Administration Says It Will Give Industry and Academia Heads up on Cyberattacks

Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011

Administration Says It Will Give Industry And Academia Heads Up On Cyberattacks

The Obama administration will provide universities and businesses with government intelligence.

By Aliya Sternstein, nextgov.com

The Obama administration will provide universities and businesses with government intelligence and law enforcement information about malicious Internet activities so that they can protect their critical assets, the president's cyber czar said on Tuesday.

"I think we all recognize that the government has unique access to information," Howard Schmidt, cybersecurity coordinator and special assistant to the president, told congressional staff, policymakers and interest groups at a Washington conference. "We need to continue to look for ways to share that information, but also give our universities and our businesses information to be able to protect them- selves."

Recent history is rife with examples where such disclosures could prove helpful. The intelligence community is privy to information about foreign governments, such as China, that Americans fear could be trying to extricate intellectual property from technology firms or research institutions. The FBI, in the past, has learned of holes in automated banking security, which it then told 4,000 financial sector organizations about so they could shore up systems before hackers exploited the vulnerabilities. Figure of the week Schmidt also addressed a forthcoming public-private initiative to create secure online identities that has riled some privacy advocates. The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace aims to provide people with a means of verifying who they are interacting with when they conduct online transactions.

Critics liken the concept of Internet IDs to a national identification card that the 59% government will use to track the activities of everyone online. Average of respondents who said they rarely research specialists after Schmidt said people reading between the lines to draw such conclusions should receiving referrals from their "wait to see until the real lines come out and then read the lines." primary care physician. The survey was released by Insider Pages and More at http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110118_5841.php conducted by Harris Interactive. Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 2

Privacy And Security - I

Apocalypse in Cyberspace? It’s Overdone Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The report, to be released Monday, argues that doomsayers By Eric Pfanner, The New York Times have greatly exaggerated the power of belligerents to wreak havoc in cyberspace. It is extremely unlikely that their attacks PARIS — The Web site Cyberwarzone.com lists 270 books could create problems like those caused by a global pandemic about Internet crime and warfare. In one of the highest- or the recent financial crisis, let alone an actual shooting war, profile examples, ―Cyber War: The Next Threat to National the study concludes. Security and What to Do About It,‖ Richard A. Clarke, the former U.S. counterterrorism chief, and Robert K. Knake of ―You have this sort of competition between writers to say, ‗I the Council on Foreign Relations, describe a digital ―Day Af- have a scarier story than you do,‘ ‖ said Peter Sommer, a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, who wrote ter‖ in which large parts of the U.S. transportation, energy the report with Ian Brown, a senior research fellow at the and communications systems have been wiped out by Inter- Oxford Internet Institute, part of Oxford University. ―If you net-borne attackers, leaving the authorities struggling to look at the way it is covered, the computer scare story of the maintain control and consumers scrambling for food. week, you might get the sense that such a disaster is just around the corner.‖ Prophets of Internet-borne Götterdämmerung have gotten even more breathless since the publication of ―Cyber War‖ last In fact, the report says, ―It is unlikely that there will ever be a true cyberwar.‖ year. They describe China‘s alleged hacking campaign against

Google and the campaign by ―hacktivists‖ against foes of the Mr. Sommer and Mr. Brown are not the first to protest anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks, as the opening acts. against adoption of a Clausewitzian framework to describe international affairs in the digital world. Is a cyberwar already under way and, if so, could it really cause destruction on the scale portrayed by Mr. Knake and Mr. Howard A. Schmidt, President Barack Obama‘s chief Clarke? cybersecurity adviser, told Wired magazine last year that ―there is no cyberwar.‖

Nonsense, say two academics in a study commissioned by the More at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/

Banks Allow Ads in Online Checking Online banking is the latest frontier in the controversial field Accounts known as behavioral marketing, in which detailed personal By Ylan Q. Mui, Washington Post information is used to target advertising. Consumer groups have decried the practice as an invasion of privacy, particularly First they showed up in your e-mail. Then they found their way since users often do not realize who has access to the most onto Facebook. Now ads are coming to your checking account. intimate details of their lives.

As banks test new ways to make money and attract customers, "It's definitely troubling," said Justin Brookman, head of con- they are tucking ads onto the list of recent purchases on consumer privacy for the Center for Democracy & Technology. sumers' online bank statements. The charge for your breakfast "Most people don't notice them, understand them or opt out at McDonald's, for example, might be followed with an offer from them." for 10 percent cash back on your next meal at the Golden Arches. There's no need to print a coupon - just click the link, The ads are the brainchild of three-year-old Atlanta software and the chain will recognize your debit card the next time it is firm Cardlytics, though other companies such as Boston-based swiped. Cartera have begun offering similar services. Several banks and credit unions in the Washington area use Cardlytics' ad pro- "The one thing these debit programs have is a significant gram, although the firm declined to name them, citing contrac- amount of transaction and behavioral data," said Mark John- tual agreements. At least two other local banks will launch the son, president and chief executive of Loyalty 360, a trade ads in the spring. group for marketers. "You're going to see a big push to make that insight more sellable." More at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ article/2011/01/16/AR2011011603387.html Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 3

Privacy And Security - II

Is Your Online Presence Property or online consumer privacy, but that it first needs to figure out Person? what exactly is meant by data privacy, what precisely it wants to regulate, and how to balance protection for consumers with By Derrick Harris, Businessweek protection for emerging commerce. Determining the latter two A recent CES panel addressed the key issue in the debate over should be relatively easy—those are the questions inherent in privacy rights that must be accorded online data. Can users any lawmaking process—but answering the first question could click away basic human rights or is personal information mere be a struggle. property? The crux of the issue is whether or not an online persona is an Online data privacy has been in the spotlight for a variety of extension of a human being—as Marc Davis, a partner archi- reasons over the past year, from Facebook's privacy settings to tect in Microsoft's online services division, believes—or a mere government subpoenas for WikiLeaks data. Before Congress, collection of bits that can be bartered away for access to free regulators, and courts can give the issue legal clarity, they will e-mail or a social network. Davis sees the issue of data privacy need to answer some fundamental questions about which areas as nothing less than defining what it means to be a person in a of law even apply. digital world.

