New Internet Identification in Korea to Protect Privacy

Image source: Ministry of Information and Communication Republic of Korea

New Internet Identification to Protect Privacy
From Digital Chosun Ilbo (English Edition)

Korea is adopting a new identification system for website access from 2007 to protect users' privacy. Those who want to join a website will no longer register with their real name and resident registration number, but will use a personal identification number (PIN) assigned by a credit-rating agency or certified authentication institute.

The Ministry of Information and Communication said Monday it settled on five identification methods to guard against theft of personal information after a series of high-profile crimes where hackers obtained access to users online banking accounts. The methods include three via credit-rating agencies and two via certified authentication institutes; the ministry wants online firms to adopt more than one of them. " If lawmakers pass the Personal Information Protection Act next year, major web portals and online game providers will have to adopt an alternative to resident registration numbers from 2007",ministry official Lee Seong-ok said.

Links:

Is privacy cure worse than the disease? Some say yesJoongang Ilbo, South Korea
Foolproof ID to Be Adopted for Online Registration Korea Times
Korea to introduce new ID system for internet services Korea Herald
On the Net, your history lingers Joongang Ilbo

SWAMI (AmI & Privacy)

SWAMI (Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence) is a FP6 Project (European R&D Research Programme). This project aims to identify and analyse the social, economic, legal, technological and ethical issues related to identity, privacy and security in the forecasted but not yet deployed Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environment.

WORK PACKAGE

Work package 1 (WP1) consists of a state of the art review of existing AmI projects, studies, scenarios and roadmaps.

Work package 2 (WP2) deals with developing "dark" (adverse) scenarios, the aim of which will be to expose key socio-economic, legal, technological and ethical risks and vulnerabilities related to issues such as identity, privacy and security.

Work package 3 (WP3) develops legal and policy options which could serve as safeguards and privacy-enhancing mechanisms for Ambient Intelligence.

Work package 4 (WP4) focusses on dissimination of project results, continuously throughout the project. There are two validation and awareness-raising workshops foreseen. A final conference at the end of the project is also planned.

SWAMI Partners:

Fraunhofer Institute Systems and Innovation Research (Germany)
Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, DG-JRC, European Commission (Spain)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
Technical Research Centre of Finland , VTT Electronics (Finland)
Trilateral Research & Consulting (UK)

There is available this report: The brave new world of ambient intelligence: A state-of-the-art review.

Links:
About Ambient Intelligence (Open Course Ware MIT) Course available
Philips Research: Ambient Intelligence

theBiometrix

Few days ago, we talked about the new european biometrics web site, Europeanbiometrics.info, and there is another Forum: The Biometrix

TheBIOMETRIX.COM was founded in mid January 2005 by a group of enthusiastic researchers & web developers from the UK, USA, Romania, Greece & Morocco.

The forum is easy to use and has numerous helpful features for free, once you have registered you can check the FAQ section, where you can find answers for your questions and how theBIOMETRIX.com forum functions.

US Passports and RFID

Photo Source: State Department

All U.S. passports will be implanted with computer chips starting next October, the State Department said Tuesday.


Links:

SFGates
Silicon.com
InformationWeek
RFID Journal
ABC News

What European Consumer think about RFID

Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing services, published Capgemini in February 2005, this report RFID and Consumers: What European Consumers Think About RFID and the Implications for Business.

" European consumers are beginning to recognise that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology will bring real benefits to their everyday lives, reveals new research from Capgemini. The majority of respondents said they would buy RFID-enabled products if they meant potentially reducing car theft (70% of those surveyed), faster recovery of stolen items (68%) and improved security of prescription drugs (63%). Additional benefits of RFID identified as important to consumers include improved food safety and quality; faster, more reliable notification of recalls; and faster exit through store checkouts.

