Used Copiers - Your Data For Sale

Your Doctors office, employer, bank, car dealer, mortgage company and others are selling hard drives containing perfect copies of your most private information.

In fact, nearly everything ever copied, scanned or faxed in the past decade is likely for sale in various warehouses full of second hand copiers.

Privacyauthority.org's previous posting regarding the risks of copy machines was met with disbelief. The following additional piece from CBS News may bring the proper level of attention to the matter.


Watch the CBS News Story

Legal Syping Via Mobile Phone - Who's listening to your voicemail?

Private parties legally gather all caller ID data in a given region, find your name, access your voicemail, texts, conversations ad in-person meetings, all through your phone.

The Chief Information Officer of the Consular Chamber or Commerce refuses to carry a mobile phone. Heres' why:

Legal spying via the cell phone system | InSecurity Complex - CNET News

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...

Defcon Las Vegas Hacker Conference Chooses Private Homes over Hotel Rooms « Chez Paulina
Look who's coming to the neighborhood! Shut off your wireless, they hackers are back in town soon. Many Las Vegans have grown accustomed to the antics of the annual hacker convention when the cyphers invade and want to show the weakness in every computer system they can.

Residents complain about being hacked when accessing public internet connections, or having their phones hacked via open bluetooth connections. With that in mind, some are concerned about them staying in neighborhoods full of wireless routers.

Protection can be had, however, for a price. The Consular Chamber of Commerce Consultancy offers IAPP-certified expertise to keep things running smoothly. Yes, you may be hiring some of the participants in the conference itself, but if you can't beat 'em...

Privacy Settings: Don't blame your tools for your work results

Articles regarding privacy evaporation, and blaming the phenomenon on social networks, makes for lots of readers. But the reality is, the social networks are seldom to blame for the embarrassing and often dangerous positions people put themselves in regarding online information sharing.

A review of privacy settings can virtually eliminate the risk of unwanted sharing. Like anything else, users need to make sure they understand the powerful tool of a Twitter or Facebook account before they begin using it. Yes, you have to read.

Linkedin, Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter, Myspace and others actually provide some of the best methods for perserving personal privacy, when they are utilized properly. In fact, many use these services instead of standard email because they mask your IP address to the public, and are capable of offering just the information you want to be presented to the public at large. They also allow you to cut off or prevent communications from any user with a simple click.

Don't Blame Facebook for the Erosion of Online Privacy - Business - The Atlantic

To review your privacy settings and your overall presentation, have a trusted friend or a personal privacy consultant go through your social networking membership page, and provide feedback. A professional can tell you what information can be gleaned from your entries, which is critical in protecting yourself online.

High-tech copy machines a gold mine for data thieves - thestar.com

Beware: You now have to verify deletion of digital files kept from paper copies, in order to protect yourself. High-tech copy machines a gold mine for data thieves - thestar.com

Many Mobile Phones Now Equipped to Detect Personal Activity, Not Just Location

The newest incarnation of the cellular phones offered by most manufacturers contain "accelerometers". These sophisticated sensors are easily co opted to determine what exactly the carrier is doing. The phone can tell if you are walking, sitting, driving, even eating.

Manufacturers of the co opting software and additional add-ons are are quick to point out the potential uses for employers.

BBC News - Mobile that allows bosses to snoop on staff developed

The obvious ramifications for privacy are tremendous. Access of the data falling into the wrong hands could bring about an entirely new level of thievery and voyeurism, especially in light of the Obama Administration's recent statement that Americans have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" as to the location history of their mobile phones.

The likelihood of acceptance, however, as a so-called "self protection" measure, or "mothering" feature is likely to allow for mass use, according to some industry leaders.

Obama Administration: "No reasonable expectation of privacy" of your mobile phone locations tracking

BIG BROTHER RETURNS

The Obama administration has asserted its authority to maintain what it earlier referred to as Bush-era, draconian, big brother privacy invasion of American citizens.

With all of the next-generation mobile phones giving away your location to anyone interested enough to look, a new buffet of opportunities may be provided to your local criminal.

