This month there’s a fair bit about advertising and the power which combining disparate buckets of information about you offers to the world’s advertising companies, large and small. The Irish state’s continued quest to issue three million biometric-capable identity cards it signed a contract for without explaining why it thinks these cards are needed is…
Author: loughlin
April Roundup
This month brings some revealing peeks behind a few data curtains and an exploration of the soft soothing language of sharing with partners and keeping it all in the family (of companies). 1. Facial Recognition, As It’s Happening We’re essentially building an IT backbone, which can allow TSA or potentially air carriers or any other…
This Is The Sound Of Snooping [KitBits 17.6]
Rumour has it popular duo Simon & Garfunkel tinkered around with a song called ‘The Sound of Snooping’ for a while before a catchier line occurred to them. Anyway, here’s a dramatic quote to start off with “This case shows the new world we are all living in,” Jay Edelson, founder of the firm that brought the…
March Roundup
Join us, gentle readers, on a short adventure in which we compare and contrast the approaches and abilities of two neighbouring data protection authorities, visit a data protection summit sponsored and launched by the Minister for Data Protection which didn’t have a privacy policy and hear about the privacy concerns of the inventor of the…
Sesame Credit: Turning Obedience Into a Game [Video]
This is not reassuring.
Ordering Pizza In The Future [Video]
This is a short America Civil Liberties Union video from 2006. If it seemed like an extreme scenario when it was first made, it looks far more likely now.
Look At What I’m Saying, Not What I’m Doing [KitBits 17.5]
Update, 24/3/2017: A privacy policy has appeared on the Data Summit Dublin website. It mentions the UK Companies Act 2006 and a possible fee of ten of the Queen’s best British pounds for a subject access request. It also seems that personal information collected by Happening Conferences will not be shared with the Department of…
Find My Phone [Video]
Some slightly unsettling Sunday morning viewing. The tracking device in your pocket knows an astonishing amount.
February Roundup
This month it’s mostly about data ending up in rather places it has no business being. 1. Weaponised Information In The Bay Area This month the great and good of the world of information security gathered for their annual knees-up, the RSA Conference in San Francisco. This was, of course, shortly after the inauguration of…
Tube Tracking Lessons Learned [KitBits 17.3]
Gizmodo obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act relating to the tracking of commuters’ phones and other devices on the London Underground last November and December and did a thorough write up, complete with pretty heat maps and pictures. The whole piece is worth reading carefully, but here are a few points for anyone…