Cyberwar. Post-privacy. Online-history. Technology Review: Videos. The Future of Privacy: Facial Recognition, Public Facts, and 300 Million Little Brothers. It’s been a pleasure to blog this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed this conversation and I’d love to continue it. If you’re interested in reading more, check out our book, Wild West 2.0. It is the most-discussed Internet policy book of 2010 (Jimmy Wales called it “an invaluable guide” to the “brave new world of the Internet”) and it sold out Amazon.com once already. Or, contact me directly through my site at davidcthompson.com.
Thanks again to Eugene and the whole Volokh Conspiracy for inviting me to participate this week. This week, we’ve discussed the “Wild West 2.0” metaphor for the Internet. What will widespread surveillance and facial recognition do to privacy? It’s always been the law in the U.S. that images you take in public are yours to use non-commercially. There are good reasons for this policy, ranging from a basic respect for the free press and free expression, to the First Amendment.
But, today, facial recognition is quickly becoming available on a wide scale. New privacy bill makes your location, sexual orientation "sensitive info" Major Internet privacy legislation was unveiled today (PDF) by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL). Under the bill, companies would be forbidden from using your cell phone's geolocation information without your consent, and the same goes for information on your race, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation.
For most other information, a simple opt-out will keep that data—even data already collected—from being used. Boucher chairs the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and he has dealt with Internet issues for years (he was a driving force behind the doomed attempt to patch the worst parts of the DMCA, as well); Stearns is the ranking member on the committee. The two today released a "discussion draft" of their new privacy legislation in order to gauge Congressional and public opinion on its ideas.
Covered and sensitive The bill isn't particularly long, and compared to laws in other countries, it's not particularly strict. New York Times Editorial: Twitter Tapping « ResourceShelf. The Tyee — LSD as Therapy? Write about It, Get Barred from US. BC psychotherapist denied entry after border guard googled his work. Andrew Feldmar, a well-known Vancouver psychotherapist, rolled up to the Blaine border crossing last summer as he had hundreds of times in his career. At 66, his gray hair, neat beard, and rimless glasses give him the look of a seasoned intellectual. He handed his passport to the U.S. border guard and relaxed, thinking he would soon be with an old friend in Seattle. The border guard turned to his computer and googled "Andrew Feldmar. " The psychotherapist's world was about to turn upside down.
Born in Hungary to Jewish parents as the Nazis were rising to power, Feldmar was hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust when he was three years old, after his parents were condemned to Auschwitz. The Blaine border guard explained that Feldmar had been pulled out of the line as part of a random search. When Feldmar said he was psychologist, the official typed his name into his Internet search engine. Fingerprints for FBI The U.S.