Privacy Roundup #0004 • November 2006
November 2006 was the month the surveillance society moved from warning to inventory, as watchdogs counted Britain's cameras and databases while passports, fingerprints and phone records leaked at every turn.
1. Privacy chief: we're all in UK.gov's pockets
The UK Information Commissioner published a report warning that pervasive monitoring was sorting citizens into desirable and undesirable groups. It argued that fixed surveillance records were quietly shaping who got jobs, credit and opportunities.
2. US.gov tunes out scathing RFID privacy report
A Department of Homeland Security advisory committee concluded that radio tags offered little benefit against the privacy harm of putting them in identity documents. The draft sat unpublished even as the government pressed ahead with RFID passports and licences.
3. Civil Aviation Authority puts 'secret' security info on the web
The UK Civil Aviation Authority published a document whose blacked-out airport security sections could be revealed by anyone with a right-click or a text reader. The authority pulled the file only after being alerted to the broken redaction.
4. National DNA Database: have your say
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics opened a public consultation into the expansion of the National DNA Database. It focused on the mission creep that followed calls to hold profiles of people who had never been convicted of anything.
5. UK, China and Russia beat out US in race to end privacy
Privacy International published a study ranking surveillance practices across thirty-six countries. It placed the United States in the worst category alongside the United Kingdom, China and Russia, citing weak enforcement and heavy communications interception.
6. US wants global data law
American privacy officials proposed an international data protection framework to ease intelligence sharing across borders. European regulators retorted that Washington should fix its own thin domestic privacy laws first.
7. Privacy chiefs vow to fight surveillance together
Data protection commissioners from many countries agreed to pool their efforts against the spread of surveillance. They committed to global cooperation and an international convention to shield personal data.
8. Prison terms for phishing fraudsters
The Fraud Act 2006 for England and Wales set out sentences of up to ten years and closed loopholes around possessing phishing kits. The legislation was timed to take effect in early 2007.
9. Shock, horror, outrage - biometric passport data snooped, again
Researchers showed that the chip in a biometric passport could be read by deriving its encryption key from details printed inside the document. Officials defended the design as a deliberate feature needed for border control.
10. Bushies push NSA wiretap extravaganza
The Bush administration pressed Congress to legalise its warrantless NSA surveillance programme before Democrats took control. Officials defended the domestic wiretapping even after a Michigan court had ruled it unconstitutional.
11. HP's newest board member a pretexting veteran
Hewlett-Packard, still reeling from its own pretexting scandal, appointed Ken Thompson of Wachovia to its board. Wachovia had been the largest customer of a data broker accused of obtaining phone records by deception.
12. Home Office to grab for more CCTV power
The Home Office sought powers to inspect and compel upgrades to the United Kingdom's millions of CCTV cameras. The plan was framed around better evidence and emerging tools such as automated facial recognition.
13. UK child protection database 'misguided', critics warn
A report commissioned by the Information Commissioner criticised the proposed national children's database. It warned that the scheme could divert resources from serious cases and entrench a culture of surveillance over families.
14. Spyware firms pay token fines to FTC
Two spyware operations settled lawsuits brought by the Federal Trade Commission by paying a combined fifty thousand dollars. Suspended judgments of nearly three and a half million dollars underlined how light the penalties really were.
15. Met Police in laptop theft security flap
Three laptops holding payroll and pension details for more than fifteen thousand Metropolitan Police officers were stolen from a contractor's offices. The theft exposed how sensitive staff data was carried on portable machines without clear safeguards.
16. Police pilot roadside fingerprinting
Ten forces in England and Wales trialled handheld scanners that checked fingerprints at the roadside within minutes. The devices matched prints against a national database of millions, raising fresh questions about consent and function creep.
17. EFF sues US over passenger data
The Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Department of Homeland Security to force disclosure of how it handled airline passenger records. The case targeted the contested agreement that obliged carriers to share European travellers' data with American authorities.
18. Irish government waves in digital fingerprinting
Ireland signed an eighteen million euro contract for a digital fingerprinting system spanning police and immigration. The rollout was aimed mainly at border management and identity checks on people from outside the European Union.
19. Work begins on merging Health and Social care records
A development board began exploring whether English health and social care records should be merged into one database. Attendees voted narrowly in favour despite warnings about patient confidentiality and data protection.
20. Royal editor pleads guilty
Clive Goodman of the News of the World admitted conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages belonging to public figures. His guilty plea exposed the illegal phone hacking that had reached the private conversations of Prince William and Prince Harry.
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