Peter A Clarke

It is something of a myth that there are no privacy protections in the USA. At the Federal level there are protections but the regulations are narrow and sectorally focused.  There is a permissiveness in the sale of data which undermines basic privacy protections.

At a state level however there are far greater privacy protective regulations.  Often times when the Federal Government dawdles the States step in to fill the gaps.  This is exemplified in New Mexico passing laws to clarify when police need a warrant to search phones and computers while the Vermont Senate has passed a bill to enhance electronic privacy.   And now some States are legislating in unison, with the coordination of the ACLU, to enhance protections as reported in  New privacy bills to hinder data collection could affect 100M Americans and Wired in 5 Things Congress Should Learn From New State Privacy Bills looks at what the States are doing to provide protections.  The Wire article provides:
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On 14 January 2016 the Pew Research Center issued a very interesting report titled Privacy and Information Sharing.  It debunks, or at least continues to debunk, the myth that most people are happy to compromise their privacy.  A variation on the “There is no privacy, get over it” mantra used by those who would like there to be no effective privacy. At least in the commercial space.

The research makes clear that American’s do care about their privacy, (as the scenarios set out below attest) are more nuanced on where and when they would be prepared to let their personal information be disclosed and what annoys and worries them is what is done with their personal information after it has been collected.  In that respect it is a universal concern.  The research is not ground breaking.  The concerns raised Read the rest of this entry »

In Australia telcos tend to be frequent fliers when it comes to poor privacy practices and data breaches. And Telstra Read the rest of this entry »

Revenge porn is phenomana from the dark side of the internet.  It has a number of definitions but probably the most succinct and accurate description of what it entails is “ the publication of explicit material portraying someone who has not consented for the image or video to be shared”.  The use of intimate photographs to humiliate predates the internet.  Before photographs, heartfelt letters to erstwhile lovers were used.  The reach of the net and the ease of downloading photographs onto a social media site or any number of sites hosted in the country or in a suitably lawless overseas site makes it a far more vicious form of attack.   Read the rest of this entry »

It is a blessing of the digital age that charities can use information in a far more effective way than was previously the case.  Costs of administration in storing information on line should be less than maintaining bulky documents in cabinets.  Using algorithms instead of guesswork helps fund raising and using email Read the rest of this entry »

Cyber criminals can obtain personal information for purpose of identity theft and to blackmail the site’s hapless owners.  But the really big win is getting credit card information.  Details of lots cards makes a win all the bigger.  It is disastrous for Read the rest of this entry »

Hospitals, health centers and the professionals that work within them provide excellent medical services.  Their privacy practices are, however, generally appalling.  Notwithstanding the longstanding requirement for confidentiality the culture within parts of the medical community has been all to often to treat patient’s personal information in a cavalier fashion.  Some are so silly as to Read the rest of this entry »

In the latest twist in the encryption debate the French Government has Read the rest of this entry »

Pro publica, a public interest journalism site, has a large piece offering readers to browse its website using the Tor Browser.  This is an interesting development, a fairly high profile site advocating its readers to use Tor.  The rationale for advocating going down this route is because Read the rest of this entry »

The friction, if not outright conflict, between government authorities wanting access to data and viable and trusted encryption is a significant ongoing Read the rest of this entry »