privacy 2.0

Official Google Blog: Search, plus Your World

2012-01-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Official Google Blog: Search, plus Your World: Google Search has always been about finding the best results for you. Sometimes that means results from the public web, but sometimes it mea...

Big Data - NPR

2011-12-08T18:25:00.001-07:00

OPC Annual Report Spotlights Concerns

2011-11-18T09:18:00.001-07:00

Government data breaches, "disturbing gaps" in the way policemanage personal information and concerns about airport security are among the issues highlighted in Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart's annual report.

In addition to the full report, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has published an audit of selected RCMP databases and one on airport security practices.

The report also highlights a "record number of breaches of personal information" reported by the government, the National Post reports--up 38 percent from the previous year. But, the OPC report notes, that may not be cause for alarm because it could "simply mean that organizations are becoming more diligent in reporting incidents to us."

Full Story

Opinion: "Lawful Access" Legislation Is Surveillance

2011-10-31T10:58:00.001-06:00

Via IAPP Daily Dashboard:
In a National Post op-ed, Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian contends that the re-introduction of three federal lawful access bills, C-50, C-51 and C-52, would create "a system of expanded surveillance," adding, "I have no doubt that, collectively, the legislation will substantially diminish the privacy rights of Ontarians and Canadians as a whole."

She warns that Canadians "must be extremely careful not to allow the admitted investigative needs of police forces to interfere with or violate our constitutional right to be secure from unreasonable state surveillance." Cavoukian urges the government to redraft the bills. "The government needs to step back and consider all of these implications."
Full Story

Welcome to the new arms race between online protection and oversharing

2011-10-28T23:46:00.001-06:00

"If Web 1.0 was about communication and Web 2.0 about building relationships, Web 3.0 is about how to best take advantage of the billions of pieces of data about how we live, work, love and shop that are being generated by social media." Toronto Star.

Mary Meeker’s 2011 Presentation On Internet Trends

2011-10-18T19:14:00.001-06:00

KPCB Internet Trends (2011)

Cocoon's 2011 List of the Top 10 Internet Privacy Threats

2011-10-18T13:18:00.000-06:00

10-GEO Tags: When photos or videos are taken with a GPS-equipped device (digital camera, laptop, smartphone) they are embedded with a geotag that reveals the exact location in longitude and latitude of where it was taken. The exposure of geo-locational data on social networking sites could enable the risk of social surveillance and stalking.

9- Google Wi-Fi Sniffing: According to news sources, Skyhook Wireless has been wardriving a fleet of trucks through towns and cities in the U.S., Canada, (covering 70 percent of population centers) and metropolitan centers in Europe and Asia and mapping every wireless router, both public and private. Skyhook identified each router by its MAC address and correlated it with the exact location of each router, using GPS. The router information currently exists in a database of 250 million Wi-Fi access points. That’s pretty scary because most people have no idea that this has happened.

8-Facial Recognition Technology: Initial use of this technology was used by law enforcement, security and surveillance but is now in the public realm with apps likeSocialCamera and SceneTap.

Facebook deployed Facial-recognition software this summer, allowing people to opt out of tagging but did not stop Facebook from gathering data or having the ability to recognize your face. Eventually this technology is meant to search for people by simply using a picture.

With facial recognition software that can discern users’ true identities–not just the personae they choose to create online–Facebook becomes a much more powerful identification tool. –Rebecca Greenfield, Atlantic Wire

7-Internet Censorship: Some countries that have extremely strong censorship policies are: China, Iran and Myanmar. China has has an advanced filtering system (the Great Firewall of China) and can restrict access in real time. Over 10 million web pages are blocked in Iran and web sites that offer tools and techniques for circumventing filters are also heavily filtered. The Myanmar government allegedly monitors Internet cafes with computers that take screenshots every few minutes.

6-Smartphones: The government’s ability to track individuals using Smartphone’s and mobile malware top the list. Researchers at Trusteer recently discovered a new attack by the SpyEye Trojan that targets online banking security systems.

The malware compromises the login information to the victim’s bank account and injects a phony page into the smartphone browser. The malware then instructs the victim to type the original confirmation code into the fake web page form. The hacker is able to capture the code (man in the browser injection) and login to the victim’s bank account. Once the hacker is in, they change the telephone number associated with the account and divert the funds.

