New Watchdog Chief Bares His Teeth

So, farewell then Richard Thomas. The outgoing Information Commissioner handed over the baton to Christopher Graham last June, and the new head of the ICO has wasted little time in getting stuck into parliament, the courts and newspapers for failing to stop the flourishing trade in illegally obtained personal and confidential information.The former DG of the Advertising Standards Authority was giving evidence to the Commons media select committee investigating phone-hacking and other unscrupulous press activity. This issue came to a head a couple of years ago with the revelations that the News of the Screw's was tapping Prince William and Harry's mobiles; the fact that it's taken until now to establish an investigation speaks volumes about the procrastination of our pusilanimous parliament.While it comes as no surprise that tabloid journalists resort to questionable - even illegal - activities in their work,what beggars belief is the complete absence of deterrent in the form of proper punishment. Graham raised this in his evidence to the committee, criticising the goverment for failing to introduce jail terms for hackers and other willful violators of the Data Protection Act, and claimed that custodial sentences could end the practice "at a stroke".It's worth noting that Clive Goodman, the Screws' former royal editor, did in fact do four months' bird for hacking the Princes' phones, but Graham pointed out that the NotW case was merely part of a much bigger malaise. Graham said that the ICO had tried to sound the alarm about the scale of the problem as far back as 2006, when it published a report showing that 305 reporters were using private investigators. Unfortunately, said Graham, "...we were let down by the courts, who didn't seem to be interested in levying even the pathetic fines they had at their disposal; we were rather let down by parliament in the end, with no legislation; and we were let down by the newspaper groups, which didn't take it seriously."It's good to see such forthright common sense from the new Information Commissioner - it's a sign that the ICO is fast becoming a Watchdog with real bite. Graham has made a great start, and we will be following his progress with interest.

Pre-roll Continues to Prosper as Companies Catch On

MTV Networks recently declared pre-roll as the ‘most effective and consumer-friendly’ advertising method within today’s entertainment and media industry. Their general belief is that companies should ultimately exploit online advertising or face falling behind their competitors. Jason Witt, Senior Vice President and General Manager of MTV's digital advertising unit certainly seems to think so and urges others to follow suit.Pre-roll is an advertising technique that has proved to be worth investing in. Companies that have the capability and readiness to exploit new advertising areas seem to reap bounteous rewards. For example, Southern Comfort, having previously spent $6 million on late-night cable TV and a further $1.5 million on magazines announced a change of direction. It has now increased its online advertising spending by 25 per cent, including on online video advertising on Hulu and other websites of NBC, CBS, Fox and FX. Online video advertising is essentially able to reach a wider range of consumers in a more cost-efficient way. Lena DerOhannessian, Southern Comfort’s U.S. Marketing Director said, ‘As we’ve focused more on 21 to 29 [year olds], TV becomes less and less effective at reaching that audience.’ More and more opportunities are to be found elsewhere, namely online.The online community is continuously expanding with it estimated to grow 85 per cent by 2013. This growth provides the perfect chance to exploit pre-roll to the full. Research shows that out of the 87 per cent of UK Internet users watching online videos, 52 per cent have taken action after seeing a pre-roll ad. Thus far, it appears that short pre-roll ads are the most effective form of online advertising. The web video company, BBE, asserts that pre-roll ads are 8-25 times more effective than other types of online advertising since viewers are more likely to sit through a short ad that is played 10-20 seconds before their desired content. Shorter online advertising, therefore, is able to promote companies in a way that does not ruin viewers’ enjoyment, especially since any pre-roll longer than 20 seconds threatens to send frustrated viewers elsewhere. Compared to TV, where 3 minute long adverts are tolerated by audiences, a pre-roll that lasts even 30 seconds seems like an eternity.Pre-roll essentially enables the relationship between brands and consumers to develop in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Kent J. Krizik, President of NewsProNet, declared that ‘online media publishers and local and national advertisers know there's no better way to reach consumers than through the compelling format of online video’. Moreover, after positive results from MTV’s study of over 50 million video streams across the US, Sharb Farjami, Vice President of Ad Sales within MTV Networks Australia & New Zealand, praised this form of online advertising as an ‘exciting area that is gaining popularity in this marketplace because it delivers rich user interaction’. Online video advertising may in fact help companies stay afloat in the current economic climate. Tod Sacerdoti, Founder-CEO of the online advertising network BrightRoll remarks that general advertising revenues for online video are ‘up 217 per cent between the first and second quarters of this year’. He argues that it will ‘rise 50 per cent to 100 per cent for the entire year based on increased volume, even though prices may continue to fluctuate during a down economy’. Of course, the advertising industry has, on the whole, been in a slump for quite a long time which further emphasises the importance of online video advertising.So, online video advertising is undoubtedly the preferred and wisest advertising method of today.

