"Where the data revolution meets the needs of national security, there is no place to hide."
Ways we can be tracked electronically:
- Credit card records
- Surveillance cameras
- WiFi
- Subway/MetroCards
- Satellite navigation systems in cars
- Card swipes on copiers/vending machines/ATMs
- Clocking in at work
- E-Z Passes at toll booths
- Internet browsing/shopping/email
- TiVo
- ID/face/iris/fingerprint scan to access building
- Phone calls
RFID = radio frequency identification
-getting cheaper and smaller, can hold more info
Monitoring by companies, law enforcement, or private investigators
Companies using RFID: car manufacturers, gas stations, Walmart, Defense Department, FDA, casinos, jails, schools
RFIDs can:
- increase efficiency
- fight credit card fraud, other security issues
- improve customer relationship management, marketing
Controversy surrounding RFIDs and the info they gather
Tagging could eventually extend to...everything?
-No more anonymous transactions
"Why worry if you have nothing to hide?"
"We have nothing to worry about, until they make a mistake."
Trading privacy for security
Verint surveillance systems
-including government wiretapping
Goal of some companies to get people used to surveillance
This chapter was really eye-opening and kind of scaring to think about. I can understand the desire to record information about people, especially for reasons of security, but I also think that people do have a right to privacy. While to some degree, it's true that if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about, what happens when the surveillance recordings make a mistake? Or what if the government takes a turn for the Orwellian and have cut off any way for citizens to resist? That thought does scare me, that we put so much power into the hands of people and organizations that might not use it wisely and responsibly. There should still be a way to opt out - someone should be working on tech that will increase privacy, not decrease it.
Total "Terrorism" Information Awareness (TIA)
EPIC = Electronic Privacy Information Center
Data mining in federal agencies
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) making tracking system TIA
-designed to give law enforcement private data without warrant
-captures "information signatures"
TIA = grand database that includes:
- financial records
- medical records
- communication records
- travel records
- intelligence data
Identifies and tracks individuals across multiple info sources
TIA = no longer being funded, agency shut down
-could still be similar government projects in the future
This TIA project sounds pretty creepy, and while I'm glad it's no longer being funded, I do agree that the government won't necessarily abandon the idea of recording all information on people if they think it will improve security. Like I said before, though I do believe that people have a right to privacy. Giving the government too much ability to track its citizens could just lead to an abuse of power where the government has too much control.
MyTurn: Protecting Privacy Rights in Libraries
Laws protecting privacy of library records (in 40 states)
-can only be shared with judicial order or warrant
VT law says parents get library records of children under 16
Children can have various needs to keep info from parents
-child abuse
-drug abuse
-health questions parents won't answer
Police officers in a particular case tried to take computers without a warrant
-Brooke Bennett investigation
-librarians want to help but won't break legally-binding policy
Library supports:
- right to privacy
- right to open inquiry
- freedom of speech
- freedom to receive information
This is one of those issues that gets me so upset because so many people are so ignorant about the values of the library and the way they work. The woman who wrote the letter that this blog post is responding to thought that library records should be able to be seized by the police for any reason. The fact that the library is standing its ground on issues of privacy and confidentiality gives me hope after reading the first two articles this week. The library is still one place where a person can trust that his or her actions are private, are not being monitored, and will not be used against him/her.
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