However, the study also found that concerns over privacy issues threaten to overshadow the benefits of RFID. More than half (55%) of those surveyed are either concerned or very concerned that RFID tags will allow businesses to track consumers via product purchases, while 59% are worried that RFID tags will allow data to be used more freely by third parties. " (Source Cap Gemini)

Privacy in the Digital Networked Economy

Source: Privacy in the Digital Networked Economy by Henley Centre

Henley Centre, is an international strategic futures and marketing consultancy, and they have made this report "Privacy in the Digital Networked Economy" for BT Group. This report contains 8 recommendations to BT and how they must managed privacy. ("A number of recommendations for BT are made and we will be considering these during the 2006 financial year" BT Website)

" We have recently acknowledged privacy as one of our seven key CSR risks and have developed a set of privacy principles designed to be used by all BT employees. They require BT people to take an informed approach to assessing privacy related risks when developing, marketing or selling new wave products and solutions. " BT Website

One example of this policy is PRIVACY AT HOME Help Stop unwanted sales calls with FREE BT Privacy, given power to customers control over the calls.

Virtual Identity and Privacy - VIP

Virtual Identity and Privacy - VIP, is a lab from Hochschule für Technik und Informatik HTI (School of Engineering and Information Technology of Berne University).

VIP takes care of all the subjects that deal with Identity and Privacy. It stands between the Computer Science Department and the Mathematics Department.

VIP is a member of Fidis. FIDIS (Future of Identity in the Information Society) is a NoE (Network of Excellence) supported by the European Union under the 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development within the Information Society Technologies (IST) priority in the Action Line: "Towards a global dependability and security framework".

VIP's website provides a lot of reports and brochures about privacy:


Special issue of TILT on the "Impact of new technologies on privacy and data protection". D.-O. Jaquet-Chiffelle is the editor of a special issue of TILT on the "Impact of new technologies on privacy and data protection".

Editorial(pdf: 127Ko)
Table of content(pdf: 62Ko)
Special Issue(pdf: 2.4Mo)

Spychips

Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID, is a new book by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre, that they are founders of CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) Published at Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Privacy in Korea: PICO

Republic of Korea is one of the most fascinanting countries right now, As one of the four East Asian Tigers, South Korea has achieved an impressive record of growth and integration into the high-tech modern global economy, making South Korea the 10th largest economy in the world

Visit Korea.net: Gateway to Korea, available in french, english, spanish, german, arabic, japanese, chinese and vietnamese.

About Privacy, The Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee(PIDMC) is an independent statutory body established on December 3, 2001 on the basis of the "Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc."

As the Internet and IT services are popularized recently, personal information is used as basic marketing data, and thus the commercial value of it is being highlighted. Accordingly, the excessive collection, abuse and misuse of personal information have become social problems

In order to cope with these challenges, PIDMC was established for a quick and convenient settlement at an affordable cost as one of the alternative dispute resolution(ADR) mechanisms in Korea.

And we can see, this major case:


Case where an online game company collected personal information of an 11-year-old minor without consent of legal guardian

The complainant is a parent whose 11-year-old son, an elementary school student, registered as a member to the online game site operated by the respondent, an online game company, and who learned that his son had used the fee-based game services and had been charged approximately KRW180,000 for the games.The complainant claimed that he had never consented to the collection of the personal and payment information by the respondent when his son had joined the website of the respondent, and demanded the secession of his sons membership and refund of the charged service fees from the respondent. PICO recommended immediate membership withdrawal, along with the refund of KRW 180,000.

Here come the printers¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

Photo Source www.eff.org Electronic Frontier Foundation

Electronic Frontier Foundation has discovered that many printers add an arrangement of yellow dots to each page printed that can allow the authorities to identify the time and date of printing and serial number of the device.

List of Printers which do or don't print tracking dots

Decoding Guide

The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.
"We've found that the dots from at least one line of printers encode the date and time your document was printed, as well as the serial number of the printer," said EFF Staff Technologist Seth David Schoen.

Security Breach Survey

White & Case LLP is a global law firm that has lawyers in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. White & Case showcases its leadership in privacy and data protection law with an annual survey and symposium, that we talked about it, few time ago, the 5th Annual Global Privacy Symposium.