"I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE"

Think you have nothing to hide? As yourself if you would answer these questions if posed by some stranger in a parking lot:

1. Where do you sleep?
2. Where do your kids sleep?
3. When are you home?
4. When are your kids home without you?
5. When is nobody home?
6. Where do you work?
7. When are you at work?
8. Where do you bank?
9. When do you go to the bank?
10. Where do you go on Saturday night?
11. Where were you on X date last year?
12. What schools do your kids go to?
13. How do they get home from school?

Do these make you uncomfortable? If so, you may in fact have 'something to hide'.

The obvious point is that having 'nothing to hide' is relative. Nothing to hide from Whom?

Nothing to hide from "the Government"? Which Government? Nothing to hid from government employees? Nothing to hide from government contractors? Nothing to hide from your next door neighbor? Nothing to hide from your co-worker? Nothing to hide from you next-door neighbor's daughter's degenerate brother-in-law? Nothing to hide from your co-worker's criminal cousin visiting from Milwaukee? Nothing to hide from the home invader lurking in the parking lot of the grocery store, looking for his next victim?

Exactly how open are you with your your invitation for others to view your private information?

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: "NO REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY"

Apparently, according to the Obama Administration, you have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" of the tracking information produced by your mobile phone.

Feds push for tracking cell phones | Politics and Law - CNET News

As always, the federal government cites terrorism as its reason for needing the capability of tracking granny as she buys her depends, or Dad's stop at a slot machine. But so far, they've only shown use against American Citizens in garden-variety crimes as their told-you-so moments.

Many of course would argue that allowing such tracking to fall outside the realm of constitutional privacy puts Americans at risk of criminal activity and government abuse. As Obama argued in his campaign, the government has a strong and valid system for obtaining warrants for the searches they claim they need. They seem to some to be addicted to the voyeurism, however, facilitated by the practices of previous administrations.

Religious Right Weighs In On Human Tracking Chips

The religious right is beginning to voice concern of the concept of mandatory human chipping. The practice of forceably installing tracking chips in human beings has been proposed by others on the right, as a means of tracking people who have lost their civil rights, such as certain kinds of convicted criminals.

The State of Virginia has cited religious freedoms in its decision to outlaw the practice:

House Oks Bill Banning Implanted Tracking Devices | WSLS 10

Del. Mark L. Cole (R-Fredericksburg), the bill's sponsor, said that privacy issues are the chief concern behind his attempt to criminalize the involuntary implantation of microchips. But he also said he shared concerns that the devices could someday be used as the "mark of the beast" described in the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible.

Full story of the run-up to the vote Washington Post

EU Parliament to Reject US Demand for Bank Transfer Data

Recent years of what some have described as over-reaching US policy has lead to a backlash from the European Parliament.

SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Funds Transfers, is the mechanism by which nearly all international bank transfers are sent and received, and by which funds are verified internationally. SWIFT handles some 15 million international money transfers each day.

Secret deals during the last decade moved SWIFT servers from Europe to US Soil, so that US intelligence agencies could monitor money transfer activity over the SWIFT system. This arrangement met with severe opposition when it saw the light of day in 2009, as SWIFT defied US requests and moved its servers back to Europe.

FULL STORY: SPIEGEL ONLINE

Now the European Parliament is likely to spike a deal which would allow US terrorism investigators access to European bank transfer data. Privacy advocates oppose the deal and Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office says the data profiling is ineffective in counter terrorism efforts.

US Loses Ground in Swiss Diplomatic Banking Standoff

UBS CUSTOMER WINS SWISS APPEAL, DENIES CAUSE IN TAX EVASION CLAIMS

4,450 OTHER CASES IN JEOPARDY BY PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE

FULL STORY - NY TIMES

The case follows a deal in August in which Switzerland agreed to give data to authorities in the United States on as many as 4,450 UBS accounts to settle a lawsuit in which the United States had sought information on as many as 52,000 accounts. This ruling throws doubt on whether Switzerland will be able to turn over all 4,450 accounts.

2 in 5 Employers Admit Eliminating Candidates Due To Facebook Profile

Creditors have already admitted to screening you on Facebook, now its employers. Half of employers now admit to screening your facebook profile as part of the hiring process.

COMPLETE STORY from CareerBuilder.co.uk

What if they have the wrong person? Search for friends by your own name, and see how many pop up. Could you be confused with them? What if one of those other people with your name decides to pretend to be your facebook profile, to improve their chances of getting a job, or even credit?


