NPR on Biometric Data Collection
Interesting Talk of the Nation segment.
Entries Tagged "privacy"
Page 79 of 145
Using Agent-Based Simulations to Evaluate Security Systems
Kay Hamacher and Stefan Katzenbeisser, “Public Security: Simulations Need to Replace Conventional Wisdom,” New Security Paradigms Workshop, 2011.
Abstract: Is more always better? Is conventional wisdom always the right guideline in the development of security policies that have large opportunity costs? Is the evaluation of security measures after their introduction the best way? In the past, these questions were frequently left unasked before the introduction of many public security measures. In this paper we put forward the new paradigm that agent-based simulations are an effective and most likely the only sustainable way for the evaluation of public security measures in a complex environment. As a case-study we provide a critical assessment of the power of Telecommunications Data Retention (TDR), which was introduced in most European countries, despite its huge impact on privacy. Up to now it is unknown whether TDR has any benefits in the identification of terrorist dark nets in the period before an attack. The results of our agent-based simulations suggest, contrary to conventional wisdom, that the current practice of acquiring more data may not necessarily yield higher identification rates.
Both the methodology and the conclusions are interesting.
Passive Sensor that Sees Through Walls
A new technology uses the radiation given off by wi-fi devices to sense the positions of people through a one-foot-thick brick wall.
Peter Swire Testifies on the Inadequacy of Privacy Self-Regulation
Ohio State University Law Professor Peter Swire testifies before Congress on the inadequacy of industry self-regulation to protect privacy.
Camera-Transparent Plastic
I just wrote about the coming age of invisible surveillance. Here’s another step along that process.
The material is black in color and cannot be seen through with the naked eye. However, if you point a black and white camera at a sheet of Black-Ops Plastic, it becomes transparent allowing the camera to record whatever is on the other side.
What this means is you can hide a camera inside an object made of this special plastic and no one will know it is there. But the camera is free to record without having its view blocked.
The article doesn’t talk about the technology.
Remote Scanning Technology
I don’t know if this is real or fantasy:
Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you.
The meta-point is less about this particular technology, and more about the arc of technological advancements in general. All sorts of remote surveillance technologies—facial recognition, remote fingerprint recognition, RFID/Bluetooth/cell phone tracking, license plate tracking—are becoming possible, cheaper, smaller, more reliable, etc. It’s wholesale surveillance, something I wrote about back in 2004.
We’re at a unique time in the history of surveillance: the cameras are everywhere, and we can still see them. Fifteen years ago, they weren’t everywhere. Fifteen years from now, they’ll be so small we won’t be able to see them. Similarly, all the debates we’ve had about national ID cards will become moot as soon as these surveillance technologies are able to recognize us without us even knowing it.
Petition the U.S. Government to Force the TSA to Follow the Law
In July 2011, a federal appeals court ruled that the Transportation Security Administration had to conduct a notice-and-comment rulemaking on its policy of using “Advanced Imaging Technology” for primary screening at airports. TSA was supposed to publish the policy in the Federal Register, take comments from the public, and justify its policy based on public input. The court told TSA to do all this “promptly.” A year later, TSA has not even started that public process. Defying the court, the TSA has not satisfied public concerns about privacy, about costs and delays, security weaknesses, and the potential health effects of these machines. If the government is going to “body-scan” Americans at U.S. airports, President Obama should force the TSA to begin the public process the court ordered.
The petition needed 150 signatures to go “public” on Whitehouse.gov (currently at 296), and needs 25,000 to require a response from the administration. You have to register before you can sign, but it’s a painless procedure. Basically, they’re checking that you have a valid e-mail address.
Everyone should sign it.
Israel Demanding Passwords at the Border
There have been a bunch of stories about employers demanding passwords to social networking sites, like Facebook, from prospective employees, and several states have passed laws prohibiting this practice.
This is the first story I’ve seen of a country doing this at its borders. The country is Israel, and they’re asking for passwords to e-mail accounts.
Changing Surveillance Techniques for Changed Communications Technologies
New paper by Peter P. Swire—”From Real-Time Intercepts to Stored Records: Why Encryption Drives the Government to Seek Access to the Cloud”:
Abstract: This paper explains how changing technology, especially the rising adoption of encryption, is shifting law enforcement and national security lawful access to far greater emphasis on stored records, notably records stored in the cloud. The major and growing reliance on surveillance access to stored records results from the following changes:
(1) Encryption. Adoption of strong encryption is becoming much more common for data and voice communications, via virtual private networks, encrypted webmail, SSL web sessions, and encrypted Voice over IP voice communications.
(2) Declining effectiveness of traditional wiretaps. Traditional wiretap techniques at the ISP or local telephone network increasingly encounter these encrypted communications, blocking the effectiveness of the traditional techniques.
(3) New importance of the cloud. Government access to communications thus increasingly relies on a new and limited set of methods, notably featuring access to stored records in the cloud.
(4) The “haves” and “have-nots.” The first three changes create a new division between the “haves” and “have-nots” when it comes to government access to communications. The “have-nots” become increasingly dependent, for access to communications, on cooperation from the “have” jurisdictions.
Part 1 of the paper describes the changing technology of wiretaps and government access. Part 2 documents the growing adoption of strong encryption in a wide and growing range of settings of interest to government agencies. Part 3 explains how these technological trends create a major shift from real-time intercepts to stored records, especially in the cloud.
Ghostery
Ghostery is a Firefox plug-in that tracks who is tracking your browsing habits in cyberspace. Here’s a TED talk by Gary Kovacs, the CEO of Mozilla Corp., on it.
I use AdBlock Plus, and dump my cookies whenever I close Firefox. Should I switch to Ghostery? What do other people do for web privacy?
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.