Snap... privacy and 33.5m camera phones

Christina Michalos is a barrister at 5RB, London. She has written The Law of Photography & Digital Images (Sweet & Maxwell, 2004)

She writes this article Snap... privacy and 33.5m camera phones at Times online.

THERE are now more than 33.5 million camera phones in Britain, according to a recent survey by the Mobile Data Association. This is more than just an interesting statistic — it means that there are 33.5 million people equipped to take a photograph or video of you in a public place and upload it on to the internet for the world to see.

Many magazines and photo agencies pay for mobile phone pictures of celebrities taken by the public. Image-sharing sites such as YouTube and Flikr, which have a user base far in excess of any tabloid newspaper, are full of videos and photographs authored by citizen paparazzi. So what can Joe Public do to stop his 15 minutes of fame becoming 15 minutes of internet shame via an unfortunate camera phone image?

Read full article at Times Online

Ernest & Young: Global Information Security Survey

The 2006 Global Information Security Survey by Ernest & Young is unique in providing a genuine, standards-driven benchmarking approach with the ISO 17799 based-benchmark. Organizations wanting to participate in the ISO 17799-based benchmark can do so at no cost and obtain their own individual report.

Paul van Kessel, Global Leader of Ernst & Young’s Technology and Security Risk Services, comments, “We have identified five major information security priorities in which companies are showing significant progress, but also where continuous improvements are necessary to keep pace with the growing requirements of effective risk management.

“Among the most notable priorities is privacy and personal data protection, which is the one information security issue most-consumer driven. It has become a high-stakes business issue, catapulted up the board agenda by consumer concerns caused by well publicized lapses of security and the growing response of government and legislative activism. Understandably it is the area where companies are being most active, with privacy and data protection practices becoming increasingly more formalized.”

vnunet.com comment: Clive Longbottom on the end of privacy

Clive Longbottom, service director of Quocirca, writes this article at vnunet.com: vnunet.com comment: Clive Longbottom on the end of privacy

The latest problem to be thrown at us, on top of war, global warming, disease etc, is that we are 'sleepwalking into a surveillance society'.

The worry is that, owing to all the data being collected these days, we no longer have any real privacy.

We are covered by cameras, the 'powers that be' have oodles of information on everyone of us, and the private sector has got in on the act with the likes of loyalty cards.

Read full article at vnunet.com

RFID & IBM

By Erika Morphywww.CRMBuyer.com

Part of the ECT News Network 11/09/06 3:04 PM PT

A year after IBM scientist Paul Moskowitz distributed handmade prototypes of his invention at an industry event, IBM has announced it will license his Clipped Tag technology -- which features an RFID tag small and flexible enough to allow consumers to tear off most of its antenna -- to Marnlen RFiD. The firm said it will begin production of Clipped Tag products immediately.

Read more at: technewsworld.com

Intel drafts privacy license for mobile device software

November 09, 2006 (IDG News Service) -- Intel Corp. has attached a privacy license to its new location-aware software product, intended to protect cell phone users’ personal information as mobile devices increasingly rely on tracking technology to provide targeted services.

Installed on a smart phone or ultramobile PC, location-aware software can use GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to produce tailored information like driving directions, nearby restaurants and movie schedules. The downside of that feature is that handsets can double as tracking devices if location data is not kept private. The abuse of such access could range from civil liberties violations to physical threats in the cases of vulnerable people like battered spouses, Intel fears.

So, Intel has added a privacy addendum to the Eclipse Public License it uses for the software application called Privacy Observant Location System (POLS), according to a posting on Intel's Web site by John Miller, the privacy and security policy manager of Intel's corporate technology group.