F.A.A. to Review Rules on Use of Electronic Devices

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Wednesday, August 29, 2012

F.A.A. to Review Rules on Use of Electronic Devices

By JAD MOUAWAD

Air travelers carrying smartphones, digital tablets and other electronic devices have long complained about having to turn off their gadgets until reaching an altitude of 10,000 feet.

On a clear day with no air traffic, that could mean shutting off the devices for 20 minutes or so. But if a flight is delayed, this form of electronic solitary confinement can last a lot longer — and pose a significant hardship for those desperate to connect.

“People are addicted to their phones and there is a lot of dead time when you are taxiing or in the air,” said Anne Banas, the executive editor of SmarterTravel.com, a consumer travel Web site.

Now the Federal Aviation Administration may be softening a bit on the restrictions, taking a first step in possibly accommodating the growing pervasiveness of digital technology.

The agency has initiated a review of its policies about electronic devices in all phases of flight, including takeoff and landing. The F.A.A. said Monday that it would set up a group composed of technology manufacturers, plane makers, pilots and flight attendants to examine the issues this fall. The group would report back within six months.

Their mission will be to figure out whether electronic devices can cause interference with the cockpit and when to allow their use without compromising safety. The F.A.A. said it was not considering lifting the prohibition on the use of cellphones during flight.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

A Test of Smart Cars Gets Under Way

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A Test of Smart Cars Gets Under Way

By BILL VLASIC

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Federal regulators on Tuesday announced a yearlong “smart car” project to determine whether wireless communication between vehicles can improve safety on the nation’s highways.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said 3,000 cars, buses and trucks in this city near Detroit would be equipped with data recorders and a technology akin to Wi-Fi that can transmit information about accidents or hazardous traffic conditions.

Drivers in the connected vehicles will be warned, for example, of sudden changes in traffic patterns or potential collisions through data transmitted from similarly equipped cars and roadside devices.

Mr. LaHood said the $25 million study would yield data useful in deciding whether the government should require such crash avoidance technology in future vehicles.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

Cardiologist Warns on St. Jude Heart Device

The following is an excerpt from an article in

The New York Times
Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Cardiologist Warns on St. Jude Heart Device

By BARRY MEIER and KATIE THOMAS

A cardiologist who studies the safety of heart devices said surgeons should stop using a component sold by St. Jude Medical until more is known about the long-term safety of the device.

The cardiologist, Dr. Robert G. Hauser of Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, made his comments as a study he conducted was published online. His research suggests that a proprietary material used by St. Jude to coat wires that connect an implanted defibrillator to a patient’s heart is breaking down prematurely and, in some cases, leading to failure of the device. The study was published by EP Europace, a British cardiology journal.

St. Jude began using the coating, which is known as Optim, several years ago as a means of better protecting its leads from abrasion. But Dr. Hauser said a troubling number of cases had been reported to the Food and Drug Administration in which the Optim coating appeared to fail.

“There is no need to use this lead until we have more confidence in its performance,” he said in an interview Monday.

The company has vigorously defended the safety of Optim and its current defibrillator lead, which is known as the Durata and has been implanted in an estimated 278,000 patients worldwide, according to St. Jude.

In a statement Tuesday, the company noted that leads from all manufacturers can fail and said the Optim coating is 50 times more resistant to abrasion than silicone, the standard coating. St. Jude also said its product registries are monitoring 11,000 patients with the company’s current generation of leads, and it recently announced that it would follow patients in the registry with Optim-coated leads “indefinitely.”

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

For Buckyballs Toys, Child Safety Is a Growing Issue

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Friday, August 17, 2012

For Buckyballs Toys, Child Safety Is a Growing Issue

By ANDREW MARTIN

Three years ago, two pals from Brooklyn came up with the idea of creating a desktop toy out of powerful magnets. Their creation, Buckyballs, became an instant hit. And by this year, the two — Craig Zucker and Jake Bronstein — had expected annual sales to reach about $25 million.

But their business plan has hit a major, unanticipated snag.

