Open Password – Wednesday, November 3, 2021
#988
WTI – Frankfurt digital – data crash – business closure – WTI AG – Jan Halstenbach – Miguel Grosser – recovery – technical information library – GBI-Genios – personal darknet – legal and criminal consequences – International Investment Group – FIZ Technik – Federal Ministry of Economics – management – Werner Müller – Academic Libraries – SPARC – Budget Concerns – Open Access – Open Science – Experimentation – Distance Learning – Hybrid Learning – Library Essentials – Thomson Reuters – Future of Professionals – LinkedIn – China – Bloomberg – Kaiko – Global Identifier – Simon Fuller – Pearson – Academy of Popular Performing Arts – New York Times – Eclipse – Outsell – Springer Nature – Automated Translations – DeepL AI
- Cover story
WTI-Frankfurt digital: A data crash that destroyed all data in a non-recoverable way? – Who owns the WTI databases if WTI has gone out of business? – Were the databases transferred from WTI-Frankfurt to WTI-Switzerland?
- Library Essentials: Libraries’ joy of experimentation born out of necessity
III. International News
- Springer Nature: Seamlessly integrated automated translations for book authors
WTI-Frankfurt digital
A data crash that
destroyed all data in a way that could not be recovered?
Who owns the WTI databases
if WTI has gone out of business?
Have the databases been transferred from WTI Frankfurt
to WTI Switzerland?
Re: Filed for bankruptcy – got on its own feet as an employee-owned company, then sold to the wrong people, in: Open Password, October 15, 2021
To: WTI – Under new ownership and new management, steps towards analysis and data science. December 11, 2019
Further information has now become known about the insolvency proceedings for WTI-Frankfurt digital and a clearer picture emerges with a view to the chronological processes: On September 25th, the employees of WTI-Frankfurt digital were laid off due to going out of business. On October 5th, managing director Jan Halstenbach filed for bankruptcy. The Frankfurt lawyer Miguel Grosser was appointed as insolvency administrator. Grosser must first check whether such proceedings should even be opened due to a lack of assets. Halstenbach claimed to WTI-Frankfurt licensees that a “data crash” had destroyed WTI’s data and databases, which Halstenbach described as WTI’s “treasures” in 2019. This raises new, at least irritating, questions.
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Three sets of questions:
A data crash that destroyed all data in a way that could not be recovered?
Who owns the WTI databases if WTI has gone out of business?
Have the databases been transferred from WTI Frankfurt to WTI Switzerland?
_____________________________________________________
A first set of questions relates to the specified destruction of the data and the options for recovery. Will Jan Halstenbach’s information be digitally confirmed by the former employees of WTI-Frankfurt? If this is the case, is there no way to “get” the data back? In these contexts, IT specialists have already achieved miracles.
A second set of questions relates to the fact that even if the data on the WTI server can no longer be saved, it has not really been lost. This data was also licensed by the WTI to the Technical Information Library, FIZ Karlsruhe and GBI-Genios and is located on their servers. They can initially continue to be used by WTI customers.
However, the cohesion of the WTI databases has been lost because WTI customers have licensed different database portfolios. Also, the WTI databases cannot be further updated by the WTI due to a lack of employees, so they would gradually become outdated unless someone merged the WTI databases and entered update mode.
In general, the period for licensing is one year. The exciting questions are: Who owns the databases on the servers of WTI customers if WTI no longer exists due to “going out of business”? But if WTI did not go out of business, was the dismissal of its employees legal?
Imprint of WTI AG Switzerland: No longer visible
This brings us to a third set of questions. There is a WTI AG in Switzerland that initially had nothing to do with the Frankfurt WTI. But then it was discovered in the information industry that Peter Halstenbach, Jan Halstenbach’s father, had taken over shares in WTI AG and is now acting as its co-managing director. See the imprint of the former Swiss WTI website.
After visiting the website, visitors from the information industry suspected that the Frankfurt WTI databases had been transferred to the Swiss WTI website. However, this suspicion can no longer be verified because the website has now been changed. To put it bluntly, the Halstenbach have created a personal darknet or “black hole” that doesn’t let out a single piece of information if you don’t have a correct password. The only answer you get when you try to access the website is:
“ Unauthorized. This server could not verify that you are authorized to access the document requested. Either you supplied the wrong credentials (eg, bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”
Now the exciting questions are: Did the data from the Frankfurt WTI end up with the Swiss WTI or not? And if so, what do the Halstenbachs want with it? Selling them profitably would be difficult. And what legal, not to say criminal, consequences would arise if the aforementioned data transfer occurred?
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First the old management was fired, then all employees were laid off.
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In any case, the Halstenbachs’ already battered reputation is likely to reach a new low in the German-speaking information scene. When the Halstenbachs took over WTI, incidents occurred that, in retrospect, fit the questions formulated here. Open Password wrote on December 11, 2019:
“The specialist information provider WTI (Frankfurt) has been taken over by the Swiss International Investment Group AG (read: Werner and Jan Halstenbach), based in Zug. … The IIG is involved in the areas of project management, fund solutions, private placement and mergers & acquisitions. “The real estate sector,” says one self-portrayal, “as long-term investments rounds off the concept, especially in the area of real estate development.” Services that are offered include “venture capital,” “development of customer-specific investment strategies,” “fund development,” “ International tax advice”, “Real estate markets”, “Advice for medium-sized service industries”. The company is controlled by Peter Halstenbach (born 1954), who gives his job title “Business Angel” and has a degree in photo design and marketing. “His career took him early into the banking and financial world, first as a precious metals and foreign exchange trader for Merrill Lynch, then as a key account manager for Eurocard/Mastercard, for the airline credit card provider AirBus and for Dow Jones Financial Services.” …
Jan Halstenbach: We had a data crash.
