Tag: surveillance

A couple in the US are suing Google. The lawsuit targets the Mountain View, Calif., company over images on its Web site, which allows users to find street-level photos by clicking on a map. To gather the photos, Google (nasdaq: GOOG – news – people ) uses vehicles with mounted digital cameras to take pictures up and down the streets of major metropolitan areas.

Apparently a spokesman for Google says that there are links on the Web site that let property owners request that such images be removed if they cite a good reason and can confirm they own the property depicted.

Interesting that we need to REQUEST to opt-out AFTER the event has occurred, but I guess we need to take the trouble first to find out if we need to opt-out, i.e. has Google placed cameras near our home?

I came across this last week that I thought was quite fun. The International Big Brother Awards handed out by Privacy International to privacy invaders.

Most invasive company was Choicepoint, for their vast databases of personal data, sold to nearly anyone who wishes to pay.

Worst public official was Stewart Baker, former general counsel for the National Security Agency and now undersecretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, behind and at the forefront of most disastrous U.S. surveillance policies, most recently the EU-U.S. agreement on Passenger Name Records transfers.

Most heinous government was The United Kingdom, for being the greatest surveillance society amongst democratic nations, rivaling only Malaysia, China and Russia as it also leads other countries across the EU down its same path.

Most appalling project or technology was International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency, for implementing a variety of invasive policies behind closed doors, including the ‘biometric passport’ and passenger data transfer-deals.

Lifetime menace award went to “communitarianism” and the proponents of the ‘Common Good’, because every bad policy around the world is justified based on the philosophy that is good for society and the individual must sacrifice his or her selfish rights in favour of the needs of the many.

You should read more to see who came second, third, etc…

Are you a foreign national resident in the UK. Well looks like you’ll have no choice but to be issued with a biometric ID card within the next year. The biometric data is your fingerprint. You know it seems that the UK government have biometric fingerprints already on over 1 million people.

I think it’s interesting this approach the government is taking. The huge resistance against having a national ID card (incl. biometric data) seems to have been sized down to include only immigrants. (Please comment if you know any better) Now, who in England is going to resist that. Particularly as I hear the grumbles about the number of immigrants being allowed to reside in the UK, and how they are taking all the council housing, jobs, etc. Of course the immigrants are not in a position to resist a biometric ID card. Having been an immigrant myself in 3 other countries (including where I live now) I think it’s a pity that the British complain so much about immigrants, instead of embracing the cultural diversity it brings into our lives. Incidentally I am British myself.

Of course the compulsory issue of biometric ID for immigrants is just the start. As they start to become a part of society and its values, it’s a natural progression that a national ID programme will follow will minimal resistance.

Take a look at this beautiful document published by Privacy International. It provides a ‘state of privacy map’ and a report on how each country in the world performs with associated rankings.
The 2007 rankings indicate an overall worsening of privacy protection across the world, reflecting an increase in surveillance and a declining performance on privacy safeguards.

The lowest ranking countries in the survey is Malaysia, Russia and China. The highest-ranking countries in 2007 are Greece, Romania and Canada. The 2006 leader, Germany, slipped significantly in the 2007 rankings, dropping from 1st to 7th place behind Portugal and Slovenia. The worst ranking EU country is the United Kingdom, which again fell into the “black” category along with Russia and Singapore. However for the first time Scotland has been given its own ranking score and performed significantly better than England & Wales.

WASHINGTON – American travelers’ personal data would for the first time be exported to all European Union states by airline carriers flying to Europe under a proposal to be announced this week………Under the proposal, no personal data that could reveal race, ethnicity, political opinions, religion, trade union membership or health or sex-life information could be transmitted. Any such data that was shared would have to be deleted immediately by the data-analyzing units, the proposal says……. yeah sure says me 😉
Read more here…

Ontario’s privacy commissioner will investigate whether installing thousands of security cameras in Toronto’s transit system would breach riders’ privacy. The project calls for up to 10,000 cameras to be installed in TTC subway cars, buses and streetcars, on top of the 1,500 or so currently in place. Read more….

There are several issues pertaining to our right for privacy and how this conflicts to with our right for freedom of speech. These discussions do become very confusing because it affects everyone of us personally and hence discussions can be subjective.

And then we have the factual elements:
1. pervasive and growing use of photography and CCTV
2. what happens to the output from (1)

Lauren has setup a discussion thread that has some active participation with differing viewpoints.

This is a clear article on the conflict between the DPA and surveillance that is prevalent. The fact is that the Data Protection Act is not strong enough to protect privacy in today’s surveillance society. In this article Dr Chris Pounder proposes 10 universal standards to buttress the Act and create balance whenever there is interference in private and family life.