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Open Rights Group : 2 years on November 20, 2007

Posted by mark in : Culture, DRM, General, Privacy , add a comment

Today, ORG published a review of activities since it ‘began’ in July 2005. Linked from the ORG site, it’s also covered by Danny O’Brien and Suw Charman on their blogs, and Becky Hogge on the Guardian’s “Comment is free“.

Disclosure : I signed the pledge on 27/7/05, after Tom Coates covered it. And the standing order started 7/2/06 :)

UK : Conservative government would scrap ID cards February 6, 2007

Posted by mark in : General, Privacy , add a comment

Via the Open Rights Group :

David Davis has written to Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, giving formal notice that an incoming Conservative administration would scrap the Government’s costly ID card project.

…and it links to a list of (Conservative Party) reasons why ID cards aren’t a good idea

Trustguide : UK civilians on ‘cyber trust’ November 13, 2006

Posted by mark in : General, Privacy , add a comment

The Open Rights Group discusses the 101 page Trustguide report on ‘our’ “views, beliefs and needs regarding trust, security and privacy in relation to new technologies” (eg. ID cards). It’s based on 29 workshops in the South West, Wales and London, hosted by HP and BT, in conjunction with the DTI.

In the interests of informed debate, I was encouraged (and surprised, comparing it to Radio 5 Live call-ins), that people had asked :

  1. whether a given ’solution’ can actually solve the stated problem;
  2. whether it is the best solution (eg. at that $price); and
  3. whether it is worth the possible ‘knock-on’ costs (to society and law, of reducing trust and personal freedom).

On a more ‘frivolous’ note, this also gives me a place to post the URI to the (old) “Gilbert and Sullivan” on ID cards video [initially found via plasticbag.org].

2006 Stupid Security Competition August 29, 2006

Posted by mark in : General, Privacy , add a comment

Privacy International announces the 2006 Stupid Security Competition …[Found via Dave Farber's IP list]

“Privacy International’s director, Simon Davies, said his group had taken the initiative because of ‘innumerable’ security initiatives around the world that had absolutely no genuine security benefit”

“The competition closes on October 31st 2006…(and) will be judged by an international panel of well-known security experts, public policy specialists, privacy advocates and journalists”

Personal versus Private August 26, 2006

Posted by mark in : Privacy , add a comment

Molly Holzschlag makes a good point about how the many sources of personal information on the web can be easily aggregated to give a picture we don’t feel comfortable sharing with everyone

I’m not in quite the same situation, but future ‘improvements’ in search and aggregation technologies do give me pause when deciding what details and ‘voice’ to share

“The Transparent Society” by David Brin isn’t really about the same thing, but I hope that reading it will help me to make a more informed decision