Enron had Arthur Andersen. Yahoo has Truste, the nonprofit privacy organization whose seal of approval is designed to assuage consumer fears about giving personal information to websites.

But Yahoo's recent announcement of sweeping changes in the way it will use customer data collected under previous policies has many calling Truste's seal as meaningless as an Andersen audit.

Even Esther Dyson, the high-profile technologist who played a major role in Truste's launch five years ago, says she is "disappointed in what ended up becoming of it."

[ ... ]

Dyson agreed that, despite being co-founded by outspoken privacy advocates the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Truste's image has slipped from consumer advocate to corporate apologist. "The board ended up being a little too corporate, and didn't have any moral courage," she said.

"Clearly, if you're hostile all the time you're not very effective. But you have to have the moral courage to say, 'This is wrong, even if it's not in our contract.'"

[ ... ]

Security and privacy experts warn, though, that once a customer's data has been leaked beyond promised limits, it's too late -- the spread of information can't be undone.

"But fundamentally there's no enforcement mechanism," said Lee Tien, an attorney with the EFF, which no longer has organizational ties to Truste.

"A trustmark does more harm than good by creating an illusion of privacy where none exists," added Seth Ross, chief strategy officer of PC Guardian, a maker of computer security products in San Rafael, California. "A meaningless logo may induce people to make information disclosures that they would otherwise avoid."

New York Times - free registration required ID Cards for `Trusted Travelers' Run Into Some Thorny Questions.

The idea seemed simple: figure out who the good guys are, give them easy-to-recognize and hard-to-counterfeit ID cards and let them breeze past airport security.

Everybody would win, advocates say. Holders of the "trusted traveler" cards would save time. Screeners would have fewer bodies to inspect -- there were 1.8 billion in 2000, according to the Transportation Department -- and could concentrate on identifying potential terrorists. And passengers would feel safer.

There is only one problem: It is proving extraordinarily difficult to figure out who would qualify for a card that would work as advertised.

"What makes a trusted traveler?" asked Richard P. Eastman, who writes software for airlines and travel agencies. "The guy who travels all the time; who travels on business; who has a reason to travel. Does that mean the terrorist can't penetrate that group? Of course he can."

[ ... ]

Yet John Magaw, the under secretary of transportation who is the head of the new Transportation Security Administration, worries that the card might not be smart enough to thwart hijackers."Terrorists are not in any hurry," he said. "For them, the soup of revenge is best served cold."

Even if a risk-free card could be devised, civil libertarians would probably fight it. The American Civil Liberties Union has ridiculed the trusted-traveler concept as a "get out of security free" card. These critics argue that it would be impossible to safeguard the confidential information travelers would have to divulge about themselves. And they contend that a smart card would set a dangerous precedent.

"Quickly enough, policy makers are going to say, `If this works, let's require everyone to go through background checks before they get on a plane,' " said Barry S. Steinhardt, director of the A.C.L.U.'s program on science and technology.

New York Times - free registration required Bookstore Cannot Be Forced to Divulge Buyers, Court Says.

A bookstore does not have to turn over customer sales records to help police determine who bought a book on how to make illegal drugs, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

In a unanimous decision, the state's highest court found that both the First Amendment and the Colorado Constitution "protect an individual's fundamental right to purchase books anonymously, free from governmental interference."

The 6-to-0 ruling reversed a state appellate court's decision that ordered the bookstore, the Tattered Cover, to turn over receipts for the purchase of two books on the construction and operation of drug laboratories.

AlterNet - Your Cell Phone Is Watching You.

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission ordered cellular companies to equip all new cell phones with Global Positioning Satellite tracking devices that can pinpoint a user's location to within 300 feet, anywhere on the planet. The agency ordered the move at the behest of law enforcement agencies, who have long wished to be able to tell where 911 calls made on cell phones originate.

[ ... ]

Cell phone companies are aware of the potential backlash from consumers; a Verizon Wireless spokesperson told the technology news website CNET.com that it currently has no plans to release information about customers' day-to-day whereabouts to commercial third parties. Still, none of the cell companies are saying they won't try to use the information for their own purposes.

[ ... ]

But in the meantime, you're not safe from cell-phone marketing: Some companies, such as marketers PangoNetworks, are already making use of today's more limited location tracking technology.

Pango sets up zones called "hot spots" within businesses or shopping malls. Hidden sensors can detect your phone or Palm Pilot, upon which the system hums into life, sending ads for merchandise you might be standing near and compiling data about your shopping habits: What stores have you visited? Did you linger near the wrinkle-free khakis or by the animatronic Hello Kitty display? Boxers or briefs?

Political News from Wired News - Bird's-Eye View Not So Rare.

Pictures from sharp-eyed satellites, once the domain of the United States and Russia, are becoming so easy to obtain that the military may have to alter its strategies knowing adversaries with a minimum of know-how and money can be watching.

Perhaps a half-dozen countries as well as some private companies have spy satellites that, while not as good as those used by the United States, are able to supply solid military intelligence.

Bookweb.org - Colorado Supreme Court Says Tattered Cover Doesn't Have to Turn Over Customer Records.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on April 8 that Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store does not have to turn over customer records that had been sought by local law enforcement officials, who had argued that the information would assist in a case involving the manufacture of methamphetamines. "This is an important victory for bookstores around the country. It strongly affirms the fact that protecting the privacy of bookstore records is essential to preserve free speech," said Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, which has been supporting the Tattered Cover's case financially, and which filed two amicus briefs on the store's behalf.

The court ruled that the state constitution requires that those seeking bookstore records must demonstrate that the need for specific customer purchase records "is sufficiently compelling to outweigh the harm likely caused to constitutional interests by the execution of the search." The decision noted that "applying this balancing test, the Supreme Court concludes that the law enforcement need for the book purchase record in this case was not sufficiently compelling to outweigh the harm that would likely follow from execution of the search warrant."

This link was found by readers of The Shifted Librarian.

Denver Post.com - Supreme Court refuses to order book store to turn over records.

The Colorado Supreme Court today refused to order a book store to allow police to see its sales records as part of a drug investigation.

In a 53-page decision, the judges said police erred when they went after the records to establish who purchased books on drug manufacturing. The court said the search warrant should never have been issued in the first place.

They said the recognize that the First Amendment and a section of the Colorado Constitution "protect an individual's fundamental right to purchase books anonymously, free from governmental interference."

"The Supreme Court concludes that the law enforcement need for the book purchase record in this case was not sufficiently compelling to outweigh the harm that would likely follow from execution of the search warrant, in part because law enforcement officials sought the purchase record for reasons related to the contents of the books that the suspect may have purchased," the court said.

Slashdot | Tattered Cover v. Thornton Reversed.

In a victory for all those who like the First Amendment, the Colorado Supreme Court today reversed and remanded 'Tattered Cover v. Thornton'. The case concerned the Thornton police attempting to use a search warrant to gain access to the book-buying records of a suspected criminal. The Tattered Cover asserted First Amendment rights and refused to comply with the warrant. It is believed this will be heard by the US Supreme Court eventually.

An excerpt from the decision

"Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation--and their ideas from suppression--at the hand of an intolerant society," wrote Justice Bender.