When Personal Becomes Profitable: Data Collection and the Complex Link Between Corporate and Government Surveillance and the Risk to Civil Liberties

Personal data represents a commodity of increasing interest to both the United States government and large corporations. While their reasons differ, the two powerful entities have worked together to radically expand the domestic surveillance activities in the U.S. As the government surreptitiously expanded its domestic surveillance under the guise of its “war on terror,” it quickly realized that the advanced technology and access to personal data held by many large corporations presented a valuable source of surveillance information. These companies, in turn, similarly saw an opportunity for revenue in both the sale of the data and large governmental contracts to provide the technology and infrastructure to support the surveillance activities. Thus, a disturbing yet symbiotic partnership has developed, and with it a political environment that thwarts efforts to disclose and provide appropriate regulation to supervise these activities. All of this leaves the civilian population at an increased risk—a direct result of an industry that treats the individual as both a product and a consumer. In turn, the transition from personal information to profitable information has created a myriad of social and political implications that have not yet been fully analyzed or understood. Only the future will tell how these developments will ultimately play out, whether in favor of corporate-government interests, or the protection of civil liberties. This is a critical decision for the future of the United States, and the overarching issues surrounding privacy in the digital age have not been adequately addressed by either the legislative or judicial branches of government. As technological developments continue to advance, and the demand for, and value of, personal data continues to increase, the insistence that these issues be addressed will seemingly need to come from American citizens, as their right to privacy is continually being eroded. One can only hope that this insistence is not brought about by catastrophic circumstances

Reforming FCC Regulation of Dominant Telephone Carriers: Putting Some Teeth into the Test for Predation

This Note examines the ineffective protections against predatory pricing by AT&T contained in the price cap scheme. Part I outlines price cap regulation and explains how the FCC hopes that a test based on the average variable cost standard will detect predatory pricing. Part II argues that the FCC erred in adopting an average variable cost standard as the test for telecommunications predation because that standard ignores the high fixed costs common to all firms in the industry. Part II demonstrates that AT&T could engage in predatory pricing despite the protections contained in the regulatory scheme. Part II then examines the rationale given by the FCC for adopting a test based on the average variable cost standard and demonstrates its inadequacy. Finally, Part III examines two tests for predation that consider fixed costs and suggests that replacing the average variable cost standard with a test based on long-run marginal cost would provide more effective protection against predatory activity by AT&T in the telecommunications industry

Choosing your engagements: tenure and work life at state comprehensive universities

Based on interviews with eighteen tenured faculty members in departments of history at eight non-urban state comprehensive universities in the Midwestern, Northeastern, and Southeastern United States, this qualitative study investigated the perceived effects of tenure on faculty work life. The data suggest that these faculty members see tenure as an opportunity to choose their own engagements with the aspects of faculty work life that most suit their interests, abilities, and personalities. A sense of liberation, flexibility, and control is grounded, post-tenure, in an increased sense of responsibility that is located and manifested both within their institutions as well as within the discipline of history. / Preliminary chapters describe the institutional and disciplinary contexts and survey the evolution of studies on the occupational culture of academe. Findings are presented in two chapters, with the first exploring institutional considerations, including how tenure is conceptualized and how the expectations for tenure were understood and negotiated, and the second focusing on how the participants’ post-tenure work lives have differed from their pre-tenure work lives. Both findings chapters include sections addressing the domains of teaching, research, and service; the second explores additional themes related to faculty work life. / A concluding chapter summarizes the core findings, offers implications for the future of tenure, presents reflections on noteworthy conditions, and provides suggestions for future research. Appendices include an essay on faculty unions (present at three of the eight sites) and a list of the 273 state comprehensive institutions in the United States (based on the 2010 classifications by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching)

Review of Write No Matter What: Advice for Academics

This is a review of the book Write No Matter What: Advice for Academics by Joli Jensen (University of Chicago Press, 2017)

A PROPOSED PLAN FOR HANDLING THE ACTIVITIES FUND IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS OF KANSAS

The problem was (1) to make a comparative study of the systems used for handling the activities fund in a selected group of high schools in Kansas; (2) to discover who handles the activities fund, the forms used and records kept by the activities fund treasurer, and what method of checking is used between the activities fund treasurer and the organization treasurers; (3) to establish criteria for evaluating the systems of record keeping and forms used; (4) to propose and recommend a system which will fulfill the requirements to the evaluative criteria. A questionnaire was used to secure data to be used for the study. The experience of the writer as an activities fund treasurer together with the reading of literature relative to the handling of activities funds and the data from the questionnaires completed the necessary information for the study