Buckyballs are made from rare-earth elements, which makes them much more powerful than most magnets — and potentially more dangerous when ingested. Though the product is marketed to adults and festooned with warning labels, regulators have moved to stop sales because children keep swallowing Buckyballs and similar products made by others.

An administrative complaint filed last month by the Consumer Product Safety Commission seeks to require the company — officially called Maxfield & Oberton Holdings — to tell the public about the problem and offer customers a refund. The safety commission also asked 12 other manufacturers of rare-earth magnets to voluntarily recall their products and stop sales; 11 have complied.

Besides Buckyballs, Zen Magnets, a small company in Denver, refused. Last week, the safety commission filed an administrative complaint against Zen Magnets too.“The labeling, the warnings, the packaging does not work,” Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the safety agency, said of the products. “You have young children who come into a room and get their hands on a loose magnet or two.”

The action involving Buckyballs and Zen Magnets is unusual because the safety commission rarely files an administrative complaint, which is essentially a request for a mandatory recall. The last one, filed 11 years ago, was against Daisy Manufacturing, which makes BB guns. In Buckyballs’ case, a hearing will be scheduled before an administrative law judge, who will decide whether to grant the safety commission’s request.

In the meantime, Mr. Zucker has started an aggressive public campaign to win support for Buckyballs. Using the cheeky slogan “Save Our Balls,” his company has taken out newspaper ads in Washington, directed at President Obama and lawmakers, and stoked a campaign on social media Web sites like Facebook and Twitter.

In doing so, Mr. Zucker has found enthusiastic support from those who believe the Obama administration has pushed regulation too far.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

Former Upper Big Branch Mine Superintendent Pleads Guilty to Felony Conspiracy 

U.S. Attorney’s OfficeMarch 29, 2012

Southern District of West Virginia(304) 345-2200

BECKLEY, WV—Gary May, 43, of Bloomingrose, West Virginia, pleaded guilty today in federal court before U.S. District Judge Irene C. Berger to conspiracy to impede the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) enforcement efforts at Massey Energy Company’s Upper Big Branch mine (UBB) between February 2008 and April 5, 2010. Upper Big Branch was the site of a fatal explosion on April 5, 2010 that killed 29 miners. May was the mine’s superintendent at the time of the explosion.

In February 2012, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia R. Booth Goodwin, II filed a one-count information against May, charging him with conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding MSHA in carrying out its lawful functions.

“People who run coal mines have a fundamental obligation to be honest with mine regulators,” said U.S. Attorney Goodwin. “When mine operators resort to tricks and deceit to keep government officials in the dark, our mine safety system unravels and miners are put in harm’s way. The least we can do for coal miners is protect the integrity of the laws designed to keep them safe.”

“I’m pleased that Mr. May is cooperating with our investigation,” U.S. Attorney Goodwin continued. “We hope he can give us a better picture of what was going on at this company.”

May admitted that he and others conspired to impede MSHA in administering and enforcing mine health and safety laws at UBB. He acknowledged giving advance warning of MSHA inspections, often using code phrases to avoid detection. May also admitted to concealing health and safety violations when he knew inspections were imminent. The violations concealed included poor airflow in the mine, piles of loose and combustible coal, and scarcities of rock dust, which prevents mine explosions.

May also acknowledged that he ordered a mine examination book to be falsified. May said he told miners to rewire the methane gas detector on a piece of mine equipment so the equipment could run illegally.

May faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on August 9, 2012.

The FBI and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General are handling the investigation. Counsel to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Steve Ruby is handling the prosecution.

PRESS RELEASE

Cisco Introduces Connected Video Surveillance Delivered on Cisco Unified Computing System

Virtualized Applications on the Network Support Massive Scalability and Performance Increases; Reduce Total Cost of Ownership For Large Scale Safety and Security Operations

Related Information

Banka Postanska Stedionica, Serbia

The Cisco Serbia team for the Banka Postanska Stedionica discuss the physical security deployment

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 21, 2012 – Cisco today announced thatCisco® Video Surveillance software is available on Cisco's award winning Unified Computing System™  (Cisco UCS™) platform, now in use by more than 11,000 customers. By virtualizing Cisco Video Surveillance software, Cisco is providing significantly improved levels of performance, scalability, agility and manageability.

