no place to hide

No Place To Hide is a multimedia investigation by news organizations, such as Center for Investigative Reporting, working together across print and broadcast platforms, to make a greater impact than any one organization could alone.


No place to hide is a book by Robert O'Harrow, Jr. There is the final chapter of No Place to Hide, by Robert O'Harrow, Jr., published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster.

In this book you can see how companys like Acxiom, Seisint, ChoicePoint, HNC Software, TransCore, Searchspace, and Verint work with technology and privacy.

A firm called SAMSys Technologies, meanwhile, uses the tags to create an all-purpose surveillance tool for amusement parks called the SafeTzone System. Everybody at the park would get a SafeTzone Locator, a watch-size tracker. Parents could use it to find their kids on an electronic map, buy goodies for them without pulling out their wallets, and cut down on waiting times for rides. They bill it as a combination of gee-whiz and surveillance, in one tiny package. "The SafeTzone System is making the entertainment park experience more enjoyable and less frustrating for families and groups."

"No place to hide" by R.O'Harrow

Should every agency have a chief privacy officer?

Should every agency have a chief privacy officer?

By David Perera Published on Federal Computer Week

An Information Age argument about how agencies should best organize themselves to protect citizens' privacy rights has collided with the jurisdictional divides between power centers in Washington, D.C.

Specifically, a 4-month-old law requiring agencies to appoint chief privacy officers, which passed last year as part of Congress' omnibus spending bill, has provoked resistance from the Office of Management and Budget and Congress.

Full article FCW

Verichip

A revolution in the making: VeriChip is a miniaturized, implantable radio frequency identification (RFID) device for use in a variety of identification and information applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip contains a unique verification number, which can be used to access a subscriber-supplied database providing personal related information.

Once implanted just under the skin, via a quick, simple and painless outpatient procedure (much like getting a shot), the VeriChip can be scanned when necessary with a proprietary VeriChip scanner. A small amount of radio frequency energy passes from the scanner energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the individual’s unique personal verification (VeriChip ID)
number. The VeriChip Subscriber Number then provides instant access to the Global VeriChip Subscriber (GVS) Registry – through secure, password-protected web access to
subscriber-supplied information. This data is maintained by state-of-the-art GVS
Registry operations centers in Riverside, California and Owings, Maryland.

Microsoft to plug ID controls into Windows

Microsoft will build software for managing identities into Windows in order to beef up security by giving users more control over their personal information, the world's largest software maker said on Tuesday.

The ID technology, called "info-cards," will give users more control over their own personal information in order to shop and access services online, said Michael Stephenson, a director in Microsoft's Windows Server division.

Microsoft is currently working on a new Internet Explorer Web browser and version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, but Stephenson declined to say whether info-cards would be built into the current Windows XP version or into Longhorn.

(read full article published on ZDNet News)

Future of privacy

Demos is an independent think tank committed to radical thinking on the long-term problems facing the UK and other advanced industrial societies.
It aims to develop ideas – both theoretical and practical – to help shape the politics of the twenty first century, and to improve the breadth and quality of
political debate.
Demos publishes books and a regular journal and undertakes substantial empirical and policy oriented research projects. Demos is a registered charity.

In all its work Demos brings together people from a wide range of backgrounds in business, academia, government, the voluntary sector and the media to share and cross-fertilise ideas and experiences.

At demos you can download a e-book "The future of privacy"

At the close of the century, huge flows of personal data are the life-blood of the new economy – with serious implications for privacy. This book analyses the forces – technological, economic, political and cultural – shaping the future of privacy. Includes a detailed set of policy recommendations on data protection, the media and public education. Perri 6 is a writer, lecturer and Demos Associate