Data Privacy Day 2012: “Should Librarians Care About Privacy Anymore?” A Free Webinar & Event

In honor of Data Privacy Day 2012, the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS) is sponsoring a special program and webinar, “Should Librarians Care About Privacy Anymore?“  The program will take place this Friday, February 3, 2012 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern time in Peabody Hall, Room 08. The event will also be simulcast as a live webinar via Conference Streaming. There is no charge for admission.

The featured speaker is Barbara Jones, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Jones argues that libraries must continue to care about privacy and serve as a model for the world on how libraries protect their… Read More »

Today is Data Privacy Day

January 28 marks the annual observance of Data Privacy Day. First held in 2007 by the Council of Europe as “Data Protection Day,“ the event has grown into a international observance that seeks to provide information about personal data rights and protections to consumers of all ages. The United States officially joined in the observance of Data Privacy Day in 2009 when the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution HR 31, declaring January 28 National Data Privacy Day.

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Data Privacy Day 2012: Youth and Privacy

This is the second of a series of posts celebrating Data Privacy Day 2012 , an international celebration designed to promote awareness about the many ways personal information is collected, stored, used, and shared, and to promote education about privacy practices that will enable individuals to protect their personal information.

Young people care about their privacy and reputation, and are always willing to try and consider new tools and information that help them protect their online reputation.   Data Privacy Day 2012 has compiled online resources discussing privacy and youth and offers a Youth and Privacy Tipsheet, available online as a digital download.

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• Microsoft and Facebook Targeting using Real-Time Bidding/Ad Exchanges: "target...with great precision"

The recent flare-up/digital privacy food fight between Microsoft and Google (including full-page print ads from Microsoft) shouldn't distract from a key point:  digital marketers like Google and Microsoft are basically doing the same things--despite whatever "spin" they place on it.  Digital advertising is a global business whose business model for online data collection and profile-based targeting across all platforms are being engineered by Google, Microsoft and a few other leaders.  Facebook's expansion of viral and peer to peer marketing has also shaped online d

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• Digital Lysenkoism

Here's a podcast of my last Publishers Weekly column, Digital Lysenkoism : Talking with the lower echelon employees of publishing reminds me of a description I once read about the mutual embarrassment of Western and Soviet biologists when they talked about genetics. Soviet-era scientists were required, on pain of imprisonment, to endorse Lysenkoism, a discredited … [Read more]Read More »

• Congress to Hold Hearing on Department of Homeland Security Social Network Monitoring

On February 16, 2012, the House Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on "DHS Monitoring of Social Networking and Media: Enhancing Intelligence Gathering and Ensuring Privacy." The hearing was called after EPIC obtained nearly 300 pages of documents, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, detailing the Department of Homeland Security's monitoring of social networks and media organizations. The documents included guidelines from DHS instructing General Dynamics to monitor for media reports that "reflect adversely" on the agency or the federal government. For more information see: EPIC v. Department of Homeland Security: Media Monitoring.
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• Yet another US citizen denied their right of return

In the latest variation on what has become a depressingly-familiar theme, US citizen Jamal Tarhuni was denied boarding on a flight home to the USA last month, apparently because while he was abroad the US government put him on the list of those people it has secretly ordered airlines not to transport. Mr. Tarhuni had been [...]
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• Congress Welcomes The Drones

Kashmir Hill writes: The Senate passed a $63 billion bill Monday to provide four years of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. One of the provisions of the Reauthorization Act is that the FAA clear the path for wider spread use of drones (a.k.a. unmanned aircraft) for governmental and commercial purposes. Within 90 days, the FAA has to speed [...]
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• Update on Domestic Use of Drones in United States

In the last year, that has been increasing focus on the use of aerial drones (also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, “UAVs”) to conduct surveillance in the United States. Last year, the Washington Post had an in-depth report of possible privacy problems with the domestic use of aerial drones, which are commonly used in military operations. (Be sure to [...]
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• Error Rates of Hand-Counted Voting Systems

The error rate for hand-counted ballots is about two percent.

All voting systems have nonzero error rates. This doesn't surprise technologists, but does surprise the general public. There's a myth out there that elections are perfectly accurate, down to the single vote. They're not. If the vote is within a few percentage points, they're likely a statistical tie. (The problem, of course, is that elections must produce a single winner.)


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• Flaw in Home Security Cameras Exposes Live Feeds to Hackers

A flaw in home security cameras made by Trendnet potentially exposed thousands of customers to possible hackers who could access the live video feeds without a password.
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