privacy

All your base are belong to … USA

The European Parliament has approved the controversial data transfer agreement, the bilateral PNR (passenger name register), with the US which requires European airlines to pass on passenger information, including name, contact details, payment data, itinerary, email and phone numbers to the Department of Homeland Security. Under the new agreement, PNR data will be ‘depersonalized’ after six months and would be moved into a ‘dormant database’ after five years. However the information would still be held for a further 15 years before being fully ‘anonymized.’

I’m so glad that I managed to visit the USA before it became a paranoid concentration camp. The way things go, I don’t think I’ll live long enough to visit it again, without being worried for an arrest and endless detention.

P.S.: And some people still talk about privacy. What privacy?

Diagram : Internet vs. Privacy

I’ve spoken my opinion on my trying to protect online privacy before. If you missed it, I tend to mostly agree with those bold voices saying that the privacy no longer exists. At least not online. Today’s addendum is a this Venn diagram that illustrates the opinion.

Via Geeks Are Sexy.

On privacy

Blogoscoped quotes Google executives on the issue of privacy.

Eric Schmidt:

“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Eric goes on to say, “But if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines – including Google – do retain this information for some time. And it’s important, for example, that we’re all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act… it is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities.”

Marissa Mayer:

“I really feel that the virtual world follows the physical world … There’s very few things you can do anonymously in the physical world. I think that over time, on the internet, there will be less anonymity. And I actually think that’s good; I think it creates, you know, more accountability, people acting more responsibly.”

And here is a quote from law #9 – Absolute anonymity isn’t practical, in real life or on the Web – from Microsoft’s own 10 immutable laws of security:

All human interaction involves exchanging data of some kind. If someone weaves enough of that data together, they can identify you. Think about all the information that a person can glean in just a short conversation with you. In one glance, they can gauge your height, weight, and approximate age. Your accent will probably tell them what country you’re from, and may even tell them what region of the country. If you talk about anything other than the weather, you’ll probably tell them something about your family, your interests, where you live, and what you do for a living. It doesn’t take long for someone to collect enough information to figure out who you are. If you crave absolute anonymity, your best bet is to live in a cave and shun all human contact.

Is it OK to take pictures in public places?

Google Blogoscoped asks the question:

If your country’s police were to drive around town with cam-equipped cars, automatically taking photos of all public spaces, would you mind? If so, why? If not, why not?

I guess that has something to do with their earlier posts on issues related to Google Street View (one, two, three, four, etc).

I think that public places should be open for non-commercial photography, whether that is by police, mass media, amateur photographers, aliens, terrorists, or anyone else.

When I was in London earlier this year, I was at first shocked by the number of CCTV cameras. It seems like every square meter is covered from several cameras at once. And it wasn’t very welcoming. However, less than a day later I simply got used to them. I couldn’t even see them no more. That hopefully illustrates the extent to which I don’t care.

What about you?