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Collective Security & the Payment System June 11, 2012

Posted by Heather Mark in Laws and Leglslation, PCI DSS, Politics.
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I recently attended an event focused on payment security and fraud prevention.  It was an outstanding event and the presentations and panels were incredibly valuable – not something that I frequently say about payment security events these days.  However, one term came up a couple of times that got me thinking.  That term was “collective security.”  As many of you know, I have a background in public policy and my dissertation was, in fact, on US foreign policy and our strategic interests abroad, so the mention of collective security set off my poli sci radar.  But I wondered if collective security was really an appropriate phrase for what we’re doing in the payments industry.  To address that question, it is necessary to first define collective security in its traditional sense.

Collective security was first formally introduced by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, a series of treaties that put an end to a number of wars that had been plaguing Europe.    Very simply put, collective security is an arrangement in which all stakeholders agree that their security depends upon the security of each of the other stakeholders.  (more…)

Combining Blog Content (GlobalRiskInfo / DrHeatherMark) May 31, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in News, Politics.
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In the near term I will begin integrating blog content from Dr. Heather Mark’s privacy and payments blog. This will give new information and insight into privacy, regulatory, and information security issues. We will be combing both blogs into GlobalRiskInfo. Please stay tuned and, in the meantime,take a spin through Heather’ blog!

 

UPDATE: Copying of GlobalRiskInfo Blog (and others) April 24, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, InfoSec & Privacy, Piracy & Maritime Security.
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2nd UPDATE: lT appears that the company  read my blog and has now (after April 24th) included sources to a few of their posts. Interestingly, the AKE post still does not have AKE’ information included.  I also welcome them to add my own blog to their list of references.  Here is a link to Dr. Heather Mark’s post on her experience with plagiarism.

UPDATE: Curiosity got the best of me so I started checking the other blog posts.  I should be grateful that the company did not simply cut and past my content.  Here are other “borrowed items”.  It is a disgrace when a company cannot do their own work.  At a minimum, writers are required to cite their sources and give attribution.  The absence of even a mention of where the content originated is, in my opinion, intended to cause the reader to assume it is original work.

April 11th, 2012 Post- “Pirates Demand Dh11M to Free Hostages” is a direct cut and paste of The National.ae post of the same name.

April 9th, 2012 Post- “Somali Pirates hijack Vessel with 17 on Board” is a direct cut and paste of an MSNBC.com article of the same name that originally was published on Indiatoday.

The most glaring of these actions can be seen in the post titled: “Somali Pirate Activity Reaches 15 Month High”.  This was originally an article of the same name published by Bloomberg where the information was provided by Intelligence Company AKE who also provides Maritime Security.  The article was copied verbatim with all references to AKE removed.  The intent is clear.

It is pointless to review any further.

 ORIGINAL Few things frustrate a writer more than someone using their work without attribution.  Today a company introduced new blog with numerous posts dated from Jan 2012-April 2012 .  In reviewing the blog, it certainly appears that the company has done little more than “borrow” my own work and not provide attribution to me..the originating author.

Of 15 posts, fully 1/3 appear to be  summaries of my own work.   Maybe I should be flattered?  Maybe the company is simply acknowledging my expertise over their own. Feel free to read the articles and decide…(each of the GlobalRiskInfo posts predate the summarized posts) (more…)

Geopolitical Context of Piracy; Dr. Heather Mark April 18, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, Piracy & Maritime Security.
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Since I am traveling to Hamburg this week for a piracy event (pirates like “ARGHH MATEY!” type)…not software pirates….to provide my readers with some piracy info, I am publishing the whitepaper:  “The Geopolitical Context of Piracy” by the illustrious Dr. Heather Mark.  This paper has an interesting history.  At one point the paper was ‘borrowed’ by a person who proceeded to publish the paper as four articles which he attributed authorship to himself.  Plagiarism is alive in 2012 😉  Fortunately, the organization who published the articles recognized something was amiss and contacted Heather.  Please read the paper….good info…No doubt the person who “borrowed” the paper will try to once again pass it off as his own as the event…

Published Articles: – “Geopolitical Context of Piracy” February 24, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, Piracy & Maritime Security, Uncategorized.
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UPDATE:  The company that published the articles contacted Heather and has agreed to pull the articles off their website.  This is good news and shows that the copany is interested in ensuring their readers get original work from the original author.   In an interesting twist, the company representative stated that, when asked, the party who submitted the articles stated “unequivocally” that it was their work.  Considering that the company pulled the articles, Heather has a PhD and background in defense, and political economy, and has published over 100 articles, scores of whitepapers, research briefs and other material as well as possessing the original whitepaper from which it was taken, I think the readers are savvy enough to know the actual author of the work.  It certainly seems unlikely that a person who has never published a single article or other document would embark on something as complex as: “the Geopolitical Context of Piracy” for their first foray into writing.

Two years ago my wife, Dr. Heather Mark wrote a whitepaper on the Geopolitical Context of Piracy that has since been broken into its component sections and published verbatim as 4 different articles without any form of attribution to her.  She was contacted by the organization that published the articles today to ask about her work and attribution.  To assuage any concerns that it is indeed her sole work and not anybody else’s work here is a copy of the whitepaper. “Understanding Modern Piracy; Geopolitical and Regulatory Considerations”….the first section is titled: “Geopolitical Considerations”, the next section is titled: “Current Anti-Piracy Efforts”.  Heather is a brilliant person and a tremendous righter writer (thanks to Heather’ brother Bill for pointing this out;).  There are times that I certainly would like to “borrow” her work and claim it as my own.  I would certainly appear smarter and more informed than I actually am.  As professional writers (yup, we actually get paid to write;) it is disturbing when someone uses your work without attribution.

Kudos to the company for maintaining the integrity of its service and evaluating the content and writers.