Cisco Physical Security solutions enable organizations to transform the way they protect people, property and critical infrastructure. The virtualization of these solutions with Cisco Unified Data Center applications is part of Cisco's strategy to move toward a solutions-led building block approach for the complete Cisco Physical Security portfolio, resulting in an optimized IP network and Physical Security foundation.

This announcement is the next step in Cisco's physical security strategy, providing customers with hyper-scalability and capacity, lower cost of ownership and simplified management. This news follows the Cisco physical security strategy evolution announced in Fall 2011 which aligned Cisco strengths with market opportunities and customer requirements to focus on large-scale strategic deployments. This provides customers with a combination of Cisco physical security products, services, third-party products and systems, and core networking, data center, video and collaboration offerings to support business needs.

The Video Surveillance Manager on UCS solution represents the first Cisco Video Surveillance Building Block that meets the deployment requirements for large-scale city, transportation, healthcare and energy requirements.

Key Facts:

• Modular UCS platform building blocks support massive scalability increases of up to 1,000 percent versus dedicated server solutions, allowing customers to scale to tens of thousands of cameras, delivering networked video surveillance for commercial, disaster and first responder needs, as well as large events.
• With a new rapid provisioning deployment model for large-scale city surveillance, transportation, critical infrastructure, energy, healthcare and other industries, Cisco Video Surveillance Manager provides centralized management with improved situational awareness and real-time response capabilities.
• UCS Express extends video surveillance as a service on the network as an easy-to-deploy, virtual solution with application consolidation on a blade-form factor for equipment that already exists in many branch offices.
• As part of an end-to-end solution, Cisco UCS offers infrastructure consolidation in the data center with innovative virtualization, memory, provisioning, I/O and management capabilities. Cisco UCS Express integrates the compute platform with all-in-one device convergence to facilitate the extension of data center applications into the branch.
• Management provided by the Cisco Unified Data Center, Unified Management, Unified Fabric and Unified Computing Systems delivers IT agility for fast provisioning, flexibility and lower operating costs.
• Highly secure separation capabilities for multi-tenant environments increase logical security and access control.
• Modular, scalable, high-density, and energy efficient, Cisco Physical Security Storage series platforms, as well as industry leading storage options from EMC and NetApp, will be available for use with Virtualized Video Surveillance as this solution is extended to the UCS B-Series and C-Series platforms.
• Cisco Capital® offers a variety of flexible financing offers to streamline the acquisition of Cisco products and services.

Supporting Quotes:

• Guido Jouret, general manager, Enterprise Video Group, Cisco, said: "Virtualizing video surveillance offers organizations reduced infrastructure costs, faster disaster recovery and deployment, reduced staffing needs and cooling costs, and improved application performance. Our solutions-led building block strategy focuses on virtualizing all Cisco software applications with Cisco Unified Data Center applications to support optimal end-to-end video quality."

• Dragisa Lojanica, head of IT, Banka Postanska Stedionica, Serbia, said: "The value of our recent Cisco deployment became evident soon after it was enabled. Cisco experts proved their in-depth understanding of our need to create a modern and efficient security surveillance infrastructure to help ensure that our customers and employees are protected, while streamlining operations, improving business efficiency and cutting costs."

• Dave Temple, assistant director of Technology Strategy, Loughborough University, United Kingdom, said: "Cisco Video Surveillance solutions increase our confidence that our students are protected with the highest quality products and support. Loughborough University is actively embracing the cloud model of service delivery using Cisco UCS at the core of its co-operative cloud system. The virtualized deployment model of the 6.3.2 release, based on Cisco's proven designs for modular building block solutions supported by lifecycle services, will dramatically improve management, scalability, performance and lower total cost of ownership while helping to significantly reduce risks."

