Another threat to privacy? A False Positive could be more damaging than Identity Theft...

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/30/164224&from=rss

MySpace Gets False Positive In Sex Offender Search

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday May 30, @12:33PM from the not-if-but-when dept. The Internet

gbulmash writes "In its eagerness to clear sex offenders off its site and publish their identities, MySpace identified an innocent woman as a sex offender. She shares a name and birth month with a sex offender who lives in a neighboring state and that was apparently enough to get MySpace to wrongly brand her and completely ignore her protests."

...and another. I bet a false positive here would have consequences...

http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=71072

UNC student may sue over Web site list

written by: Jeffrey Wolf , Web Producer and Cheryl Preheim , Anchor/Reporter

created: 5/30/2007 8:58:50 PM Last updated: 5/30/2007 9:24:44 PM

GREELEY – A former University of Northern Colorado Student says she may sue the school because she was included in an online list of potentially dangerous students.

Brittney Bethel says she was included on the list because of her anorexia.

UNC has since taken the list down, but still says she was a threat to the school. [“We didn't mean it, but we did mean it?” Bob]

Bethel was suspended by UNC in October. The school says her cardiac arrest on campus, caused by her eating disorder, made her a threat to herself, which violates school code.

UNC put the list of banned students on its Web site in April in response to the shootings at Virginia Tech University.

Bethel's picture was next to Mitch Cozad, the football player accused of stabbing another player.

After the list went up, Bethel hired an attorney and they considered filing a civil lawsuit against the school.

"Simply to put her on the list implied she was a danger to others and she poses no danger to others," said her attorney, Erik Johnson.

"It doesn't make sense to be on the list for that reason," said Bethel. "So of course people are going to think - that must not be why she is on the list."

After the list went up, the school sent out a letter, assuring people on campus they would never suspend someone for medical reasons.

"It implied I was basically lying," said Bethel.

UNC released a statement saying: "We don't ban anyone from campus because of an illness. We hold people accountable for their behavior."

Bethel says her behavior, like resisting treatment, was part of her illness.

While the list of banned students is no longer on the UNC Web site, it is still on the campus police Web site.

"I think the damage has kind of been done already, but it is a step in the right direction," said Bethel.

UNC says if a doctor and therapist cleared Bethel, she could come back to school, but she says after all that has happened, she does not want to.

She plans on starting her junior year elsewhere in the fall.

One day turnaround...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20070530144249845

CDT Offers Recommendations on Model Privacy Form

Wednesday, May 30 2007 @ 02:42 PM CDT - Contributed by: PrivacyNews - Businesses & Privacy

From CDT.org: A model privacy notice created by a group of government agencies to give consumers clearer information about their financial institutions' privacy practices is a big step in the right direction. In comments filed this week with the agencies responsible for the "Interagency Proposal for Model Privacy Form under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act," CDT praised the clarity of the model form and offered minor suggestions to make the proposed notice even more useful for consumers. The form is intended to make the ubiquitous financial privacy statements issued by banks and other financial institutions more understandable for consumers.

Source - CDT Comments: GLB Form [PDF]

[The proposed “Privacy Form” http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/2007/34-55497fr.pdf Bob]

Ah! Facts! (And at least some of the concerns I expressed, but in much more polite terms...)

http://www.out-law.com/page-8099

Data protection watchdogs’ letter to Google goes public

OUT-LAW News, 30/05/2007

A letter from an influential group of privacy experts in Europe saying that Google’s new privacy policies appear to breach the requirements of the EU’s data protection regime was published today.

• Article 29 Working Party letter (3-page / 417KB PDF)

• Article 29 Working Party Resolution on Privacy Protection and Search Engines, November 2006 (2-page / 13KB PDF)

Google isn't the only one... Not the most useful set of answers I've ever seen...

http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/05/isp_privacy

Which ISPs Are Spying on You?

Ryan Singel Email 05.30.07 | 2:00 AM

The few souls that attempt to read and understand website privacy policies know they are almost universally unintelligible and shot through with clever loopholes. But one of the most important policies to know is your internet service provider's -- the company that ferries all your traffic to and from the internet, from search queries to BitTorrent uploads, flirty IMs to porn.

... Only four of the eight largest ISPs responded to the 10-question survey, despite being contacted repeatedly over the course of two months. Some ISPs wouldn't talk to us, but gave answers to customers responding to a call for reader help on Wired's Threat Level blog.

... "From a user perspective, the best practice would be for ISPs to delete data as soon as possible," Rotenberg said. "(The government) will treat ISPs as one-stop shops for subpoenas unless there is a solid policy on data destruction," Rotenberg said.

The results:

AOL, AT&T, Cox and Qwest all responded to the survey, with a mix of timeliness and transparency.

But only Cox answered the question, "How long do you retain records of the IP addresses assigned to customers."

... Cox's answer: six months. AOL says "limited period of time," while AT&T says it varies across its internet-access offerings but that the time limits are all "within industry standards."

... Some of the most sensitive information sent across an ISP's network are the URLs of the websites that people visit. This so-called clickstream data includes every URL a customer visits, including URLs from search engines, which generally include the search term.

AOL, AT&T and Cox all say they don't store these URLs at all, while Qwest dodged the question. Comcast, EarthLink, Verizon and Time Warner didn't respond.

Much of it free!

http://digg.com/design/BBC_Motion_Gallery_BBC_s_Legendary_Footage_Collection

BBC Motion Gallery - BBC's Legendary Footage Collection

"We offer easy access to the BBC's legendary footage collection, as well as some of the most-respected footage archives in the world. From the freshest HD content to feature-quality productions to historic film rarities, it's all here. Dive in. "

http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/Customer/Index.aspx

At least look at the first video. And you wonder why those laptops keep getting stolen from your employee's cars?

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/feature-strange-ways-to-unlock-car-doors

Feature: Strange Ways to Unlock Car Doors

[Also at: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/410981/blondie_unlocks_car/ Bob]