Administrivia: We have some site updates coming soon. We are moving the XML/RSS feeds to a new location and testing a discussion function. Sign-up to the Privacy Digest announcement mailinglist (Very low volume) if your want advance details. Don't forget to set your clocks back (ed. Ummm That should have been ahead) one hour before retiring Saturday evening. Remember its Fall 'back' and Spring 'Forward'

Sorry about the formatting problems earlier on the home page. The text 'Col. Thaddeus Dmuchowski' must have contained a non printable character that killed the CSS processing. Retyping his last name fixed the problem.

San Jose Mercury News By Dan Gillmor- Yahoo ignores its customers' privacy wishes.

Do you use Yahoo services such as e-mail or Yahoo Groups, or anything that requires you to sign up with the site with your e-mail address or other personal information? If you do, and value your privacy, pay attention.

Sign in with whatever screen names you have provided and locate the Account Information page. Then click on the ``Marketing Preferences'' link, where you'll discover that Yahoo has conveniently re-set your preferences with the assumption that you want to receive all kinds of pitches for products and services. I've clicked ``No'' on each of them.

New York Times - free registration required Surveillance Cameras Set to Keep Watch in Airliners.

JetBlue recently became the first airline to install tiny cameras in a passenger cabin. Most other American airlines are expected to follow in short order.

[ ... ]

Putting cameras on board aircraft was a recommendation of a committee of airline industry executives and government officials after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While there is no legal requirement to do so, 19 other airlines have already applied to the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to introduce the surveillance equipment on both domestic and international flights. The F.A.A. refused to say which airlines had applied.

But critics, while agreeing that surveillance cameras may provide added security, want assurances that passenger privacy rights will be protected.

"We do have privacy concerns," said Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "This is an example of where technology is in the Space Age, but the law that protects privacy is back in the Stone Age. This may well be an appropriate role, but we don't know if it will be abused in the future."

[ ... ]

Consumer Alert, a Washington-based advocacy group that tracks privacy issues, said the cameras by themselves were acceptable. "We don't see a problem unless the information is put in major national data banks and sent to the government," said Fran Smith, executive director of the organization. "If they monitor people's travel habits and connect credit card and Social Security numbers, that would be of concern."

Mr. Neeleman, JetBlue's chief executive, emphasized that video pictures on its airliners would not be recorded, and that no cameras would be installed in the bathrooms. "Passengers are informed about the cabin cameras at the beginning of each flight as part of the in-flight safety announcements," he said.

Apple - Security Update April 2002: Information and Download.

Gartner - DoubleClick Case Teaches a Lesson in Online Privacy.

Marketers such as DoubleClick can find out who Web users are and where they've been online. But marketers should provide users with a clear opt-out option, especially to avoid a costly public backlash.

The USA Register - I've got your chip under my skin.

Companies are allowed to market computer ID chips which can be embedded under a person's skin in the US, after the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the technology its qualified approval.

The FDA said yesterday it would not block use of such devices as long as they contain no medical data - paving the way for the sale of devices such as the VeriChip, from Applied Digital Solutions.

Scoop: (New Zealand) - CTU To Take Up Workplace Privacy Issues. Press Release: New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

The Council of Trade Unions is seeking clarification of workers privacy rights following the revelation that the Ministry of Health uses surveillance cameras in rest homes.

ZDNet Australia: News & Tech: Security: The principles of privacy.

OPINION: Privacy has been the subject of scores of articles since the implementation of the privacy act last December, but what does it all really mean?

In a recent survey conducted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Internet retailers were perceived as the least trustworthy organisations regarding the protection and use of personal information, scoring 1.98 on a scale of 5 (real estate agencies and market research companies rated just above them).

The same survey also found that "respect for, and protection of, my personal information" was, overall, the aspect of service that mattered most to the largest proportion of consumers--rating above quality of product, efficiency, price and convenience (Report for the Federal Privacy Commissioner on "Privacy and the Community).

