An editorial on a case involving a child who survived a terrible attack, but who identity or presence in a public hospital was not disclosed to the public. A number of people who reportedly sought to offer aid and assistance to the child were refused any information on his whereabouts because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The charge that the privacy restrictions some how caused harm are greatly over stated. The child was attacked and the information sought if freely available could have informed the attacker where a survivor of the crime was recovering. The need to protect patient�s privacy is an important goal not just for crime victims, but all who seek medical advice or assistance.
Once again, the federal government has publically ordered airlines to turn over airline passenger data for the month of June so that it may be used to test a passenger screen application. The information will be compared against two government watch list under a program dubbed "Secure Flight." The passenger screen program conducted by the Transportation Security Administration an agency within the Homeland Security Department has been heavily critized because of the number of errors made when using those government lists.
A Freedom of Information Act request made by the Electronic Privacy Information Center to the Census Bureau revealed that they had provided census data on Arab Americans to the Boarder and Customs agency within the Department of Homeland Security. At a meeting held this week Census Bureau officials attempted to reassure minority and civil liberty groups that the agency keeps names and addresses and other information confidential from other departments.
Consumers of private information may be rapidly expanding to the person who lives next door because of the resources currently available on the Internet. Several web sites make it easy to gain detailed information on others with only a license plate number or a name. Accessing these online snooping services is just a search away and a nominal fee in some cases.
Two Florida voters said that their privacy during voting was violated because they were forced to speak their ballot choices aloud to election staff person who then filled out an optical scan ballot. The voting location had no blind assessable voting technology, which is required by 2006. Although there are tactile ballots available and in current use in the State of Rhode Island and an inexpensive method offered earlier during the election year by a resident of Florida, neither option is available because state certification is required before they could be made available to visually impaired voters.
A medical technician became the first person to be sentence to prison for violation of the new federal medical privacy law after being convicted of ID theft of a cancer patient. A patient undergoing leukemia treatment had to content with ID theft once he became aware of the problem. He contacted banks and credit card companies to request that they not issue credit, but in some cases they did so any way.
T'is the season to find out what the retailers know about their customers. They are employing technology to modify shopping rules based on if they consider you to be a naughty or nice customer. Shoppers are finding their ability to return recently purchased items is being controlled by a blacklist created by retailers. The list has been used to decline customers request to return items after the purchase.
A man who was arrested by a police officer who objected to being filmed while on duty has won a case in the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The decision reinstated a suit filed against the police department that had been dismissed in an earlier ruling. The suit charged that the police chief could not have had any real expectation of privacy while performing his duties during a traffic stop.
British Columbia Privacy Commissioner, David Loukidelis, said that the U.S. Patriot Act violates provincial privacy laws. He also demanded that the province stop the transfer of personal information on citizens with the United States temporarily.
Travis County residents who register to vote may also have that information made public over the county's web site. It is reported that Internet visitors to the web site can find a voter's birth date, voting precinct and home address. Voter registration records are treated as public information. Although people may not have their names and addresses listed in telephone directories they may still have some of that information publicly available if they register to vote.
The new passenger-screening program proposed by the Department of Homeland Security under their Transportation Security Administration hat is being strongly opposed by a broad coalition of civil liberty and privacy rights groups. On the last day public comments were allowed on the subject about 500 submissions was received by the agency. One submission from the Electronic Privacy Information Center called for the suspension of the program.
Counties are encouraged by the Florida Election office to establish a privacy zone around voting units to ensure ballot secrecy. It was noted that voters were made to feel uncomfortable when observers who were reported to be impartial began electioneering. Local election administrators were encouraged to provide special areas for observers and media to observe the process without interfering with voters.
Report that the U.S. is moving toward and e-passport with biometric features despite technology hurdles and other questions about accuracy. The technology also called smart passports is being sold as the solution to all passenger identification problems. The goal is to being issuing the new passports by next spring. Get your U.S. passport renewed or order one before Spring 2005.
Boston students are opposing an ordinance that if passed by voters would require that universities in the city provide police with contact information for students living off campus. The ordinance was introduced as an attempt to stop students from participating in riots. The information collected may include personal transportation as well as residence. If the ordinance becomes law it will allow law enforcement to track students living off campus with the assistance of a computer database.
