privacy
While Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has recently declared privacy to be obsolete, most Canadians would likely say they value their privacy. However privacy is increasingly under threat on multiple fronts; from calls to abolish privacy on the Internet to corporate data mining, more people want to know where you are, what you buy, and how you think than ever before and in real-time if possible. Canada, while better at protecting privacy than some jurisdictions thanks to the PIPEDA act is not immune to the trend, to judge by a steady stream of reports on new privacy concerns emanating from the office of the federal privacy watchdog..
Smoking Guns — Suggested Reading
School laptops took thousands of images of students: Lawyer
UN agency calls for global cyberwarfare treaty, ‘driver’s license’ for Web users
Obama Wants Computer Privacy Ruling Overturned
Laptops fair game for border searches
ISPs must help police snoop on internet under new bill
NSA Surveillance Exploding, Americans Wiretapped Beyond Congressional Limits
Was Canada’s Privacy Commissioner targeted for opposition to intrusive security policies?
Archive (Most recent headlines first)
Naked body scanners ‘could give you cancer’, children especially vulnerable warns expert | US Seeks to Set Standards for Online ID Verification | Apple now collecting, sharing precise location of iPhone users | Google facing multiple international probes over Street View GPS wardriving campaign | Privacy czar raises alarm on smart meter data | UK doctors agree to waive privacy of mentally ill gun owners | Australia recording features for facial recognition | Airport body scanners raise radiation concerns — again | UK: DNA from millions of newborn babies is secretly stored on NHS database | Toronto police agree to erase security zone pass info after G20 | UK surveillance systems to be scaled back, new coalition govt claims | Toronto streets get 77 more surveillance cameras for G20 | Storage of newborns’ blood samples raises privacy concerns | Privacy commissioner outlines concerns surrounding Ontario’s Smart Grid plan | Random sobriety tests would breach constitutional rights: Bar association | Wildlife documentaries infringe animals’ privacy, says report | Masks off at G8 protest: rally leader | Full-body scanners are waste of money, Israeli expert says | Waterloo firm creates ‘flying robot spies from the skies’ for global law enforcement market | School laptops took thousands of images of students: Lawyer | Canadian researchers reveal another botnet in China, call for state cybersecurity | Government Lied: Naked Body Scanners CAN Transmit Images | UK: Pupils forced to submit to fingerprint scans for lunch, parents not consulted | UK: Children must go through airport naked body scanners | UK: Met Police launch net café spy operation | UK Airport worker warned over harassment using naked body scanner | Canadians to get biometric, RFID enabled passports in 2011, security experts voice concerns | Copyright conviction raises privacy concerns | Body scans eventually mandatory, TSA official says | Planned random DUI checkpoints a violation of rights | US Forest Service admits putting surveillance cameras on public lands | UK schools ‘break law’ to spy on pupils | Tories revive random roadside breath test | UK Parents Angry Over CCTV In School Toilets | UK: Commons committee rejects six-year DNA records plan | Biometric ID Card for all US Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan | 11 More U.S. Airports Get Body Scanners | United States weighs massive expansion of Internet monitoring | UK: Mobile fingerprint scanner for English and Welsh police | Obama gives Patriot Act another year with no privacy protections | Pentagon Discloses Hundreds of Reports of Possibly Illegal Intelligence Activities | More Details Emerging About School Laptop Spying, And It Doesn’t Look Good | School Spycams Case Explodes As Feds Initiate Probe | Pennsylvania schools spying on students using laptop Webcams, claims lawsuit | Feds push for tracking cell phones | Future police: Meet the UK’s armed robot drones | Exposed: Naked Body Scanner Images Of Film Star Printed, Circulated By Airport Staff | Elite Toronto police squad stops and questions thousands | Radiation Safety Group Says Naked Body Scanners Increase Risk Of Cancer | The government has your baby’s DNA | Swedish Justice Minister reluctant to store internet user’s data | Google, NSA may team up to probe cyberattacks | Police want backdoor to Web users’ private