5-Data-Stealing: Rogue applications on social networking sites, computers that harbor botnets (Coreflood) and smartphone malware (DroidDream) are just a few of the nasties that are out there.

4-Behavioral advertising: HTTP cookies, flash cookies, sites that respawn HTTP cookies with Flash (KISSmetrics), and HTML5 Local storage (more flexible than standard HTTP cookies) are just a few of the methods that are used for tracking online users.

During the course of a typical day – if you use your computer, your smartphone, your TV and shop at your local stores using a loyalty card – targeted advertising will trail behind you. When you sit down to watch TV, your TV is watching you. Visiting Facebook, searching on Google or Bing also adds to the fleshing out of your behavioral profile that consists of your searches, online habits, preferences and buying patterns.

3-Hackers: – Organized cybercriminals, hacktivists, Anonymous and Lulzsec are a few of the online entities that participate in DDoS attacks, data breaches, phishing, online banking fraud, online shopping fraud and a host of other unsavory activities. Weak security systems are generally the culprit.

2-Social networks: Social networks allow users to build connections and store information remotely. It is also the weakest data link. When people become dependent on social networking default privacy settings (Facebook’s frictionless sharing) and post too much personal information online, it becomes ripe for picking. Identity thieves, scammers, hackers, debt collectors, corporations, marketers, data miners and governments use social networks to gather information. Your data is the harvest.

1-You! – The weakest link in the privacy chain could be YOU! Everything that you do online leaves a digital footprint from search engine tastes to browsing patterns and social interactions. Things that you share online could go further than your social circle. Always think before you post!

Full story: Cocoon

FTC propose tougher online privacy protections for kids

2011-10-10T13:46:00.000-06:00

2011년 9월15일(목) 미 연방무역위원회(FTC), 13세 이하의 어린이에 대한 더 강화된 프라이버시 보호 규제안 (PDF) '어린이의 온라인 프라이버시 보호 규칙'(Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, "COPPA 규칙)을 발표하고, 그에 대한 11월28일까지 각계의 견해를 수집중.
FTC의 목표는 1998년 제정된 '어린이 온라인 프라이버시 보호법' (Children's Online Privacy Act)을 개정해 급속히 진화하는 기술과 그에 맞춰 빠르게 바뀌는 어린이들의 인터넷 접속 및 이용 관행을 반영하자는 것.

Nussbaum & Levmore: "The Offensive Internet"

2011-09-22T08:20:00.001-06:00

9/11's Effect on Societal Norms

2011-09-16T14:23:00.002-06:00

American Public Media's "Marketplace" explores how the convergence of the government's post-9/11 intensified security efforts and Internet giants' remake of the online environment created a "data collection revolution."
Researchers and an industry executive weigh in on ways that government investments in surveillance technology--such as facial recognition--have made possible online features and applications that, according to Alessandro Acquisti of Carnegie Mellon University, are "bringing us closer to a world where online and offline data merge. The consequences can be cool but also very creepy."

Meanwhile, British Columbia Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham questions whether the "progression of security measures," and subsequent loss of privacy, "has been effective or proportionate to the threat." Full Story

OPC Releases Survey Findings

2011-08-25T10:48:00.000-06:00

OPC Releases Survey Findings (IAPP Daily Dashboard)

A survey of 2,000 Canadians has revealed that many technology users fail to take basic steps to protect their personal information. The 2011 Canadians and Privacy Survey, which was commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, revealed that the majority of respondents do not use password locks or device settings to protect their personal data.

"Canadians are recognizing that their personal information is not safe in this new digital environment unless they take concrete measures to protect it," said Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. "Unfortunately...too few are taking even the most basic precautions, such as setting passwords on their mobile devices." The survey also measured Canadians' attitudes about privacy as it relates to social networking, national security and other areas.

News Release

Communications technologies putting privacy at risk, poll finds

Privacy Commissioner urges users of mobile devices, social networks and other technologies to better safeguard their personal information

Ottawa, August 25, 2011 – Canadians are heavy users of social networks and other communications technologies, but many are not taking basic steps to protect their personal information, a comprehensive new survey has found.