A panel on data privacy earlier this week at the Consumer Beyond the issues of storing and mining data, there are ques- Electronics Show laid out the broad issues that need to be tions about who or what entities have the right to publish read- determined before any meaningful attempts at institutional ily available public data about individuals and what it means to reform can get underway. Central among them is the question have digital identities that individuals might not even have of whether online privacy is a matter of personal property or of created—and which will live on after they die. Fred Carter human rights. boiled it down to how we characterize personal data..

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) kicked off the CES More at http:/news.ccom/830127080_3-10399141-245.html? discussion, explaining that Congress is looking at regulating part+rss&subj+news&tag+2547-1_3-0-20

bit of light on how EU regulators see the directive, and that's EU's Push on Internet Cookies Fizzles Out firmly on the side of business. By John W. Miller, The Wall Street Journal There's no language at all endorsing any kind of "opt-in" In November, we wrote about the European Union's somewhat clause, which would force users to give their consent explicitly clumsy attempt to force Internet companies to obtain before cookies are placed on their computer. "Settings of a permission from users before placing cookies, small files then browser or another application" are sufficient, the document used to help deliver advertising and other targeted content, on says. their computers. "It is not necessary," the document says, "to obtain consent for The directive mandates "informed consent" by users. EU each individual operation of gaining access to or storing of information on a user's terminal, if the initial information and member states now have until late May to write the directive consent covered such further use." into their national legislation. Legal experts say the wording leaves plenty of room for interpretation, and that's caused The document also explicitly endorses the notion of self- Internet companies to fear that some countries could regulation, which the industry is working on. "The overzealously interpret the document and make websites Commission services consider that the industry is well placed obtain permission every time a computer user makes a visit, to design innovative technical solutions," the document says. which could gridlock the functioning of ad-based sites. Says an industry lobbyist: "We're happy with what this says."

They needn't worry too much. Last week, a secret European More at http://online.wsj.com/article/ Commission document written to offer formal guidance to EU SB10001424052748703396604576087992755049156.html? member states implementing the directive surfaced. It sheds a Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 4

Privacy And Security - III

Israeli Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran ―To check out the worm, you have to know the machines,‖ said Nuclear Delay an American expert on nuclear intelligence. ―The reason the worm has been effective is that the Israelis tried it out.‖ By William J. Broad, John Markoff and David E. Sanger, The New York Times Though American and Israeli officials refuse to talk publicly about what goes on at Dimona, the operations there, as well as The Dimona complex in the Negev desert is famous as the related efforts in the United States, are among the newest and heavily guarded heart of Israel‘s never-acknowledged nuclear strongest clues suggesting that the virus was designed as an arms program, where neat rows of factories make atomic fuel American-Israeli project to sabotage the Iranian program. for the arsenal. In recent days, the retiring chief of Israel‘s Mossad intelligence Over the past two years, according to intelligence and military agency, Meir Dagan, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham experts familiar with its operations, Dimona has taken on a Clinton separately announced that they believed Iran‘s efforts new, equally secret role — as a critical testing ground in a joint had been set back by several years. American and Israeli effort to undermine Iran‘s efforts to make a bomb of its own. Mrs. Clinton cited American-led sanctions, which have hurt Iran‘s ability to do business around the world. Behind Dimona‘s barbed wire, the experts say, Israel has spun nuclear centrifuges virtually identical to Iran‘s at Natanz, The gruff Mr. Dagan, whose organization has been accused by where Iranian scientists are struggling to enrich uranium. They Iran of being behind the deaths of several Iranian scientists, say Dimona tested the effectiveness of the Stuxnet computer told the Israeli Knesset in recent days that Iran had run into worm, a destructive program that appears to have wiped out technological difficulties that could delay a bomb until 2015. roughly a fifth of Iran‘s nuclear centrifuges and helped delay, though not destroy, Tehran‘s ability to make its first nuclear More at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/ arms. middleeast/16stuxnet.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all

Information Sharing - I There were solid reports that the group included children, but the team did not adequately focus on them amid the swirl of In New Military, Data Overload Can Be data — much like a cubicle worker who loses track of an Deadly important e-mail under the mounting pile. The team was under intense pressure to protect American forces nearby, and By Thom Shanker and Matt Richtel, The New York Times in the end it determined, incorrectly, that the villagers‘ convoy posed an imminent threat, resulting in one of the worst losses When military investigators looked into an attack by American of civilian lives in the war in Afghanistan. helicopters last February that left 23 Afghan civilians dead, they found that the operator of a Predator drone had failed to ―Information overload — an accurate description,‖ said one pass along crucial information about the makeup of a senior military officer. The deaths would have been prevented, gathering crowd of villagers. he said, ―if we had just slowed things down and thought delib- erately.‖ But Air Force and Army officials now say there was also an underlying cause for that mistake: information overload. Data is among the most potent weapons of the 21st century. Unprecedented amounts of raw information help the military At an Air Force base in Nevada, the drone operator and his determine what targets to hit and what to avoid. And drone- team struggled to work out what was happening in the village, based sensors have given rise to a new class of wired warriors where a convoy was forming. They had to monitor the drone‘s who must filter the information sea. But they are drowning. video feeds while participating in dozens of instant-message and radio exchanges with intelligence analysts and troops on More at https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/ the ground. technology/17brain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 5

Health IT - I Figures of the Week

ONC will focus on interoperability in 2011 According to a recent survey released by Insider Pages and conducted by Harris Interactive: By Mary Mosquera, Government Health IT

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT will focus in 2011 on activities that will enable healthcare providers to perform complex exchanges of information and on the technical foundation to support secure sharing. 71% ONC is considering a set of tasks it needs to undertake ―in of respondents said they would like doctors to post short order‖ to make it possible for stage 2 of meaningful use information about their medical background online to have a more robust exchange of information, said Dr. David Blumenthal, national health IT coordinator, at the Jan. 12 meeting of the advisory Health IT Standards Committee .

Those activities are centered around standards and certification criteria, privacy and security protections, 67% governance of exchange, and the assurance that the public said they would like to access more comprehensive will need that organizations involved in exchanging information about doctors online information have accomplished the conditions that foster trust and interoperability, he said.

