Ugh. It was going so well and then I fell into a black hole of non-blogging in October. Climbing back up on that horse, here is my first post on the first of November. (Of course, it is no longer the first day of November, but I did try.) From dw-word.de
I was hoping he wouldn't say it, but he did. "If you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about." Bad politician, bad. Once again, a western politician invokes the fear of terrorism and uses it to try and crush discussion and critical thought.
The topic:
Digital fingerprints encoded on German passports.
Yuck!
This honestly makes me cringe. The more I learn about how easy it is for electronic scanners to gather information about us the more I want to toss my cell phone. Someone with a portable scanner could casually walk by and learn exactly who you are - it will also allow a store to greet you personally when you walk in.
But digital fingerprints - that takes possibilities for identity theft to a whole new level. Imagine you visit a hotel in a foreign country and they ask for your passport at check-in (which they often do). A quick scan and they have access to your fingerprints in the form of a computer file - how easy is that?
I also have concerns about the construction of a ginormous database that police organization and governments would have access to with fingerprints. It feels more than a little creepy.
For me, it's right up there with electronic voting machines.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Privacy Issues
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1 comment:
I've become a bit defeatist about privacy issues. I'm certain that technology will become more prevalent and cheaper and authorities will find it far too attractive to pass up. The CCTV cameras I saw all over London this summer are just the first step.
Moreover, I think people won't protest. The prevalence of social networking sites shows the enormous mounds of personal information people are willing to share about themselves. Here at the library, we strive to meet privacy guidelines both as a matter of provincial law and professional ethics, and we have customers who complain that we protect their data (e.g., "why can't you tell me what books I read 3 months ago?").
I'm beginning to think that a compromise might be in order: a society of mutual surveillance. Yes there are cameras in all public places, but anyone can access them. The MTO's Compass system is a good example of this: the Ministry of Transportation can monitor highway traffic, but radio stations can use the Compass cameras to give up-to-the-minute updates on gridlock, and the public can do so as well. Also think of all the examples of police brutality that have been exposed by "citizen journalists" with cellphone cameras.
This idea was first suggested to me by science fiction author David Brin, who's put the first chapter of his non-fiction book, The Transparent Society, up on his site. I hope to read the whole thing soon.
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