March 2006 Archives

[Catching up on various events of the past couple months... something like "spring cleaning" in anticipation of some new ideas coming soon...]

Cellphone Tracking:

Among the newish strategies in the encroachment on personal liberties: tracking individuals via their mobile phones. The State of Missouri says it will use the data only to help MoDOT unravel traffic knots -- and if you believe that, then take a look back to my earlier entry reporting on the first briefing on Missouri's plan (plus Oregon's similar experimentations).  And if that weren't enough, take a look at a recent US court ruling allowing the FBI to engage in warrantless cellphone tracking.  The court opinion seems related to Judge Richard Posner's assertion that  "there's no invasion of privacy in automated data capture and mining" -- a disturbing notion pretty much any way I can slice it.  The Brits are also getting in on the mobile phone action -- through WorldTracker  (SMS-fueled web tracking) and similar programs -- though the BBC article does suggest that the publicity is leading to reform... wish I could say the same about the US.

Data Retention:

The uproar has died down for the moment, but rest assured that the Electronic Frontier Foundation is moving forward with its litigation against "the new AT&T" for its participation in the presidentially-sanctioned (but putatively illegal) domestic surveillance program. Perhaps the Senate hearings headed by Arlen Specter (R-PA) will help swing the spotlight back around again.  The ACLU offers a funky map / schematic demonstrating the infrastructure of the surveillance efforts AND rechristened the former "Echelon Watch" pages as "NSA Watch" while Ars Technica offers its own look at the NSA technology in play.

Across the pond, the European Union staged a significant attack on personal privacy by permitting a wide range of communications surveillance, including mandatory logging of all end-user communications by telcos and perhaps ISPs.  One Irish MEP is challenging the actionon parliamentary / procedural grounds, but action seems to have quieted down once again (perhaps due to continued negotiations?). Of course, if Microsoft's vision of a "secure and trusted" future comes to pass, it will take far more than one MEP to make an effective stand for the public.  Meanwhile, the UK is considering cameras on the highways to record license plates -- not because the driver is accused of running a red light, but because they can.

An extended piece in the Washington Post (and follow-up on-line chat) from November cataloged the FBI's powers today under the USAPATRIOT Act.  I'd hope that some of our politicians revisit this story before the inevitable conference committee about the re-authorization of the act.  (I only expect a committee because the House will give away even more than the Senate did, leaving us with a "lesser of two evils" scenario -- always a positive outcome in an election year.)  Note also that the FBI has rolled back the reinstatement of headquarters tours (once a hallmark of any trip to the nation's capital and increasingly relevant in this day of "CSI" and "Law and Order" overload) have been cancelled until 2007.  Anyone want to bet against an extension of that re-entry date to at least 2009 (assuming a change in administrations at that point)?

Finally, there's really not much to say about the "sale of cellphone records" stories that garnered attention in the US and Canada, except that the cellcos are definitely going to have to work on defeating the social engineering tricks used for many of the "breaches."  Rogue employees will always exist -- so the challenge is one of being able to identify activity early (instead of just cracking down after the fact).

Random Entry:

Like any number of "is this microphone on? gaffes, I'd like to think that the Houston (TX) police chief was simply musing aloud when he suggested that the city should have cameras in every home.  "If you are not doing anything wrong, why should worry about it?"  The inevitable wise-ass response (courtesy of BoingBoing): a reward (now close to $2000) to the person who catches the chief on video commiting an illegal act.