In conjunction with ONC‘s work with its advisory policy and standards committees, Blumenthal highlighted the importance of getting stage 2 of meaningful use requirements 51% right. With that, interoperability and all its associated issues said they find it difficult to track down will ―flow to the top of the agenda,‖ he said. information on physicians ―In part, we feel a sense of urgency because we fear if we don‘t lay the groundwork for that soon that we may not be able to do it later on,‖ he said.

That means having a comprehensive policy around privacy outcomes associated with health IT, the ―what‘s it for, our and security, as well as making sure that standards are in North Star,‖ he said. This means a renewed emphasis on place that will assure that willing providers can technically clinical decision support and on bringing it into institutions exchange information. Then, having the community and beyond the few early adopter and benchmark hospitals, and national resources, organizations, rules, regulations and rapidly improving how it is deployed and effectively used. systems of governance that allow for solving problems when ―We all know that clinical decision support inexpertly applied they arise. can lead to alert fatigue and dissatisfaction, just as much as Through the use of standards, ONC has set its sights on appropriately implemented it can lead to dramatic improve- increasing transactions for electronic prescribing, on public ments in quality and safety,‖ he said. health, on consumer participation in exchange of their Also in 2011, ONC will expand its activities around usability information, and on providers being able to send patient care of electronic health record systems, such as having measures summaries to each other for referrals and transitions of care, or benchmarks by which vendors can prove the usability of said Dr. Farzad Mostashari, ONC‘s deputy national coordina- their products and being transparent about it to their custom- tor for programs and policy. ers.

―These are all meaningful use actions that require someone Related to that, ONC will direct activities to make progress on on the other end to also hold up their end of the bargain,‖ he monitoring and intervening on adverse events associated said. ―We need to make it as seamless and easy and low cost with health IT. as possible.‖ More at http://govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=75907 ONC will re-sharpen its focus on improving healthcare Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 6

Points of View - I

The Health IT Paradox: Why More Data makes this problem goes away." (See the top 10 medical break- Doesn't Always Mean Better Care throughs of 2010.)

By Dr. Zachary F. Meisel, Time The "problem," of course, is that medical errors and excess costs increase when health information isn't portable or easily Recently, while I was working an overnight shift in the accessible. The conventional wisdom is that electronic medical emergency department, two paramedics wheeled an elderly records, electronic prescriptions and electronic order-entry woman into the busy ER. She was clearly very ill: her eyes were systems save costs and lives. Since 2009, the federal sunken and her mouth was parched, she was slumped over and government has invested over $20 billion into improving HIT. unable to do much more than moan. The paramedics told me And this month, the federal government will start doling out that her family members, wanted to make sure we knew that dollars to doctors' offices and hospitals to encourage them to she wasn't usually "like this" and that she had recently been adopt electronic health records. hospitalized at a different facility where many tests and "other stuff" had been done. Unfortunately, all her records were But an overzealous push toward HIT can also lead to locked up at the other hospital's medical-record room, which unintended consequences. In Pittsburgh, a study showed that was closed in the middle of the night. the rollout of an electronic system for doctors' orders was associated with increased odds of infant deaths in an intensive- We had to start from scratch. We ordered a CAT scan of her care unit. brain to look for stroke, put a catheter in her bladder and gave her a chest X-ray to look for infection, and applied a rectal And a study conducted in Philadelphia demonstrated that exam to look for bleeding. We may have ended up doing all of computerized physician-order-entry systems facilitated this anyway, but having more information about her recent medication-prescribing errors. What was going on? hospitalization would clearly have allowed us to be more efficient and directed in her care. My colleague, another More at http://www.time.com/time/printout/ doctor, turned to me and said, "I cannot wait until HIT 0,8816,2041900,00.html/ [industry shorthand for 'health-information technology']

Tunisia: Can We Please Stop Talking About protests. As Ethan Zuckerman has pointed out, the video- 'Twitter Revolutions'? sharing sites Dailymotion and YouTube were also important. And with a paucity of on-the-ground media coverage, Twitter By Luke Allnutt, Tangled Web excelled as a medium in getting the message out, in driving While the tear gas was still hanging in the streets of Tunis, mainstream media coverage, and in connecting activists on the many pundits were quick to christen Tunisia‘s revolution. ground with multipliers in the West. Andrew Sullivan has asked (again) whether it‘s a Twitter Revolution. Elizabeth Dickinson, among others, speculated in Revolutions, of course, are notoriously slippery customers to ―Foreign Policy‖ that it might be a ―WikiLeaks revolution.‖ evaluate. As Juan Cole writes, "Revolutions are always multiple Anonymous, the online activists who recently attacked targets revolutions happening simultaneously." It's difficult enough perceived to be against WikiLeaks, claimed it as their own after looking at revolutions from years ago and attributing relative their DDOS attacks on various government targets. For cyber- importance to each of the many factors, let alone when people utopians, the unfolding events in Tunisia and the role of social are still on the streets and chaos reigns. When you look at the media, was a cause célèbre, a knockdown to the naysayer complex mix of factors in Tunisia -- the economy, a frustrated Malcolm Gladwell. (See my critique of Gladwell‘s argument over-educated, unemployed middle class, the trade unions, here.) rampant censorship and government corruption, and, yes, social media -- establishing a single cause for the revolution, First off, it looks like social media did have an important role especially for something as marginal for most Tunisians as to play here. An estimated 18 percent of Tunisia‘s population is WikiLeaks, seems preposterous. on Facebook and, left unblocked by the government, it was a place where many Tunisians shared updates pertaining to the More at http://www.rferl.org/content/tunisia_can_we_please_/ _stop_talking_about_twitter_revolutions/2277052.html Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 7