The telephone survey of 2,000 randomly selected adults, commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and published today, found that three-quarters (74 percent) of respondents own at least one mobile communications device, such as a cell phone, smart phone or tablet.

However, only four in 10 use password locks for the devices, or adjust their settings to limit the sharing of personal information that may be stored on the devices.

The 2011 Canadians and Privacy Survey also found that one-third of Canadians use public Wi-Fi sites, such as those located at coffee shops and airports, where online communication may not always be protected by encryption. Of those, fully 85 percent admitted to some concern about possible risks to the security of their personal information.

The poll, conducted in late February and early March by Harris/Decima, also found that just over half (51 percent) of respondents use social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn. Fortunately, four in five said they take advantage of privacy settings that allow them to control access to their online content. Even so, 45 percent of all respondents who use social networking sites acknowledged that they are concerned about the associated risks to their privacy.

“Canadians are recognizing that their personal information is not safe in this new digital environment, unless they take concrete measures to protect it,” Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart observed. “Unfortunately, however, too few are taking even the most basic precautions, such as setting passwords on their mobile devices.”

“We encourage people to use passwords, encryption, privacy settings and every other available measure to safeguard their personal information, because the meaningful protection of privacy has to start with the individual.”

Indeed, the survey detected widespread concern about the impact of technology on people’s privacy. Four in 10 respondents felt that computers and the Internet pose a risk to their privacy, up from one-quarter (26 percent) in a similar survey just two years ago. Levels of concern about a range of technologies and applications, including cellphones, online banking, and credit and debit card transactions, all rose since 2009.

While younger Canadians aged 18 to 34 are the most enthusiastic users of technology, they are also the most likely to use available mechanisms to protect their privacy.

“This was a gratifying finding,” Commissioner Stoddart said. “Young people are sometimes stereotyped as digital exhibitionists who are quite uninhibited in posting comments and personal images. And yet, this new data shows that they not only care about privacy, they are actually leaders in protecting it.”

Other highlights of the poll include:

Six in 10 respondents felt that their personal information enjoys weaker protection than it did 10 years ago. Indeed 65 percent said the protection of personal information will be among the most pressing issues confronting Canadians in the decade ahead.
Canadians are deeply suspicious about the collection and use of personal information by public- and private-sector organizations. Only 22 percent of respondents said governments are taking their obligations to protect privacy seriously, and 14 percent said businesses take their responsibilities seriously.
An overwhelming majority want tough sanctions against organizations that fail to properly protect the privacy of individuals. More than eight in 10 respondents wanted to see measures such as publicly naming offending organizations, fining them, or taking legal action against them.
There was widespread concern about businesses that request too much personal information, don’t keep it secure, sell it to other organizations, or use it to send spam or make other unsolicited marketing contact. About nine in 10 respondents found such practices disturbing.
More than eight in 10 respondents (83 percent) said Internet companies should ask their customers for permission to track their online behaviour and Internet usage.
With respect to the personal information that Canadians provide at airports and border crossings, a substantial majority (85 percent) said they are somewhat or very concerned when it is shared with foreign authorities.
More than eight in 10 respondents (82 percent) opposed giving police and intelligence agencies the power to access e-mail records and other Internet usage data without a warrant from the courts.
There was little appetite for genetic testing to find out whether people have a heightened risk of developing certain diseases. Only one-quarter (26 percent) of respondents said they are somewhat or very interested in such services.
Only 30 percent of respondents felt they had a good or very good grasp of their privacy rights under the law. Still, three-quarters (74 percent) of respondents felt they are doing a good or very good job of protecting their own privacy. Younger respondents were the least likely to rate their knowledge of privacy rights as very good, or to have confidence in their ability to protect it.

The OPC commissioned the poll in order to gauge public understanding and awareness of privacy, particularly as it is affected by the Office’s four priority issues: information technology, public safety, identity integrity and protection, and genetic technology. Similar surveys were conducted in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009.

