A model for the creative identity thief? Might make an interesting experiment for a privacy law class...
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/cash/story/0,,2041950,00.html
Your identity, lying on the doorstep
A survey firm is asking respondents to leave sensitive personal data out for collection - in a vivid plastic bag. By Andrew Bibby
Sunday March 25, 2007 The Observer
Would-be identity thieves no longer need bother rifling through dirty rubbish sacks. A major credit reference agency is linked to a promotion that is encouraging householders to leave personal data, including their dates of birth, in unsealed plastic bags on their front doorsteps.
Take one of these bags - brightly coloured, for extra visibility - and you could find out the names of the people living at the house, their mobile and home phone numbers, their monthly credit card balances, their occupations and salary levels, the problems they may have in paying back loans, and even the birthdays of their children. These, and many other equally intimate subjects, are included in the latest Household Insight Survey, which is being distributed across the country. The survey comes with a letter to householders that tells them to 'simply leave your completed survey in the bag provided on your doorstep'.
... TNT Post remains unapologetic. Charles Neilson, the head of the company's Doordrop Media division, was unavailable for comment, but in a written statement TNT Post says its collection methods comply with data protection regulations. 'We believe this is a secure method of data collection,' the company asserts. TNT Post also defends itself by referring to the government agency that oversees data protection and privacy issues: 'TNT Post is properly and legally registered with the Information Commissioner's Office to perform these tasks,' it says.
... But there is one consolation for anyone who chooses to take the risk of putting valuable and sensitive personal information in a plastic bag on their doorstep. TNT Post offers in exchange ... a small bag of Thornton's chocolates. [Oh... Well, that makes it Okay! Bob]
Students deserve it!
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07085/772568-298.stm
Bill permits audio taping on school buses
Monday, March 26, 2007 By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Video can settle disputes over who's causing trouble on school buses, but it has its limitations.
"The kids could be swearing at the bus driver or other kids, or even be telling the driver they'll kill them," said Chuck Ray, a bus driver for Woodland Hills School District. "I've heard the word 'kill' several times."
Foul language and verbal intimidation are against school rules, but audio taping someone without permission is against state law when the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
That is often interpreted to apply to children riding school buses to and from school. That means that, although many school buses already have video cameras to monitor activities, they cannot record sound.
Now there is growing support for a proposal that would specifically permit audio recording on school buses transporting children to and from school and school-related activities. It would not apply when school buses are used for other purposes, such as a group of senior citizens renting a school bus to attend an event.
... "If by law we were able to have audio as well as video it would be beneficial in identifying inappropriate verbal language," said Bruce Dakan, business manager for Penn Hills School District, which operates 83 school buses. He said the district recorded audio on its buses until about nine years ago, when their solicitor advised it to stop.
Surveillance is for second class citizens, you can't do that to us!
http://www.kptv.com/news/11362259/detail.html
Grievance Filed Over Police Station Pinhole Camera
POSTED: 10:21 am PDT March 24, 2007 UPDATED: 12:12 pm PDT March 24, 2007
GRESHAM, Ore. -- The union representing Gresham police officers has filed a grievance over a pinhole camera that the union said was used inside the police station.
Gresham Police Chief Carla Piluso admitted the department used a small camera to watch officers as part of an internal harassment investigation, but the police union said the camera has created an atmosphere of distrust.
The union’s attorney said a sergeant discovered the camera at the end of February and that it could have been there for up to a month, sparking concerns that the camera may have captured people changing clothes.
“If someone chooses to change their clothes in that space, that’s their choice,” Piluso said. “It is not the locker room. There should be no expectation of that type of privacy.”
On Friday, the chief of police said the surveillance tapes still exist and that officers may understand the need for secrecy once the city releases more details about the harassment investigation.
“I believe this department values a management that works to keep a work environment harassment free,” Piluso said.
The union, however, said it’s waiting for an apology from the chief and from city hall. Attorneys are considering a possible civil lawsuit and may take their case to Oregon’s attorney general.