Points of View - II

Experts: Government trusted Internet to the kingdom," he wrote. Identities a Long Way Off Few would argue the need for improved Internet identities and By George V. Hulme, CSO, Network World authentication. But the devil, if there is one, would reside in the details of the plan. The initial version of the plan was The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace published last summer. Late last week, Commerce Secretary aims to set the benefits, overall strategy, goals and objectives of Gary Locke and Schmidt announced the Commerce the government's plan to improve how users (and even Department will host a National Program Office (NPO) in devices) are authenticated onto the Internet. The plan, so far, support of the National Strategy. calls for very limited government involvement in the development of the identity infrastructure. As it stands today, While many would expect civil liberties groups and privacy the government's role will be essentially promoting leadership, groups to be wary of any government identity plans, that encouraging speed of deployment, and the use of certain iden- doesn't appear to be happening with what has been put out for tity solutions. consideration this time. Cybersecurity Coordinator and Special Assistant to the As Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center President Howard A. Schmidt said the initiative is necessary to for Democracy & Technology said "The government needs an help fight online fraud and identity theft. "We have a major identity ecosystem or identity infrastructure. It needs it for its problem in cyberspace, because when we are online we do not own services as well as part of the solution to the broader really know if people, businesses, and organizations are who cybersecurity problem as well as, as one of the foundations of they say they are. eCommerce, but the government cannot create that identity infrastructure, because if it tried to, it wouldn't be trusted." Moreover, we now have to remember dozens of user names and passwords. This multiplicity is so inconvenient that most More at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/011411- people re-use their passwords for different accounts, which experts-govt-trusted-internet-identities.html gives the criminal who compromises their password the "keys

Hu's Coming to Dinner: A Year After the age foreign policy for the United States. The Department of Google-China Dust-Up, Has Anything State, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and Changed? others in the executive branch could have concluded that the U.S.'s key private sector players are now technology firms, and By Ernest J. Wilson, The Huffington Post the nation's policies should keep those firms' interests -- and abilities -- in mind. Companies and their industry associations, On January 19, China's President Hu Jintao will attend a state meanwhile, could have learned that closer engagement with dinner at the White House. This comes about a year since his the policy process could be beneficial. government and Google Corporation duked it out over Google's refusal to abide by the PRC's laws to control internet But for the most part these potentials have not come to pass. content. American high-tech companies remain heavy hitters economically at home and abroad, but continue to punch way There were punches thrown and punches pulled. The heavy- below their weight politically. weight fight was sort of a draw, with no clear winner or loser. Now is a good time to revisit what the dust-up meant then, History shows clearly that the dominant economic modes of a what it means today, and what it might mean for the future of country will eventually throw their weight around in domestic, U.S.-China relations. and eventually, foreign policy. But it is now clear that the Google-China match was not the start of a new age of digital The conflict should have been a teachable moment for diplomacy. American companies and those responsible for the design and conduct of U.S. foreign policy. Rightly framed, it could have More at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ernest-j-wilson/hus- been a moment to talk about the prospects for a post-industrial coming-to-dinner-a-ye_b_809411.html Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 8

Point of View - III

Health IT Gets $27B Stimulus Spark

By Brett Coughlin, Politico.com

The Obama administration‘s health information technology guru is lauding the efforts of 100 hospitals trying to achieve the ―meaningful user‖ status of health IT, but questions remain about how insurers and other stakeholders can safeguard patient data.

That the hospitals are signing on shows that ―the system is about to achieve liftoff,‖ said David Blumenthal, national coordinator for Health Information Technology. Congress ap- proved $27 billion as part of the federal stimulus bill that included the HITECH Act to spur health IT adoption. ―This is a one-time offer on behalf of the Congress and the administration,‖ Blumenthal told a packed house of IT experts, doctors and chief information officers at George Washington Medical Center last week.

―We‘re saying, get on the elevator,‖ Blumenthal said.

Physicians can eventually earn from $44,000 to $65,000 in Medicare bonus payments if they can demonstrate meaningful use, but penalties are also looming in the future for those who don‘t buy the technology. Those who don‘t use health IT face a 1 percent reduction in Medicare payments beginning in 2015, increasing to 3 percent in 2017. The deadline to adopt the systems for 2011 is Oct. 1.

Data from the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that pri- Information and Management Systems Society. mary care doctors are buying more of the technology, which Even though a variety of independent accreditation entities HHS believes will lead to better patient care. The data, which certify that a health IT system is reliable and meets certain Blumenthal — a primary care physician himself — touted, performance criteria, some doctors remain skeptical about show that between 2008 and the end of 2010, the percentage the hardware and software. of primary care doctors who had adopted the technology grew from just under 20 percent to slightly below 30 percent. Not ―I think that there‘s less than complete confidence,‖ in health surprisingly, Blumenthal said, large urban hospitals and IT, said a member of a physician specialty society. teaching hospitals are more likely than rural hospitals to There also remain questions and trepidation among patients adopt health IT. that their health information can be kept safe. Among those hospitals moving to health IT adoption is the About the concerns with health IT and privacy, a survey con- George Washington University Hospital and the Childrens ducted by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship Medical Center, based in D.C., as well as Inova Health Sytem found that many patients are ―open to sharing information,‖ in Northern, Va., and MedStar Health in Columbia, Md. said Thomas Sellers, CEO of NCCS. Other hospital systems that have announced their intention to adopt it include Alfred I. Dupont Hospital for Children in Sellers said the results show that cancer patients are ―less Willmington, Del.; Aurora Health System, Milwaukee, Wis.; concerned about abstract privacy issues.‖ Baylor Health System in Dallas; Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles; Scripps Health, based in San Diego; and Sentra More at http://www.politico.com/news/ Health System in Norfolk, Va., according to the Healthcare stories/0111/47684.html Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 9

Points of View - IV

Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs. At other times, we have failed to meet our basic responsibility By Barack Obama, The Wall Street Journal to protect the public interest, leading to disastrous For two centuries, America's free market has not only been the consequences. Such was the case in the run-up to the financial source of dazzling ideas and path-breaking products, it has crisis from which we are still recovering. There, a lack of also been the greatest force for prosperity the world has ever proper oversight and transparency nearly led to the collapse of known. That vibrant entrepreneurialism is the key to our the financial markets and a full-scale Depression. continued global leadership and the success of our people. Over the past two years, the goal of my administration has But throughout our history, one of the reasons the free market been to strike the right balance. And today, I am signing an has worked is that we have sought the proper balance. We have executive order that makes clear that this is the operating preserved freedom of commerce while applying those rules and principle of our government. regulations necessary to protect the public against threats to our health and safety and to safeguard people and businesses This order requires that federal agencies ensure that from abuse. regulations protect our safety, health and environment while promoting economic growth. And it orders a government-wide From child labor laws to the Clean Air Act to our most recent review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated strictures against hidden fees and penalties by credit card regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less companies, we have, from time to time, embraced common competitive. sense rules of the road that strengthen our country without unduly interfering with the pursuit of progress and the growth This order requires that federal agencies ensure that of our economy. regulations protect our safety, health and environment.

