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The current Online Customer Respect Study, conducted by the Customer Respect Group, provides data on how prominent firms in the U.S. are rated in their online interactions with consumers. “…more than 50 percent of sites say they share personal data without users’ explicit permission. This should concern high-tech firms greatly, since research shows that more …
As a follow-up to this posting, State Department documents obtained through a FOIA request, details of which are publicized in this ACLU white paper, provide broader insight into the privacy and ID theft issues implicit as a result of the new passports’ implementation of Contactless Integrated Circuits.
“Some anti-spyware companies use confusing ads, and our tests show their $20-$60 products are less effective than free competitors.” [Link] See also my posting from yesterday on a spyware review from Ars Technica that concluded Ad-Aware, which is free, is the program to use.
Wired reports on how free access to information and privacy rights are clashing in the arena of public web availability to court documents, which often contain personal data which could mined for use in acts involving ID theft, harassment, and the determination of home loans and employment.
From Ars Technica this two part article on spyware – Malware: what it is and how to prevent it (descriptions and screen shots are provided) Spyware removal tools: “This software (6 programs) will be judged on its ease of use, the amount of feedback it provides, and of course its effectiveness in removing malware. Effectiveness …
Another followup, this one to the TSA’s collection of commercial airline passenger data for the new Secure Flight program. See today’s GovExec article, TSA to brief Congress on using commercial data for passenger screening. Privacy concerns about the program were again raised last week by the ACLU.
As a follow-up to my May 17 posting, Biometric ID Will Be Added to US Passports, today’s AP story, Electronic Passports Might Not Measure Up, details additional concerns that the information chips under development subject the passport holder to an ID theft scam that is simple to perpetrate.
From the New York Times, this article reviews the challenges involved in work underway by NIH, industry and providers to coordinate and implement a digital health network.
This final rule (35 pages, PDF) lists the requirements for 72 aircraft operators in the United States, stipulating that all their respective passenger name records (PNRs), “containing itineraries for domestic flights operated under a full security program and for which all flights segments… were flown between June 1, 2004 and June 30, 2004,” must be …
The following resources, from the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), reference the FCC’s proposed rule, published in the Federal Register September 23, 2003, on the Communications for Law Enforcement Assistance Act (CALEA). VoIP and Law Enforcement Surveillance Joint Comments of Industry and Public Interest [PDF], November 08, 2004 CDT Policy Post 10.20: Coalition Opposes …
Social Security Numbers: Governments Could Do More to Reduce Display in Public Records and on Identity Cards GAO-05-59, November 9, 2004. Highlights. “Social Security numbers appear in any number of records exposed to public view almost everywhere in the nation, primarily at the state and local levels of government. State agencies in 41 states and …
For veterans, the My HealtheVet website has implemented the first stage of an electronic personal health record, with new features that provide registered users with the ability to create and update personal health care records online, inclusive of personal information, military health history, medications (prescription and other), medical events, tests, and allergies.