All that is not forbidden is mandatory... The Once and Future King
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-25-dna-databases_N.htm
Local DNA labs avoid state and U.S. laws to nab criminals
By Richard Willing, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A growing number of police crime labs are adding DNA from suspects to databases that operate outside of state and federal law by matching those suspects to unrelated crimes.
Proponents say the databases, which have solved more than 50 crimes, are legitimate because no laws forbid them.
PERFECT MATCH?: Authorities turn to DNA databases
Defense lawyers and privacy advocates counter that the federal government and all 50 states require individuals to be convicted or in some cases indicted for a serious crime before their DNA can be added to the FBI's national criminal database. Searching a suspect's DNA, they argue, violates privacy rights.
"It's a cloudy area," says David Kaye, a law professor at Arizona State University.
Few court rulings exist to say whether these databases are legal or whether data contained in them can be used in criminal cases.
State legislators in Illinois and New York this year are among the first to consider bills that would regulate or forbid the databases.
Since 1990, states and the federal government have matched DNA from unsolved crimes to convicts or in seven states to some arrestees through an FBI computer system.
That system, called CODIS, has matched DNA from convicted offenders and arrestees to over 35,000 unsolved crimes since 1990, FBI spokeswoman Ann Todd says.
However, there's a growing number of DNA samples the FBI can't store. They include DNA taken from criminal suspects who are later cleared and from persons who volunteer to give DNA to convince police they are innocent.
Laboratories in at least five states — California, Florida, Illinois, Missouri and New York — use local databases to store DNA data ineligible for the FBI database.
New York state has at least eight local crime labs that keep over 2,000 DNA profiles of suspects, according to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information request by the New York-based Innocence Project, which specializes in overturning convictions through DNA evidence, and shared with USA TODAY.
"They're rogue databases that operate without the public's knowledge and without the security and privacy considerations of the government databases," says Stephen Saloom, the Innocence Project's policy director. "This is an issue the public ought to decide."
John Feinblatt, criminal justice coordinator for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, says using suspect DNA is no different than using fingerprints from one case to help solve another — a practice that courts condone.
"Nothing happens to a person who has DNA on file unless they commit a crime," Feinblatt says.
"The law has to catch up with science."
This will start with mandatory (court ordered) drugs, then Public Health mandates (anti-flu?), insurance companies will want evidence that all prescribed preventatives are ingested... Eventually, everything you eat, drink or inhale....
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/OPINION04/203250339/-1/opinion
Taking the guesswork -- and privacy -- out of medicine
Published: Sunday, Mar. 25, 2007
It’s time to take your pill.
You know it is because your cell phone or other hand-held electronic device just issued you a reminder in a text or voice message. Or maybe an alarm set on the cap of your medicine bottle chirped, resetting for the next dose as you replace the cap.
A while later, as the pill makes its way through the digestive system and dissolves, a tiny radio chip attached to it emits a weak signal that’s recorded by a pager-size sensor on your belt, documenting that the medicinal mission was accomplished.
The device may go on sending a wireless signal to your doctor or nurse, and may even update your Web-based electronic medical record.
If this all seems a bit of futuristic excess to ensure drug compliance, rest assured that all these technologies already exist and most are commercially available.
... Some of the innovations require more active participation. At a recent conference on “mobile persuasion” techniques held at Stanford University, a company called myFoodPhone Nutrition presented its service designed for camera phones.
Users take a picture of their plate at each meal and build an online food journal. A team of nutrition coaches and advisers analyzes the meals weekly and provides online counseling about what might be changed.
... For instance, in Wyoming, an information management system called RiteTrack is used to follow how supplies of nicotine gum or lozenges are dispensed for each client in the Wyoming Quit Tobacco Program.
People in the program get vouchers to help pay for the drugs, but must also enroll in a telephone counseling program. The counselors use data about the quantity of gum and lozenges the smoker has been getting to help guide them in kicking the habit.
