Thursday, March 06, 2008

Well I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! (“We've got the power to make them second class citizens and no inclination not to...”)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080305100002574

National Security Trumps Personal Privacy, Government IT Pros Say

Wednesday, March 05 2008 @ 10:00 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Other Privacy News

Government IT professionals believe that national security is more important than personal privacy, according to a survey released Monday.

Quest Software's Identity Management Government Survey of 474 IT professionals in federal, state, and local government found that 53% believe that national security should take priority over American's personal privacy.

The survey, conducted by the public opinion research company Pursuant in January, also showed that 69% of IT professionals in federal, state, and local government believe identity management is very important to their organizations and agencies. Seventy-two percent believe that it will increase in importance over the next five years, the survey revealed.

Source - InformationWeek


We can make entire states into second class citizens...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080305184050527

Montana driver licenses will not be accepted to board planes

Wednesday, March 05 2008 @ 06:40 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: REAL ID

Montana is one of four states that have yet to seek an extension to comply with the Real ID law.

Officials at the Homeland Security department are pushing Montana, Maine, South Carolina and New Hampshire to adopt stricter driver's license standards to end a standoff that could disrupt domestic air travel.

... Chertoff says any state that doesn't seek an extension by the end of March will find that, come May, their residents won't be able to use their licenses to board domestic flights. But Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer says Motnana won't buckle.

He says the Real ID proposal will cost Montana a fortune and give a false sense of security without actually making ID more reliable.

Source - Montana's News Station



“Thus I wave my magic wand and lo, no more identity theft” H. Potter

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080306063922456

UK: Tories pledge commitment to data security

Thursday, March 06 2008 @ 06:39 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Non-U.S. News

The Conservative Party will make it an offence for a Crown servant or a government contractor to lose personal data.

The reckless handling of personal data offence was part of a wide-ranging package of measures to combat cyber crime unveiled today by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis.

Source - ComputerWeekly.com



Medical Privacy gets its own feed

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080305162119339

ANNOUNCE: Pogo's Medical Privacy News Section is Moving to its Own Site

Wednesday, March 05 2008 @ 04:21 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Medical Privacy

Medical- and health-related privacy news is moving to its own site, PHIPrivacy.net. That should help cut down on the amount of news headlines on this main site, but will also allow those who want to discuss health-related privacy news the opportunity to do so. I hope that those of you who have been following the medical privacy news section of this site will bookmark that site and join us over there.

The original Medical Privacy Project files will remain on this site, but will not be updated here. All of the updated chronologies and reports will be available on PHIprivacy.net.

For those of you who have been using the medical privacy headlines RSS feed, the new feed will be http://www.phiprivacy.net/?feed=rss2

Medical- or health-related breaches will be cross-posted on both sites for the convenience of those who track or analyze breaches. Occasionally, other stories may merit cross-posting, but privacy issues related to HealthVault, Google Health, etc. will generally be on PHIPrivacy.net.



“It is better to feel safe than to be safe” Hernando

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/309016

Green light for TTC's 11,000 cameras

$21 million network of video 'eyes' justified for safety of riders, privacy czar rules

Mar 04, 2008 04:30 AM Kerry Gillespie Queen's Park Bureau

Surveillance cameras make TTC riders feel safer and the plan to dramatically expand their numbers is okay with Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's privacy commissioner.



“We've decided it works!” (Other than “because we can” what justifies this?)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080305095752260

Biometrics screening for Olympics workers

Wednesday, March 05 2008 @ 09:57 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Surveillance

About 100,000 workers at the Olympics site in London are to be screened using advanced face and palm recognition techniques in one of the largest and most expensive security operations undertaken on a British construction project.

Every worker on the site – up to 10,000 at one time at the peak of construction in 2010 and 100,000 in total – will pass through a two-tier biometrics access system that includes palm-print reading and face recognition.

Source - TimesOnline

[From the article:

Biometric testing is also being considered for the nine million ticket-holders as they enter the site.

The plans were disclosed as Tarique Ghaffur, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner in charge of the 60-day Games operation, told a security conference in Abu Dhabi that 500,000 CCTV cameras would be required to police the event.


“We've decided it doesn't work!”

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080306064140529

UK: ID card u-turn by government

Thursday, March 06 2008 @ 06:41 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Non-U.S. News

A government u-turn has ditched plans to force people to get a biometric ID card when they renew or apply for a passport.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is also expected to reveal today that any Parliamentary vote to make ID cards compulsory for British citizens will now be delayed until 2015.

But the government still intends to force foreign nationals living in Britain to register their biometric details on the National Identity Register and carry an ID card by the end of this year.

Source - Silicon.com Related - Guardian



Let's see if I understand. We can't afford to cover all of these people, so we'll cover a small percentage, but it will be fun! Next year, we can do the same thing with police and fire services!

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HEALTH_INSURANCE_LOTTERY?SITE=CAVIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Oregon holds health insurance lottery

By SARAH SKIDMORE Associated Press Writer Mar 4, 8:00 AM EST

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon is conducting a one-of-a-kind lottery, and the prize is health insurance.


Probably better than just throwing money at the problem...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/nyregion/05incentive.html?_r=2&ref=education&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Next Question: Can Students Be Paid to Excel?

... School districts nationwide have seized on the idea that a key to improving schools is to pay for performance, whether through bonuses for teachers and principals, or rewards like cash prizes for students. New York City, with the largest public school system in the country, is in the forefront of this movement, with more than 200 schools experimenting with one incentive or another. In more than a dozen schools, students, teachers and principals are all eligible for extra money, based on students’ performance on standardized tests.

Each of these schools has become a test to measure whether, as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg posits, tangible cash rewards can turn a school around. Can money make academic success cool for students disdainful of achievement? Will teachers pressure one another to do better to get a schoolwide bonus?

So far, the city has handed out more than $500,000 to 5,237 students in 58 schools as rewards for taking several of the 10 standardized tests on the schedule for this school year. The schools, which had to choose to participate in the program, are all over the city.



Free is good!

http://www.killerstartups.com/User-Gen-Content/Gcastcom---Be-Heard-Free-Podcasting/

Gcast.com - Be Heard, Free Podcasting

GCast will host your podcasts for free. So what’s the trick, you ask? Ads. You’ll get advertisements placed within your casts, possibly, and they’re placing ads in videos and on audio networks. There will be an option for ad-free podcasts, for a price, though. Once you’ve decided to set your voice to the net, you’ll have several options. You can create playlists, with the site’s Playlist Manager, and add files from your own computer, from a phone, or from GarageBand. Once your playlist has been published, GCast mixes it up into one continuous Mp3 file for your podcast. You can record your entire podcast via your mobile or house phone and you can embed you podcast into your blog or web page. Subscribers can get their podcast fix via email alerts.

http://www.gcast.com/?nr=1&&s=358087306

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