Information Security, Contract and Liability

Various common provisions in software end user license agreements undermine cyber security. These include anti-benchmarking provisions and broad exclusions of liability. These short comments suggest that courts and legislatures should take steps to limit the enforceability of contractual provisions that undermine cyber security

Measuring the Value of Ingredient Brand Equity at Multiple Stages in the Supply Chain: a Component Supplier's Perspective

The goal of this article is to conceptualize the Ingredient Branding strategy and propose tools for measuring value derived from brand equity at the component supplier’s perspective. We demonstrate how brand equity occurs and how it can be measured at three marketing stages: B2B, B2C and B2B2C.This paper characterizes different stages in the Ingredient Branding strategy. Furthermore, the paper provides a different measurement method for each stage, and highlights in the end, an overall view of all participants in the Ingredient Branding value chain. We show fi rst that measuring brand equity at the end user stage alone is not as useful as measuring brand equity at multiple stages of the value chain. The complexity associated with an Ingredient Branding strategy makes it a multi-stage branding and marketing effort. Therefore, various data and measurement tools are needed to meet the needs of marketing managers and scholars focused on brand strategies for differing stages of the value chain. We demons rate that existing brand measurement methods can be modified to analyze multi-stage, interrelated exchanges. The paper extends existing brand measurements to capture the value of an Ingredient Brand both qualitatively and quantitatively, at multiple stages of the value chain.Ingredient Branding, brand measurement, value chain.

Technological Self-Help and Equality in Cyberspace

New technologies challenge the law in many ways, for example, they extend one’s capacity to harm others and to defend oneself from harm by others. These changes require the law to decide whether we have legal rights to be free from those harms, and whether we may react against those harms extrajudicially through some form of self-help (e.g., self-defence or defence of third parties) or whether we must resort to legal mechanisms alone. These questions have been challenging to answer in the cyberspace context, where new interests and new harms have emerged. The legal limits on permissible self-defence have historically been a function of necessity and proportionality to the threat.However, this article argues that case law and historical commentary reveal that equality between individuals is also an important policy issue underlying the limits on self-defence. The use of technologies in self-defence brings the question of equality to the fore since technologies may sometimes neutralize an inequality in strength between an attacker and a defender. A legal approach that limits resort to technological tools in self-defence would ratify and preserve that inequality.However, the relationship between technology and human equality is complex, and this article proposes an analytical structure for understanding it. The objective is to understand which technologies promote equality while imposing the least social costs when used in self-defence. The article proposes principles (including explicit consideration of the effects on equality) for setting limits on technological self-help, and illustrates their use by applying them to several forms of cyberspace counter-strikes against hackers, phishers, spammers, and peer-to-peer networks.Les nouvelles technologies posent de nombreux défis en droit. À titre d’exemple, elles augmentent la capacité des individus d’infliger du mal à autrui, mais aussi leur capacité à se défendre du mal. Ces changements exigent du droit de décider si nous avons ou non le droit, juridiquement parlant, d’être à l’abri du mal. Le droit doit aussi décider si nous sommes libres de réagir au mal de façon extrajudiciaire, par l’entremise d’initiatives personnelles (par exemple, l’auto-défense ou la défense des tierces parties) ou si au contraire nous devons nous en tenir aux mécanismes juridiques. Ces questions posent un défi particulier dans le contexte du cyberespace, d’où émergent de nouvelles menaces et des intérêts nouveaux. Les limites juridiques de l’autodéfense permissible dépendent historiquement de la nécessité et de la proportionnalité de la réaction face à la menace.Cet article soutient toutefois que la jurisprudence et les commentaires historiques révèlent que l’égalité entre individus constitue aussi une question de politique importante qui sous-tend les limites de l’autodéfense. L’utilisation des technologies dans l’autodéfense porte donc au premier plan la question de l’égalité puisque la technologie peut parfois neutraliser une inégalité de force entre une personne qui attaque et une autre qui se défend. Une approche juridique qui limiterait l’utilisation d’outils technologiques dans l’autodéfense entérinerait et préserverait cette inégalité.Pourtant, la relation entre la technologie et l’égalité entre humains est complexe. Cet article propose une structure analytique pour mieux saisir cette relation. L’objectif est de comprendre quelles technologies favorisent l’égalité tout en imposant les coûts sociaux les moins élevés lorsqu’elles sont utilisées pour l’autodéfense. L’article propose des principes pour mettre en place certaines limites aux initiatives personnelles technologiques. L’article illustre aussi l’utilisation de ces principes en les appliquant à de nombreuses formes de riposte contre les pirates informatiques, les hammeçonneurs, les polluposteurs et les réseaux pair à pair. Enfin, l’article considère explicitement les effets de ces principes sur l’égalité

Ecological Effects of Forest Canopy Disturbance on the Understory Plant, American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.)