Now, they release this Report "Security Breach Survey", conducted by Ponemon Institute (dedicated to advancing ethical information and privacy management practices in business and government) to learn how individuals individuals react to data security breach notifications sent by business, non-profit or governmental organizations as required by new laws.

Siemens: Horizons 2020

Siemens has released this project Horizons 2020

"Will the future be a golden age or an apocalypse? People have always speculated about life in the future. Siemens has begun to search for answers and, with a communications scenario called Horizons2020, to study what life will be like in the world of tomorrow. The result is a series of distinct and exciting visions of life in the year 2020. These visions challenge the imagination and invite us to reflect and think ahead."

Two scenarios:

Horizon I
Horizon II

Check out this topic "Security and Public health"

Security and health for all Satellite-supported and online warning systems allow for rapid response to security and public health risks. Read vision

Security according to your budget Security is a marketable commodity. The more money you have, the more secure you can be. Read vision

The Networked Future: Trust & Security Technologies

CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service) CORDIS is an important source on EU R&D programmes and relevant matters and can help you to participate in EU funded research programmes, find partners, and transfer your innovative ideas.

CORDIS has just published this brochure The Networked Future

"The aim of this brochure is to illustrate the integration and multi-disciplinarity of today’s research as managed by Directorate D of DG Information Society & Media. What used to be singular research objectives leading to singular results and inventions have now become part of an interwoven research fabric leading to a constant stream of innovation. What were once isolated technological objectives are now embedded in an intelligent networking infrastructure that brings clear benefits to European businesses, consumers and society." Source Cordis Website

One of the six strategies objectives is: Trust & Security Technologies

"Trust and security are key enablers of the Information Society. For citizens to use and feel comfortable with eGovernment services they must have confidence that their online services are trustworthy and secure. Similarly, for consumers and SMEs to use e-commerce and e-business they need confidence in the security of online transactions...

These aspects will become even more important in future, as we move towards smart digital environments based on many interacting objects, devices and systems. In the future, personal area networks and embedded computer chips will be everywhere – in our chips, our homes and even in our clothes. Security in such massively inter-connected environments will require solutions very different to those of today.

This brochure describes IST research on ICT for Trust and Security, showing the integrated nature of European research in this domain. It presents profiles of specific research areas holding a promising future, together with selected project descriptions to exemplify and illustrate key on-going research and technology development." Source CORDIS Website

Genetic Testing: IBM Says No ¡¡

FROM BUSINESS WEEK

By Amy Barrett

IBM's Smart Stance on Genetic Testing

Big Blue is the first major corporation to rule out DNA scans for employees. More than an ethical issue, the decision is also good business

There's no doubt: IBM (IBM ) is way out in front on genetic privacy. On Oct. 10, IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano sent a memo to employees announcing the company was revising its policies to prevent the use of genetic information in making personnel decisions. Big Blue's move prompts the question: Is a flood of gene-based health data about workers available right now?

Full article Business Week

Bite Biometric Identification Technology Ethics

Bite Project is a european project, to promote research and public debate on bioethical implicationsof emerging biometric identification tecnologies.

The Project's Consortium:

CENTRE FOR SCIENCE, SOCIETY AND CITIZENSHIP
CENTRE FOR CLINICAL RESEARCH AND BIOETHICS
CENTRE FOR THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF GENOMICS
ESA COMMUNICATION,
HUMANSCAN GMBH
INSTITUTE FOR HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT & POLICY
INTERNATIONAL BIOMETRIC GROUP
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATIONS, IOM
OPTEL
EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF BIOETHICS

and The Project's Work Plan.

