Michael Fabricant, a Lichfield MP for the Tory party, hopes to introduce a new Bill to stop employers from snooping on employees' E-Mail:

Gartner - ZD Settlement Shows Cost of Deficient Privacy Protection.

Ziff Davis Media (ZD) will pay at least $125,000 to settle complaints from 50 consumers that it inadequately protected their private data. The cost of repairing a privacy breach will always far exceed the cost of preventing it.

On 28 August 2002, the New York State attorney general announced a settlement agreement with ZD that resolves a series of consumer complaints against the publisher for inadequate privacy protection. The agreement concerns a promotional offer on the company's Web site in November 2001. Personal information (including credit card data) contained in 12,000 subscription orders was exposed to public view with the result that some subscribers became victims of identity theft. Under the settlement, ZD agrees to follow more rigorous security practices. The company also agrees to pay a total of $100,000 to three state governments as well as $25,000 in compensation ($500 to each of the 50 U.S. consumers who provided credit-card information while the subscriber data was exposed).

osOpinion.com - Corporate Spies: Get Out.

As an employee and not a boss, I have a fairly limited perspective in terms of allowable workplace slack. At every job I've started since the computer came into play, part of the human resources mix has been perusal and signing of a document that states, basically, that I have sold my soul to the company store.

This document varies in its wording, but it basically threatens the new employee with expulsion if the phone, computer or office is used for any type of personal business whatsoever.

Since, like many of my working brethren, I am confident about the vague illegalities of such a contract and am not much of a slacker anyway, I have always signed. Perhaps I affixed my signature because I knew that I could sneak in a phone call to a friend or check my Hotmail a few times a day when no one was looking over my shoulder.

But now surveillance software has arrived, and I think back on that document with a mixture of dread and anger.

SPACE.com - Secret Satellite Photos To Be Unveiled.

Images sent down by U.S. secret satellites in decades past are going up for public viewing.

Later this month, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) is set to declassify Keyhole (KH) imagery from the KH-7 and KH-9 satellites, two highly hush-hush intelligence-gathering spacecraft of Cold War vintage.

The unveiling of the satellite snapshots is part of the U.S. government's Historical Imagery Declassification Program. Purpose of the program centers on three goals: Promote the spirit of open governance; demonstrate results of taxpayer investment in national security and ensure that researchers -- from environmentalists to historians -- have access to useful and unique sources of information.

[ ... ]

NIMA will host the September 20 conference titled "America's Eyes: What We Were Seeing," an event to be held at the University of Maryland University College in Adelphi, Maryland.

According to a NIMA, the high-resolution KH-7 surveillance imaging satellite (flown from July 1963 to June 1967) monitored key targets such as intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) complexes, radar systems, and hot spots around the globe. The lower-resolution KH-9 mapping system (operating from March 1973 to October 1980) gathered data for mapmakers. It also collected imagery.

[ ... ]

Following declassification, the photos are to be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). A duplicate set of the pictures and associated data will also be made available for public scrutiny and purchase at the United States Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

"When I first heard about this declassification I was very excited. I got over that and sobered up rather quickly after we discovered they are only releasing about 20 percent of the total take," said Tim Brown, senior analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, of Alexandria, Virginia. The independent military watchdog group, among its research interests, supports new initiatives utilizing space technology to enhance international peace and security.

"I have mixed emotions about this. Of course I was surprised that they are going ahead with this," Brown said. The Bush Administration has a penchant for secrecy, and they don't like the concept of Freedom of Information, he added.

Star Telegram | 08/31/2002 | Police ask stores to take fingerprints.

Operation Thumbs Up, scheduled to begin citywide Sunday, aims to help authorities identify check theft and forgery by obtaining a source of identification that can't be stolen or faked - fingerprints. The system is similar to those used by banks that require fingerprints on checks.