The complete survey, which has a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percent, 19 times out of 20, can be found on our website at www.priv.gc.ca.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is mandated by Parliament to act as an ombudsman and guardian of privacy in Canada. The Commissioner enforces two federal laws for the protection of personal information: the Privacy Act, which applies to the federal public sector; and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which applies to commercial activities in the Atlantic provinces, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Territories. Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia each has its own law covering the private sector. Even in these provinces, PIPEDA continues to apply to the federally regulated private sector and to personal information in interprovincial and international transactions.

To view the final report: 2011 Canadians and Privacy Survey (PDF version).

Social Media Policy Youtube Video by VictoriaDotGov Au

2011-08-23T08:59:00.001-06:00

OPC Releases PIPEDA Guidance for Lawyers

2011-08-19T13:48:00.000-06:00

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has announced the release of a handbook to help lawyers become more familiar with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

Launched at the Canadian Bar Association Canadian Legal Conference and Expo 2011,PIPEDA and Your Practice--A Privacy Handbook for Lawyersprovides best practices for personal information management, use, collection, disclosure and response.

"While lawyers may be familiar with privacy laws in general," says an OPC spokeswoman, "they may benefit from some concrete guidance on how to apply the laws to their own practice." Full story.

PIPEDA Handbook for Lawyers.

Company Creates DIY Privacy Policies for Apps

2011-08-15T15:04:00.001-06:00

IAPP Daily Dashboard: Privacy policies can be difficult to write and read--especially on mobile devices--prompting one company to create a tool to help mobile application developers make consumer-friendly policies, reports The New York Times.

PrivacyChoice analyzed hundreds of privacy policies across the web, devising a tool that asks developers questions about their data handling practices and then formulates a policy based on the answers. "The mobile environment requires you to say things very succinctly, and it requires you to say things in layers," says Jim Brock, founder of PrivacyChoice. One industry advocate says solving the "privacy problem" is crucial to developers, many of whom are small businesses dependent on income from selling consumer data. Full story is below.

August 14, 2011

Industry Tries to Streamline Privacy Policies for Mobile Users

By TANZINA VEGA

For many Internet users, online privacy policies are long and difficult to read. Transfer those same policies to a mobile device, where users can find themselves clicking through multiple screens often with tiny type, and the policies can become almost useless to the average consumer.

Yet those same policies govern how much user data is collected through mobile applications and how that data is shared with advertisers and other third parties. And with growing concern over data collection, including proposed legislation to more closely protect consumers, one company is trying to make privacy policies that are both easy for consumers to read and easy for mobile application developers to create.

“Everybody complains that no one reads privacy policies and that privacy policies are too long and too difficult,” said Jim Brock, the founder of PrivacyChoice, a company that has analyzed and indexed the data in hundreds of privacy policies across the Web. “The mobile environment requires you to say things very succinctly, and it requires you to say things in layers.”

Using the data collected from hundreds of online privacy policies, Mr. Brock and his team devised a tool to help mobile application developers create basic policies without the help of a lawyer. Developers who want to use the tool can select answers to basic questions about how they collect data, how that data is used and whether it can be deleted.

The resulting policy boils complicated policy language down to a few sentences like “We collect or share your location only with your permission” or “We keep personal data until you delete it.”

“If you have 10 minutes, you can get on the right side of privacy rules,” said Mr. Brock, who estimates that the vast majority of applications that mobile phone users download don’t have privacy policies at all. Policies that do exist can be challenging for users to read without having to click through multiple screens. Adding to the confusion, many application developers are small businesses that make revenue off customized advertising, but don’t have a consistent approach to making policy.

Morgan Reed, the executive director for the Association for Competitive Technology, a trade organization that supports mobile application developers, said more than 80 percent of developers are small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Many of the apps they create collect data on users — including their location — that can be sent to advertising networks, which in turn show users ads based on the data that has been collected.

Without advertising revenue, app developers would have to charge more for their apps — which typically sell for 99 cents to a few dollars each — and some might find it difficult to stay in business. “Solving this privacy problem is absolutely critical for us,” Mr. Reed said. “We want to make sure this revenue stream continues.”

The cost for a legal consultation, which can range from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands, can also be a deterrent for small app developers looking to create privacy policies. But Christopher Wolf, a partner at the Hogan Lovells law firm and a co-chairman of the Future of Privacy Forum, said app developers should not claim cost as an excuse.

