles high-profile cases, ensure that daily online scans are conducted and that defamatory and or incorrect information is immediately addressed.
As fast as news travels online, we no longer have the luxury of waiting for things to “blow over”.
For the trial law and legal community from a NY private investigator's perspective.
The Beacon Bulletin is the weekly newsletter authored and published by our parent company, Beacon Network Investigations, Inc. (BNI) and will shortly be combined with The MainPower Post, of our new company, MainPower Investigations, Inc., (MPI). (BNI will be involved in the development end of investigative and informational services and products. MPI will carry on with traditional private detective services.)
We're a private investigation company. We DON'T dispense legal advice, respond to anonymous queries or black hat your enemies for you. (Internally, however, points are alloted to our favorite subtly phrased compliments.)
We DO hope to inform. That's our business.