Historical accounts suggest that American ginseng was once far more abundant than it is today, and extensive changes in forest canopy structure and ginseng habitat caused by clearcut timber harvest occurred coincidentally to the precipitous decline in abundance. The presence of natural American ginseng populations after widespread clearcuts suggests that ginseng can survive under sparse canopies, and the presence of ginseng in the second growth forests common today suggest that ginseng can survive under dense canopies. However, performance may not be optimal at either end of the disturbance spectrum, and the net effect of direct and indirect anthropogenic canopy disturbances on ginseng has been unknown. The present suite of studies addresses the question how does American ginseng respond to changes in forest dynamics that result from changes in canopy disturbance regimes caused by humans? I first determined how different types of disturbances affected canopy openness on the scale of a small herbaceous plant. In Chapter 2, I found that canopy openness after timber harvest was greatest at the most intensely harvested site, and that subsequent understory canopy closure differed from that occurring in higher strata. Relative canopy closure was greatest in areas with high densities of shade-intolerant weedy and invasive species. The purpose of Chapter 3 was to determine if canopy disturbances via patch cut timber harvest were physiological stressors to American ginseng, or whether increases in light following timber harvest benefited carbon assimilation and growth. I found that ginseng is a \u27slow opportunist;\u27 photosynthesis and growth increased following canopy disturbance, but stimulation lagged behind changes in canopy structure. Although ginseng benefited from a patch cut timber harvest, it was unclear whether varying intensities of timber harvest deferentially affected the survival, growth, and reproduction of ginseng. In Chapter 4, I found that survival generally decreased following timber harvest, and was lowest at the most intensely harvested site. However, growth and seed production increased in individuals that survived. In order to provide an integrated assessment of survival, growth, and fertility following canopy disturbance, I quantified the demographic response of five populations of American ginseng to natural disturbances whose regimes are being altered by climate change. In Chapter 5, I found that population growth rate increased after natural canopy disturbances, and did so even at the current frequency of disturbance within American ginseng populations. Additionally, canopy disturbances produced sustained increases in population size via influxes of seeds to the seed bank. These studies provide clear evidence that American ginseng is surprisingly resilient in the face of rapid environmental shifts. Further, American ginseng, and perhaps similar herbs, benefit from moderate intensity, anthropogenic canopy disturbances whose frequencies and spatial extents are predicted to increase

Liability for Botnet Attacks

This paper will consider the possibility of using tort liability to address cyber insecurity. In previous work, I have proposed a hypothetical lawsuit by the victim of a DDoS attack against the vendor of unreasonably insecure software, the flaws of which are exploited to create the DDoS attack army. Indeed, software vendors are facing increasing public disapproval for their contributions to cyber insecurity. However, not all DDoS attack armies are assembled by exploiting flaws in software. Computers are also infected when users voluntarily open infected email attachments or download infected files from file-sharing networks. Accordingly, the cyber insecurity resulting from the large numbers of average end-users with infected computers cannot be entirely addressed by reducing the number of exploitable flaws in widely-deployed software. It may be useful to find additional ways to address other avenues of infection

Meditation on the middle ground

The installation of Meditations on the Middle Ground, is a space filled with photomontages, video and sounds that were captured during my expeditions out on the water, through the woods and by the shore. My work is a meditation on my relationship with the natural environment and how to form new realities out of these interactions

Learning in Enterprise System Support: Specialization, Task Type and Network Characteristics

In this paper, we introduce two contingency factors --task type and network characteristics—that examine how individuals learn from experience. We hypothesize that task specialization and variation have positive impacts on IS professionals’ learning from experience. We further hypothesize that this performance effect of learning is contingent upon task type and characteristics of domain-specific knowledge networks. In particular, specialized experience will be more beneficial to learning when a task is a locating task-type or when network centrality is high. In contrast, varied experience will be more beneficial when a task is a diagnosing task-type or when network betweenness is high. The research model will be validated in the context of postimplementation enterprise system support. The study incorporates a social network perspective to study learning by experience, and contributes to the knowledge management field. Findings will provide practical insights on managing IT human capital and improving IS support services

