Kroll, the world’s leading risk consulting company, announced today that Michael DuBose, formerly Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), has joined the firm as a Managing Director and Cyber Investigations Practice Leader.

“Mike’s leadership of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section at the Department of Justice makes him uniquely qualified to lead our Cyber Investigations team”

Based in Washington, D.C., DuBose will oversee Kroll’s growing Cyber Investigations practice within the Business Intelligence and Investigations group. The team will provide comprehensive investigative services for digital forensics, data breach response, and complex cyber crimes.

“Mike’s leadership of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section at the Department of Justice makes him uniquely qualified to lead our Cyber Investigations team,” said Robert Brenner, Esq., Vice President of Business Intelligence and Investigations in the Americas. “He brings to Kroll vast experience guiding investigations related to cyber crime and the protection of intellectual property, two crucial growth areas for our business.”

As Chief of the DOJ’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), DuBose supervised 40 federal prosecutors and managed some of the largest investigations and prosecutions ever brought in the U.S. involving computer network intrusions, international phishing schemes, botnets, hacktivist groups, copyright piracy, theft of trade secrets, and large-scale data breaches. DuBose previously was Senior Counsel for Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Treasury, and also served for more than seven years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Maine. He began his career as a federal law clerk to the late Judge Edward T. Gignoux and Chief Judge Gene Carter of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. DuBose is a two-time winner of the Department of Justice Director’s Award, a three-time winner of Assistant Attorney General Awards for combating online crime and copyright piracy, and in 2011 he received the Criminal Division’s highest award – the Henry E. Peterson Memorial Award. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center for nearly a decade, and has written or been interviewed for a wide variety of publications on prosecuting computer crime and the criminal enforcement of intellectual property laws.

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Hard on the heels of reports that Google has been skirting privacy settings in Safari to track the browsing habits of iPhone users, Microsoft has said that Google is doing the same with Internet Explorer.  To quote Microsoft’s Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice President of Internet Explorer, “Google is employing similar methods (to what it employed with Safari) to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies. …We’ve also contacted Google and asked them to commit to honoring P3P privacy settings for users of all browsers”.  In his blog post Hachamovitch went on to add, “IE blocks third-party cookies unless the site presents a P3P Compact Policy Statement indicating how the site will use the cookie and that the site’s use does not include tracking the user. Google’s P3P policy causes Internet Explorer to accept Google’s cookies even though the policy does not state Google’s intent….

“Google sends a P3P policy that fails to inform the browser about Google’s use of cookies and user information. Google’s P3P policy is actually a statement that it is not a P3P policy”.

Microsoft has, in the meantime, offered a solution of its own that entails upgrading to Internet Explorer 9 if you haven’t already, and installing a Tracking Protection List that will completely block any further tracking attempts.

Google has responded stating that Microsoft omitted important information from its blog post and that Microsoft’s use of a ‘self-declaration’ protocol, dating from 2002, requires websites to represent their privacy practices in machine-readable form.  The Google statement goes on to say, “It is well known – including by Microsoft – that it is impractical to comply with Microsoft’s request while providing modern web functionality.  We have been open about our approach, as have many other websites.

“Today the Microsoft policy is widely non-operational. A 2010 research report indicated that over 11,000 websites were not issuing valid P3P policies as requested by Microsoft.”

In a further development, lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate, in the aftermath of reports of privacy violations of Safari users, whether Google violated a consent agreement the company had reached with the FTC last year.

“As members of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, we are interested in any actions that the FTC has taken or plans to take to investigate whether Google has violated the terms of its consent agreement,” the lawmakers said in the letter.

Google has since disabled the code that had allowed it to track Safari users.

The post Code of Honor Broken? first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

misrepresenting and concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4 – particularly as it relates to the quality of the mobile phone antenna and reception and related software.”

The class-action lawsuit will also result in the floating of a separate website to access settlement claims with the domain www.iPhone4Settlement.com.

As part of the settlement emails would be sent to consumers within April 30, 2012 and the period for claims would remain open for 120 days. Consumers will be able to find information about the settlement and ways to file a claim on the designated website.