Sometimes, those rules have gotten out of balance, placing More at http://online.wsj.com/article/ unreasonable burdens on business—burdens that have stifled SB10001424052748703396604576088272112103698.html

Cyber Defense Must Be Resilient, Because security affairs under President Clinton, said cyberdefense It Will Never Be Invulnerable, Former DOD requires the cooperation of public and private sectors and Official Says suggested establishing a Skunk Works to advance the art.

By William Jackson, Government Computer News Skunk Works, a name first applied to the Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Program for developing advanced Offense now trumps defense in the emerging theater of aircraft, has come to be used for a program that can rapidly cyberwar, and the United Sates should focus on making its bring together technical expertise across a variety of fields with critical infrastructure resilient enough to withstand and deter minimum bureaucracy and maximum autonomy. attacks, former Assistant Defense Secretary Franklin Kramer said Tuesday at the Black Hat Federal Briefings in Arlington. ―We have really only begun to think about cyber conflict,‖ Kramer said. He described it as a rapidly evolving area that will ―The current system can be made much better, but is not fully require a capacity for both offensive and defensive action, a fixable,‖ Kramer said in his opening keynote to an audience of fact that has been recognized in the establishment of the U.S. federal and private sector security professionals. He warned Cyber Command. But the boundaries cyber and kinetic warfare against letting the perfect become the enemy of the good and and the parameters of response are policy issues that still are said the goal of defending critical infrastructure should be being worked out. ―There has been a lot of discussion about resilience rather than invulnerability. ―Good enough is not a whether we‘re already in a cyberwar,‖ he said. Incidents of the bad goal.‖ past two years illustrate that cyber conflict, if not war, is here. Kramer, a national security and international affairs expert More at http://gcn.com/Articles/2011/01/18/Black-Hat-kramer who was assistant secretary of defense for international -keynote.aspx?p=1 Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 10

Points of View - V

Googling Symptoms Helps Patients and health information is not a novel question. Information Doctors overload, biased sources, complicated jargon, conflicting recommendations and stories that always seem to invoke By Dr. Zachary F. Meisel, TIME nightmare scenarios are well-known reasons to be wary of Googling your symptoms. The medical intern started her presentation with an eye roll. "The patient in Room 3 had some blood in the toilet bowl this Yet there is no question that patients routinely benefit from morning and is here with a pile of Internet printouts listing all going online before visiting the doctor. Recently I saw a patient the crazy things she thinks she might have." who came to the ER with a strange rash. She arrived with color printouts that correctly identified her condition. Not only was The intern continued, "I think she has a hemorrhoid." she correct in her self-diagnosis, but I am not sure I would have considered the right diagnosis so quickly if she hadn't "Another case of cyberchondria," added the nurse behind me. brought in the pictures (it was a common condition with an atypical presentation). I know many health providers who have In the end, the patient did, indeed, have a hemorrhoid. She experienced similar circumstances. was safe to go home with a treatment plan and some reassurance. But I wasn't so sure if what doctors call the Whether the Internet is a useful or dangerous place to get "Google stack" (the printouts listing all the potential and health information is not a novel question. Information over- worrisome diagnoses) was really such a problem. After all, her load, biased sources, complicated jargon, conflicting recom- symptoms were scary — she may very well have come to the ER mendations and stories that always seem to invoke nightmare regardless of her Web search. The real problem was with my scenarios are well-known reasons to be wary of Googling your team: we weren't well equipped to deal with her online symptoms. homework — and it became a distraction. (See the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2010.) More at http://www.time.com/time/health/ article/0,8599,2043125,00.html?xid=rss-mostpopular Whether the Internet is a useful or dangerous place to get

Don't Overreact to WikiLeaks The disclosures of candid diplomatic reporting are By Thomas Fingar and Roger George Jackson, embarrassing to the individuals involved and will make foreign interlocutors less willing to speak frankly with American Arizona Daily Sun officials, at least for a while. The WikiLeaks dissemination of U.S. diplomatic and other candid communications has rekindled debate over how to But frank exchanges and candid commentary are essential to balance the need to protect sources and sensitive information the conduct of diplomacy, and no one should expect that against the need to ensure timely distribution of information to reporting by diplomats of other nations is significantly less government officials who need it to protect our people and our candid or critical than the cables released by WikiLeaks. To interests. pretend otherwise is equivalent to feigning shock upon learning that gambling is taking place in a casino. Much progress has been achieved in the years since the 9/11 Commission concluded that inadequate sharing of information Overreaction, by individuals and well-meaning oversight among agencies had impeded detection of the 9/11 plot, but bodies, is likely unless there is a concerted effort to prevent it. achieving those gains has been difficult and there is still a long The theft and unauthorized disclosure of these materials are way to go. Without continuous pressure, many agencies and inexcusable, but media coverage has consistently depicted a individuals are still inclined to err on the side of protecting single, albeit horrendous, incident as indicative of widespread rather than sharing certain types of information. systemic deficiencies and makes it appear that Washington is unable to safeguard any classified information. It would be unfortunate -- and dangerous -- if responses to the WikiLeaks problem legitimate such counterproductive More at http://www.azdailysun.com/news/opinion/columnists/ instincts and roll back hard-won gains for information sharing. article_2ee5c1e7-2eba-53e8-93fd-887454962f82.html Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 11

