Category Archives: Privacy

Sultaana Freeman sued for the right to continue to wear a full face veil in her driver’s license photo. Judge Janet C. Thorpe rejected her argument. Until we have some other form of biometric data for establishing identity, we are kind of stuck with using faces. The judges ruling made complete sense to me. Personal religious beliefs are fine, but they can only be accomodated fo far.

Bear Pond Books is going to be purging their sales records at the request of their customers. Just remember, your local library probably does not keep the records in the first place, although it never hurts to ask.

Every state but Kentucky and Hawaii has laws explicitly making library records confidential. Nine of those states also explicitly make an exception for parental access to children’s records. When researching the issue, Florida’s state librarians found that laws in every state were often interpreted the way Florida’s confidentiality law has been interpreted — as giving parents de facto access to children’s records in most cases. Some states argue that since a parent must sign off on a child’s library card, the signature makes the parent responsible for whatever the child checks out. With that responsibility comes access. Other states give parents access once they secure written permission from the child. Yet other states tell parents ahead of time that they’d have access to their children’s records if they sign for a “family card,” but not if the child gets an individualized card. Florida’s existing privacy law may sound draconian when contrasted with parental rights. But it is more exemplary than harmful, considering its actual intent — keeping all patrons’ library habits private. – Daytona News-Journal

Check out this dicussion: Building Anonymous-Friendly Computer Libraries?

Remember the talk about Libraries and the FBI? I was more concerned about purchasing records, and Erik Baard offers confirmation .

If you are living in a new town trying to be hidden, it’s pretty easy to find you now between Google and online government records. Many public entities are putting everything on the Web without thinking through the ramifications of those actions. – Cindy Southworth

Micro Librarian Systems has developed a product called IndentiKit which uses biometric data (aka fingerprints) in place of library cards. Some people in the UK do not approve . They may have a point, but they come across pretty extreme in their arguments to me.

Larry Ellison feels that one central depository of all medical and criminal data is preferrable .

This is diabolical. If Microsoft is successful, Palladium will give Bill Gates a piece of every transaction of any type while at the same time marginalizing the work of any competitor who doesn’t choose to be Palladium-compliant. So much for Linux and Open Source, but it goes even further than that. So much for Apple and the Macintosh. – Robert X. Cringely

The Minnesota Legislature has passed a bill to attempt to ensure Privacy for Internet Users in the state, and Governor Jesse Ventura will now have have to decide whether or not to sign it.