• Rohan Mendis, telecommunications strategy manager, Transport for Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, said: "Cisco has provided a scalable platform solution to Transport for Greater Manchester, in support of our efforts to provide a safe and secure environment for the travelling public, our staff and visitors to our City. We see the introduction of a virtualised cloud solution as part of the latest Cisco 6.3.2 release as a natural and positive development that will further improve the resilience, availability and cost effectiveness of the existing architecture, and is exciting both for us and for the technology sector as a whole. In our opinion, this approach will reduce design and network risks, improve affordability, and we welcome the scalability and management opportunities for improvement that this change enables."

Availability:

• Video Surveillance Software release 6.3.2 is available now on UCS Express.
• The software is scheduled to be available on other platforms including Cisco UCS B and C Series in June 2012.
• Pricing for the UCS Express-based solution block starts from $2500.

Supporting Resources:

• To learn more, visit Cisco Physical Security: www.cisco.com/go/physec
• Cisco Video Surveillance for Unified Computing System Express data sheet:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps6918/ps9145/ps9152/data_sheet_c78-703863.html
• Network readiness for IP video surveillance solution brief:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps6918/ps9145/ps9152/solution_brief_c11-652089.pdf
• Network readiness assessment for video surveillance:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Video/IPVS/IPVS_Network_Assessment.html
• Cisco-based high-performance network and video surveillance system installed in Russia's leading TV company, NTV: http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=706226
• Serbian Postal Savings Bank deploys Cisco Connected Physical Security solutions:http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=736354
• Case Study: Transportation agency centralizes video surveillance:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps6918/ps9145/ps9152/casestudy_c36-610593.html
• Case Study: University cost-effectively expands video surveillance:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps6918/ps9145/ps9152/Case_study_c36-562710.html
• Video: the Cisco Serbia team for the Banka Postanska Stedionica discuss the physical security deployment:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_uiABWrcdo

Technorati Tags: Cisco, Physical Security, Video Surveillance, Safety & Security, UCS, Virtualized Security, UCS, UCS Express, BYOD, Multi-Tenant Data Center Architectures, Cisco Cloud, Cisco Video, Cisco Enterprise Video, Business Video, virtualization, unified data center

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go tohttp://newsroom.cisco.com.

# # #

News Release from Microsoft - Protection

Microsoft Deploys IDV Solutions’ Software to Help Protect Its People and Facilities

Next-generation physical security visualization software supports faster and more informed decision-making than the previous generation.

