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PRIVACYnotes Digest
Security Protecting Privacy is Good for Business
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Published by:
Mike Banks Valentine PrivacyNotes
privacy@privacynotes.com www.privacynotes.com
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May 9, 2002 Issue # 009
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SEND POSTS: mailto:privacy@privacynotes.com
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.....IN THIS DIGEST.....
// -- MODERATOR COMMENT -- //
"Privacy Central Issue" ~ Mike Valentine
// -- NEW DISCUSSION -- //
"Privacy Humor" ~ Future Feed Forward ~ Moderator comment
// -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- //
"Digital ID" ~ InternetWeek
"Digital Databases" ~ Anonymous ~ ZDnet ~ Moderator comment
// -- PRIVACY NEWS -- //
"The Latest in Privacy Issues"
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// -- MODERATOR COMMENT -- //
PRIVACY CENTRAL ISSUE?
This week I stumbled across a letter to the editor in the New
York Times which opposes the establishment of a National ID, essentially
in the form of a U.S. drivers license. This idea hatched as a
sort of "Back Door" to a national ID, both because states were
already looking at ways to make DL's uniform, and because Larry
Ellison so generously offered Oracle database software to make
that giant National ID database a reality. (For the record, that's
said "generously" tongue-in-cheek.)
The thing that startled me was the signatures on that letter
to the editor. I'll reproduce below, the concluding line of that
letter and it's signers. Be prepared to be a bit startled yourself!
"A national identity card would diminish privacy in America
and do nothing to prevent further acts of terrorism on our soil."
PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY NADINE STROSSEN Washington, May 1, 2002
The writers are the presidents of, respectively, the Eagle Forum
and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Is it possible that we've found an issue we can agree on from
both the left and the right? Is privacy such a central issue that
Americans of every political stripe can stand together truly united
on this critical issue?
Well I found out, after doing a bit more research, that a broad
spectrum of organizations have all come together to support the
fight against a National ID/Driver License system. For a list
of signatories of a letter to President Bush and the full text
of the letter. Visit the following URL:
<http://www.epic.org/privacy/id_cards/presidentltr2.11.02.html>
On the same day in the same newspaper as the letter to the editor
was a column by William Safire angrily opposing another privacy
intrusion being called "Observational Research". (Link to column
in news links.)
"Finally, libertarians of left and right should hold President
Bush to his pledge to require merchants to ask the consumer's
consent. How would he like to have "observational research" in
the Oval Office?"
One nation, indivisible. With privacy and security for all?
What do you think of that?!
~ Mike Banks Valentine
// -- NEW DISCUSSION -- //
"PRIVACY HUMOR"
From: Future Feed Forward
Wireless Designer Labels Help Chic Shoppers Show Off
MILAN--In a bid to both attract technologically savvy clients
and combat the scourge of high-fashion knock-offs, a special research
committee of the Joint Council for Fashion and Design announced
Wednesday the final draft an open standard for the wireless authentication
of designer garments. "The standard has been a longtime in development,"
notes Greta Weif, Chair of the Council's steering committee. "And
we are very pleased with the results. The system will, at last,
bring the technology of fashion awareness into the 21st century."
Responding to the Authus announcement, privacy experts sounded
notes of concern. "We are justifiably concerned about how this
system is going to be used," worries First Privacy founder Willamette
Quan. "Beyond the nightmare possibilities of 'fashion police'
devices looking for 'knock offs' is the subtler, but deeper, threat
the system poses to the anonymity that is crucial to equality
in public spaces. Do we really want to live in a world where everybody
walks around with a dollar figure over their heads?"
"Fashion is about publicity, not privacy," responds Prada spokesman
Michael Adams-Green-Bury. "Our clothes make a complex social statement,
and the [Authus] labels are part of that statement. Our clients
choose us because they have something to say. Our job is to help
them say it."
Read the entire hilarious column at:
http://futurefeedforward.com/front.php?fid=79
[ Moderator Comment: ]
I'm a smiling subscriber to this great techno-humor site and
their semi-regular email companion. I highly recommend FFF for
web professionals who yearn for intelligently substantive lighthearted
commentary. Privacy puns are a regular feature.
Mike Banks Valentine
// -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- //
===> TOPIC: DIGITAL ID
From: InternetWeek
Internet Identity Poll
What role will efforts to build public identity platforms such
as Microsoft Passport or the Liberty Alliance play in your enterprise's
authentication and single-sign-on strategies?
*These public services will be very important to our internal
efforts.