Interpreting Canada\u27s Medical Assistance in Dying Legislation

When the Canadian medical assistance in dying (MAiD) legislation came into force in June 2016, it was widely noted that the meaning of some of its key terms and phrases was unclear. For example, questions were immediately raised about the meaning of “incurable illness, disease, or disability,” “advanced state of irreversible decline in capability,” and “natural death has become reasonably foreseeable.” Interpretation challenges are not uncommon with new legislation. However, in the context of something as significant as access to MAiD and potential criminal liability for getting the meaning of the legislation wrong, these challenges must be confronted by those who have the responsibility and authority to provide interpretative guidance to patients and health care practitioners. The risks of leaving uncertainty and confusion unaddressed in this context are significant both in terms of the seriousness of the consequences and the probability of occurrence. Some individuals may be denied access who should have access (too narrow interpretation) and some individuals may be given access who should not (too broad interpretation). Two individuals in the same circumstances may be treated differently (one allowed and one denied access) simply because their providers interpret the legislation differently. In addition, some individuals may forego effective symptom management in order to maintain the necessary capacity to reiterate their request for MAiD. Other patients may be roused from palliative sedation immediately prior to provision and, by definition, be brought back into a state of intolerable suffering in order to reiterate their request. Finally, the uncertainty about the meaning of key terms and phrases may have a chilling effect on physicians’ and nurse practitioners’ willingness to provide MAiD. With almost a year of experience of MAiD under the federal legislation, it is time for those who can help to clarify the meanings and correct the misunderstandings to do so. In the spirit of contributing to such a project, we propose a set of interpretations of key phrases in the legislation. We call upon all relevant entities to exercise their authority and capacity to provide interpretative guidance for, and education about, the practice of MAiD in Canada. They can do this by adopting, endorsing, and disseminating interpretations such as those presented in this paper

Family Structures and the Feminization of Poverty: Women in Hawaii

The quality of life for many single mothers and their children is shrouded in economic hardship. Women outside the traditional nuclear family, attempting to raise children, are doing so in poverty and without much public support. Marital disruption, teenage mothers, and out of wedlock births have resulted in an alarming number of improverished children living in America. This paper examines census data in the state of Hawaii and the impact of family structure on the quality of lives of women with children. Women living in multigenerational family arrangements, rather than in traditional families have higher income, holding family size constant. Social policies that do not focus on the issues of insufficient wages, job security, education, racial, sex and wage discrimination and child care needs will only fail

Demographic hallmarks of an overbrowsed population state in American ginseng

Effects of high deer herbivory in North America on populations of favored plant browse species have been well-documented, however since less palatable plants now dominate the understory, we asked whether these species could be vulnerable as well, and if so, what symptoms might signal that this was occurring? Using American ginseng (Panax quinquefoliusL.) as our representative less palatable understory plant, we compared two subpopulations within a single natural population that were differentially exposed to browse; one isolated from deer by growing atop a large, flat-topped boulder, and a browse-exposed subpopulation in the surrounding low-lying area. We tested the hypothesis that deer effects would be manifested in all parts of the life history; through reduced growth, survival and reproduction. In turn, we hypothesized that browse would reduce population growth rates, and that differences in stage structure of the population would be produced. Taking advantage of a 20 year record of formal demographic censusing, we showed that browse effects were manifested primarily in reduced size-specific growth, while size-specific fertility and survival were relatively unaffected by exposure to browse. Demographically, these differences in growth were sufficient to drive population size reductions of 4.5%/y in the off rock subpopulation while the on rock plants slowly increased in number. High browse off the rock resulted in high proportions of plants in a stunted juvenile state in the off rock population relative to the on rock plants. A high proportion of juveniles is therefore a clear symptom of an understory subjected to chronic overbrowsing, providing land managers a rapid way to assess whether deer could be impacting understory biodiversity. The sharp demographic contrasts we observed between browsed and unbrowsed subpopulations also implies that promotion of refugia within managed lands will likely become increasingly important management tools for biodiversity preservation as long as unchecked deer populations persis