data | Time Magazine Pushes Draconian Internet Licensing Plan | UN agency calls for global cyberwarfare treaty, ‘driver’s license’ for Web users | UK: Airline passengers have ‘no right’ to refuse naked body scanners | Full-body scanner blind to bomb parts | Texas Schoolkids Tagged With GPS Tracking Devices | China Google Hack Exploited Security Gaps Introduced By State Surveillance Provisions | Privacy watchdog wants public input on social networking sites | China tells web companies to obey controls | German ‘Fleshmob’ Protests Airport Scanners | B.C. to get license-plate scanning system | Body scanners capable of storing, sending images, group says | Privacy no longer a social norm, says Facebook founder | US Domestic Espionage Alert: Spy Drone Discovered | Dutch police develop mobile body scans | Whole-body airport scanners are basically safe–or are they? | Only $350 to join GPS bandwagon and jettison privacy: track kids, auto, social network | ‘Unclear’ Whether US Air Security Profiling Violates Canadian Charter: Baird | DNA matches solve only a fraction of crimes, police admit | Body scanners coming to Canadian airports | UK: New scanners break child porn laws | UK: Full-body scanners being ordered for airports, says Gordon Brown
2009
Underwear Bomber Renews Calls for ‘Naked Scanners’ | UK: Telecom firms’ fury at plan for ‘Stasi’ checks on every phone call and email | UK: Municipal council snoopers alone watch public on 60,000 CCTV cameras | Facebook Privacy Changes Break the Law, Privacy Groups Tell FTC | US Move to National ID Cards Delayed | Surveillance Shocker: Sprint Received 8 MILLION Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year | New Leaks of Secret ACTA Copyright Law Reveal Oppressive ‘Global DMCA’ | Authority to Spy on Americans Unclear as Patriot Act Expires | UK: Chipped ID card scheme launched in Greater Manchester | UK: Big fall in police use of stop-and search powers after outcry | Obama Wants Computer Privacy Ruling Overturned | UK Police routinely arresting people to get DNA, inquiry claims | Anti-Olympic activists decry ‘Orwellian’ treatment | NSA Is Giving Microsoft Some Help On Windows 7 Security | Federal Privacy Commissioner raises alarm over terror security measures | UK: Terror ’suspects’ could remain on DNA database for life, innocents get 6 years | UK Internet surveillance plan to go ahead | Teacher rejects fingerprinting for work on religious grounds | EU urges use of tracking boxes for motorists | Psychic computer shows your thoughts on screen | Privacy watchdog OKs ‘naked’ airport scanners | More police security cameras approved for Toronto | U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets | UK: Home Office climbs down over keeping DNA records on innocent | Security boss calls for end to net anonymity | UK anti-terrorism strategy ’spies’ on innocent | Hutterite driver’s licence photo appeal rejected | Security may soon test ‘virtual strip search’ at large Canadian aiports | Google Street View goes live in Canadian cities | Spy agencies now free to eavesdrop on Canadians abroad | Olympic security follows protester’s friend | Think before you post, privacy czar says | Crown attorneys told to stop illegal juror checks | Random breathalyzer tests considered for Canada | Secret juror background checks not illegal, prosecutor says | Laptops fair game for border searches | UK: Pilot project for DNA, isotope analysis of immigrants ‘deeply flawed’ | US Border Guards to Expand Use of X-Ray Body Scanners | UK: Garbage spies alarm neighbourhood | Case for Internet spying not closed | Obama Stands Behind Use of ‘State Secrets’ in Warrantless Surveillance Lawsuit | Report: Massive FBI database set to quadruple in size | UK: Police ‘must purge innocent DNA’ | Planned Internet, wireless surveillance laws worry watchdogs | UK Government plans to link criminal records to ID cards | ACLU Sues US Department of Homeland Security over Border Laptop Searches | Facebook to make privacy changes, keep user data indefinitely if not deleted | UK Government to consider internet disconnection policy, restrictions | In UK, 1,000 cameras ’solve one crime’ | Privacy commissioner OKs Barwatch software | UK national ID card cloned in 12 minutes | Britain To Put CCTV Cameras Inside Private Homes | UK ISPs condemn Internet surveillance plans | US: REALID tracking chip ID card resurrected by PASS initiative | UK: Big Brother state wants even more spy powers | Border agents handcuff, interrogate Winnipeg couple| Supreme Court rules tainted evidence