Month: April 2007

Good taxi service and data gathering

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10 April 2007

07:21

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Out of the Box

I had to drop my car off at the garage for a service this morning and rang for a taxi to take me to the office. It was interesting to note that they seem to store the last address that you were picked up from associated with the telephone number that you rang from.

I have noted this before, but mistakenly thought -as I’d only rang for a taxi from my home address- that they had my home address linked to my land-line number. In any case the service is excellent.

I was wondering what system they use for this, and was wondering what additional information they hold on customers and for how long? If any you readers are taxi-drivers and use a similar type system, maybe you would be kind enough to share with me?

British schools use biometric software to record the data of children

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5 April 2007

10:28

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Children

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When I was at the LSE conference in London I listened to Terri Dowty that discussed the growing trend on surviellance of children in the UK, starting with kindergarten. I was thus concerned to come across the following article this morning that up to 3,500 schools use biometric software to record the data of approximately three quarters of a million children. Children’s data stored, often include photographs and fingerprints, is stored on unregulated data collection systems and potentially insecure school computer networks and could therefore potentially be misused; notes that collecting the data from children under 12 without parental consent directly contravenes the Data Protection Act.

For more information on what is going on that impacts your children in the UK take a look on Action Rights for Children website (ARCH). For a more global picture take a look at LeaveThemKidsAlone.com

Descriptive analysis and inventory of profiling practices

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2 April 2007

14:21

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Uncategorized

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A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a great lecture by Mireille Hildebrandt at LSE on profiling. I have since found this great paper that describes the profiling practices. Moreover her lecture linked this into privacy the DPA deficiencies in this area, and also offline profiling that includes RFID, sensor technologies, etc., thus turning the offline world online!

Imagine a biometric behavioural profile such as a ‘smart car’ that knows when you get tired. A ‘smart car’ that either refuses to start or pulls over to the side of the road when it detects this. What about a ‘smart home’ that detects your needs based upon your behavioural patterns? I think she called this ‘environment profiling’ that anticipates your needs maybe even before you do yourself. In order to do this the environment must know enough about you in order to be able to make decisions for you, this means the collection of personal data -either knowingly or unknowingly- using online or offline technologies…..

So what does that mean to us? Simple, choice is taken away, our environment anticipates for us what we need or should need. I wonder if this means that in the future our children could develop with a reduced capability to make decisions, if simple daily choices disappear? Maybe this is nothing, and could be compared with the use of the pocket calculator and the reduced capability of my generation and beyond for mental arithmetic? However I do wonder if children in 20 years time will understand what it means to have privacy?

Tulip security

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2 April 2007

07:17

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Out of the Box

Yes this is a new area of security for me, and I am sure it is for many of you too?

I have had the pleasure of living in several different countries during the past 15 years, and each country presents new challenges. My challenge in Sweden at the start of this beautiful Spring is to protect the 73 tulips that I planted in the Winter of 2006 from being seen as a tasty breakfast by the local deer that roam the island I live on. They have already eaten 3 of the 8 that have so far popped their heads through the soil!

I am considering implementing some preventative physical security mechanisms as an appropriate strategy. Please do not hesitate to share any tips or anecdotes that could provide me some valued guidance in this most interesting and beautiful area of tulip security -before they eat all of my tulips :o)

Stolen laptops hold info on 11500 children

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1 April 2007

19:52

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Uncategorized

I received this last week whilst I was away skiing. (Thanks Victor!)
Three laptops containing personal information on 11,500 children were stolen earlier this month from a National Health Services office in the United Kingdom The laptops contained the names, addresses, and dates of birth of child patients between the ages of 8 months and 8 years old!

I think this is of interest to all of us, as it can affect anyone of us if our, or our children’s private information happen to be stored on somebody’s laptop at any time, and this laptop is at risk of being compromised.

Shouldn’t they have had stronger measures in place to prevent this from happening? Doesn’t this make it a violation of the DPA if so?