Cyber Security expert Richard Clarke writes in his book "Against All Enemies" that security and privacy are two sides of the same coin. As a security advisor to four presidents predicts that in ten years every consumer will be carrying 2 or 3 smart cards because of the efforts to fight terrorism. The lines that blur privacy and public good are challenging the resources of privacy advocates to defend the privacy rights of consumers.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center is appealing a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) denial of their FOIA request seeking information on the new Secure Flight program. This program has some of the same features of the CAPP II travel-screening program that the TSA ended recently. They may have changed labels but it appears to be the same product according to Secure Flight critics.
Civil Liberty and privacy advocates are concerned that RFID features on passports may threaten privacy of users. If the information transmitted by RFID technology associated with passports is communicated in the clear, i.e. without the application of encryption will that expose travelers with these passports to identity theft? That is the question being asked by consumer advocates to promote civil liberty and privacy rights.
A description of the erosion of e-mail privacy is offered by Robert O'Harrow Jr. in his letter titled "Privacy Eroding, Bit by Byte," first printed on October 15, 2004. He cites judicial rulings as the most recent sources of attacks on e-mail privacy rights of users. His letter refers to the misguided federal judiciary decision in Councilman, which found that there is no expectation of privacy in e-mail communication, while it is in transit to the recipient.
A group of Boulder Colorado voters filed a lawsuit to challenge the method that is used to number ballots used in public elections. A Public elections held in the State of Colorado makes use of ballot that are preprinted with sequential serial number. This is done to guard against ballots being counted twice or being excluded from the election tally of results. The worry is that if a note is made of the serial number that individual voters receive then it would be trivial to determine how people voted.
The reason is the war on terror, while the consequences will be an expanded use of databases to screen perspective employees, travelers, and credit applicants. Threat not only comes from the use of public and private databases for this purpose, but also the lack of due process afforded people who may be erroneously identified and penalized by the adoption of these methods. If someone is denied employment and not given notice of why or the opportunity to correct incorrect data the repercussions could be long lasting.
Another hacker attack may have exposed personal information stored on a Internet accessible database, this time it was a University of California at Berkeley�s system. It is reported that the amount of data compromised appears to be the largest yet, since the passage of a California law that requires the notification of those whose information may have been compromised by a breech of a computer�s network security. The data compromised included information dating back to 2001 on individuals who where provided services through the "In-Home Supportive Service program that assists elderly and disabled persons.
The lowest step on the social ladder by some estimates is the one held by those suspected of or convicted of committing a crime. This assertion is being tested by a California ballot initiative Proposition 69. The proposition if passes by voters on November 2, 2004, would make it law that DNA be collected from everyone arrested in that state on suspicion of committing a felony starting in 2009.
This editorial column raises questions about the political rules for the use of e-mail addresses obtained during political campaigns. How much are the privacy rights of contributors or supporters respected in the use of personal information obtained during elections? Most individuals freely give campaign efforts contact information that will include name, address, phone, e-mail addresses as well as credit card information when making contributions. The use of the Internet to reach large numbers of people is new, and the collection of millions of data records on private individuals is now commonplace.
The bright idea shop at Google has generated another controversy over a new tool being offered free to users. This new feature will allow the indexing of files on personal computers. This feature raises doubts among privacy advocates regarding how it may be used or more importantly misused to invade the privacy rights of customers. The application could expose the passwords, personal communications between patients and doctors or e-commercial transactions. The tool is currently in the "beta" test phase but company spokespersons see it as having great promise.
Amendment 1, on the Florida Ballot for the November 2, 2004 election, requires the notification of parents when a girl who under 18 years of age seeks an abortion. A yes vote for the amendment would change the state constitution to require that parents be notified prior to the medical procedure, while a vote of no would not require notice be given.
RFID implantations for pets has been commonplace for years, with the "mad cow" disease outbreak last year the technology is being used to keep up with livestock. Now that the FDA has approved the technology for implantation in humans the debate about the privacy implications has begun. Will health insurance companies, life insurance companies, seek to require the technology to determine the insurance risk of clients? Will credit card companies seek to remove the need for cards and replace them with RFID imbedded technology. Could access to social benefits like social security, Medicare, and food stamps be tied to the use of RFID implanted technology to monitor clients and dispense benefits?
