Tighter DIY policing of FT usage?
Jinfo Blog

22nd April 2009

By Tim Buckley Owen

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Presumably it was just coincidence that prompted the Financial Times to launch its new Access Manager service only a couple of months after it took legal action against one of its own customers, the US private equity firm Blackstone, for alleged multiple uses of its ft.com log-in (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e16109). Using IP authentication, the FT’s new service allows information managers to track usage of ft.com within the organisation, including the number of users signed up and their frequency of usage (details at http://web.vivavip.com/forum/Wire/read.php?i=76502). Meanwhile, though, the Blackstone matter is now closed. ‘We have agreed to a full settlement of all issues,’ the FT has told VIP. ‘The terms of the settlement are confidential, but we are pleased to have been able to reach a settlement with Blackstone on terms that were acceptable to us.’ It wasn’t prepared to say whether the timing of Access Manager’s launch was in any way influenced by the Blackstone case – but the two events in combination certainly serve to reinforce the message that the FT is serious about policing the use of its content. One of the benefits it cites for Access Manager is the availability of usage trends data for ease of cross-charging to different departments – but it could also have the effect of putting some of the onus of ensuring legitimate usage onto the information manager. Potential abuse of licences is certainly something that information managers need to be alert to. According to research by information security specialist SafeNet Inc, half of UK companies have no way of tracking the distribution of their software licences. As the news portal SecurityPark comments (http://digbig.com/4yqdn), this means that companies could be putting themselves at risk of hefty fines from vendors for illegal usage. On the other hand, it continues, some businesses may be over-licensed and paying above the odds for the access they need. Either way, information managers may judge that the situation in their own organisation merits some investigation.

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