Saturday, March 3, 2007

Concurring Opinions: The Rise of Customer Blacklists Blacklists appear to be the rage these days. With the ease of storing and sharing personal information -- coupled with lax privacy law restrictions on such activities -- companies can increasingly create blacklists of bad customers. In this article from the Ottawa Citizen, hotels in Australia and Canada (and soon the United States) are signing up for a service that compiles a blacklist against "bad" hotel guests: 11:55:39 PM

Telco customers at risk for online privacy breach. Telco customers at risk for online privacy breach. A study released by the Customer Respect Group indicates that telecommunications companies are slipping when it comes to customer privacy, especially in comparison to retail and high-tech industries. A majority of companies surveyed were dound to ask for excessive, inappropriate personal data. [Computerworld Privacy News] 11:51:07 PM

Breach of Personal Information at Calif. Dept. of Health Service Handled Quickly. Breach of Personal Information at Calif. Dept. of Health Service Handled Quickly. "We are taking steps to notify you of this, consistent with our policy, and with the sensitivity around all HIV related issues." [GT: Security and Privacy] 11:40:00 PM

FCW.com News - OMB: Agencies make headway with IT security The state of the government's cybersecurity position has improved over the past year, but significant holes remain, especially in the areas of categorizing the risk level of systems and training, according to the Office of Management and Budget. OMB found that more than 700 systems, including 397 managed by agencies, had not been categorized as high, medium or low risk. Also, the administration said more agency employees have received information technology security training -- up 10 percent since last year -- but more needs to be done. In its fourth annual Federal Information Security Management Act report sent to Congress March 1, OMB said it will rely on the Security Line of Business effort to better train employees by using a standard program. OMB named three shared-service centers for security training in February: the Office of Personnel Management, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Defense Department. 11:38:06 PM

DoJ Mulls Tracking Picture Uploads. DoJ Mulls Tracking Picture Uploads.   Dominus Suus passed us a link to a C|Net article about a disturbing threat to privacy from the Justice Department. According to the article, a private meeting was held Wednesday between Justice officials and telecom industry representatives. With individuals from companies such as AOL and Comcast looking on, the officials continued overtures to increase data retention by ISPs on American citizens. This week, they were specifically looking to have records kept of photo uploads. In this way, and 'in case police determine the content is illegal and choose to investigate,' an easy trail from A to Z will be available. The article provides a good deal of background on the Bush Administration's history with data retention, with ties to events even older than the Bush presidency.  --- "The Justice Department's request for information about compliance costs echoes a decade-ago debate over wiretapping digital telephones, which led to the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. To reduce opposition by telephone companies, Congress set aside $500 million for reimbursement and the legislation easily cleared both chambers by voice votes. Once Internet providers come up with specific figures, privacy advocates worry, Congress will offer to write a generous check to cover all compliance costs and the process will repeat itself." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 10:57:23 PM

Homeland Security Offers Details on Real ID. Homeland Security Offers Details on Real ID. pr0nqu33n writes  "C|Net is running an article on the DHS's requirements for the Real ID system. Thursday members of the Bush administration finally unveiled details of the anticipated national identification program. Millions of Americans will have until 2013 to register for the system, which will (some would argue) constitute a national ID. RFID trackers for the cards are under consideration, as is a cohesive nation-wide design for the card. States must submit a proposal for how they'll adopt the system by early October of this year. If they don't, come May of next year their residents will see their licenses unable to gain them access to federal buildings and airplanes. The full regulations for the system are available online in PDF format. Likewise, the DHS has a Questions and Answers style FAQ available to explain the program to the curious." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 10:48:45 PM

© Copyright 2007 Paul Hardwick. Last update: 3/4/07; 3:16:52 AM.