“I think it’s a cop-out for app developers to say they don’t have the budget for it,” Mr. Wolf said. “It’s an investment for any business that deals in consumer data. They ought to build it into the development cost.”

Andrew Binkowski, a researcher at the University of Chicago and an app developer, said allowing advertising on his baby name app, Stork Drop, doubled his revenue. Mr. Binkowski said the app drew advertisements for items like diapers or cord blood banks (facilities that store umbilical cord blood for future use).

As for privacy policies, Mr. Binkowski said he wasn’t sure if it was necessary to have one given that his apps did not collect personally identifiable data and in some cases, did not collect any data at all. The cost and expertise needed to create a privacy policy were also a concern. “I’m still not certain about what needs to go in there,” he added.

Forrester Research predicts that by 2015, 36 percent of consumers in the United States will use mobile Internet services, with spending on mobile advertising expected to increase to $2.8 billion.

In June, Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law, proposed legislation along with Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, that would require mobile companies to obtain a user’s consent before collecting location-based data and before sharing that data with third parties.

Recent efforts to increase the availability of mobile privacy policies, like Mr. Brock’s policy generator, “is a good first step in informing consumers,” Mr. Franken said in an e-mail. “But it alone will not address the majority of privacy threats that consumers face on their mobile devices.”

Another tool to manage tracking by advertisers and ad networks is being developed by Evidon, the company that provided the technology behind an icon-based online self-regulatory program supported by the Digital Advertising Alliance.

Scott Meyer, the company’s chief executive, said work is under way on a tool that would allow users to opt out of being served targeted advertising across multiple providers, similar to the way the icon program works. Mr. Meyer said the company had already signed contracts with multiple ad networks and agencies and expected to announce the new tool by the end of the year.

“The point of this is to build a more trusted environment,” Mr. Meyer said.

The War On Anonymity

2011-08-12T09:38:00.007-06:00

"The Internet has always been a refuge of anonymity. Anyone could hide behind the cloak of namelessness and express the most offensive views. Now politicians and companies -- including Google and Facebook -- want to change that."

A SPIEGEL International report discusses what some describe as a war on online anonymity. Some say anonymity is the Internet's greatest strength--promoting free speech and privacy--but others see it as increasingly dangerous.

In the wake of terrorist acts and cyber-bullying worldwide, there is a push to reveal the identities of extremist bloggers and online bullies.

In fact, a Carnegie Mellon study found that when users were required to identify themselves by using their real names, they behaved in a more civilized way.

However, an American Association for the Advancement of Science report states that "Anonymous communication should be regarded as a strong human right." Full story.

Rioters' Smartphone Use Spotlights Lawful Access Laws

2011-08-12T09:32:00.005-06:00

Via IAPP Daily Dashboard:
Rioters in the UK are using BlackBerry's secure Messengerservice to organize, prompting privacy concerns surrounding government access to communications.

In Canada, some privacy advocates are concerned that the situation will promote the passage of the Conservative government's proposed "lawful access" legislation that would give authorities warrantless access to certain communications data, reports The Vancouver Sun.

One surveillance expert says politicians use political unrest to push through laws that, in this case, allow for "a generalized collection of private information to deal with very specific crimes by a small number of people." He called the law "dangerous for privacy, and it removes the element of judicial oversight from the system." Full story.

How To Comply with Ontario's New FIPPA

2011-08-12T09:28:00.003-06:00

All public and private hospitals will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) when the newly broadened law becomes effective on January 1, 2012.

The act will apply retroactively to January 1, 2007, and will apply to all records held or under the control of the hospitals. In this Canada Dashboard Digest exclusive, privacy experts from Deloitte discuss what hospitals need to do in order to comply. Full story.

DATA PROTECTION -- SOUTH KOREA

2011-08-09T11:38:00.005-06:00

KCC Proposes Plan for Online Data Protection via IAPP Daily Dashboard:

In light of a recent breach affecting 35 million citizens, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has announced a plan that will require website operators to limit the amount of stored personal information of users and to encrypt data that is stored,

The Chosun Ilbo reports. Under the proposal, websites would be required to encode information such as telephone numbers and e-mail addresses and provide free security software to companies that cannot afford the required security systems upgrade but would not be able to request resident registration numbers from subscribers. The KCC will have a "detailed action plan" by December, the report states. Full Story

Data Loss - South Korea: Breach Affects 35 Million

2011-07-29T23:33:00.002-06:00

A hacking operation has compromised the personal information of approximately 35 million South Koreans who use the country's largest social networking site and a major search engine, CNET News reports.