REPORTS:

1. Biometrics and genetics meeting report (now available)
2. Biometrics and privacy meeting report (now available)
3. Biometrics and migrants meeting report
4. The european industrial context meeting report
5. Future technologies meeting report
6. Biometric identification technologies for security purposes in biomedicine and to restrain access to medical sensitive data;
7. Biometrics to avoid illicit use of social welfare and medical support;
8. Biometrics as a potential source of biomedical information about an individual.
9. Report on world biometrics market and industry (now available)
10. Report on target groups
11. Public consultation report
12. Conference report
13. The “informatisation of the body” (policy paper)(now available)
14. Politics of Biometric Identity (policy paper)

To download these reports you have to register you in Bite Project Website, it's free

Concurring Opinions

A few time ago we talked about two books by Daniel J. Solove: The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age (NYU Press 2004) and Information Privacy Law (Aspen, 2d ed., 2006) (with Marc Rotenberg & Paul M. Schwartz), Professor Solove is an associate professor of law at the George Washington University Law School.

Solove, Kaimipono D. Wenger, an Assistant Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and Nathan Oman who practices appellate and general litigation in Washington, DC, have just published this blog: Concurring Opinions , a blog about Law & Technology, and specific categories such as Privacy, the last one was about: Airport X-Ray Peep Shows

"According to the New York Times, the TSA is moving closer to deploying a new kind of X-ray machine at airports, one that sees through people's clothing.." (More...)

Links:
Daniel J. Solove
The Digital PersonHome Page
Solove's HomepageSSRN Page (Specially A Taxonomy of Privacy)

Kaimipono Wenger
Kaimi's HomepageSSRN Page

Nathan Oman
SSRN Page

Commission launches the European Biometrics Portal

From Europe's Information Society Newsroom Update

Commission launches the European Biometrics Portal

(3 October 2005) Biometrics is becoming a key technology in identity management all over the world. The European Commission has just launched a new public information portal on biometrics, to provide an online platform for information exchange, coordination and community building activities between users and producers in Europe. The European Biometrics Portal (EBP) will be open to scientific and policy contributions from governments, industry and civil society authors. EBP access and membership are free of charge. The new portal's objective is to encourage the development of consistent policies in the field of biometrics and the respect of privacy. EBP will also support European industry in consolidating its resources.

Biometrics & Justice

RTF Info, is a quarterly magazine published by the European Commission presenting a mix of research results and debate on scientific subjects of interest to a wide, non-specialised readership.

The last number, 46, August 2005, has a report about Biometrics & Justice:

"In an increasingly permeable and mobile world, in which information must be transmitted as quickly as possible, the need for secure communication is not limited to financial transactions. In the field of justice in the widest sense – thus including magistrates, judicial authorities, police, etc. – there is also keen interest in the design, development and testing of innovative identification and authentication systems that guarantee maximum security against attempts at “deception” or “human error”. The European eJustice project is currently proposing operational technologies for secure co-operation between various European and national organisations and administrations – and not only in Europe. "

Full article
EJustice Project

One Laptop per Child

From Technology Review by Kevin Bullis

At Technology Review's Emerging Technology Conference at MIT today, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT's Media Lab, showed off the design of a laptop he hopes can be sold for just $100. At that price, governments in developing countries could afford to buy one laptop for every child, he said, opening up educational opportunities for millions.

Full article:

Laptop Initiative

Kazakhstan to preserve data privacy

Published at KAZINFORM, October 3, by Zhiger Baitelessov

Kazakhstan to preserve data privacy


The Agreement on mutual confidential information privacy within the CSTO signed on June 18, 2004 in Astana by its Member States is recommended for ratification by the Majilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan in order to ensure the protection of the restricted data in foreign policy, economic, scientific-technical, military, military-technical, intelligence, counterintelligence, criminal investigations.

The bill will be submitted to the plenary session of the Majilis Committee on October 5 this year.

Security information transfer to the CSTO Secretariat, an international Organization, is foreseen by the norms of the Accord. The State Secrets Law of Kazakhstan regulating the legal framework and the general system of state secrets protection envisages the procedure of the national secrets disposal to the public organs, foreign countries and citizens but not to international organizations.

Taking into account this information and in conformity with the Law “On International Treaties of Kazakhstan” the Committee proposed the Majilis to ratify the Agreement.

LINKS
About Kazkhstan

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Welcome to Kazakhstan

Government of Kazakhstan