As a preliminary reconciliation package, consumers of iPhone 4 can claim for $ 15 compensation in cash or a bumper case for iPhone 4 provided by Apple.

Customers who opted for Apple’s reconciliatory offering of a free iPhone case in 2010 will not be eligible for this compensation.

The lead counsel in the case, Ira Rothken, remarked “We believe that the Applie iPhone 4 settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable…it allows members of the class to choose, and they can get $15 of cash or a bumper, so we believe that type of choice is proportional to the circumstances.”

The public outcry over faulty antennas in iPhone 4 had been popularly dubbed “antennagate,” and for over three weeks, Apple dragged its feet trying to prove that other phones had similar problems too, and the faults did not merit special attention.

However, in Apple’s favor are facts that the company first offered consumers to return the phone for a complete refund, or opt for a complementary case from Apple or other makers. Apple Inc. kept this offer going for two months and also made software update that altered the visual representation of reception bar indicators.

The iPhone 4S, Apple’s latest offering was released last October. This device is free of the problems faced by the earlier iPhone 4.

The post Apple Settles Class-action Lawsuit Over iPhone 4 Performance first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

The people who were in her room at the time of the fatal incident included her stylist, two bodyguards, and her hairdresser, who was present to make her ready for Clive Davis’s party. They became worried as the time for the party drew near and Whitney was still in the bathroom crossing an hour. When there was no response to knocks on the bathroom door, the hairdresser, who was a lady, went in to find Whitney face down in her tub and started to scream. The bodyguards pulled Whitney’s body out of the tub.

Authorities are of the opinion that a mix of Xanax and alcohol proved a fatal sedative for Whitney. While the cause of death is still to be established officially, Beverly Hill cops have recovered multiple bottles of pills from Whitney’s hotel room including Xanax. Until now there is no report of any contraband.

There are reports that Whitney was used to taking Xanax before big shows. Like many other celebrities, Whitney suffered from anxiety and took pills to relax before going on stage.

Whitney’s autopsy would be done today, but the results would be announced only after receiving the toxicology report.

The family of Whitney is severely distraught, and while as reported previously, her ex-husband, Bobby Brown had suffered severe crying fits during a concert. Her daughter, and only child, Bobby Kristina Brown, was admitted to Cedears-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles today.

Legendary singer Tony Bennett went on record following Whitney Houston’s death that it was time to legalize drugs. While addressing the gathering in an evening in Whitney’s memory, Bennett said, “First it was Michael Jackson, then Amy Winehouse, now the magnificent Whitney Houston. Let’s legalize drugs like Amsterdam, it’s a very sane city now.”

Jennifer Hudson would be performing a tribute in Houston’s honor at the Grammy Awards.

The post Did Whitney Drown In Her Bathtub? first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Whitney’s mother Cissy Houston and Dionne Warwick, Whitney’s cousin, who were among the last to speak to her on phone, said she sounded fine even a few hours before her death. However, sources report that she did not look well during her last performance for a Grammy party on Thursday.

The law enforcement has not reached any conclusion about her death since it is too early to comment, however, BH PD detectives have launched an investigation and the police have applied for a search warrant to investigate the hotel room where she died. Beverly Hills police have sealed off the room until completion of investigation.

Whitney Houston was one of the best known singers of these times and she won six Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards during her stellar career as a singer. Her album named “Whitney” was the first ever album sung by a woman to have debuted at the top slot on the Billboard Charts. As of today, more than 200 million copies of her albums have been legally sold across the world.

Houston was married from 1992 to 2007 with Bobby Brown and has a child Bobbi Kristina.

Her family was heartbroken to have lost her at an early age of only 48. Her ex-husband, Bobby Brown, was reported to have gone into crying fits several times during a concert after the news reached him.

Sources say that there is no sign of foul play in Whitney’s death; however, her history of drug abuse has made police seal off the room of her death and conduct an investigation.

Ed Winter, the LA County Coroner reported that it is too early to make any comments.

Whitney was found dead in her room by a member of her group who called hotel security, and the security then dialed 911. Paramedics found Whitney without any response on arrival. She was declared dead by doctors at 3.55 PM.