inShare7

REDMOND, Wash. — March 14, 2012 — To help ensure the safety and security of its employees and contractors across more than 100 countries and nearly 700 facilities, Microsoft Corp. today announced it has deployed IDV Solutions’ new Visual Command Center software in its three Global Security Operations Centers. These centers are responsible for integrating and coordinating Microsoft’s security operations around the globe. The announcement was made at the Worldwide Public Safety Symposium in Redmond, Wash., an annual event designed to increase awareness of how technology can support the public safety sector and provide practical solutions that can be used to address daily challenges. Microsoft Global Security, which oversees the operation centers located in Redmond; Reading, England; and Hyderabad, India, monitors more than 27,000 pieces of hardware — including access card readers, cameras, fire panels, environmental alarms, biometric security systems and duress alarms — and manages more than 185,000 active cardholders and more than 30 million system events each month. “Microsoft Global Security’s charter is to establish and maintain a safe and secure working environment at all times, and we’re committed to supporting a cutting-edge technology environment to enable this,” said Michael Foynes, senior director, Global Security Operations, Microsoft. “IDV Solutions’ Visual Command Center is essential to maintaining our security mission — from routine day-to-day local operations to crisis management at our facilities worldwide, making a real impact on our ability to help keep our people safe.” As part of Microsoft’s command and control operations platform, IDV Solutions’ Visual Command Center integrates the gigabytes of data that pour in each second from multiple internal security systems and external data feeds around the world, uniting them in a dynamic, common operating picture that helps Microsoft Global Security make more informed decisions, coordinate responses and even save lives. “With Visual Command Center, organizations such as Microsoft are able to better integrate data from multiple security systems with information from around the world,” said Mark Morrison, chief executive officer and co-founder of IDV Solutions. “It helps them to identify and assess risk and, ultimately, to protect people and assets.” Visual Command Center is an evolution of Visual Fusion, IDV Solutions’ tool for data visualization. Like Visual Fusion, Visual Command Center unites data from multiple sources in the context of time and geography. Visual Command Center adds features that specifically address security professionals’ needs, such as real-time alerting, mobile applications and the ability to display multifloor building plans directly over building locations on a map. Also included in Visual Command Center is a bundle of subscription and open source data feeds selected for their relevance to security operations, including terrorism incidents, crime reports and global disaster alerts. Microsoft Global Security previously deployed Visual Fusion to help protect employees in the wake of civil unrest and political instability in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The technology was used to continually check the proximity of Microsoft office locations to the center of demonstrations; these maps then were disseminated to Microsoft Incident Management Teams with situation updates. Similarly, in response to the massive March 2011 Japanese earthquake, Microsoft Global Security used Visual Fusion to check the proximity of offices to the earthquake and tsunami disaster zones. “From everyday events like a burst water main to the large-scale impact of hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, situational awareness solutions such as Visual Command Center provide an intuitive geospatial display of information, which allows our Incident Management Teams to make more informed and precise decisions and better prioritize efforts and resources, an absolute must in immediate response actions,” said Mike Howard, chief security officer, Microsoft Global Security. The Worldwide Public Safety Symposium held March 13–15 in Redmond is attended by government officials, policymakers and information communication technology strategists from around the world, working together to deliver safer communities and national security. The conversation is at #2012PSS.

Union Pacific to Pay $1.5 Million for Clean Water Act Violations

News release from EPA Region 8:

Union Pacific Railroad Company to pay $1.5 million for Clean Water Act violations in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming

Company cited for oil and coal spills, inadequate prevention and planning
Contact Information: Donna Inman (303) 312-6201; Matthew Allen, (303) 312-6085
(Denver, Colo—February 9th, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement with Union Pacific Railroad Company regarding alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act.

This settlement resolves a Clean Water Act enforcement action against Union Pacific that involves continuing operations at 20 rail yards in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, as well as spills of oil and coal in 2003 and 2004 along railroad lines in all three states.

For the railyards, EPA alleges Union Pacific violated EPA’s Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) and Facility Response Plan (FRP) regulations. These regulations are the first line of defense for preventing oil spills and providing immediate containment measures when an oil spill does occur.

“Today we have secured a settlement that will help prevent spills, protect water quality, and improve the safety of Union Pacific’s operations in 20 communities across Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming,” said Jim Martin, EPA regional administrator. “Union Pacific has already begun putting necessary measures in place and we will ensure they continue to do so.”

As part of the settlement, Union Pacific will pay a civil penalty of $1.5 million of which approximately $1.4 million will be deposited into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a fund used by federal agencies to respond to oil spills. The remaining $100,000 will be deposited in the U.S. Treasury for the coal spills and stormwater violations. In addition, the settlement requires the company to develop a management and reporting system to ensure compliance with SPCC regulations, FRP regulations, and storm water requirements at 20 rail yards in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Union Pacific must take further actions to control stormwater runoff at the Burnham Rail Yard in Denver, which are anticipated to prevent the discharge of approximately 2,500 pounds of chemical oxygen demand, 50 pounds of nitrate, 11,000 pounds of total suspended solids, and 30 pounds of zinc annually to waters in the Denver area.

This settlement will benefit many communities in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, many of which are disadvantaged, by requiring Union Pacific to install secondary containment to safely store oil and prevent oil spills from leaving its properties. Further, it will require the company to designate an environmental vice-president responsible for complying with oil spill prevention and stormwater control requirements at the 20 railyards. The majority of the 20 locations cited in the settlement are in disadvantaged areas with significant low-income and/ or minority populations.