A new Facebook application can make sure your profile checks out as yours, and that nobody else's can pretend to be you. Identify.nu, a service of the Consular Chamber of Commerce has created a global platform whereby members provide passport copies to consular officers anywhere in the world, who then verify and legalize a copy of the passport for upload to identify.nu secure servers in Denmark. The member always owns and can delete the data.

COMPLETE STORY - FACEBOOK APPLICATION

Members can trade passport identification with other members, and can authorize social networking interfaces like Facebook and even Gmail to display certain criteria, such as the name, age and confirmation that a full passport copy including passport photo is on file and can be provided to other members when authorized by the identified person.

Credit Issuers Turn to Social Networks to Profile You

It's not just your score anymore. Now it's your friend list too.

CNBC: "They're able to scour the social media universe. They are constantly listening and reporting back."

-Jesse Torres, CEO of Pan American Bank in Los Angeles, regarding the new Social Network Information Aggrigators

COMPLETE STORY

Phillippine Supreme Court Wrestles With RFID for DMV

A public transport group has asked the Supreme Court sday to nullify the Land Transportation Office’s radio frequency identification system for being unconstitutional.

FULL STORY

'InvisibleBracelet.org' says 'trust us' with your medical records, personal contacts, insurance and exact physical location data

If you wonder how a private firm like Docvia can afford to intake, store, document, disburse, update and protect your medical history, personal emergency contacts, health insurance records and more for only $5. per year, don't. It doesn't really happen like that.

InvisibleBracelet.org, or "iB" as the firm likes to call it, appears to have a profit model entirely different than they would have you believe from their very government-looking website. In press releases accommodatingly picked up verbatim by the AP, the Company appears benevolently intervening to assist the American Ambulance Association, among others, with the capability to virtually diagnose your medical problems, call your wife, text your kids and probably take out the trash, all while you are on the way to the hospital, in the capable hands of a paramedic to whom you have granted all this data.

The magic pill to perform this miracle is iB's online storage of your information, and its provision of documents to carry in your wallet to prove it. All for $5. per year.

Or not.

According to iB's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy:

If you want to opt out, "[iB] stores all electronic communications...your health information, contact information and financial information for a period of at least ten years."

"Locator information is your name, electronic mailing address, physical address, and/or other data that allows someone to identify you."

"Docvia and your internet service provider (ISP) may use locator information as is necessary to enforce any of the terms of the Docvia Terms of Use."

"Docvia works with many business partners in making the iB service available to consumers."

"Certain features of the iB service may be used in conjunction with other Docvia products, and those features may share information..."

"Docvia may assign a Member's rights under the program with or without notice to such member."

"Aggregate information may be provided or sold to third parties."

Docvia and iB appear to be just another firm masquerading as a public service provider in an effort to gain valuable data under misleading marketing practices. This practice has itself come to be known as noncompetitive privacy policy.

Noncompetitive privacy policy is demonstrated whenever a company gathers valuable information from customers, for resale, without acknowledging the value gained, and obtaining the data under misleading circumstances.

Insurance companies and their investigators are certainly salivating to become 'partners' according to Docvia's privacy policy. This would allow them to track you using your IP address, mobile phone, and the mobile phones and contact numbers of those in your emergency contact list.

Customer lists, blinded as to specific health records, can easily be sold to insurers, health provider networks and more. The list goes on and on.

And they even get $5. from the consumer.

Twitter Hack Raises Flags on Security of Web Tools - NYTimes.com

Don't Twitter your life away.

It's social engineering, actually, not hacking. The invasion is done by someone who figures out your password because your entire life is public.

They got the CEO of Twitter, and his wife. They got his Paypal account, and his credit cards. Here's how:

Twitter Hack Raises Flags on Security of Web Tools - NYTimes.com

Wife of Sir John Sawers, the future head of MI6, in Facebook security alert - Times Online

Wife of Sir John Sawers, the future head of MI6, in Facebook security alert - Times Online

Unbelievable! Sir John and his wife could use a briefing from http://jonathanwarren.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/privacy-for-high-profile-and-politically-exposed-individuals/