Day: 21 February 2009

More on Pirate Bay

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21 February 2009

19:42

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Legislation, Sweden

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If nothing else, the copyright infringement trial of The Pirate Bay Four in Sweden is turning into an entertaining spectacle according to PCWorld. For courtroom drama, it’s got it all: Irreverent defendants joking with prosecutors; rabid anti-copyright proponents with megaphones; a hacked recording industry Website; and even a cool pirate bus parked outside the court.

What’s more there are claims in the Swedish newspapers that this is the first trial whereby the defendant is ‘twittering’ updates during the trial. To follow the feed go here 🙂

Online there is no expectation of privacy rule Canadian courts

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21 February 2009

11:46

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Canada

A Superior Court in Ontario, Canada has ruled that IP addresses are akin to your home address, and therefore people have no expectation of privacy when it comes to their online activities being accessed by law enforcement. This means that, in Canada, police can potentially request information from your ISP about online activities, and can do so without a warrant.

Your activities on the Internet are akin to your activities out in public—they’re not private and are possibly open for police scrutiny, according to an Ontario Superior Court. The ruling was made by Justice Lynne Leitch on—surprise!—a child pornography case. The judge said that there’s “no reasonable expectation of privacy” when it comes to logs kept by ISPs. ….. scarey, read more.

Covert surveillance of Deusche Bahn’s workers

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21 February 2009

10:46

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Germany

Really interesting case on workplace surveillance in Germany. Deustch Bahn (railway operator) has been conducting covert surveillance operations without the consent of their employees. It involved covert surveillance operations that were given exotic code names such as “Babylon”, “Traviata” or “Prometheus” as well as a private detective agency.

Deutsche Bahn has submitted a 37-page report to the German government and parliament.  In the report, the Bahn admits that three major screenings took place in 1998, 2002/3 and 2005/6.

Although there’s talk of a legal “grey area”, some lawyers are convinced that Deutsche Bahn’s actions were illegal. “Screening the private data of employees and comparing this with the data of supplier companies is in accordance with German data protection law only if the employees themselves and the workers’ council agree with this beforehand.  And this was not done apparently. Read more it will be an interesting case 🙂

Facial recognition for driving license must undergo public hearing

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21 February 2009

10:12

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Bodily Privacy, U.S.

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The Department of Motor Vehicles recently proposed a $63 million contract with a company that uses facial-recognition software, which can detect whether a person photographed for a new driver’s license already has a license. The software allows the DMV to match a photograph with the entire DMV database of driver’s license pictures. This risk identified by the privacy group is of ‘mission creep’, that is this technology being used to identify persons in other situations, such as in a crowd.

This move has been blocked. Hence the DMV’s request to fast-track a new technology that the agency is seeking to deter identity theft, . The DMV sought permission from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign the contract as early as this week, without the scrutiny of public hearings. This is a victory for privacy-rights groups as this proposal will now have to undergo a public hearing.