The complaint alleges the following violations:

• ·         Six oil spills in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming
• ·         Three coal spills in Colorado
• ·         Inadequate SPCC plans and/or inadequate SPCC plan implementation (e.g., inadequate secondary containment) at the following 20 rail yards:
  • o   Denver 36^th Street, Burnham, Denver North, East Portal Moffatt Tunnel, Grand Junction, Kremmling, Pueblo, and Rifle, all in Colorado
  • o   Helper, Ogden, Provo, Roper, Salt Lake City North, and Summit, all in Utah
    • §  Also for six rail yards in Utah, failure to provide certifications and reports for storm water pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs) as required by the Utah Multi-Sector General Permit.
• o   Bill, Buford, Cheyenne, Green River, Laramie, and Rawlins, all in Wyoming
  • §  Also for the Rawlins, Wyoming rail yard, an inadequate FRP and a failed Government Initiated Unannounced Exercise

For more information on the Clean Water Act, visit EPA's compliance web page: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/cwa/index.html

For more information on Environmental Justice within EPA Region 8 please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region8/ej/index.html

Help EPA protect our nation's land, air and water by reporting violations: http://www.epa.gov/tips/

Safer Internet Day

News release from IBM:

IBM Releases Free Internet Security Training Tools to Educate Students, Teachers and Parents on Digital Responsibility

IBMers Volunteer to Teach Students How to Protect their Personal Data in an Online Environment

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ARMONK, N.Y. - 07 Feb 2012:  IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that in conjunction with Safer Internet Day, (#SID2012) it will release free Internet safety training tools for students and have thousands of volunteers working to help raise awareness and educate students and businesses on Internet safety and digital responsibility.

IBM is unveiling three free volunteer kits to better educate students, parents and teachers on Internet safety:

• Control Your Online Identity  - A volunteer education kit, it is designed to help teenagers learn to protect personal data online and reputation online. Teenagers are typically savvy about how to use the Internet, but often unaware about what happens to personal data once it's shared. This presentation and volunteer information helps students learn how to protect personal data and control how they present themselves online.
• Internet Safety Coaching - Aimed at teachers or adults working with children, this is a general primer on Internet safety providing basic information about common Internet activities by young people including instant messaging and social networking.   This kit is designed to raise awareness of Internet safety and how to have a meaningful and open dialogue with children on this topic.
• Cyberbullying -- Aimed at parents or adults who work with children, this activity helps adults learn about how young people use the Internet today and how to recognize cyberbullying symptoms, how to prevent online bullying from happening and how to intervene if it does happen.

"IBMers are committed to helping educate people on ways to safely and securely use the Internet," said Harriet Pearson, IBM Security Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer. "The resources we are donating will help teachers and parents raise awareness that most Internet-based threats to individual and computer security can significantly be reduced by actions that informed users take themselves."

In conjunction with today's announcement, IBM volunteers around the world are educating communities about Internet safety. Some select activities include:

• In Finland, IBM's lead volunteer on Cyberbullying will participate in a national summit at Helsinki City Hall in conjunction with Safer Internet Day. 60 IBM volunteers have already run Cyberbullying workshops for parents in 100 schools across Finland.
• In Germany, IBM will expand its partnership with klicksafe, the national partner of the Insafe network, focusing on the Manage Your Identity Initiative, Already more than 500 IBM, retiree and partner volunteers have delivered over 100 interactive workshops on the topic to more around 3,000 students around the country.
• In Italy, an IBM team will conduct events in local schools using both the IBM materials and afilm from Safer Internet Day to discuss Internet safety and cyberbullying.
• In Romania, IBM volunteers are partnering with NGOs APDETIC and Junior Achievement Romania to deliver an Internet Safety session to students focusing on controlling your online identity and Facebook usage.
• In the United Kingdom, IBM volunteers will use the volunteer kits to promote online safety awareness in schools.  IBMers will partner with non-profit YPNGlobal on their initiative called Cyber Champions. 