Samknows Bandwidth Hungry Britain's Real Broadband Speeds

According to a new report published today by regulator, Ofcom, the UK’s broadband speeds are getting faster but not everyone is happy.The report shows that average connection speed across the UK is 4.1Mbps, up from 3.6Mbps in January.A survey running alongside the tests found over a quarter of consumers (26%) said that the speeds they received were not what they expected when they signed up for their broadband service.SamKnows spoke to Anna Bradley, chair of the Communications Consumer Panel, who has been lobbying for the current up-to speed claims to be changed to an average speed claim. “The Ofcom work is incredibly helpful because it exposes just how little the up- to speeds mean and exposes how variable the service level is from one provider to another,” she said. “The fact that they are still advertised with ‘up-to’ speeds is deeply problematic.”Over 60 million separate service performance tests were carried out in over 1600 homes between November 2008 and April 2009.

WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR EMAILS?

You don’t have to be spam to get blocked. One in five legitimate marketing emails fails to get to the receiver’s inbox. That is what Return Path reveals in their new research into European marketers’ knowledge about their own emails. In most cases marketers are ‘emailing in the dark’ not knowing what happens to their sent messages.Two in five interviewed people still think an email gets delivered if it is sent or doesn’t bounce back. But twenty per cent of messages are being blocked or directed to the junk folder, according to Return Path – the company that helps marketers get their emails into the inbox and read. Email is the cheapest way to distribute your messages but it’s got to be done properly. No matter how many hours you spend creating a really great message, the effort is wasted if it doesn’t get delivered and read.Many people think that reaching the inbox is the sole responsibility of Email Service Providers (ESPs). But it is ultimately in the hands of the senders themselves to make sure their messages are read. Demanding all-encompassing deliverability reports from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is an excellent way to find out the destiny of your marketing messages. However, very few people do this at the moment, according to Return Path. This report must contain detailed metrics – the percentage of emails being placed to ‘inbox’, ‘junk’ or ‘missed’. Once you have that knowledge you can act upon it, but Return Path warns not to trust unrealistically high metrics. A delivered email is one that not only was sent and didn’t bounce back, but that actually reached the inbox. So why do some emails get blocked?They either look like spam or are not wanted by the reader. The first one is relatively easy to correct. You might need to change the email’s format and rewrite some of the content. The second one is almost as easy. Readers often mark emails as spam because they don’t want to go through a complicated procedure of unsubscribing. You need to make it easy for people to stop receiving your messages because too many spam complaints will affect your company’s reputation. Putting an ‘unsubscribe’ option at the top of the page should help. To keep your subscribers, try and make sure your emails are relevant and targeted to each individual customer. Special offers personalised with a customer’s name or the like usually work well.If you follow this advice, you stand a much better chance of getting your message to the customer.

ISPs Hit for Six by Sports Fans

As the nation’s sports fans gear up for a packed summer of sport, ISPs are keeping a beady eye on their bandwidth.Not only have online catch-up services such as the Beeb’s iPlayer, Channel 4’s 4oD and Sky’s Sky Player become increasingly popular but watching ‘live’ content is beginning to take off.Many sports fans stuck behind their desks during Wimbledon, The Golf Open Championship and The Ashes are turning to ‘live’ online coverage to get their fix and as a result ISPs are seeing spikes in traffic.Trefor Davies, Timico’s Chief Technology Officer, has provided an interesting graph in his blog about their network traffic during Wimbledon. Take a look at his blog here.Furthermore it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier for ISPs with bandwidth sapping high definition (HD) content beginning to rear its head on the ‘net.

