Monday, March 12, 2007

Making Sense of Census Data With Google Earth. Making Sense of Census Data With Google Earth.   mikemuch writes  "Imran Haque has developed a mashup of Google Earth with data from the U.S. Census Bureau, called gCensus. The app uses the XML format known as KML (Keyhole Markup Language), which can create shapes and colors on the maps displayed by GE. Haque had to build custom code libraries (which he's made available as open source) that could generate KML for the project. He also had to extract the relevant data from the highly counter-intuitive Census Bureau files and store them in a database that could handle geographic data. gCensus lets you do stuff like create colorful overlays on maps showing population ages, race, and family size distributions."  [Slashdot] 10:20:05 PM

TorontoSun.com - Canada - Privacy swipe? New system would check IDs in stores Convenience stores that check ID by swiping driver's licences could be violating privacy law, Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips said Wednesday. The system called "We Expect ID," would see store clerks swipe licences through a lottery terminal to verify a customer's age when purchasing alcohol, cigarettes, adult magazines, lottery tickets or fireworks. The terminal will read age information from the magnetic stripe on the licence and display the person's age on the terminal. 4:38:21 PM

Congress Targets Pretexting. Congress Targets Pretexting. Legislation would add protections against the practice of posing as another to gain personal data. [PC World: Latest Technology News] 4:22:56 PM

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