If there’s one myth that endures in this age of online participation, blogs, shared photo albums and Web 2.0, it’s that we’ve overcome our concerns about privacy. It sounds on the surface, logical: We must have gotten over this weird paranoia, or else why would we share so much online? Why would we bother about … Read more
I couldn’t help wondering about the privacy implications of airlines calling out people’s names over the airport PA system. In Sydney and Melbourne airports recently I lost count of announcements along the lines of ‘Would Mr and Mrs X of flight X to X please go to gate X where their plane, and hundreds of … Read more
Plaxo, the besieged contact updating service, is pointing readers of its blog to an article that takes issue with the company’s critics. The article, written by Jim Harper of PolicyCounsel.com, takes issue with privacy concerns, especially those aired by Australian academic Roger Clarke which I’ve tried to summarise in an earlier post. Jim’s language is quite … Read more
An interesting academic piece on the privacy aspects of Plaxo (and other networking services), noticed by bagus. Roger Clarke, who wears several hats as an academic and consultant in Australia and Hong Kong, focuses not on the privacy of those who sign up for such services but “on a matter that is new, and of great … Read more
A longish piece from Slate on our old friends RFIDs — Radio Frequency Identification Devices — which are feared and admired for their ability to hold all sorts of data about what you’re doing, buying, washing or eating. Earlier this month Hitachi announced the release of a tiny wireless ID chip that can be “easily … Read more