Unique Sigantures Detection

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). It manages and directs selected basic and applied research and development projects for DoD, and pursues research and technology where risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions.


DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)is working in Unique Signatures Detection Project.

The objective of the Unique Signature Detection Project is to determine whether there are unique signatures in emanations that can be used to identify and distinguish specific high-level-of-interest individuals within groups of enemy troops or combatants, and if so, to develop enabling technology for detecting and identifying those specific individuals. The program leverages research that demonstrated the same set of genes that code for internal immune system self/non-self recognition in mice, the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), also code for unique emanated signatures. Although experimental data for humans is far less quantitative, behavioral studies have yielded compelling results to suggest that such phenomenology can also be expected in humans. Recent experimental results with mice suggest that MHC-determined urinary signatures are expressed in a mixture of volatile carboxylic acids occurring in relative concentrations that are characteristic of the emanation. This suggests the possibility of a corresponding unique and exploitable chemosignal. Accordingly, the program will design detectors that exploit this phenomenon by reliably detecting and identifying specific signatures of interest.

German group studies ubiquitous computing, data privacy

Germany's Ministry of Education and Research has commissioned a group to study the impact of ubiquitous computing on data privacy.

The Data Privacy Protection Center of Schleswig-Holstein and the Computer Science Institute of Humboldt University in Berlin on a project TAUCIUS (Technologiefolgen-Abschätzung Ubiquitäres Computing und Informationelle Selbstbestimmung).

The Taucis web is in german, but you can download information on english.

This project will examine implications between techonology and privacy, such as wirelss technologies, sensors and RFID.

Amazon seeks to know you better than you know yourself

Article from Global technology

Amazon.com Inc.has one potentially big advantage over its rival on-line retailers: It knows things about you that you may not know yourself.While plenty of companies have detailed systems for tracking customer habits, critics and boosters alike say Amazon is the trailblazer, having collected information longer and used it more actively. It even received a patent recently on technology aimed at tracking information about the people for whom its customers buy gifts.

Amazon sees such data gathering as the best way to keep customers happy and loyal, a relationship-building technique that analysts consider potentially crucial to beating other on-line competitors.

"In general, we collect as much information as possible such that we can provide [customers] with the best feedback," said Werner Vogels, Amazon's chief technology officer.

But some privacy advocates believe Amazon is getting dangerously close to becoming Big Brother with your credit card number.

Read the full article.........

HP Labs

HP Labs' function is to deliver breakthrough technologies and to create business opportunities that go beyond HP's current strategies.

Trust, Privacy and Security are part of these functions.

Most of the work in the Trust, Security and Privacy area takes place in the Trusted Systems Laboratory, based in Bristol, UK. To see more details on our current research, please follow the links below.

Legal and Regulatory
Manageability
Trusted Platforms
Identity Management and Privacy
Pairing based Cryptography
Boundary Management
Threat Management
Trust Management
Digital Proofing

ome of the above work is being done within PRIME, a 4-year, 20 organization research project, funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme and the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science, to research and develop approaches and solutions for privacy-enhancing identity management that can empower European citizens to exercise their privacy rights, and thus enable them to gain trust and confident in the Information Society.

Privacy in Canada

PIPEDA, Canada's private-sector privacy law, went into full force on Jan. 1, 2004.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, is an Officer of Parliament who reports directly to the House of Commons and the Senate. In addition to the Privacy Commissioner.

There is a PIPEDA E-kit for businesses and for Individuals.

About PIPEDA and Privacy there is a book "The Privacy Payoff" by A.Cavoukian and T. Hamilton.

"Privacy Payoff points readers to a very powerful instrument for determining how well their companies are complying with fair information practices and to what extent these businesses promote the protection of customer privacy." Strategy+Business magazine, Spring 2004

Privatech Constulting company dedicated to providing privacy solutions to implement in workplace. PrivaTech's experienced consultants help to make corporate privacy compliance plans achievable, in a cost-effective and timely manner.

NYMTIY is another source for privacy knowledge and resources in Canada. The differents privacy acts in Canada :Alberta, Quebec, Brithish Columbia and Training workshops on privavy issues.