admissible in ‘minor’ Charter violations | Facebook violates privacy law: watchdog | India to issue all 1.2 billion citizens with biometric ID cards | Toronto TAVIS special police corps demanding ID on city streets | BC Bars swipe patron IDs, collect data | Newborn’s Blood Samples Raise Questions of Privacy | Privacy watchdog troubled by ‘explosion’ of information breaches | UK: Passport details to be kept on ID register despite card U-turn | Use of warrantless police wiretaps flies under the radar | Mysterious people tailing recently repatriated no-fly-list refugee | Illegal Victoria Transit bag searches reinstated under new policy for Canada Day | US Cyber Security Czar Front-Runner No Friend of Privacy | Volunteer snitches man cameras in Lancaster, PA. | France forbids protesters from wearing face masks | Military spycraft patrols Ontario border from Fort Drum | ISPs must help police snoop on internet under new bill | UK: Shifting justifications for ID card scheme prompts call to scrap program | MPs call for expanded privacy law | Incoming CSIS chief to seek biometric data at border | Study finds genetic discrimination by insurance firms | UK: Spy bugs may be deployed for 2012 Olympics | US: Ruling allowing Taser use to get DNA may be nation’s first | US Federal Judge Tosses Telecom Spy Suits | UK Schoolkids Protest CCTV, Hidden Microphones in Class | Homeland Security to scan fingerprints of travellers exiting the US | UK: Fury as Commons denied vote on DNA database | UK installing license plate scanning network | Top court reserves decision in reporter confidentiality case | Don’t let media shield ‘criminals’, hearing told | Toronto police board challenges chief on CCTV deterrence, demands ‘phase-in’ | Police laud Toronto surveillance cameras, critics not so sure | Tories propose law allowing fingerprinting before charges are laid | Next up for France: police keyloggers and Web censorship | Criminologists: CCTV schemes in city and town centres have little effect on crime | Saudi files for ‘killer’ tracking chip patent | Ontario’s high-tech driver’s licences pose privacy risk: watchdog | France passes ‘three strikes’ Internet surveillance law | UK: New biometric security checks could include brain scans, heart rhythm fingerprinting | SMS texts being data mined in France: Man strip searched, held after joke | UK Home Secretary has secret plan to surveil, ‘Master the Internet’ | UK wants industry to track Internet users as plans scrapped for state database | Alberta bars could collect names, photos under proposed bill | NSA Surveillance Exploding, Americans Wiretapped Beyond Congressional Limits | UK: DNA pioneer Alec Jeffreys: drop innocent from database | Manitoba board considers random drug tests for high school students | French legislators reject internet piracy bill | Trash search doesn’t violate privacy rights, says top court | Britons block Google Street View van | Munk Centre researchers discover botnet, call for international cyberspace ‘legal regime’ | Britain may snoop on social websites | London Police Encourage Citizens To Inform on Neighbour’s Garbage | Moratorium sought on RFID driver’s licenses | Google Street View comes to Canada | Right to privacy broken by a quarter of UK’s public databases, says report | Pre-Olympic transit ads encourage citizen surveillance | Smart licences now available for border-hopping Quebecers | Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights | Internet ad tracking system will put a ’spy camera’ in the homes of millions, warns founder of the web | Researchers use brain scans to read people’s memories | NSA Dominance of Cybersecurity Would Lead to ‘Grave Peril’, Ex-Cyber Chief Tells Congress | TASER launches new headcam for police — with ‘privacy mode’ | NY Times: Mileage Tax Would ‘Track Where Motorists Have Been’ | UK police maintain databank on thousands of protesters | UK: Civil servants attacked for using anti-terror laws to spy on public | UK: Government ‘using fear as a weapon to erode civil liberties’ | Obama tries to kill lawsuit challenging wiretapping program, fails | UK: Government plans to keep DNA samples of innocent | UK: DNA details of 1.1m children on database | UK security whitepaper urges ‘end of privacy’ | Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes | Do you snoop on your teen? | US Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Former MI5 chief: UK Ministers ‘using fear of terror’ to restrict civil rights | Do We Need a New Internet? | UK: Landlord fights police plan