Do Bloomberg data terminals privacy breach extend to mobile apps ? Are phone hacking concerns valid ?

After news broke that Bloomberg News is spying and tracking and collecting and analysing personal information from Bloomberg data terminals on Wall Street, one wonders how do the mobile Bloomberg apps work in connection with the Bloomberg data terminals ?

Also, seems amazing that Bloomberg would allow this to happen given sensitivity around privacy post the phone hacking scandal

— Katherine Rushton (@kerushton) May 10, 2013

Here is information about mobile apps, which work in connection with Bloomberg data services : "With Bloomberg Anywhere®, you can log in to your Bloomberg Professional service account from an Internet-ready PC or mobile device, with the same reference-quality, real-time data, security and access to personal files you have on your regular computer."

Mobile Apps Work With Bloomberg Data Terminals - Computer Tracking Concerns

There's no way yet to independently confirm whether Bloomberg News was able to access trading, portfolio, monitor, blotter, or other related systems, confirms, or private messages from the Wall Street data terminals. But it is known that several hundred people employed by Michael Bloomberg had access to information about what Wall Street terminal users did on their computers. For example, the secret data being collected included who logged into which data terminal and when, and what kinds of functions data terminal users performed.

Is it a valid concern to wonder what kind of information the mobile Bloomberg apps tracked or collected ? This latest scandal has people on Wall Street worried about how secure their data really is, if they use Bloomberg data terminals and the mobile Bloomberg apps.

Is Michael Bloomberg hacking and spying and profiting his way into Wall Street inside information ?

By how many billions has Michael Bloomberg's personal wealth grown during his many years as mayor ? Now that we find out that his company is spying and tracking and collecting and analysing personal information from Bloomberg data terminals on Wall Street, one must wonder what is Michael Bloomberg doing with that information ? How is he using that kind of very powerful, very lucrative, very profitable information ? Is there any way to confirm whether Bloomberg News was able to access trading, portfolio, monitor, blotter, or other related systems, confirms, or private messages from the Wall Street data terminals ? According to a report in The New York Times, several hundred people employed by Michael Bloomberg had access through a shadow information gathering technique that gave these Bloomberg employees access to information about what Wall Street terminal users did on their computers. For example, the secret data being collected included who logged into which data terminal and when, and what kinds of functions data terminal users performed. This latest scandal has people on Wall Street worried about how secure their data really is, if they use Bloomberg data terminals. But the worries and accusations of computer tracking and information collecting also extended to Bloomberg data terminals used by the Federal Reserve, as well, according to The Times report. Left unsaid is whether there are any mobile Bloomberg apps that work in connection with the Bloomberg data terminals that may facilitate phone hacking ? Is any of this any different from how Mayor Bloomberg might be using inside government information to make money at Bloomberg Government ? Hmmmmmmmm...????

Also, seems amazing that Bloomberg would allow this to happen given sensitivity around privacy post the phone hacking scandal

— Katherine Rushton (@kerushton) May 10, 2013

Mobile Apps Work With Bloomberg Data Terminals - Computer Tracking Concerns

In North Shore-LIJ and Christine Quinn Plan for St. Vincent's, a Fear of Union-Busting

OP-ED : Update on Community Effort to Create a Hospital to Replace St. Vincent's in the Lower West Side of Manhattan

When a deal was announced for the transfer of bankruptcy assets from the 501(c)(3) charity that was St. Vincent's Hospital to the private real estate developer tycoon William Rudin at values that may not fairly represent the full market value, the bankruptcy assets transfer was hailed as a health care miracle, because it would replace the Level 1 Trauma Center that was St. Vincent's with a first aid clinic.

But just a mere examination, at first blush, of the beneficial transfer of assets to insider creditors, the jobs that it would create, and the services it would provide, show that this deal is fraught with potential legal challenges.

The transfer of St. Vincent's principal assets -- its real estate -- to the Rudin family, who has always had an ''inside track'' on condo-conversion plans -- may be fraudulent, if the transfer does not happen at full market value prices. There is also community concern that the North Shore-LIJ landlord taking over the first aid clinic is going to hire only non-union employees for the 400 jobs that are expected to be created at the first aid clinic, and that the new clinic will forbid any efforts at collective-bargaining ; presently, only approximately 36 per cent of North Shore-LIJ employees receive union benefits. The services to be provided by the first aid clinic will not be able to treat ''women in labor, patients with severe trauma such as gunshot wounds or open fractures, or those requiring immediate surgery or cardiac interventions.'' In the face of the lack of life-saving services to be provided by the first aid clinic, and even the dishonest comparison of ambulance response times between 2008 and 2009 (even though St. Vincent's closed in 2010), predictably Deputy Mayor Christine Quinn can still be ''encouraged'' by the flimsy outpatient center.

Meanwhile, here is a video of a press conference outside Friday's appellate court hearing in connection with a freedom of information lawsuit.

Why Are They Closing St. Vincent's Hospital? (Pt. 23) - Freedom of Information from g. sosa on Vimeo.

As Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Christine Quinn try to destroy the social safety net by trying to close firehouses, shut down senior citizen centers, cut childcare, layoff teachers, pretend like votes don't go missing, build luxury condos on the hallowed ground of St. Vincent's Hospital, make money from government information, and end Progressive Era reforms, we are left to wonder. When will the focus of irresponsible real estate development at the expense of the middle class spark a voter backlash, that will lead to mass protests at the city's legislature, or a revolution of the likes that have been happening elsewhere ? What will be the spark that will trigger mass protests in New York ?

(Christine Quinn is Speaker of the New York City Council, but she has made her bed alongside Mayor Bloomberg on many controversial issues that often times she acts more and more like his Deputy Mayor than an independent voice for Democratic Party ideals.)