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Don't Quote Me: Online Anonymity Fosters Prejudice

by Kim Ficera, October 5, 2006


“Anna's biggest concern was that these kids, in a couple years, will be adults, and they will have been taught that they can humiliate someone like this and get away with it.”
— Murphy Klasing, lawyer for Anna Draker, a high school administrator who has filed suit against two students that created a MySpace.com profile in her name and posted false information indicating she was a lesbian.

“I don't understand how people can be so cruel … I don't believe the website offers useful information to anyone — male or female — on dating. And I don't believe anyone should be able to post something anonymously.”
— Todd Hollis, a Pittsburgh lawyer who is suing the operator of DontDateHimGirl.com for posting what he says is erroneous and defamatory information about his health and sexuality.


This morning I did something I've never done before and I hope to never do again. I spent nearly five hours randomly browsing pages on MySpace.com, videos on YouTube.com and posts on DontDateHimGirl.com. I discovered a few things, one of which is that if President Bush is looking for a new form of torture, he need look no further than these websites... (full article a afterellen.com)

Feds Leapfrog RFID Privacy Study

(RFID tag photp) source wikipedia

Extract of Wired article Feds Leapfrog RFID Privacy Study By Ryan Singel

The story seems simple enough. An outside privacy and security advisory committee to the Department of Homeland Security penned a tough report concluding the government should not use chips that can be read remotely in identification documents. But the report remains stuck in draft mode, even as new identification cards with the chips are being announced.

Jim Harper, a Cato Institute fellow who serves on the committee and who recently published a book on identification called Identity Crisis, thinks he knows why the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee report on the use of Radio Frequency Identification devices for human identification (.pdf) never made it out of the draft stage.

Read full article at Wired

Privacy Lost by David H. Holtzman

Privacy Lost: How Technology Is Endangering Your Privacy
David H. Holtzman
ISBN: 0-7879-8511-2
Hardcover352 pages
October 2006

Holtzman vividly reveals actual invasions and the dangers associated with the loss of privacy, and he takes a realistic look at the trade offs between privacy and such vital issues as security, rights, and economic development.

Praise for Privacy Lost

"Whether we know it or not, we have all become citizens of the Digital Age. As such we need to take responsibility for our conduct, our safety, and our privacy. David Holtzman is deeply knowledgeable about the industry and passionate about the issues. Regardless of your political views, you will come away from this book better equipped to meet the challenges before us all."

Geoffrey A. Moore, author, Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution

"Holtzman has drafted a blueprint all citizens of this great land ought to read if they desire to understand what privacy truly means, why it is important to both their everyday life as well as to their understanding of what it really means to be free, and what they can do to salvage what little privacy is left them. Privacy Lost needs to be readily available on the desks of all concerned citizens—heavily dog-eared and underlined."

Bob Barr, practicing attorney and former Member of theUnited States House of Representatives

Data Protection Practical Compliance - 1st Annual Conference

The 1st Annual Data Protection Practical Compliance Conference will be held in Dublin, Ireland on 10th November 2006

This annual Conference brings together the leading authorities in the field of data protection, as well as the related areas of records management, privacy and computer technology.

Billy Hawkes, the Data Protection Commissioner, is the keynote speaker. Other expert speakers are from law firms, leading corporations and government.

This one-day Conference is specifically designed to give you the key resources and information for your organisation to manoeuvre within Ireland's rapidly expanding fields of data protection, privacy, and records management.

The Australian Privacy Foundation urges patients to opt out of database

Text source ABC Newsonline

The Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) says patients should ask their doctor not to put their records on a new electronic database, because the system is a breach of privacy.

The New South Wales Government says it will roll out the system, which will allow a patient's health records to be accessed from anywhere within the public health system at any time.

The chairwoman of the APF, Anna Johnston, says patients' records will be put on the database unless they opt out.

Ms Johnston says a trial of the system has failed to get the support of doctors.

Links:

Privacy issues and risks with electronic health records (APF website)