[Again, as I've written many times, people are making their own cost-benefit decisions in each one of these transactions... --Declan] --- From: "Alana Lowe-Petraske" <lowe_petraskeat_private> To: declanat_private Cc: prodigalgrrlat_private Subject: economist surveillance coverage Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 10:02:51 +0000 Hello Declan-- I am an avid reader of politech )and thought i might point out these two articles in today's economist on surveillance. I don't know if this is out of the ordinary, it just seemed like abundant coverage. ps-your list has helped me beyond measure in my research on the 'war on internet piracy' in the music industry -- thanks! kind regards, alana http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=1280806 "Surveillance and privacy:Go on, watch me Aug 15th 2002 From The Economist print edition People are voluntarily surrendering their privacy GEORGE ORWELL got it wrong—thank goodness. In the developed world, it is not the state that has ushered in a “Big Brother” society but society itself. Every day, people are adopting new technologies that trade a small amount of their privacy for greater convenience and security: credit cards, smart cards in electronic tollbooths, customer loyalty cards, cash-withdrawal machines, and “cookies” on computers. As for surveillance cameras, they have become so widely accepted that they have bred a genre of mass entertainment in the form of so-called reality TV, some even using Orwell's phrase. In all these respects, it is individuals that are deciding to sacrifice privacy in exchange for something they want more. But are there hidden costs, that society as a whole ought to worry about? After all, if governments were to suggest the use of some of these technologies, there would be a public outcry. Where the public wants security, the willingness to give up privacy is powerful. That bodes well for the companies hoping to sell personal location technology to people who want to monitor the movement of their pets and loved ones (see article). Worries about child abductions, for example, mean that people are likely to welcome such devices. Here, the loss of privacy is fairly clear, although they may raise tricky policy questions in future—such as, at what age does your unruly teenager have the right to remove her tracking chip? But the loss of privacy may be less obvious where people trade privacy for convenience. For example, later this year, a smart card will be introduced to bring about cashless travel on London's underground, buses and train services. Few of the 20m who use the capital's underground will realise that the card, which will work from inside a wallet or bag, will record their daily movements for billing purposes. Mobile-phone companies hold data on an individual's calls and movements. Shops hold details of purchases. Such companies frequently bleat that personal data is secure and inviolable. Yet the police, tax authorities and security services can usually gain access to such data to pursue an investigation or prosecution. I know what you did last night At the very least, data needs better protection from outside hackers and from those insiders with access to it. The Federation of American Scientists reasonably argues that potential abuses of data-collection systems can and should be anticipated and prevented. All data banks should have big penalties for unauthorised uses, as well as an oversight system such as an ombudsman or public review board. (......) http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=1280634 Surveillance:Something to watch over you Aug 15th 2002 From The Economist print edition GlobeXplorer It is easier than ever for individuals to track their possessions, pets and loved ones HILLARY CLINTON is supposed to have said of her husband that he was a “hard dog to keep on the porch”. She is not alone. All over the world, dogs, husbands, children and even inanimate objects are liable to stray from the home—whether willingly or otherwise. Now, though, the technology exists to keep track of them. In fact, the new generation of tracking devices combines two existing technologies. One is a global-positioning-system (GPS) chip, which uses radio signals from a network of satellites to work out where it is on the earth's surface to within a few metres. The other is a mobile-telephone chip, which broadcasts that location to whoever needs to know it. The result is a pocket-sized, or even wrist-sized, personal locator. Track to the future Applied Digital Solutions (ADS), of Palm Beach, Florida, calls its version of the technology a “digital angel”. The angel comes in two versions. People get a pager-like device that clips on to their clothing. Animals get a collar. The angel is intended to look after old people who have become forgetful and young children who have become too adventurous, as well as dogs who are too interested in the bitch next door. The wearer's guardians define a perimeter beyond which they feel their charge should not wander, and receive alerts via mobile phone or pager when he has gone beyond these boundaries. The digital angel can also issue an alert when its wearer has fallen down, or when there has been an unexpected change in local temperature of the sort that might be caused, say, by someone falling into a pond. For that to happen, the wearer needs to sport a specially modified wristwatch which has suitable sensors and a wireless link to the pager. Moreover, ADS claims to be on the verge of introducing a version of the watch that can collect and broadcast medical data such as pulse rate, blood pressure, body temperature, electrocardiogram readings and even blood chemistry. ........) ******* Alana Lowe-Petraske PhD Candidate Cardiff University 33 Corbett Road Cardiff CF10 3EB Tel:02920.876626 Fax:0292087.6004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? 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