New Reports and Papers - I

New EU Agency Report on Governmental administrative procedures, email, and human resources Cloud Computing Security in EU applications). Analysis and conclusions are mainly based on three scenarios, which describe the migration to cloud By PR Newswire computing of a Healthcare Authority, a local public administration and the creation of governmental cloud The EU's 'cyber security' Agency ENISA has launched a new infrastructure. report on Govermental Cloud Computing. The report is targeted at senior managers of public bodies who have to make The Agency concludes that private and community clouds a security and resilience decision about how to 'go cloud', if at appear to be the solutions that best fit the needs of public all. administrations if they need to achieve the highest level of data governance. The main goal of the report is to support governmental bodies in taking informed risk based decisions regarding security of If a private or community cloud infrastructure does not reach data, resilience of service and legal compliance on their way to the necessary critical mass, most of the resilience and security the cloud. It highlights also security and resilience pros and benefits of the cloud model will not be realized. cons of community, private and public cloud computing services for public bodies. The Executive Director Prof. Udo Helmbrecht comments: "Public cloud offers a very high level of service availability, and "The new report presents a decision-making model for senior is the most cost-effective. Yet, currently its adoption should be management to determine the best cloud solution from a limited to non-sensitive or non critical applications, in the security and resilience point of view," says Mr. Daniele context of a well-defined cloud adaptation strategy.‖ Catteddu, author of the report.

More at http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-eu- The report details and explains the different steps of the agency-report-on-governmental-cloud-computing-security-in- decision-making model, and applies the model to four sample eu-113851729.html services (electronic healthcare services, electronic

Information Warfare: Time for a underpinnings to its relevance in modern society and the Redefinition challenges in the commercial environment.

By Patricia A.H. Williams, Security Research Centre, School This paper provides a platform for discussion of the sphere of of Computer and Security Science, Edith Cowan University, information warfare and its relevance to contemporary society. Perth, Western Australia Whilst the methods of information operations and the Abstract understanding of military origins have not changed, the manner in which the topics are presented and how these relate Information warfare has become an increasingly diverse field. to today‘s corporate environment and increasingly global The changes to its composition have been primarily driven by society have become a new focus. changes in technology and the resulting increased access to information. The importance of this is to make information warfare relevant to today‘s generation of students and to develop Further, it has been the progressively more diverse methods information strategists rather than information specialists available for communication that has fuelled expanding appli- who can function effectively on a global stage. Where cations for information warfare techniques into non-military information warfare was once a distinct discipline with environments. military underpinnings, it has increasingly become fused with In order for younger generations of students to understand the both the computer security and intelligence disciplines. place of information warfare in the larger security picture, More at http://igneous.scis.ecu.edu.au/proceedings/2010/ there is a need to shift the emphasis from many of the military iwar/2010IWARProceedings.pdf#page=43 Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 12

New Reports and Papers - II

Internet Creativity, Communicative Emanating from private bodies, such measures are beyond the Freedom and a Constitutional Rights reach of constitutional rights, although they may strongly Theory Response to “Code is Law” impact conditions of communicative freedom and creativity on the Internet. This paper endeavors to explore whether a theory By Christoph B. Graber, International Communications and of ―constitutional rights in the private sphere‖ may have a case Art Law Lucerne Research Centre, University of Lucerne in a digital networked ecology.

Abstract Introduction

The EU's 'cyber security' Agency ENISA has launched a new ―Code is law‖ is the famous formula coined by Lawrence Lessig report on Govermental Cloud Computing. The report is to describe that the technological architecture of the Internet targeted at senior managers of public bodies who have to make functions as a regulator – in addition to state law, social norms a security and resilience decision about how to 'go cloud', if at and the market.1 Joel Reidenberg was one of the first to all. emphasize that the technological architecture of the network imposes rules on access and use of information. The code that regulates cyberspace empowers private bodies to set standards of Internet access and use, which are often not Technological architectures may prohibit certain actions on the visible. Content filtering, as a response to copyright network, such as access without security clearances, or may infringement, or models differentiating between various data impose certain flows, such as mandatory address routing data transmissions are examples of measures that have been for electronic messages. Technology may also offer undertaken by Internet intermediaries. policymakers a choice of information flow rules through con- figuration decisions. Arguably, they are necessary to protect intellectual property and digital business. More at http://www.unilu.ch/files/i- call_working_paper03_graber_internet_creativity.pdf

Cancer Survivorship in the Age of YouTube Informed by narrative theories, we conducted an iterative, and Social Media: A Narrative Analysis bottom-up analysis of 35 YouTube videos identified by the search terms ―cancer survivor‖ and ―cancer stories.‖ By Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, MPH PhD; Yvonne Hunt, MPH PhD; Anna Folkers, BA; Erik Augustson, MPH PhD, A list of shared thematic and linguistic characteristics was National Cancer Institute identified and analyzed.

Abstract A subnarrative on the cancer diagnosis was present in 86% (30/35) of the stories under analysis. As evidenced by the increasing popularity of YouTube personal These diagnostic narratives were characterized by dramatic narratives shared through social media are an area of rapid tension, emotional engagement, markers of the loss of agency development in communication among cancer survivors. or control, depersonalized reference to the medical personnel, Identifying the thematic and linguistic characteristics of and the unexpectedness of a cancer diagnosis. YouTube cancer stories can provide a better understanding of The analysis highlights the themes of story authenticity and this naturally occurring communication channel and inform emotional engagement in this online communication medium. social media communication efforts aiming to use personal stories to reach individuals with serious illnesses. Internet advances have enabled new and efficient exchange of personal stories, including the sharing of personal cancer The objective of our study was to provide an in-depth experience among cancer survivors and their caregivers. description of authentic personal cancer stories. Through a linguistically based narrative analysis of YouTube stories, the analysis explicates the common attributes of these narratives. More at http://www.jmir.org/2011/1/e7/ Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 13