Last year IBM employees donated more than three million hours of volunteer service.  The company has donated 34 volunteer kits to help both IBMers as well as community members have meaningful activities and dialogues in the community about various issues.

Since its inception in 2004, Safer Internet Day interest has grown to reach all five continents and almost 80 countries, from Canada to South Korea and Russia to Kenya, including all 27 countries of the European Union. The goal of the day is to help make the Internet a better place for our children and young people.

About IBM

For more information on IBM volunteer and citizenship efforts, please visit www.citizenibm.com

About InsafeInsafe is the European Safer Internet awareness-raising network co-funded by the European Commission. It comprises national contact centres across the European Union and in Iceland, Norway and Russia, with partner organisations around the world. Insafe aims at empowering users to benefit from the positive aspects of internet whilst avoiding the potential risks. Further information is available at www.saferinternet.org or contact info-insafe@eun.org.

About Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day is part of a global drive by awareness-raising partners to promote a safer Internet for all users, especially young people. It is organised by INSAFE in the framework of the European Commission's Safer Internet Programme.

Updating Travel Policy

News release from American Express:

The One Business Resolution Companies Can't Afford to Break: Updating Travel PolicyLess Than One Third of Companies Have Updated Their Travel Policies within the Last Year According to New Research from American Express Global Business Travel

NEW YORK, NY,  February 6, 2012 -- 

New research by American Express Global Business Travel outlines gaps and opportunities for companies to strengthen managed travel programs by focusing on their travel and expense policies early this year. Analyzing nearly 100 travel policies of global, multinational, and mid-sized companies, the research shows less than one third of these companies overall have updated their travel policies within the last year. This oversight can leave companies exposed to losing hard-earned corporate negotiated rates, and more importantly, may put travelers at unnecessary risk.

"It's a new year and with any good business practice, corporate travel departments are setting goals, including bringing their programs in line with the competition and external marketplace dynamics," said Christa Degnan Manning, director of EXPERT INSIGHTS research, American Express Global Business Travel. "However, like many improvement resolutions, reviewing and revising travel policy tends to get neglected. Yet a healthy travel policy can help companies achieve long-term success. Policies can support business-critical goals such as risk mitigation and employee engagement, as they touch on issues from traveler safety and security to corporate social responsibility."

This new Best Practice Roadmap report on Travel Policy, produced by EXPERT INSIGHTS, shows many organizations still need to close the gap between their policy content and emerging industry trends.

Highlights of the policy gaps exposed in this report, based on 100 corporate policies reviewed, include:

• Only 12% addressed traveler security despite it being a critical issue for companies to consider as more and more employees embark on worldwide business travel today
• 80% did not address reimbursement of ancillary fees such as checked bags, reservation change fees, or other for-purchase services offered at hotels and car rentals
• Only 35% of smaller companies and large international organizations require an agency to book hotels, compared to 85% of global companies
• None of the travel policies addressed the use of mobile applications or even referenced tools they may have available for travelers to use on the road or when working remotely
• 70% of companies do not provide specific guidelines to travelers on when it makes sense to book airfares through a non-preferred supplier if the ticket price is less expensive

"Policy is the foundation of a successful managed travel program and maintaining this infrastructure by conducting regular check-ups is paramount," said Helen Brough, Advisory Services Global Policy Practice Director, American Express Global Business Travel. "In our policy practice we have identified over 300 areas companies should be reviewing in their policy for the best outcomes – for the company, for the traveling employees, and for ultimate travel management program success. Companies that are most successful are those that regularly review and update their travel policies based on changing market conditions as well as focus on communicating those policies to their travelers."

FILLING THE GAPS

• Security: Companies should provide guidance to their travelers for the range of areas associated with security, such as how to prepare for a trip, what to do during a trip, and after travel, particularly when traveling to high-risk destinations. Guidance around what to do during a travel emergency or disruption should also not go overlooked in policies, as well as information on security around company assets.
   
