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Thursday, August 31, 2006
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Children of celebrities will be given special safeguards in a new database that will store details of every child in England and Wales, it was disclosed yesterday.
Ministers said the contentious two-tier level of privacy will protect children of the rich and famous from intrusion.
Addresses and telephone numbers of celebrities will be removed from the database if, for example, their children are deemed at risk of kidnap.
But opponents of the £241 million Children's Index -- a supposedly confidential system intended as an early warning system for children at risk of abuse -- said the move underlined their concerns about its security.
In further embarrassment to the Government, an independent report commissioned by Parliament's Information Commissioner and due to be published next month, is understood to warn that the index is causing serious concern and is possibly unlawful.
There are fears that it does not comply with the European Convention on Human Rights and may contravene the Data Protection Act.
7:02:49 PM 
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The End of PiggyBacking? Wi-Fi Routers Get a Warning.
Wireless routers sold in California will soon come with warning stickers that advise buyers to password protect their home networks, according to this article in Dark Reading.
The law, passed by California legislators and sent to Governor Schwarzenegger for his signature, will apply to wireless routers sold in California that were manufactured post-October 2007. One of the interesting things about California law is that since its tough to know where your product is going to be sold or where your customer lives, California law ends up being de facto national law.
Does this mean the end of piggybacking free Wi-Fi, as Dark Reading suggests it does?
I think no.
There will still be plenty of free Wi-Fi to be found, but it might not be long before some legislator gets it in his head to pass a law banning the use of an open wireless network unless you have some sort of permission.
Maybe it will happen after some guy gets busted downloading mp3s or child pr0n from a neighbor's open connection.
But it's still legally unclear whether borrowing some unsecured bandwidth is stealing (technically trespass to chattels) or fine and dandy.
So if you do occasionally jump on a open wireless network, remember to play nice, be subtle and don't send any passwords in the clear (ideally, not any passwords unless you are on a VPN).
 [27B Stroke 6]
6:51:37 PM
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The FBI has built a database with more than 659 million records -- including terrorist watch lists, intelligence cables and financial transactions -- culled from more than 50 FBI and other government agency sources. The system is one of the most powerful data analysis tools available to law enforcement and counterterrorism agents, FBI officials said yesterday.
The FBI demonstrated the database to reporters yesterday in part to address criticism that its technology was failing and outdated as the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks nears.
Privacy advocates said the Investigative Data Warehouse, launched in January 2004, raises concerns about how long the government stores such information and about the right of citizens to know what records are kept and correct information that is wrong.
The data warehouse is an effort to "connect the dots" that the FBI was accused of missing in the months before the 2001 attacks, bureau officials said. About a quarter of the information comes from the FBI's records and criminal case files. The rest -- including suspicious financial activity reports, no-fly lists, and lost and stolen passport data -- comes from the Treasury, State and Homeland Security departments and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
"That's where the real knowledge comes from . . . sharing information," said Gurvais Grigg, acting director of the FBI's Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, who helped develop the system.
4:54:57 PM
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Feds Show Off Massive Database.
Feeling a little burnt from stories about its technological incompetence, the Justice Department wooed reporters Tuesday with its massive anti-terrorism database that contains some 659 million records comprising no-fly list data, airline records, driver's license numbers, social security numbers and suspicious financial activity
reports, according to this story from Ellen Nakashima in the Washington Post.
Privacy advocates said the Investigative Data Warehouse, launched in January 2004, raises concerns about how long the government stores such information and about the right of citizens to know what records are kept and correct information that is wrong.
The data warehouse is an effort to "connect the dots" that the FBI was accused of missing in the months before the 2001 attacks, bureau officials said. About a quarter of the information comes from the FBI's records and criminal case files. The rest -- including suspicious financial activity reports, no-fly lists, and lost and stolen passport data -- comes from the Treasury, State and Homeland Security departments and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
One assumes that the database includes such things as the hundreds of thousands of records agents culled in 2003 from Las Vegas hotels and casinos, rental car agencies and airlines as part of their response to increased intelligence chatter.
This system is not totally unknown -- Washington Post journalist Robert O'Harrow, Jr. covered it in his book No Place to Hide.
Kenneth Ritchhart, the man who headed the project, made his aims clear to O'Harrow: John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness project.
"The technology that he's looking at," Ritchhart told O'Harrow, "is right up our alley."
Is it legal?
Depends on who you talk to.
It's not clear the agency has ever disclosed the database in the Federal Registry or published Privacy Impact Assessments as required by law.
You might also remember that the Justice Department exempted its criminal databases in 2003 from the requirement that they be accurate.
It's now not their problem, its yours.
Photo: Wbs 70  [27B Stroke 6]
2:52:59 PM
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California Lawmakers Pass Safeguards for Privacy-Leaking RFID Chips. The California State Senate passed tough new privacy safeguards yesterday for use of "tag and track" devices known as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips embedded in state identification cards. The bill, SB 768, helps ensure that Californians can control the personal information contained on their drivers' licenses, library cards and other important ID documents.
EFF worked with a diverse range of concerned groups to get this bill passed, and now it just needs to clear one last hurdle -- the governor's signature -- before becoming law. If you live in California, follow this link and call the governor's office immediately to voice your support for S.B. 768.
Regardless, forward that link to friends and family who live in California and urge their support. [EFF: Deep Links]
2:48:25 PM
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© Copyright 2006 Paul Hardwick.
Last update: 9/2/06; 2:01:34 AM.
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