Is this the future?
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/6692482.html
No fingerprint, no car? No deal, she said
Practice that seeks to guarantee customer IDs is on the rise, but it got one person's thumbs-down at a Torrance dealer.
By Josh Grossberg Staff Writer Originally published Sunday, March 25, 2007 Updated Sunday, March 25, 2007
The color was perfect. The interior was just what she wanted. Lorna Herf thought she had found the new car she was looking for. Her credit checked out. A deal had been struck.
And then she hit a snag: Management at South Bay BMW in Torrance wouldn't sell her the $40,000 car until she did one last thing.
"There's the moment you decided on all the numbers," she said. "You get up from the haggling desk and go to the signing desk. We were ready to give them a check. He had this form and said, 'Well, just give us your thumbprint, and we'll finish the deal.' Huh? Why are you asking for that?"
She had better get used to it. Although still not common, asking to provide the added proof of identification is being used more and more often. Buying a house? Get ready to roll up your sleeves. Applying for a loan? Bring out the ink pad.
"You see that banks do it more and more often," said Frank Scafidi, a spokesman with the National Insurance Crime Bureau. "It's a statement on how society has evolved. Wise people won't take people at face value as much as they would like to."
In Herf's case, the dealer earlier this month explained that the information was to protect her as well as them. With the print in their files, nobody else can usurp her identity to steal a car.
Fritz Hitchcock, owner of the Hawthorne Boulevard dealership, was unapologetic about the asking for a thumbprint. And in the 18 months he's been requiring it, no other customer has complained.
... Hitchcock said other dealers -- he mentioned one in Monrovia -- were starting to do it, and the practice has been endorsed by the financial arm of BMW.
... "We're going to do it on every car we sell, and we're never going to make an exception," he said.
... Even if some find the practice odious, it's not only legal but also widely endorsed by law enforcement agencies.
... The American Civil Liberties Union has no official opinion on the matter. But the head of the South Bay chapter said he found the practice troubling.
"The government has paved the way for this," said Dan Pasley, who was speaking only for himself. "It has accustomed people to giving up their information."
... "The most salient aspect of this story is I didn't know a car dealer would give up a sale for anything," he said.
Not sure I agree, but many possible models to check out...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/03/24/nosplit/dltube24.xml
When the box switches on to the web
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 24/03/2007
YouTube is just the start. Dan Ilett looks at the many ways the internet could change your TV habits
Web TV websites
If you don't know where to start looking for web TV, beelinetv.com and wwitv.com list many of the channels available on the internet. Broadcast quality will vary depending on the speed of your broadband connection.
www.joost.com and www.babelgum.com
Set to launch later this year, these two services promise to bring a high standard of TV to the internet for free. You can sign up to take part in the testing now.
The Google-owned website that shot to international fame has changed the way we look for information.
A fascinating insight into daily life in Baghdad. This video log has won a Vloggie award (the video log equivalent of the "Oscars").
A one-stop shop for all the best of Telegraph video and audio, arranged into "channels" to make it easy for the audience to find the content they want. Business coverage is particularly strong: there was a live stream of Gordon Brown's Budget speech, and there's the acclaimed daily Business Show too.
There's some eclectic stuff here - see if you can tell the difference between a vodcast and a vlog when you watch "Board games with Scott".
More random TV clips delivered in bite-size chunks.
BMW's own online TV channel. One for the petrolheads. Download clips in a variety of formats.
Organised into "channels" by topic, you're sure to find something here that will interest you.
A web TV site dedicated to the documentary genre.
With several million hours of video content in its archives, this well-organised site has something for everyone.
www.horseandcountry.opusstream.net
Horse nuts will love Horse and Country's online TV station. Includes a behind-the-scenes video of Zara Phillips training with the British equestrian team. [This site has stopped the videos. Seems they didn't like the quality level – how British. Bob]
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