Judge in Brazil may move court location for oil spill case

On the surface, this doesn't sound like a step in the right direction. The oil spill in Brazil has been a serious problem and the follow up by the local prosecutor suggested that Big Oil might be held accountable for their actions. Shouldn't those most impacted by the oil disaster be at the center of any court case? It's their region that was damaged, so why shift the location of the case?

A judge in Campos, Brazil, could shift the criminal charges filed against Chevron and drill-rig operator Transocean to Rio de Janeiro, a decision that would remove a crusading prosecutor from the case.

Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, a federal prosecutor based in Campos, in Rio de Janeiro's interior, told Reuters on Friday a jurisdictional review is under way, which could delay any formal criminal indictment of the firms and their employees for weeks.

Oliveira filed criminal charges against Chevron, Transocean and 17 of their employees in Brazil this week for alleged crimes related to a November offshore oil spill in Brazil's Frade field, which Chevron operates.

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Dick Cheney just got a heart transplant

Apparently the surgery was today.  He was on the donor list 20 months.  I checked Wikipedia to see what the prognosis is:

The prognosis for heart transplant patients following the orthotopic procedure has increased over the past 20 years, and as of June 5, 2009, the survival rates were:[8]

1 year : 88.0% (males), 86.2% (females)
3 years: 79.3% (males), 77.2% (females)
5 years: 73.1% (males), 69.0% (females)

The Mayo Clinic concurs. Read the rest of this post...

SEC sues Wells Fargo for ignoring subpoenas

Things must be ugly if the bank has ignored multiple requests for information about mortgage backed securities that went bad. How is it that the banks can even get this far along without responding to the SEC? They certainly enjoy a privileged position within certain circles, seemingly above the law. While the SEC is now forcing the issue, it remains to be seen how this will proceed.

I wonder how easily it would be for a private individual to try this approach of ignoring, then becoming indignant when called out.

U.S. securities regulators accused Wells Fargo & Co on Friday of repeatedly ignoring its subpoenas for documents in connection with a probe into the bank's $60 billion sale of mortgage-backed securities.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's filing in a San Francisco federal court seeks to compel the fourth largest U.S. bank to hand over documents. The SEC said it has issued several subpoenas since September.

A Wells Fargo spokeswoman called the SEC's action "inappropriate" and pledged the bank would "vigorously defend itself in court" against the SEC action.

As a side note, someone at the SEC needs to know that this might not help their job opportunities when they flip back to private industry. This embarrassing moment won't be forgotten by Big Finance. Read the rest of this post...

Facebook buckles under pressure on privacy

When people ask me why I don't have a Facebook account, it's precisely because of moves like this by Facebook. I tired of their ever-changing privacy policies and their latest flip-flop is no better. The initial response to employer demands for the passwords of job applicants was good, but hours later it changed. The Facebook communications team then took over the discussion and went wobbly.

A decidedly more conciliatory approach was just sent to me by a Facebook spokesperson. They went from "initiating legal action" to a "engaging with policy makers and other stakeholders."

Here's the statement: "We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do. While we do not have any immediate plans to take legal action against any specific employers, we look forward to engaging with policy makers and other stakeholders, to help better safeguard the privacy of our users."

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Japanese boat lost from tsunami nearing North America

In the coming months, we're likely to see a lot more of this reach the west coast of North America. CNN:

A fishing trawler swept away more than a year ago by a tsunami off the east coast of Japan has been spotted floating near British Columbia, Canadian officials said Friday.

"It looks fairly sound and has rust streak from being out there for a year," said Marc Proulx, the maritime coordinator of the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Victoria, British Columbia.

The trawler is part of a giant debris field that was generated by the giant wall of water that struck the east coast of the island nation following a 9.0 earthquake, sweeping everything from cars to houses into the ocean.

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Is Hyatt's "don't blog about us" employee policy invasive? NLRB General Counsel issues complaint

Chris in Paris has written about the employer-intrusion topic before — "Employers now demanding job seekers turn over their Facebook passwords, usernames" — but the Hyatt employee handbook goes beyond that.

Take a look:


Note:

■ "Blogging" is defined. That's not a friendly definition — looks pretty inclusive, doesn't it? These are all the activities that can get you canned.

■ "Could have an adverse affect [sic] on Hyatt's business interests" — Cuts to the chase. Off-duty and off the clock, you are responsible for protecting "Hyatt's business interests."

■ "Compliance with federal, state and/or local laws" — This has two effects [sic]. One is to scare you, like the FBI warning on your DVDs. The other is to allow them to swim, if they can, just this side of the law (they hope; we'll see).

■ "Take steps to determine their identity" — Or as Count Floyd would say, "Be very scared." Seriously.

All you need to know? If you're a Hyatt employee, your job is to protect "Hyatt's business interests" in your off hours. The implied punishment is to find yourself on the secret "under-performing" list in the next layoff.

So how is this different from being told you can't bitch about your employers ... on your own time ... at Karaoke Night ... with a big loud mic in your hand ... on Mardi Gras ... with a big loud crowd outside listening.

Hyatt wants to shut that stuff down, if they can. Welcome to your job.

And now the news — the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency) is looking into it:

Thankfully, the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel is calling these policies into question. The use of social media by off-the-clock employees has become a hot button issue recently with the NLRB, and in a recent complaint the Board’s General Counsel found that Hyatt’s policies are overly broad and illegally violate free speech [pdf]. The company has yet to change its employee handbooks or clarify its policies.

I'm of two minds on this. The first is, Yes, go for it, Mr. NLRB. The second is, Let's see if you're a captive agency, in an election year, after 30 years of Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush rule.

I'm all eagerness to see which of my two minds has lost its mind. Stay tuned. I'll update this when it resolves.

Laboriously yours,

GP

(To follow on Twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius)
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Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army

After spending a few months in the US, I'm heading back to Paris later today. Something tells me that the sunny and warm weather that I've been experiencing will be gone. The great part of the weather change means I will have two springs. Can't wait for that. Read the rest of this post...