"No longer can we rely on the driver's license as a valid form of identity when passing a check," Detective Kyle Gibson said. "We can't expect clerks to memorize every face in a line. By getting a print, we can place that person when the check was passed to get a successful prosecution."

The program was announced Friday. Police spokeswoman Christy Gilfour said the department is considering making the program mandatory.

[ ... ]

The systems range from an inkless pad in which the chemical easily rubs off the skin, to an electronic sensor that compares a customer's print to a pre-scanned fingerprint, Crouch said. Another system involves a clear chemical that leaves a blue imprint when pressed onto a chemical-sensitive sticker that is usually placed onto the back of a check.

Police assured they will only see prints when a business submits a forged check for investigation, Crouch said. The print will then be checked against others in a statewide criminal fingerprint database.

[ ... ]

Dawson doesn't expect complaints from customers.

"I anticipate if you are not guilty of anything, it's not going to matter to you if someone takes your thumbprint," she said.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Police Ask Stores to Take Fingerprints.

Coffee Warlord writes "Operation Thumbs Up, scheduled to begin citywide Sunday, aims to help authorities identify check theft and forgery by obtaining a source of identification that can't be stolen or faked - fingerprints. Dawson doesn't expect complaints from customers. "I anticipate if you are not guilty of anything, it's not going to matter to you if someone takes your thumbprint," she said. -- There are so many things wrong with this, I can't even begin to start."

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Canadian Lawful Access Legislation.

EvilAlien writes "In Canada, existing legislation covers access to telephone records, disclosure of customer information in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and other means compelling the release of information. However, the laws regulating access to these networks for Canadian law enforcement and national security groups are only under development. The Department of Justice has released their Lawful Access Consultation Document to get feedback from all the stakeholders including industry, civil liberties groups, and the legal community."

"San Francisco Chronicle" - $20 million tab to defeat privacy bill / . Among priciest lobbying efforts in state history

Sacramento -- Banks, insurance companies and other corporations spent more than $20 million in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses during the successful fight against a measure to protect the financial privacy of consumers, state records show.

Among the biggest spenders were Citigroup, which tallied $878,875 in expenses, the American Insurance Association, $310,662, and the giant credit card company, MBNA Corp., $500,871.

A Chronicle analysis of spending reports filed with the secretary of state's office shows that corporations opposed to the measure spent more than $8.8 million on political contributions during the last 18 months and another $12 million on lobbyists and related costs.

Experts said the campaign against the measure will probably go down as one of the most expensive in state history -- much like the $17 million state and local campaign by electrical power companies in the wake of the California energy deregulation fiasco.

[ ... ]

The final totals will be even larger. The most recent state campaign finance and lobbying reports were filed in July. Opponents of the privacy measure reportedly spent millions more lobbying against the bill during the last weeks of the legislative session in August, and those payments will not be reported to the secretary of state until October.

"This is probably only the tip of the iceberg," Knox said.

[ ... ]

Not all elected officials who received large contributions from the financial and insurance industries voted the way those interests wanted.

Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, received $33,500 in contributions from interests opposed to Speier's bill, but voted for it anyway.

So did Assemblyman Kevin Shelley, D-San Francisco, who received $55,250.

Nonetheless, experts on money in politics say campaign contributions cannot help but influence decision makers -- and that corporations wouldn't donate if they got nothing in return.

Slashdot | $20 Million on Lobbying Defeats CA Privacy Bill.

sphughes writes "The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that banks, insurance companies and other corporations spent more than $20 million in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses to defeat a recent consumer privacy bill SB773. The story can be found here. These are preliminary figures through July and may actually run much higher. The bill had been modified from opt-in to opt-out but was still killed."

Yahoo News - Microsoft, Allies Gear to Reshape Copyright Debate.

While Palladium is still a long way off, an uproar has arisen over how technologies might be used to curtail consumer "fair use" rights to make personal copies of movies and music and to more tightly control software use.