The Story of a Staffie: Breed Prejudice

In the last few weeks, a Northern Ireland dog has attracted international attention. Two years ago, Bruce the Staffordshire bull terrier was taken away from his family and sentenced to die. Why? Bruce was deemed a “pit-bull terrier type” by the authorities, and therefore a danger to society. Bruce has never bitten anyone. He has never been threatening or aggressive to a member of the public. However under the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, all pit bull terrier “types” are considered to be dangerous, and because of Bruce’s physical appearance, he has been sentenced to death.While in captivity over the last two years, Bruce has had to have his tail amputated due to infection. His owners have only been allowed to see him once, and have been shocked at the deterioration of his health. Thankfully, last week poor Bruce was given a stay of execution until the judge reviews his case again, but his future is by no means certain. This sad and infuriating case brings our attention to the issue of Breed Specific Legislation. Frightened and poorly informed courts all over the world have put laws in place to ban pit-bull terrier types. I seem to recall a European society in the last 100 years that executed living creatures based purely on “breed”, and the last I heard, we as a society condemned them. Any well-informed dog lover or expert will tell you that breed is not an indicator of aggressiveness. Irresponsible owners are a much better indicator. We can see evidence of these owners in the recent coverage on “weapon dogs”, dogs bred by gang members looking to use them as an intimidation tactic, or worse, as a weapon. It’s worth noting that even after specifically breeding these dogs to be aggressive, the owners still must train hostility into the dog, generally using violence. Owners and breeders such as these young men ought to be the focus of legal action, not their dogs, who are only trying to please their owners. American pit bull terriers (APBT) have often been the focus of media attention regarding dog attacks. It’s not hard to imagine why. The words “pit” and “bull” hardly seem synonymous with “fluffy” and “cuddly.” And don’t get me wrong. Strong-willed pit bulls are not a good choice for the first time owner. But they make fantastic family dogs, when trained by the right owner. As for Staffies like Bruce? Their nickname is the nanny dog. They are anything but aggressive and adore children (and I don’t mean for breakfast). An overwhelming number of Staffies become abandoned by reckless owners who were looking for an aggressive guard-dog, and instead got a loving and friendly family dog. Because of their muscular appearance and association with APBTs, organisations like the RSPCA have a difficult time re-homing these sweet and gentle dogs.
Still not convinced? In 2001, a Pomeranian fatally attacked a small child. Yes, a Pomeranian. One of those little dogs that look more like dusters than vicious animals. Any dog can be dangerous. What’s required is proper training and responsible ownership, and our courts would do better to punish an irresponsible owner, rather than an entire breed.

The Human Factor

There are some pretty thankless jobs out there, several of which we at Data Grub have experienced directly. And, while it can't match the indignity of chicken sexing or the sheer slog of meter reading, working in a bank comes pretty high up the list of crap jobs.(Obviously, we're talking about working behind the counter of a high street retail bank. The "master of the universe" type banking jobs - with its private jets, champagne, corporate boxes and complete lack of conscience - sounds quite a laugh.)What's so bad about working in a bank? Well, aside from the constant pressure to sell massive amounts of debt to the sort of people who shouldn't be trusted with real cutlery, there's also the Data Protection Act to deal with. Banks workers have to watch an achingly-bad training video - which looked dated when it was made in 1998 - about the Act, and how to stay on the right side of the law with regards to customers' data.No doubt this is a video that'll get dusted down and rewatched by the staff of HSBC, after the bank was fined a mammoth £3 million by the FSA yesterday for taking a laughably cavalier attitude towards customers' personal data.Another depressingly familiar story of data loss, sure, but it did remind us of that lame old video, in which a harrassed data protection officer pours out his worries about the new Act to a psychiatrist. At one point, the shrink tries to calm him down by saying: "It's really just a matter of common sense."Quite. Unfortunately, the global supply of common sense has been waning since around 1860, and it's currently rarer than platinum.But ultimately, it's humans who have the biggest bearing on whether a company successfully fulfills its data protection requirement. With all the talk of encryption, virtual private networks, network and site security, it's easy to forget that technology is only as useful as the human operating it - or forgetting to. Organisations spend time and money communicating their privacy policies; here at Data Grub we'd like to see organisations showing exactly what steps they are taking to ensure that their employees are following best practice at all times. People as a rule are pretty stupid, but when there's a corporate culture of sound data protection processes this cuts regrettable incidents to a minimum. And, with data loss stories in the media almost every week, there's also a business case for having a public and comprehensive data protection policy, in the same way as firms boast about their CSR credentials.