Open Password has accompanied FIZ Technik, WTI’s predecessor organization, since 1986. FIZ Technik played a key role in shaping the industry discussion at the time. In 2010, the institution plunged into an existential crisis when the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs stopped its subsidies. The employees then decided to take their company into their own hands and found a cooperative. … Against all the bets of the skeptics, the company succeeded. Not only did it get by without subsidies, it also made profits and grew year after year, albeit at low rates. In order to hire more people and further develop your own search engine, you would have had to invest and win investors. However, the construction of a cooperative proved to be a hindrance, so the management worked on converting the company into a GmbH. …
Since the managing directors are not allowed to conduct business with themselves for legal reasons, the conversion was carried out by a… North Hesse travel agent M. This one sold
then the WTI, contrary to all internal agreements… to the IIG. … Shortly afterwards they were
Managing directors by post… dismissed without notice by the new shareholder and have been allowed to do so ever since
Do not enter the company again.”
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GBI-Genios would in principle be willing to merge the WTI databases
and continue operations.
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The picture becomes brighter when one turns to the prospects of the WTI databases outside of the
Halstenbachs’ influence. The managing director of GBI-Genios, Werner Müller, has declared his fundamental willingness to merge the WTI databases and continue operations. To this end, he also wants to hold discussions with former WTI employees. However, before a happy ending there must be satisfactory answers to the above
Complexes of questions can be found.
Quote
Libraries’ willingness to experiment born out of necessity
“In a recently published study1, the Washington, DC-based Association of North American Academic Libraries SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) examined whether pandemic-related budget challenges and resulting policies will persist in the longer term, and if so, in what form . Another focus of the study is the question of the consequences for content, collections and open initiatives (open access, open science, etc.).
Last but not least, the results demonstrate a very conscious willingness to experiment on the part of libraries, born out of necessity. Their creative problem solutions include spaces, staff and collections. But there are fears that budget cuts and other restrictions could persist even after the pandemic ends.
The COVID pandemic has had an immediate, immediate impact on colleges and universities around the world. When the extent of the potential health risk became apparent in March 2020, they had to send their students home. However, they quickly developed plans for distance learning and hybrid learning throughout the 2020-2021 academic year.
In: Library Essentials, October 2021.
International News
Thomson Reuters Announces $100M “Future of Professionals” Venture Capital Fund
Thomson Reuters announced the creation of a new $100 million Corporate Venture Capital fund to support and accelerate innovation for the “Future of Professionals.” The fund will operate under the name “Thomson Reuters Ventures” and concentrate on investments and portfolio support for companies building innovations that will allow professionals to operate more productively and with greater insights.
LinkedIn to Shut Down Service in China, Citing ‘Challenging’ Environment
LinkedIn said it was shutting down its professional networking service in China later this year, citing “a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements.” LinkedIn said it would offer a new app for the Chinese market focused solely on job postings. It will not have social networking features
Bloomberg and Kaiko Issue First Financial Instrument Global Identifiers for Crypto Assets
Bloomberg and Kaiko are pleased to announce the issuance of the first series of Financial Instrument Global Identifiers covering crypto assets. The Financial Instrument Global Identifier is an open standard of the Object Management Group, for the issuance of unique identifiers assigned to financial instruments.
Simon Fuller & Pearson Partner to Inspire the World to Perform
Simon Fuller and Pearson announced that they are partnering to create the Academy of Popular Performing Arts, a new entertainment driven performing arts learning platform. The Academy of Pop will offer coaching from instructors and provide performers with the opportunity to watch, participate and progress within an engaged global community.
The New York Times Unveils Eclipse, a Video App Developed in the 5G Journalism Lab
The New York Times published its first story with video captured by Eclipse, an instant video app developed by The Times’ 5G Journalism Lab. Eclipse is an app that allows video journalists to send footage from the scene of a story nearly in real-time.
Source: Outsell
Springer Nature
Seamlessly integrated automated translations for book authors
Springer Nature is now offering researchers the opportunity to distribute their books and manuscripts free of charge through automated translations.
Following a successful automated translation pilot, Springer Nature has now seamlessly integrated DeepL AI into its book publishing processes, opening up new opportunities for improved knowledge dissemination. The publishing group offers this service to book authors from all subject areas. Already published books and submitted manuscripts can be translated into English from several languages. This gives authors the flexibility to initially write their manuscripts in their preferred language and to reach an even larger readership for their scientific work through automated translation.
The pilot project initially included translations from German into English. Forty books have now been automatically translated and published. In addition, the project has been expanded to include other languages, so that works from the following languages can now be translated into English: Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as French. The accuracy of the automatically translated content is checked by a human (versus machine). The copyright to the original and the translation remains with the authors.
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