for CCTV at pub | Former privacy czar Radwanski acquitted of fraud charges | New law to give police access to online exchanges | Security cameras proposed for downtown Sydney | Google to enter market for energy use tracking | Obama’s Change: Expanding the Power of the NSC and Shadow Government | UK House of Lords warns over ’surveillance state’ | Controversial US measure would require DNA sampling at arrest | Montreal in bid to unmask protesters | Whistleblower: NSA even collected credit card records | Let’s face it, soon Big Brother will have no trouble recognising you | U.S. visitors now required to register online with Department of Homeland Security | UK: Face scanners to be installed in schools | Regulator will force cellphone companies to adopt GPS tracking system | Military challenge: Make spy data more accessible | EU Police set to step up warrantless hacking of home PCs | UK: ‘Spy-in-sky’ trials get the go-ahead despite Government promise to scrap road-pricing plan
2008
Private firm may administer UK surveillance database | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | UK: Big Brother CCTV to spy on pupils aged four — complete with CPS evidence kit | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase pending review | UK: Bailiffs get power to use force on debtors | CSIS monitoring calls between suspects and their lawyers | Bestiality, suicide questions OK for job applicants, Halifax concludes | Supreme Court set to consider privacy rights | SWAT Teams raiding Amish, Food Co-ops in Rural US | Drug-sniffing dog plan for BC SkyTrain unconstitutional: legal critics | UK Big Brother police to get ‘war-time’ power to demand ID in the street | Greyhound introduces security screening of passengers, bans fruit, carry-ons | Pentagon earmarks 20,000 additional troops for American streets | Ontario to place prosecutors in police stations | Safety report author Falconer on armed police in schools: “Facile” | Two More U.S. Military Units Assigned For Homeland Security | Germany rejects full-body scans at airports | UK Security services want personal data from sites like Facebook | If released, security detainee Almrei to be surveilled, wiretapped, and GPS-tracked | Top court to decide whether trash is private | ‘Timid’ police watchdog needs teeth: Ontario ombudsman | Was Canada’s Privacy Commissioner targeted for opposition to intrusive security policies? | American Rail Passengers Subject to Random Searches, Police Presence | Frequent school lockdowns raise questions | Comedian begins asking Harper question, cuffed by RCMP | 27 Toronto schools to get armed police presence | Troops in the Streets: Army Brigades Standing By to Assist in Disasters, Help Quell Dissent | ‘Environmental volunteers’ will be encouraged to spy on their neighbours | NYC Residents Furious over Invasive Surveillance Grid | Security officials to scan D.C. area license plates | DNA of ‘blameless’ youths stored | Federal parolees to wear tracking anklets in pilot project | Unmanned spy planes to police Britain | RCMP spied on… Rita MacNeil? | Troops patrolling Italian cities alongside police | Mass Arrests as Beijing Prepares for Olympics | UK Surveillance Commissioner calls for intelligence officers to work with municipalities | Protestors added to database of terror suspects | Britain considers giant database of all phone calls, EMails, browsing history | Illinois governor suggests National Guard help with Chicago gun crime | Edmonton police rounded up women for ‘talent nights,’ hearing told | RCMP conducts random search and seizure on Canada Day | Papers Please: UK cops stopping millions in streets | Police to demand blood, urine at roadside stops | Armed Police to Roam Toronto High Schools | Berlusconi puts 2,500 troops on streets of Italian cities to patrol alongside police | Justice Critic Brands Street Racing Vehicle Seizure Law as “Police State-ism” | British Terror Bill Divides Labor | Hats banned from Yorkshire pubs over CCTV fears | Youth Worker Subjected to Warrantless Raid on Secret Evidence | Crimestop: UK Police Now Expected to Collect Social, Dietary, Sexual Information | Man spends 18 hours in police cell and has his DNA taken for ‘dropping an apple core’ | In UK, anti-terror laws used to crack down on dog fouling, littering | Machine Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway | Massachusetts Police Get Black Uniforms to Instill Sense of ‘Fear’ | CBC Radio Broadcasts Expose of North American Police State
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