Here is an interesting story about how a supermarket loyalty program's database was used to help track a person's location.Person 1 loses a valuable watch in a supermarket. Person 2 finds it and, instead of returning it as required by…
Read More Supermarket Loyalty Program Used to Pinpoint Location
Maryland will reportedly spend $183 million to make changes to the EZ Pass electronic toll collection system. Under the system, toll booths would be replaced by overpasses under which motorists could drive without slowing down. Sensors would deduct tolls from…
Read More Maryland Will Begin Photographing Vehicles That Don’t Use EZ Pass Toll System
Search Engine Journal reports that Google recently filed two patents dealing with ad targeting based on user search history behavior and personalization in what seems an attempt to leverage their Gmail/personal search/toolbar data, reminding us that all those free tools…
Wired has launched a new column called "The Luddite", written by Tony Long. To get a sense of his (needed) perspective, here's an excerpt from his first column, "Dark Underbelly of Technology":[...] the reason for this column: to lend a…
Indian president Abdul Kalam has expressed concern over the potential use of satellite image and mapping software - such as Google Earth - by terrorists:At a meeting Saturday of top police officials in Hyderabad, Kalam said he worried that "developing…
Google announced an update of their privacy policy: Google Privacy Policy (October 14, 2005)Google Privacy Policy (July 1, 2004) Aaron Swartz's useful web-based HTML Diff web-based program also offers a comparison of the old and the new and is available…
Randy Siegel in the New York Times speculates on what the Google homepage might look like in the far future (it allows you to search not only the web, but friends, family, ex-spouses, tax records, music, your future, and other…
NYC cab drivers are rallying against the Taxi and Limousine Commission's plan to outfit cabs with Gloabl Positioning Satellite systems, claiming that it violates their right to privacy. In an article in AM New York, the head of the New…
Read More New York taxi drivers protest proposal to install GPS in vehicles
The emergence of Vehicle Safety Communication technology is starting to get more press attention. Here's a story from Red Herring, "Wi-Fi Makes Cars Smarter". The article is right to point out the various "policy and privacy" issues related to DSRC-enabled…
The Boston Transportation Department is engaging in what Bruce Schneier calls "wholesale surveillance" in order to collect unpaid parking tickets. A white SUV equipped with two video cameras on top and a laptop computer running license plate scanning software drives…
Read More Automatic License Plate Scanners & Wholesale Surveillance
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