The company that runs the Cyworld social networking site and the Nate portal site confirmed that malicious code was used to expose names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, resident registration numbers and passwords of users. SK Communications, the company that operates the sites, is creating a hotline to help affected individuals avoid phishing scams and spam. Full Story

WSJ Opinion: "Right to Privacy Definitions Need Updating"

2011-07-26T15:21:00.007-06:00

In The Wall Street Journal, L. Gordon Crovitz writes that in light of a phone hacking scandal, definitions of the right to privacy need to be updated. The debate surrounding the right to privacy in recent years has focused on new media, he writes, "but when we post details about ourselves on social media or reply to online marketing, we are choosing to become less private."

Hacking phones is "a clear-cut violation of privacy," Crovitz writes, "but the clarity of this violation highlights how much ambiguity there is in other claimed areas of privacy." (Registration may be required to access this story.) Full Story

The Right to Privacy from Brandeis to Flickr

There's no excuse for phone hacking, but most people don't expect to remain

Snakes have rudimentary hind limbs, and some flightless birds have wings last used in the distant evolutionary past. For digital-era humans, it seemed the expectation of privacy was likewise vestigial, a remnant of a more innocent time.

The phone hacking scandal involving the News of the World newspaper is a reminder that privacy is not dead, but it could use an updated definition.

This is the era when most adult Americans have Facebook accounts built to divulge personal details. People have posted billions of photos of themselves online through services such as Flickr. When we meet someone new, we expect that a Google search will provide useful details about him. Privacy seems like the lowest priority.

In the phone hacking case, there was little outrage when celebrities and royalty had their voicemail compromised, perhaps because these people have chosen to live public lives. But when the hacking reached private people, such as the family of Milly Dowler, the young murder victim in Britain—with messages erased that gave false hope to the parents that the girl might still be alive—everyone was outraged. (News of the World was owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.)

The debate about the right to privacy over the past few years has focused on new media. Privacy advocates have lobbied to regulate Facebook and other social media, with the goal of limiting how much information people share. But when we post details about ourselves on social media or reply to online marketing, we are choosing to become less private. In exchange, we get the ability to find friends, communicate with relatives, or get relevant information. We are determining our own level of privacy, with some people staying away from social media and others embracing it.

It's worth reviewing the original argument in favor of a right to privacy, which was made in an 1890 Harvard Law Review article by Louis Brandeis, later a Supreme Court justice, and his law partner, Samuel Warren. Warren, a member of the Boston aristocracy, married the daughter of a former secretary of state, and the Warrens were great hosts. They once held a breakfast to celebrate a wedding that so filled the house with flowers that journalists described it as a "veritable floral bower."

In contrast, when phones are hacked, there is no individual choice involved. It's a clear-cut violation of privacy.

Under the social mores of the time, this and coverage of other high society events outraged the Brahmin family. The Warrens had not sought publicity and resented the coverage.

Brandeis and Warren focused on how then-new technologies created new privacy concerns. "Instantaneous photographs and newspaper enterprise have invaded the sacred precincts of private and domestic life," they wrote. "The press is overstepping in every direction the obvious bounds of propriety and decency." Gossip "has become a trade, which is pursued with industry as well as effrontery."

This at a time when "the intensity and complexity of life, attendant upon advancing civilization, have rendered necessary some retreat from the world, and man, under the refining influence of culture, has become more sensitive to publicity, so that solitude and privacy have become more essential to the individual." It may sound quaint now, but they wrote that "modern enterprise and invention have, through invasions upon his privacy, subjected him to mental pain and distress, far greater than could be inflicted by mere bodily injury."

Their article, still often cited in court opinions, urged a new common-law doctrine that would "protect the privacy of the individual from invasion either by the too enterprising press, the photographer, or the possessor of any other modern device for rewording or reproducing scenes or sounds."

