Michael Zimmer, PhD, is a digital privacy and data ethics scholar at Marquette University
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…
Read More Cellphone Cameras That Zoom…What would Warren & Brandeis Think?
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…
Read More Cyber-shaming, Limited Privacy, and Contextual Integrity
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…
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…
Read More Windows Live Local Virtual Earth and Privacy in Public
Another example of the need for value-conscious design: Wired News summarizes a damning report from four University of Washington researchers that reveals how security flaws in the new RFID-powered Nike + iPod Sport Kit make it easy for tech-savvy stalkers,…
The theory of “privacy as contextual integrity" provides the tools for considering how the introduction of new technologies/practices within a particular context might disrupt norms of information flow, potentially threatening values of privacy, autonomy, or liberty. It is especially useful…
I've commented about some of the privacy & surveillance implications of adding location meta tags in photos, everyone snapping photos in public with their cellphone cameras, and the rise of amateur surveillance and data-mining. Many of these concerns are repeated…
A group of computer scientists from the University of Minnesota recently presented a fascinating paper "You are what you say: privacy risks of public mentions," Proceedings of the 29th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on research and development in information…
Read More You Are What You Say: Privacy Risks of Public Mentions
As a follow-up to this long ago posting, the National Highway Traffic Safety Asministration has passed a resolution requiring car manufacturers to inform buyers if their cars are equipped with event data recorders (EDRs). Car manufacturers must comply with the…
Read More New rule: Car buyers must be told about ‘black boxes’
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