The post Whitney Houston Dead in Hotel Room first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

As expressed by Simon Wiggs from Major, Lindsey & Africa, one of the better known legal recruitment firms in Hong Kong, “When you are working until the small hours of the morning and you realize your peer who is also doing the same work some levels up in the same building is getting paid double what you’re getting, you are going to think about that….”

While until now, Hong Kong had acted as a gateway to China with international litigation dominated by large British law firms, the scene is changing drastically. US law firms with smaller presence are carrying a bigger punch as they continue to draw in the top talent.

Recruiters are of the opinion that the talent drain in favor of US law firms is visible and potent, established British Law Firms who continue to be employer brands express lack of concern.

Over the last two years, big American law firms have been entering Asia, and contrary to locally popular practice, they have not been paying discriminatory rates to their Asian Associates, but maintaining the American brand of fair pay for all across the same organization.

This gives new associates in Hong Kong, who have been fortunate enough to bag positions with good US law firms, a starting salary about 75% more than that of a lawyer in a British firm in Hong Kong.

That, of course, means the talented and hardworking are making a beeline for US Law Firms, and there is a unilateral talent drain in the local market. Competing international law firms from many other nations are seeing red for such practices are cutting into their pockets and power.

In the market, Magic Circle firms which dominated the legal scene in Hong Kong from the time it was a British colony still matter as brands to sport on associate resumes. However, the strategy followed by US law firms to pay in the same scale as that of New York associates is building an image of fair dealing that is hard to ignore. While individual British firms may still hold brand value to new associates, as a collective, US law firms have come to represent better pay and by extension better respect for talent and skills.

Many of the American firms, counting Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, have paid all their associates across the world “New York scale” salaries beginning at $160,000 for fresh entrants. Until now, most international firms maintained different pay scales for U.S., U.K., and Hong Kong lawyers and the moves by US law firms can well precipitate a salary war to maintain turfs in Hong Kong and China.

The post US Law Firms in China Enjoy Competitive Edge Because They Pay Better first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe seems to have found that elusive balance in compensation policy that fulfills the demands of productivity, man-hours billed, and transparency, all at the same time. Many seemed skeptical when in February Orrick announced its bonus policy for associates claiming to fix compensations based on the following criteria:

1. Work quality;
2. Productivity, including hours and efficiency;
3. Contribution to the practice group; and
4. Contribution to the Firm

It’s clear that Orrick Herrington has been able to juggle the equations and come out with fair compensation packages for associates, without sacrificing an iota of transparency. That by itself is no minor feat.

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe 2011 Merit Bonus Distribution Table for All US Associates

According to the firm, barring those who joined after June 30, 2011, eighty percent of all US associates received a merit bonus, and the score is consistent with the percent of associates who received merit bonuses in 2010.

To further the balance of incentives vs. required criteria, Orrick created a “Time Lag Incentive Program” on the following lines to include time entry based performance:

• An incentive of $5000 for associates who released time on a daily basis, met other performance criteria, and had an annual average time lag of 1.09 or less
• An incentive of $3500 for associates who entered and released time on alternate days and had a time lag between 1.1 and 2.49
• Respectively 5% and 7.5% merit bonus reduction for associates who had an average time lag between 3.5 and 9.9, and those who had an average time lag of 10 days and more

On all counts, Orrick continues to lead the market when it comes to fair compensation and bonus packages of associates among the big law firms.

The post Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe Keeps Associate-friendly Payment Policies first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Ford’s not amused. They are clearly upset with the Chevy truck ad which suggests that Ford trucks are not tough enough to survive the apocalypse.  Letters have been shot out to both the NBC as well as General Motors demanding that the offensive ad be pulled out.

GM remains unfazed. They stand by their claim that the Silverado is the most dependable and the longest lasting pickup on the road. Can last till after the world ends!!!! So if you are worried about the Mayan apocalypse, you need a Silverado.

Tall Claims???

Well, that’s what Ford believes. Ford is convinced (and would like to convince the ad viewers too!)that it is America’s number one selling truck for over 35 years and also the only brand with more trucks on the road with more than 250,000 miles. That gives it full marks for durability and takes it way ahead of Chevy.