We know that privacy and security are major issues for the digital media industry. As pointed out, consumers are very concerned about the protection of their personal information and it is now essential for developers of digital media to ensure that they incorporate national privacy principles (NPPs) into their business practice.

AT&T Privacy Bird.

AT&T invites you to download the new AT&T Privacy Bird software for free. This software will help Internet users stay informed about how information they provide to Web sites could be used. The AT&T Privacy Bird automatically searches for privacy policies at every website you visit. You can tell the software about your privacy concerns, and it will tell you whether each site's policies match your personal privacy preferences. The software displays a green bird icon at Web sites that match, and a red bird icon at sites that do not.

The AT&T Privacy Bird lets you see what's really going on at Web sites. The bird icon alerts you about Web site privacy policies with a visual symbol and optional sounds.The AT&T Privacy Bird reads privacy policies written in the standard format specified by the World Wide Web Consortium's Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P). In addition to developing P3P software, AT&T is supporting this new industry standard by being one of the first companies to P3P enable our Web sites.

The AT&T Privacy Bird is for Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browsers (version 5.01/5.5/6.0 on Microsoft Windows platforms) only

OSopinion Computer News: Experts: Free Privacy Software Doesn't Cut It.

Privacy Foundation executive director Stephen Keating told NewsFactor that the importance placed on privacy by general Internet users may be fading.

AT&T (NYSE: T) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) are offering free privacy software to consumers and businesses, respectively. AT&T's beta software is designed to check Web site privacy policies, and Big Blue's new Tivoli software aims to automate enforcement of company privacy policies.

But some privacy advocates say the products' effectiveness is dependent upon companies' or Web sites' existing privacy policies. For consumers, this means little or no real protection is provided; for business, it means results are only as good as an enterprise's privacy policy and planning.

"Both have the same weakness, which is [that] the prevailing level of privacy provided by these policies is too low," Junkbusters president Jason Catlett told NewsFactor, referring to AT&T's Privacy Bird browser software and IBM's new Tivoli Privacy Wizard.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - CIPA Trial Comes to a Close.

EditorAndPublisher.com Commentary - Most Far-Reaching Gag Order In 1st Amend. History? Hentoff: Press Must Address Book-Reading Threat

John Ashcroft's war on terrorism includes the most far-reaching gag order in First Amendment history -- preventing the press from reporting on the FBI's seizure of the lists of books bought or borrowed in bookstores and libraries by noncitizens and citizens suspected of terrorist activities. Under the omnibus USA Patriot Act, the FBI has the authority to get an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court -- a secret body composed of rotating federal judges -- to seek "any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the American Library Association (ALA) have particularly alerted their members to part of the law that prevents booksellers and librarians -- once the FBI has come calling -- to reveal that a search has been made. The law states: "No person shall disclose to any other person ... that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained" these records.

This means that the press and, therefore, the public cannot find out how often and where these searches have taken pace -- and what books, as well as readers, are under suspicion. Customarily, when a court imposes a gag rule on pretrial or trial participants, including the press, it is fought in open court by the press and often overturned.

Plastic: First Rule Of The Patriot Act: You Do Not Talk About The Patriot Act. "No person shall disclose to any other person ... that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained" these records.

"American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the "American Library Association" are attempting to make the public aware of provisions in the Patriot Act which an editorial calls 'The most far reaching gag order in first amendment history.'"[ ... ]

Government Executive Magazine - Army official warns that hackers could infiltrate battlefield .

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Noting that a cyberterrorist attack could have grave consequences on the battlefield, the Army's top information security officer said Tuesday that the military must take a more proactive approach to defending its critical information systems.

"It is conceivable, in theory, for a hacker sitting in his easy chair to get inside a tank," Col. Thaddeus Dmuchowski, director of the Army's Information Operations Assurance Office, said during a conference sponsored by the National High Performance Computing & Communications Council.