"I like to call this controlled computing rather than trusted computing," said Chris Hoofnagle, legislative counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. "The companies are creating a system or infrastructure that the user cannot tamper with."

Critics fear new technologies will make it easier for corporations and governments to spy on computer users and even censor dissent by allowing applications like document revocation, or programmable data deletion. What may be perceived as minor intrusions in a Western corporate setting might have Big Brother consequences for computer users in countries with more controlled environments like China and Saudi Arabia.

[ ... ]

Biddle and a TCPA spokesman deny the assertions, saying that no monitoring, reporting or censoring capabilities are designed into the systems, and people will be able to choose whether they want to use the security features, or not. Still, they acknowledge that certain controversial functions could be added by others later.

"In developing the technology for the platform, there's all kinds of usages and capabilities that could be taken advantage of that have not been thought of yet," said Marc Varady, TCPA chairman and marketing manager for Intel's Safer Computing Initiatives.

To some, the TCPA plan is reminiscent of Intel's proposal in the mid-1990s to put a serial number on its Pentium chips. Public backlash caused Intel to abandon the plan.

[ ... ]

Technology companies must carefully balance individual rights and corporate interests, says Bruce Schneier, cryptography expert and chief technology officer at Counterpane Internet Security, a network monitoring firm.

"Security is more social than technical," Schneier said. "There are a lot of good technical controls in Palladium, but it's unclear whether they'll be used to protect personal privacy or limit personal freedom.

Slashdot | Palladium, 'Trusted PCs' in the News.

Reuters is carrying a fairly lengthy article on Palladium and 'Trusted Computing'. Worth reading - remember that what the Reuters/AP wires carry is all that most people will ever know about any particular issue.

Tech Central Station - Let Hollywood Hack.

Hollywood wants to invade private computer networks so it can unleash viruses against copyright thieves. In a recent Tech Central Station article, Sonia Arrison argues against Congressional efforts to grant Hollywood hacking rights. Alas, without such rights, peer-to-peer networks will decimate the for-profit production of movies, music and even books.

Peer-to-peer networks pose a vastly greater threat to intellectual property than Napster did. Internet thieves copy content from each others' hard drives. With Napster, these criminals needed to operate through a centralized server. Peer-to-peer computing, however, allows thieves to exchange copyrighted content directly. Napster was like a single large open-air drug market that authorities could easily locate and shut down. Peer-to-peer pirating is analogous to having thousands of drug markets operating out of private homes.

To hinder peer-to-peer thieves, someone must hack into their network homes. Unfortunately, without monitoring, you can't identify which networks thieves use to exchange copyrighted materials. Consequently, to fight peer-to-peer piracy, Congress must curtail everyone's cyber privacy and allow copyright holders to access and sometimes disable private networks. While we should regret any loss of privacy, fighting crime often requires reducing the privacy rights of innocents. For example, our privacy is violated when we walk through a metal detector or are searched by airport security. Indeed, NASA may soon even scan the brains of airline passengers in efforts to detect terrorists. Surely, scanning hard drives is far less objectionable than scanning brains.

A glimpse from the dark side.

EdCone.com - Is This Guy For Real?

One of the participants at the upcoming Cato Institute debate , economist James Miller, wrote an article called "Let Hollywood Hack." Obviously I disagree with his conclusion, but I was surprised at the flabbiness of his argument, which comes down to: The problem of peer-to-peer piracy is way serious and hard to attack....therefore, "Congress must curtail everyone's cyber privacy and allow copyright holders to access and sometimes disable private networks. While we should regret any loss of privacy, fighting crime often requires reducing the privacy rights of innocents." Straight from A to B to a letter that's not even in the alphabet. I thought for a moment this was a prank, but he seems to be serious.

Ed is a senior writer for Baseline, a business and technology magazine published by Ziff Davis Media, and an opinion columnist for the News & Record, the monopoly daily newspaper in Greensboro, North Carolina.