Michael Zimmer.org

Recently, the EFF released a report named “On Locational Privacy, and How to Avoid Losing it Forever“, introducing some of the basic threats to locational privacy:
Over the next decade, systems which create and store digital records of people’s movements through public space will be woven inextricably into the fabric of everyday life. We are already starting to see such systems now, and there will be many more in the near future.
Here are some examples you might already have used or read about:

Monthly transit swipe-cards
Electronic tolling devices (FastTrak, EZpass, congestion pricing)
Cellphones
Services …

Last month I noted that Google’s Street View service was being challenged by German data privacy authorities, who insisted that Google must permanently remove personally-identifying images from their databases (not just blur them in the user interface). Google argued that the original images are necessary to help the system “learn” how to automatically blur better in the future, but Germany feels (and I agree) that privacy must trump. engineering in this case.
Google has conceded, and will now erase identifiable raw data depicting people, property, or cars upon request.
This is a …

Google’s Street View product has been criticized by privacy advocates since its very inception, including various posts on this blog. Two years after its release, Google continues to face challenges over its collection and treatment of potentially personally-identifiable images of people in public spaces.
Most recently, Germany has noted that Google’s (reluctant) blurring of faces and license plates is not enough, demanding that the original images themselves be permanently removed from their databases. Google argues that the original images are necessary to help the system “learn” how to automatically blur better …

The city of Chicago has started to integrate its network of CCTV surveillance cameras to its 911 call center, creating a robust infrastructure to allow dispatchers to visually observe, in real time, the location of many 911 calls throughout the city. According to the city’s press release:
When a 911 call is received, the CAD system scans the OVS network to find any safety camera within 150 feet of the address of the call.
Within seconds, real time video of the location appears on the call taker’s screen.
This story in the NY …

As I just mentioned, Google recently announced plans to blur or otherwise obscure people’s faces in the Canadian version of the Street View product. After a brief conversation with my colleague Chris Hoofnagle, I’ve come to realize that in their launch of Street View, Google blew a chance to really take a leadership role in protecting user privacy.
Google released Street View to much criticism, given the prevalence of visible and identifiable faces and license plates captured by their fleet of camera-toting cars trolling our streets. To remove yourself from the …

There continues to be quite a bit of buzz and concern about Google’s “Street View” enhancement for Google Maps. A couple of comments on recent developments:
:::
I don’t want to be picky, but given all the (necessary) attention given to the privacy aspects of Street View, I still wonder where everyone was when Microsoft launched basically the same service last year. As I pointed out then, the same privacy and surveillance concerns emerge. Is Microsoft truly that irrelevant now that we’re no longer concerned about their ability to surveil and …

About 6 months ago Microsoft launched their Windows Live Local Virtual Earth service, providing street level images of San Francisco and Seattle. You can drive or walk around the map and view the streets and storefronts…and the people. This detailed level of mapping carries significant concerns about one’s privacy in public, which I pointed out at the time.
Google has now jumped into the foray, offering their own “Street View” enhancement for Google Maps. Pretty slick, but the same concerns persist. If you click on the image to the right, …

[This thought piece appears on the On The Identity Trail project's blog, blog*on*nymity. Thanks to the amazing folks there for the (second) invitation to contribute to the project. -mz]
This post is an attempt to collect and organize some thoughts on how the rise of so-called Web 2.0 technologies bear on privacy and surveillance studies. After presenting a few examples of unintended consequences of Web 2.0 that bear on privacy and surveillance, I will introduce the term “netaveillance,” which might provide a useful concept around which a more robust theory of …

The Montreal Gazette has a feature story on how the combination of cellphone cameras and the World Wide Web has resulting in the rise of “cyber-shaming” – a new kind of public shaming for wrongdoers, from litterbugs and bad drivers to negligent nannies:
Hey you, the scofflaw parked illegally in the handicapped spot. Smile! You’re in cyberspace. And that goes for all you other wrongdoers out there: the jerk parked in a bike lane, the flasher on the metro, the negligent nanny, the litterbug, the loud-mouth cellphone user and the reckless …

A federal judge ruled that the police must stop the routine videotaping of people at public gatherings. Reversing (and clarifying) an earlier ruling, the judge stated that such public surveillance is allowable only if there was an indication that unlawful activity may occur. From the NYTimes report:
Four years ago, at the request of the city, the same judge, Charles S. Haight Jr., gave the police greater authority to investigate political, social and religious groups.
In yesterday’s ruling, Judge Haight, of United States District Court in Manhattan, found that by videotaping people …

MIT’s Technology Review has a brief article about advances in zoom technology for cellphone cameras. This adds a new dimension to the privacy and surveillance threats cellphone cameras pose.
We experienced a major advancement in camera zoom technology around the turn of the century, which spurred Warren & Brandeis to write their seminal article “The Right to Privacy.” As the sophistication of mobile and networked cameras continues to rise, what will our answer be?

While we’re all too familiar with how surveillance cameras are becoming ubiquitous, they are now also becoming recursive: CCTV to safeguard speed cameras

I’ve been meaning to blog about the discussion at Concurring Opinions regarding the rise of “cyber-shaming” – the act of posting online elements of seemingly private conversations or events that you happened to overhear or witness. Examples include the posting of details of annoying cellphone calls overheard, uploading of cellphone camera images of men who expose themselves on subways, or blogs dedicated to posting stories and images of men who harrass women in public. New York City has recently announced that it will equip 911 emergency centers to receive digital …

The NY Times has a feature today on the prevalence of GPS-enabled cell phones for the surveillance of one’s kids. (Boost Mobile [page has audio] has also been pitching their GPS tracking features to adults so you can “know where your friends are at.”)
Unfortunately I’m much too busy writing the diss to provide any nuanced reaction (I’ll link to related posts below the jump). Suffice it to say that the word “privacy” does not appear in the Times article.

A post on Slashdot recalls the discovery of an SUV filming the streets of San Francisco:
Today as we were biking around our neighborhood in a small city we saw a strange vehicle slowly driving around. It appeared to be an SUV, bristling with cameras mounted on the roof, and pointing just about every possible direction. The first time we saw it, all we could see was that it had a sign on the side, something about Windows. The second time we saw it, we stared at it so hard that …