Category: Privacy
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Privacy and Technology
Isaac Asimov has an interesting pre-World-Wide Web quote, “The advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.” Janov Pelorat in Foundation’s Edge (1982). Think about the word “civilization”. The root, civil, means to treat others well. In one ideal world, everyone would treat everyone else well for no reason. In hunter-gather…
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Full Body Scanners
I was starting to be okay with this description of a whole body imaging  Transportation Security Administration plans to implement. One, there’s technology that allows the body to be transmuted into merely a cartoon stick figure. So it’s not as if anyone’s genitalia or private parts are being revealed. Instead, it’s just an outline of…
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Helping?
Saturday I didn’t go anywhere. Sunday, a piece of paper fell out of the door. All my neighbors had what appeared to be the same paper in their doors. The point of the note is to be careful about letting people know you are away from home for Christmas. In a college town like here,…
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Stalking Students
On the BLKBRD-L email list is a discussion about proving students are cheating. Any time the topic comes up, someone says a human in a room is the only way to be sure. Naturally, someone else responds with the latest and greatest technology to detect cheating. In this case, Acxiom offers identity verification: By matching…
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Blog Delurking Week
The last day of Blog Delurking Week is today. Based on the web server logs, lots of people read. A few comment. Its okay people don’t comment (aka lurk). If you have something to say, then I am sure you will. Otherwise, I am sure you will remain silent. 🙂
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Your Cell Phone Is the FBI’s Bug
For all my criminal wannabe friends. Where you can talk without being overheard is becoming smaller and smaller. Its starting feeling like a Sci-Fi novel. 🙁 FBI using cell phone microphones to eavesdrop: Cell phones are capable of providing more information about us and our whereabouts than we usually realize. We are have long since…