TV Personality home address revealed by his cell phone photo. Yours is too.

Ever heard of "Geotags?"

Geotags are embedded in the photos taken by 'smart' mobile phones, and they give the exact longitude and latitude where the photo was taken. So disable the feature if your phone allows it, and be aware that when you post that photo on Twitter, Facebook or your blog, anyone can tell where it was taken.

Full Story:

Web Photo Geotags Can Reveal More Than You Wish - NYTimes.com

Think twice before referencing a photo to yourself, your home, or anyone else's. You may be jeopardizing the safety of your friends, your family, or yourself.

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

The government has your baby's DNA - CNN.com

Hospitals have been collecting and keeping the DNA of our children for years.

The government has your baby's DNA - CNN.com

The liability to which the the Government exposes itself by this carelessness is so catastrophic, it is difficult to tally. The opportunity for government employee abuse and a new "perfect crime" level of identity theft are obvious.

And here come the class actions...

INTERNATIONAL FUNDS TRANSFERS FROZEN BY SWIFT

SWIFT Says No Transfers until Parliament Votes

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions (SWIFT) says it will not share European banking data with U.S. officials, pending further action by the European Parliament, reports Handelsblatt (in German).

On February 10, Parliament will vote whether to accept the SWIFT agreement reached between U.S. authorities and the EU Council of Ministers late last year, prior to the Lisbon Treaty going into effect. The agreement allows for the sharing of European citizens' transaction data with the U.S. Justice Department for counterterrorism efforts. Under the deal, SWIFT was to have resumed the data sharing as of February 1, but the society now says it will not engage in such transfers until Parliament has had its say.

It is widely expected that Parliament will vote against extending the agreement next week. "This shows that companies in the EU take Parliament seriously," says Henriette Tielemans, a partner in the Brussels office of Covington & Burling LLP. "It also shows that Parliament has every intent to use the powers that it received under the Lisbon Treaty."

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.

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.

New Hampshire Bars RFID

Leading the nation in what is sure to be a wildfire of similar legislation, NH House votes to bar the unauthorized implants of tracking chips in people and clothing, criminalizes the use of RFID for tracking consumers.

FULL STORY: ASSOCIATED PRESS

In a further sign of things to come, the State is updating its anti-skimming laws to prohibit the closing of data broadcast by RFID-enabled credit and debit cards. The affect may render RFID without value to retailers otherwise supporting its use.

Local Governments Not Qualified to Handle Personal Data

Yet another example of local government offices unqualified to handle personally identifiable information.

THINK TWICE before you turn over any personal document or information to local government, or even worse, any government contractor.

FULL STORY:

Confidential information abandoned in forgotten Houseing Authority building

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.

Auto License Plates With RFID: Sport-bike Outlaws Cited as National Cause

In one of the strangest, most reaching arguments for promoting RFID contractors, the RFID Journal has printed the argument that speeders riding sports motorcycles across the US are such a menace to society that we all must now broadcast an ID number from our license plates, from 30 feet away, to anyone who wants to read it.

Believe it or not, the article actually makes the case that if the speeding sport bikers across the US only had RFID chips in the license plates, which they routinely remove or "flip" to hide, then the stalwart police would not have to give high speed and winged persuit. The image is one of the officer in his crisp uniform, slowly shaking his head as the biker goes by at mach 2, returning to his latte secure in the knowledge that the biker would get his ticket and summons in the mail.

"Drat!" Says the biker when he gets the later uniformed knock on his door, "foiled again by the RFID chip!"



Needless to say, not only would the bikers remove the entire plate if they want, since the cops can't catch them anyway, they would also buy, borrow or steal other license plates to broadcast the wrong number to the idiot with the latte.

Here's the article: Please comment!




U.S. Department of Transportation Solicits Proposals From Small RFID Companies


In actuality, it doesn't need to be a motorcycle. What do they do when they are outrun by a bicycle?




In a generous handout to what will surely be picked up by both civil libertarians and ultra-right wing conspiracy nuts, the Federal Government has jumped into the fray by having the Departement of Transportation request bids by RFID contractors to submit solution bids.

Bill Gates Demostrates Lack of Privacy Comprehension

Quotes from Gates make one wonder if the Microsoft founder comprehends the security problems posed by over-tracking of individuals. Indeed, he does not seem to grasp the basic problem of everyone around you knowing your name and health history before you even introduce yourself:

Gates Faults U.S. Policy on Data Privacy and Immigration - NYTimes.com

It is little wonder that privacy advocates shy away from Microsoft. It will be interesting to see how they are able to compete with this inablity to comprehend the need for privacy or to act with best practices.

Privacy comprehension and practice have become a proving ground of international business, on which the US is, at least for now, failing miserably.

BACKLASH TO US FOREIGN BANKING INFORMATION GRAB

In the end, banking customers make the choice. For now, it seems that Europe's more individualist and consumer-friendly approach to privacy regulation has gained the upper hand. The US has a long way to go to regain its reputation as a defender of privacy rights.

The story is also that of the US losing its bid to house the massive, job-producing data center of SWIFT, by which virtually all banks transfer funds across borders. This loss is due entirely to the fact that the US is no longer a credible location for data, due to warrantless searches, seizures, spying, insider deals and a host of related accusations. Integrity and transparency have suffered in the wake of the implementation of the USA Patriot Act, standards of practice and other regulations put into place since 9/11/2001.

The US also lost the bid for storage and management of the ID data held by identify.nu, the passport ID storage and delivery facility of the Consular Chamber of Commerce. This data was moved to Denmark for the privacy protection offered by the more comprehensive and transparent EU and Denmark regulation.

US Snooping Rights in Europe: Criticism Grows over Banking Data Deal - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

The EU is about to enter talks with the US on giving it access to banking data in its fight against terrorism. German politicians from across the political spectrum are up in arms, and members of the European Parliament say they will try to scupper any deal that violates data privacy.

Kaiser Bellflower is fined $187,500 for privacy breach [Updated] | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times

State of California deserves congratulations for catching this one:

Kaiser Bellflower is fined $187,500 for privacy breach [Updated] L.A. Now Los Angeles Times

If the State protects the medical privacy even of idiot reality show clowns, we can all be pretty confident.

I wonder how CA caught the accessing of the medical records. The article gives us no clues. Anyone got any feedback?

Social-networking site Tagged accused of massive invasion of privacy traffic - San Jose Mercury News

Social-networking site Tagged accused of massive invasion of privacy traffic - San Jose Mercury News

Never, never, never give any social networking site access to your email address book. Big mistake. Huge.

Virtually every social networking site attempts to gain access to your email address book right off the bat. Best practice is not to let them in to it.

Google Street View Pitfalls

Google's Streetview product, a free service seems to be more controversial in Europe, where the dangers are more commonly understood:

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=42911-qqqx=1.asp

Want to scare yourself? Google your home phone number, in this format: xxx-xxx-xxx. See if it produces your address anywhere. If it does, google the address. Check Street view.

A single woman showed me how her un-listed phone number directs anyone who cares directly to her home. It also showed her car in the driveway.

The liability here is tremendous. Not only is her phone number on the FTC do-not-call list, but combining it with such information as a photo of her home may be tantamount to trading in her Personally Identifiable Information, an FTC violation.

Eliminate these risks at http://jonathanwarren.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/privacy-for-high-profile-and-politically-exposed-individuals/

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/