• Fees: Addressing the various fees that travelers are confronted with while on the road remains a policy opportunity. It should be made easier on travelers in understanding what is reimbursable as well as being made aware of waived fees and other benefits associated with booking with preferred suppliers, such as free checked baggage on airlines or complimentary wi-fi as part of a hotel rate.
   
• Hotel Compliance: Safety and security rank at the top of the list of reasons for traveler compliance to hotel policy. Knowing the city to which a traveler is headed is only half of the equation, particularly when locating travelers in an emergency. This area also poses the greatest area of leakage in travel policy, compromising negotiated rates when booking hotels outside of policy. Companies should communicate to travelers the reasons for booking hotels at the same time as air reservations.
   
• Mobile Technology: There have been advancements in travel technology that can help business travelers manage trip details before, during and after traveling. Company supported mobile applications can be used to facilitate communication, both during critical issues like travel emergencies and for day-to-day support, including policy and traveler benefits notifications. A successful travel policy should include rules for these resources, and help travelers find and take advantage of them to save time and increase compliance.
   
• Addressing Lowest Logical Airfare: Companies increasingly have introduced language instructing employees to find the lowest fare possible, regardless of whether or not a flight is with a preferred supplier. The reality of this practice is that the individual trip savings by booking cheaper fares with non-preferred airlines can jeopardize negotiated rates, unintentionally driving up overall travel costs over time. Guidelines should be established indicating when this practice should be used. Recent capacity constraints, merger and acquisition activity, and even low-cost carrier dynamics require that travel managers revisit this concept and communicate it appropriately in policy.

Tips for Making Policy Connect to Travelers
"As today's global marketplace is constantly changing, and the logistics of capitalizing on growth in emerging markets make travel more complex than ever before, it is not enough to just develop a travel policy and assume that employees know what to do with it," continued Brough. "Companies should be actively leveraging and communicating their travel policy to employees and enlisting influencers within the company such as Human Resources, Security and Legal to support these efforts."

• Make it Accessible: There are many ways a company can address communicating to travelers and encouraging compliance, including using pre-trip tools, policy messages integrated at the point of sale and even prior to booking. Intranets and other portals can also provide a channel to communicate policy to help travelers make the right decisions.
   
• Appeal to the Traveler: If travelers do not understand their travel policy or know where to find it, it is unlikely that it will be adhered to or that travelers will be able to benefit from the perks. Most employees want to do the right thing by the business, so businesses need to let employees know what is in it for the company and for them. That way the traveler can benefit from the perks of following the policy and the company can benefit from travel policy compliance.
   
• Revisit for Relevancy: Establish a policy team with representatives from all stakeholders, including those that can represent the traveler, and charge them with the maintenance of the travel policy. Then communicate changes to travelers so everyone can stay current.
   
• Eliminate Uncertainty: It has been reported that one in four expense reports is typically sent back to the traveler for clarification or additional documentation support. Travel policy should take into consideration the process for expense reimbursement. The better a traveler understands the reimbursement process, the less time will be spent on re-doing these reports.

About American Express Global Business Travel
American Express Global Business Travel, a division of American Express Company, is a global industry leader in business travel and meetings management committed to helping businesses succeed through cost-effective program management, world-class customer service, and enhanced traveler productivity support worldwide. Through leading online, offline and on-the-go solutions, consulting services, business insights and research, supplier negotiation expertise, and meetings and events capabilities, innovative services are delivered to clients to maximize the return on their travel and meetings investments. Learn more at americanexpress.com/businesstravel interact with peers on businesstravelconnexion.com and follow us onfacebook.com/businesstravelconneXion and twitter.com/btconnexion.

American Express operates one of the world's largest travel agency networks with locations in over 140 countries worldwide. Total travel sales volume processed in 2010 was $25.7 billion, including consolidated volume and non-consolidated volume processed through joint ventures and its partner network.

American Express Company is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights, and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.