New Reports and Papers - IV

The Social Side of the Internet impact on the ability of groups to impact society at large. Some 64% of internet users said that. By Lee Rainie, Director; Kristen Purcell, Associate Director; Aaron Smith, Senior Research Specialist; Pew Internet and 59% of all Americans said the internet has had a major American Life Center, Research Center impact on the ability of groups to organize activities. Some 65% of internet users said that. Summary 52% of all Americans said the internet has had a major The Obama administration‘s health information technology impact on the ability of groups to raise money. Some 55% of guru is lauding the efforts of 100 hospitals trying to achieve internet users said that. the ―meaningful user‖ status of health IT, but questions 51% of all Americans said the internet has had a major remain about how insurers and other stakeholders can impact on the ability of groups to recruit new members. Some safeguard patient data. 55% of internet users said that. The internet is now deeply embedded in group and organizational life in America. A new national survey by the 49% of all Americans said the internet has had a major Pew Research Center‘s Internet & American Life Project has impact on the ability of groups to impact local communities. found that 75% of all American adults are active in some kind Some 52% of internet users said that. of voluntary group or organization and internet users are 35% of all Americans said the internet has had a major more likely than others to be active: 80% of internet users impact on the ability of groups to find people to take leader- participate in groups, compared with 56% of non‐internet ship roles. Some 35% of internet users said that. users. And social media users are even more likely to be active: 82% of social network users and 85% of Twitter users 53% of the online Americans who are active in groups say are group participants. the internet has had a major impact on their ability to keep

In this survey, Pew Internet asked about 27 different kinds of More at http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/ groups and found great diversity in group membership and Reports/2011/PIP_Social_Side_of_the_Internet.pdf participation using traditional and new technologies.

It becomes clear as people are asked about their activities that their use of the internet is having a wide‐ranging impact on their engagement with civic, social, and religious groups. Asked to assess the overall impact of the internet on group activities:

68% of all Americans (internet users and non‐users alike) said the internet has had a major impact on the ability of groups to communicate with members. Some 75% of internet users said that.

62% of all Americans said the internet has had a major impact on the ability of groups to draw attention to an issue. Some 68% of internet users said that.

60% of all Americans said the internet has had a major impact on the ability of groups to connect with other groups. Some 67% of internet users said that.

59% of all Americans said the internet has had a major impact on the ability of groups to impact society at large. Some 64% of internet users said that.

59% of all Americans said the internet has had a major Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 14

New Reports and Papers - V

Wikipedia, Past and Present

By Kathryn Zickuhr and Lee Rainie, Pew Internet and American Life Center, Research Center

Education level continues to be the strongest predictor of Wikipedia use. The collaborative encyclopedia is most popular among internet users with at least a college degree, 69% of whom use the site. Broadband use remains another predictor, as 59% of those with home broadband use the service, compared with 26% of those who connect through dial-up.

Additionally, Wikipedia is generally more popular among those with annual household incomes of at least $50,000, as well as with young adults: 62% of internet users under the age of 30 using the service, compared with only 33% of internet users age 65 and older.

In the scope of general online activities, using Wikipedia is more popular than sending instant messages (done by 47% of internet users) or rating a product, service, or person (32%), but is less popular than using social network sites (61%) or watching videos on sites like YouTube (66%).

More at http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Wikipedia/ Report.aspx

Will You Tweet This? help determine influence of a writer or blogger, by showing By Erica Naone, Technology Review Published by MIT how his or her content is shared. Combined with other work, it could help provide a better picture of how information travels When a piece of news breaks online, it's hard to predict how online generally. widely it will be discussed in blog posts or tweets and for how long. The researchers analyzed 170 million news articles and blog posts over the course of a year, and 580 million Twitter posts Jure Leskovec, an assistant professor of computer science at over eight months. Stanford University, is working to find a way to make it easier to predict which pieces of content will resonate for a long time. They measured the attention each piece of content received by A lot of factors go into that equation, however—the content of tracing how many times it was mentioned in other blog posts, the story itself, the popularity of the site where the story news stories, and tweets. originally appeared, and the nature of the community of They did this not by looking at links, but by tracking the ap- readers at which it's aimed. pearance of distinctive phrases—such as "lipstick on a pig"— in Two new research papers, written by Leskovec and Stanford blog posts and articles. PhD candidate Jaewon Yang, reveal patterns in the way news They used this data to create a graph that revealed six distinct stories are shared online, which offer a way to predict early on patterns. Some stories, for example, spiked rapidly and then how a story's popularity will rise and fall. fell away, making a sharp, pointed shape. Others had more Predicting how widely a news story, or any other piece of infor- staying power, rising and falling more gently. mation, will travel could help websites position their content and advertising more effectively, Leskovec says. It could also More at http://www.technologyreview.com/web/27083/?a=f Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 15

New Reports and Papers - VI

JAMA: PHRs Must be Patient-Centered to Further, it guides them to the next action steps. Work ―A patient-centered personal health record should make By Editorial Staff, and Art Law Lucerne Research Centre, information actionable. It should allow patients to access and University of Lucerne coordinate care, provide personally tailored decision aids and educational materials, prioritize individual needs and integrate Personal health records (PHRs) have great potential to help care across primary and specialty care,‖ said Krist. patients manage their health, but the technology must be designed with the patient in mind—which means doing more ―The typical personal health record takes an oversimplified than helping patients merely access their health information, approach, such as issuing a blanket reminder for according to an editorial in the January 19 issue of the mammograms without considering the many factors that Journal of the American Medical Association. influence whether a screening is indicated,‖ he wrote.

In the editorial, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) The power of smart technology could enable PHRs to be far family medicine physicians Alexander Krist, MD, associate more refined and thereby more appealing to patients. professor in the department of family medicine in the VCU School of Medicine; and Steven Woolf, MD, professor in the Further, ―[the] personal health record is a legacy term—the department of family medicine and director of the VCU Center modern patient has more to do than keep records,‖ the for Human Needs, describe a model to guide the creation of editorial concluded. ―Information technology holds great more patient-centered PHRs. promise in empowering patients to manage their health but the patient must become the focus of the design if the Using principles from their model, Krist and Woolf‘s research technology is to be used or fulfill its potential.‖ team has created a patient-centered PHR for prevention which shows patients their medical information and tells them what More at http://www.cmio.net/index.php? it means in a way they can understand. option=com_articles&view=article&id=25885&division=cmio