Ford believes that the Chevy ad is totally false and misleading.  Per Ford, while the Chevy ad leans on Polk data of longevity, the ad actually communicates that Chevy is more durable than the Ford. Polk’s data on durability is however in favor of Ford. That makes the Chevy ad baseless and its claims disparaging.

For those not familiar with ad, the Chevy ad shows a Chevy Silverado owner driving through the rubble of a post-apocalyptic city. The expression and the background music convey the feeling: We’ve made it! When the driver meets fellow survivors (all of whom are driving the Silverado) and asks about his friend Dave, he is told that Dave did not survive. Reason? He wasn’t driving the longest-lasting, most dependable truck on the road…he was driving a Ford.

In its letter to the NBC, Ford has demanded that GM refrain from running the commercial with immediate effect. It has also demanded that the commercial’s online presence and promotion be totally stopped.

The post Buy a Ford and you will die – claims Chevy first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

The cops in Jenson Beach pulled over Maureen Raymond last weekend for rash driving and crossing the double yellow lines. Suspecting that she was driving under the influence of alcohol, the police decided to put the red and glassy eyed Florida woman, smelling of alcohol, through a field sobriety test. Maureen resisted the test, explaining to the officers that she would not be able to pass the test (which obviously requires that you balance well) because she was heavy chested.

No one was surprised when Maureen could not get through the test. But they were in for a shock, when instead of even trying to walk, Maureen broke into a dance. Maureen refused the chance to re-try the test, claiming her “huge boobies” would make it difficult for her to balance. She went on to prove her claims to the Sheriff’s deputy by trying to remove her clothes.

That’s when the cops decided they had had enough and arrested her on charges of drunk driving. The police found a glass in the back of her car which they suspect contained alcohol. Obviously her huge breasts were not at fault for Maureen Raymond failing the sobriety test.

The post Florida woman blames huge breasts for inability to clear sobriety tests first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

The diver Peter Lindberg, who made the find remarked, “I have been doing this for nearly 20 years so I have seen a few objects on the bottom, but nothing like this.” The first pictures from the deep-sea side sonar showed a 400 meters long cylinder-shaped object with about 60 meters diameter. A second pass over the object showed up another disc-like huge-something about 200 meters off the original object first caught by the sonar.

The attention of the world has been drawn, because even according to the finders who are veterans at shipwreck discovery, the sizes of the objects are too big to be part of a shipwreck or of things fallen off a ship. The sonar pictures being analyzed by experts around the world have established that there is definitely something worth exploring, though the nature of the objects is yet to be established.

Andreas Olsson, the Head of Archaeology at Sweden’s Maritime Museums is intrigued but reserves his judgment on whether these are natural geological formations or artificial objects. Enthusiasts, however, believe that these could be parts of an UFO or a Nazi remnant.

Until more can be ascertained by the experts, the costs of a full-scale exploration cannot be justified. As expressed by Professor Andrew Lambert, an expert on maritime history from the UK, “If you want to stand in a cold shower tearing up £50 notes, go shipwrecks hunting.”

Not all, of course, are so pessimistic. An American company which recently made the prize find of two British shipwrecks containing hundreds of tons of silver off the coast of Ireland are also considering the find. Mark Gordon, president of the company Odyssey Marine Exploration says that they have on their watch list, more than 100 ships lost at sea, each having value in excess of US$ 50 million.

The hunt for shipwrecked treasure continues as a functioning industry because, as put by Gordon, “When you think about the fact until the mid 20th century, the only way to transport wealth was on the oceans and a lot of ships were lost, it adds up to a formula where we have billions of dollars worth of interesting and valuable things on the sea floor.”

So, until the waters are calm again in the Baltic, and more becomes known, these recent findings would continue to add fuel to the claims of interest groups ranging from UFO supporters to treasure hunters. At the very least, if the mystery remains unsolved due to lack of funds, it would become food for fiction.

The post UFO or Ship of Gold? Sonar Image of Anomalies at the Bottom of the Baltic. first appeared on JDJournal Blog.