No body of law developed to protect the proprieties of the time. Instead, we spend increasing amounts of time using digital technologies created to let us trade privacy for other benefits.

In his book "Walking on Stilts," lawyer Stewart Baker reviews the Brandeis article and asks: "Is there anyone alive who thinks it should be illegal for the media to reveal the guest list at a prominent socialite's dinner party or to describe how elaborate the floral arrangements were? Today, it's more likely that the hostess of a prominent dinner party will blog about it in advance, and that the guests will send Twitter updates while it's under way."

Clear violations of privacy still exist, such as phone hacking. But the clarity of this violation highlights how much ambiguity there is in other claimed areas of privacy.

The modern expectation of privacy is not that people will always want to remain anonymous. Instead, they expect to have a choice about how they both control and share information about themselves. Privacy should be about individual choice, not based on a predetermined definition of either confidentiality or transparency.

Study: Companies Track After Users Opt Out

2011-07-25T11:27:00.003-06:00

Via IAPP Daily Dashboard; San Jose Mercury News

A new study by Stanford researchers has found many online advertising companies continue to follow people's Web activity even after users believe they have opted out of tracking.
The preliminary research has sparked renewed calls from privacy groups and Congress for a "Do Not Track" law to allow people to opt out of tracking, like the Do Not Call list that limits telemarketers.

While some online advertisers acknowledged the problem, an industry trade group criticized the study by "a Stanford graduate student" and said self-regulation by the industry was better than a new law.

"I think industry self-regulation is a joke," shot back U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, who has proposed legislation allowing the Federal Trade Commission to regulate online tracking. "It's precisely why we need the FTC to regulate them. For those who say, 'Privacy, get over it,' I absolutely reject that."

Stanford's research looked at 65 online advertising companies, including big companies such as Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO), Microsoft and AOL and smaller, lesser-known companies such as [x+1], eXelate and Cupertino-based BlueKai. It found that half the companies continued tracking even after consumers opted out. In online tracking, advertisers follow a Web user's movements to glean personal details to develop profiles and deliver targeted advertising.

Meanwhile, one start-up is launching a system allowing users to block online companies that don't honor do not track. Full story.

Start-Up Ensighten Aims to Let Websites Enforce ‘Do Not Track’

Google+ and Privacy [Infographic]

2011-07-23T21:41:00.000-06:00

Regina doctor cited in ‘largest breach of patient privacy’ in legislation’s history: report

2011-07-22T08:18:00.004-06:00

Saskatchewan’s privacy watchdog is recommending the province consider prosecuting a Regina physician under the Health Information Protection Act (HIPA) in relation to several boxes of patient files that were discarded in a south Regina recycling bin in March.
Calling it the largest breach of patient privacy the office has encountered since the act came into force in 2003, Information and Privacy Commissioner Gary Dickson released a report Wednesday that names Dr. Teik Im Ooi as the “trustee responsible for the records” that were hauled out of the blue bin.
About 180,000 pieces of patient personal health information were recovered, including 2,682 patient files as well as daily activity reports from Albert Park Family Medical Centre. More...

Constitutional Redemption - Jack M. Balkin - Harvard University Press

2011-07-20T13:00:00.001-06:00

Constitutional Redemption - Jack M. Balkin - Harvard University Press

Political constitutions, hammered out by imperfect human beings in periods of intense political controversy, are always compromises with injustice. What makes the U.S. Constitution legitimate, argues this daring book, is Americans’ enduring faith that the Constitution’s promises can someday be redeemed, and the constitutional system be made “a more perfect union.”

Lawmakers Say Children First in Online Privacy

2011-07-15T13:10:00.003-06:00

Amidst proposals for do-not-track legislation and a recent study showing that some online companies are not complying with self-regulatory standards, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) suggests that focusing on children's privacy may be the way forward.

The Washington Post reports that while most lawmakers think children need clear online protections, the current proposals will be hard to turn into law. Meanwhile, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) spoke at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing, saying, "Self-regulation isn't working," and criticizing the standards for allowing ad networks to continue collecting users' data after they opt out of behavioral targeting. Full Story