Protected Health Information on Social medical students and residents to see who had Facebook Networking Sites: Ethical and Legal profiles. For each identified profile, we manually scanned the Considerations entire profile for any textual or photographic representations of protected health information, such as portrayals of people, By Lindsay A Thompson1, MD MS; Erik Black, PhD; W. Pat- names, dates, or descriptions of procedures. rick Duff, MD; Nicole Paradise Black, MD; Heidi Saliba, BA; Kara Dawson, PhD ; University of Florida, Department of While students and residents in this study are posting photographs that are potentially violations of patient privacy, Pediatrics they only seem to make this lapse in the setting of medical Social networking site use is increasingly common among mission trips. Trainees need to learn to equate standards of emerging medical professionals, with medical schools even patient privacy in all medical contexts using both legal and reporting disciplinary student expulsion. Medical professionals ethical arguments to maintain the highest professional who use social networking sites have unique responsibilities principles. We propose three practical guidelines. First, there since their postings could violate patient privacy. However, it is should be a legal resource for physicians traveling on medical unknown whether students and residents portray protected mission trips such as an online list of local laws, or a telephone health information and under what circumstances or contexts. legal contact. Second, institutions that organize medical mission trips should plan an ethics seminar prior the The objective of our study was to document and describe departure on any trip since the legal and ethical implications online portrayals of potential patient privacy violations in the may not be intuitive. Finally, at minimum, traveling physicians Facebook profiles of medical students and residents. should apply the strictest legal precedent to any situation. A multidisciplinary team performed two cross-sectional analyses at the University of Florida in 2007 and 2009 of all More at http://www.jmir.org/2011/1/e8/ Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 16

January Calendar Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat JANUARY 21, 2011 27 28 29 30 31 01 02 12:00 - 1:30 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled How Much Bandwidth Is Used For Online 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 " Piracy?". The speakers will include David Price (Envisional). Location: ITIF/ITIC, 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1101 K St., NW.

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 More at http://www.itif.org/events/how-much-bandwidth-used-online-piracy

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 JANUARY 21, 2011 5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the National Science Foundation (NSF) 31 01 02 03 04 05 06 regarding the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology's (PCAST) paper [148 pages in PDF] titled "Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Featured Conference Networking and Information Technology." Location: TBD of the Week More at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-32279.htm

41st Annual Collaborative JANUARY 25, 2011 Electronic Warfare Symposium. Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office Advanced Planning Briefing for Industry. The Combating Terrorism Technology Support Office operates under the

January 26, 2011– Westlake auspices of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/ Low-Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities. The Departments of State, Pt Mugu's 41st Annual EW Symposium: Energy, and Homeland Security, along with the FBI and other agencies, contribute "Collaborative Electronic Warfare" funds for projects of interest. Currently, the office oversees and supports three programs focusing on aspects of the war on al-Qaeda. Government representatives The AOC, under a co-sponsorship from more than 100 agencies contribute to identifying and selecting key agreement with NAWCWD, will hold requirements for combating terrorism, promoting solutions that serve multiple end the Collaborative Electronic Warfare users, and preventing unnecessary duplication of effort. The primary focus is on Conference at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza user participation and user-oriented requirements. The office reviews projects Hotel under development, identifies new user requirements, and reviews proposals for new research and development to meet those requirements. The Advanced This conference provides the Planning Briefing for Industry forecasts the requirements for potential projects that opportunity to break down service will be funded in the coming fiscal year and advertised using a broad agency barriers and to view collaborative EW announcement. Location: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Cen- from a joint force perspective, where ter, Washington, DC. intelligence, cyberspace, surveillance spectrum management and electronic More at http://www.ndia.org/meetings/1090/Pages/default.aspx attack will be discussed.

JANUARY 27, 2010 Speakers will represent collaborative 2:00 to 3:00 PM. Working To Create An Efficient Health IT Infrastructure. EW from the General Officer ranks to Healthcare systems across the country are looking at ways to simply and efficiently EW operators from recent operations. utilize Protected Health Information (PHI) to make more informed clinical, operational, and financial decisions. Baylor Health System will present their You will also be able to hear approach to developing a Simple and Efficient infrastructure that is risk adverse collaborative EW insight from leaders and cost efficient. Location: Online. in industry and DOD. Location: Pt Mugu, CA. More at http://www.himss.org/asp/ContentRedirector.asp? ContentId=74848&cetID=0

More at http://www.crows.org/ component/option,com_eventlist/ Itemid,39/id,114/view,details/ Volume 10, Issue 3, January 21, 2011 Page 17

Sites Compendium Book Notice www.azdailysun.com Alone Together: www.businessweek.com Why We Expect More From Technology and Less www.cmio.net From Each Other www.epractice.eu Reviewed by Jessica Bennett, Newsweek www.gcn.com How many times a day do you check your email? www.govhealthit.com When you wake up? Before bed? A dozen www.huffingtonpost.com times in between? www.igneous.scis.ecu.edu.au If you're like many of us, www.jmir.org the red blinking light of a www.pewinternet.org BlackBerry is the first thing you see each morn- www.politico.com ing—you've got mail!— and the last glimpse of www.prnewswire.com color to fade out before www.networkworld.com bedtime. www.nextgov.com It's constant and nagging—yet most of us www.nytimes.com say we can't live without www.rasmussenreports.com i t . A d d T w i t t e r , Facebook, and the rest of www.rferl.org our social-media obsessions to the mix, and the technology www.technologyreview.com that was supposed to simplify our lives has become the ultimate time-suck: the average teen spends more than seven www.time.com hours a day using technological devices, plus an additional hour just text-messaging friends. www.unilu.ch www.washingtonpost.com The advantage to all that gadgetry, of course, is connectedness: email lets us respond on the go, and we are in touch with more www.wsj.com people during more hours of the day than at any other time in history. But is it possible we're more lonely than ever, too?

That's what MIT professor Sherry Turkle observes in her new book, Alone Together, a fascinating portrait of our changing

relationship with technology.

Research and Selection: Stefaan Verhulst The result of nearly 15 years of study (and interviews with hundreds of subjects), Turkle details the ways technology has redefined our perceptions of intimacy and solitude—and warns Please send your questions, observations and suggestions to of the perils of embracing such pseudo-techno relationships in [email protected] place of lasting emotional connections. The views expressed in the Weekly Digest do not More at http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/11/sherry-turkle- necessarily reflect those of the Markle Foundation. looks-at-technology-and-relationships-in-alone-together.html