*These services will be peripheral to our enterprise efforts,
but we will consider enterprise-class systems based on their protocols/mechanisms.
*These are consumer-oriented services and of no interest to
our enterprise.
*Too early to tell; it remains to be seen.
Weigh in with your opinion at the following URL
http://www.internetweek.com/question02/question042502.htm
===> TOPIC: DIGITAL DATABASES
From: Anonymous
Will Bontrager commented : >> That wouldn't make life
tougher for terrorists, it would make it *easier* <<
on my comment: >> What was left unsaid was that will also
make life tougher for every single person, not just terrorists.
All of us equally. <<
Sorry Will, I think I may not have been clear enough. I meant
tougher for all of us in the loss of privacy. Tougher for all
of us as it would be much simpler for any one person or entity
to obtain more information about a person because it's stored
all in one place.
It seems companies cannot even keep their present information
private, as shown by various companies allowing (however unintentionally)
others to have access online, or the information stolen.
I think until we can keep private information private, it ought
to stay scattered.
Late one recent Sunday night, an executive at a midsized financial
services firm received the kind of call everyone in the industry
dreads: a demand for $1 million, or else the brokerage's network
would crash the next day with a surreptitiously installed program.
<http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2863266,00.html>
[ Moderator Comment: ]
This frightening TRUE story clearly indicates good reason for
the concern expressed by both Willmaster and Lynn Bernstein. Anyone
remember the story last month of Bank of America "losing" records
of all deposits made one recent Friday? They don't provide the
public with details to protect their image as safe places for
money. How long before you lose your savings or simply your financial
data?
// -- PRIVACY NEWS -- //
Moderator note: There are two ways to access previously listed
privacy news stories. One is to visit PRIVACYnotes archives,
the other (simpler) way is to visit
http://privacynotes.com/privacy_news.html
where I also keep a privacy news archive.
San Francisco Chronicle Opinion on privacy legislation. AN UNACCEPTABLY
weak financial-privacy bill reaches a critical juncture Tuesday
in the state Assembly's Judiciary Committee. This is the moment
for sponsoring Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, to deliver
on his promise to produce truly meaningful consumer protections
in AB1775. It may require Nation to break his alliance with Gov.
Gray Davis, who undermined a strong privacy bill last year --
and appears determined to do so again.
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge for the first time disclosed
Thursday the Bush administration is studying ways to set national
standards for driver's licenses that would assist in preventing
fraudulent identification and expose aliens who overstayed their
visas.
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=02052002-072009-4333r
Once the musings of science fiction writers and technology whiz
kids, the promise of fingerprints and retinas opening some doors
-- and keeping others locked -- has been rushed into reality.
Companies around the world are perfecting ways to scan, store
and process faces, fingers, voices, hands and eyeballs. The Sept.
11 attacks spurred a mini boom in security products and services,
and scuttled some of the privacy and civil liberties concerns
that long hampered the industry.
<http://www.Reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryI
>
"We've been ordered to invade the privacy of our customers,''
said Ken Potashner, SonicBlue's chairman and chief executive.
''This is something that we find personally very troubling.''
Privacy advocates condemned the ruling which came during the pre-trial
discovery process of a series of lawsuits against SonicBlue. Last
October, the studios and networks accused SonicBlue of permitting
copyright-infringement with its latest digital video recorder.
The machines work like a VCR but record to a hard drive instead
of video tape.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3186191.htm
As wireless laptops, scanners and other gadgets become more
popular in businesses and homes, threats to privacy are growing
as well. Just this week, Best Buy suspended use of wireless cash
registers over concerns that eavesdroppers could obtain credit
card numbers and other customer data by sitting in the parking
lot with the right equipment.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/technology/3185545.htm
Federal authorities announced a nationwide sweep of identity
theft arrests today, charging the people with using false credentials
to cover up a murder, sell homes belonging to the elderly and
exercise 176,000 stock options belonging to an unknowing company
executive. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the prosecutions,
many of them fraud cases, to demonstrate sharply stepped-up federal
efforts, and he called on Congress to pass legislation to ensure
that identity thieves received longer sentences
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/03/national/03IDEN.html
(Free membership required, Read the Privacy Policy!)
Intrusion Explosion. Forget all about old-fashioned consumer
surveys or even focus groups. The hot new technique in exploring
your buying decision is called "observational research" or "retail
ethnography." This buying-spying uses hidden surveillance cameras,
two-way mirrors and microphones concealed under counters. Opinion
from William Safire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/02/opinion/02SAFI.html
(Free membership required, Read the Privacy Policy!)
