Source: WBKO News
A security camera captured two girls kissing, but it’s what happened next that sparked a surveillance debate. With Warren County schools having surveillance cameras not only in the high schools but in the middle school and elementary schools as well, you’ll want to read on because reporter Keith Eldridge’s brings you the story that asks the question: When does Big Brother surveillance cross the line?

The dean of students said he saw two girls kissing. He checked the surveillance tape then shared what he saw with the parents of one of the girls. They then pulled her out of school, which then pulled the peninsula school district into a big controversy.

“They weren’t harming other students, so I don’t think the administrators had a right to show it to her parents or anybody else,” student, Laura Varadi said. “I think that they didn’t use the cameras like how they should. They should only be used for safety I think,” student, Jade Egelhoff said.

“We obviously made a mistake,” Superintendent Terry Bouck said. “We’re here to make sure our kids, our staff and parents are safe, but we’re not going to be monitoring public displays of affection, etc.” But some parents ask “Why not?”

“I think that that’s fine if they’re doing something they shouldn’t be doing. The surveillance is fine,” said Heidi Holmes, a Gig Harbor parent. “We’re watching them at home, so we should be watching them at school too,” said Tim, Heidi’s husband.

The Holmes said surveillance cameras are a way of life. Helping prevent crime, identifying suspects and just giving folks a sense of security knowing the cameras are always watching. You’ve got to figure that no matter where you are you’re probably going to be on camera, whether from that angle or this angle, you’re probably going to be on. But one store owner said it shouldn’t be for spying. “I’m not for it, because we don’t use it that way,” store owner, Sean Whang said.

This is a debate that is not likely to end with the superintendent saying they made a mistake. It really goes to all facets of life not just schools but the workplace and all public areas.

Source: The Columbian
GIG HARBOR, Wash. (AP) — Restrictions on the use of security videotape have been tightened at a suburban Tacoma high school after images of two girls kissing were shown to the parents of one of the girls, officials say.

Keith Nelson, dean of students at Gig Harbor High School, said he saw the students kissing and holding hands in the school’s busy commons, checked a surveillance camera and showed the parents the tape because they had asked him a few weeks earlier to alert them to any conduct by their daughter that was out of the ordinary. They then transferred their daughter to a school outside the Peninsula School District, which lies northwest of Tacoma.

Both girls said their privacy was invaded and denied doing anything wrong. Neither was identified by name in an article published Thursday by The News Tribune of Tacoma. The kiss amounted to a quick “peck,” said the girl who remains at the school, a 17-year-old senior described as the daughter of a News Tribune employee. “We weren’t doing anything inappropriate, nothing anyone else wouldn’t do,” she said. Nelson said students could not have any expectation of privacy in a crowded place and maintained that he would have taken the same action had the students kissing been a boy and a girl. An internal investigation into a complaint from a student - it was unclear whether the complaint came from one of the girls - established that Nelson had not violated district policy, Assistant School Superintendent Shannon Wiggs said.

Even so, Principal Greg Schellenberg said, school surveillance videotape may now be used only for security monitoring and discipline for actions such as trespassing, vandalism and fighting. Kissing and other public displays of affection were at the time and remain violations of school rules, but violators will first be given warnings and will be disciplined only for a second offense, Schellenberg said. In addition, school employees are barred from sharing surveillance video in response to an open-ended parental request. “It’s not our normal practice,” Schellenberg said. “It’s not going to happen again.”

In the case of the kiss, he added, “the same information could have been portrayed to the family without the video.” Nelson said he respected the change in policy but added that he believes his first obligation is to parents. “They’re paying good money for us to make their kids good citizens,” he said. “Whatever that means to the parents, I’ll do it.”

Source: Globe and Mail
Air travellers everywhere may soon be able to choose between the traditional pat-down and a new X-ray machine that leaves little to the imagination.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is the first airport in the United States to conduct a pilot program with the SmartCheck security scanner, which uses backscatter X-ray technology, a form of low-level radiation that penetrates clothing. An early generation of images, however, proved too revealing, with bodies clearly defined. That triggered an outcry from such privacy protection groups as the American Civil Liberties Union. The Transportation Security Administration, which oversees security in 425 U.S. airports, agreed that the pictures were invasive and asked for changes.

The company complied. The machines now blur some details and render an image similar to a chalk outline that still shows some body creases while promising to disclose “all types of threat objects,” Reiss said. Implants larger than small pins, such as Johnson’s shoulder and knee replacements, would also show up, TSA officials said. But security authorities will not divulge exactly what does and does not show up on a SmartCheck image and will not say whether the machine has nabbed any passengers carrying suspicious objects.

Source: InfoWorld
Ed Foster over at InfoWorld describes the Spy Act bill (H.R. 964) as having the same relation to the prevention of spyware that the CAN SPAM Act had to the prevention of spam. It allows exceptions for companies to utilize spyware for any number of reasons; if this bill had been law when Sony distributed their rootkit, they would have had perfect cover. Most troubling is that the bill would preempt all state laws, including those more focused on the privacy of people’s data, and disallow individuals from bringing suit. It is expected to pass soon with ’strong bipartisan support.’

Source: The Expositor
New surveillance cameras installed at Laurier Brantford buildings could help give students a greater feeling of security, especially after the recent shootings at Virginia Tech. Sixteen cameras, which will record comings and goings at entrances and exits at five Laurier buildings - Carnegie, Odeon, Grand River Hall, Journalism House, and Wilkes House - were installed in February.

Campus manager Tracy Arabski said cameras had already been in place at the doors of the student centre on George Street and are doing their jobs. A theft at the building was caught on tape and police were able to track the culprit. Additional cameras have been installed at the student centre parking lot. While Arabski said there have been a few minor security issues at the campus over in recent years, she said “safety is always an ongoing issue,” particularly given the downtown location of the university buildings. And, the subject of student safety has once again come to the forefront after the massacre at Virginia Tech earlier this month, when 32 students and faculty were killed by a deranged student before he shot himself. “The Virginia Tech shootings remind us all of the need for the protection of our students, staff and faculty on our campus,” Laurier president Robert Rosehart said in a posting on the university’s website.

Wilfrid Laurier in Waterloo has 107 video cameras in place that monitor much of the campus through a closed-circuit camera system. Security services are also available on a 24-hour basis at the school. In Brantford, campus security includes two full- and two part-time special constables who patrol the buildings during opening hours. Arabski said Brantford is also connected to Waterloo’s security department and help can be dispatched around the clock. The $40,000 surveillance cameras at the local campus were paid for through various sources, including the women’s campus safety committee.

Arabski said the city campus is also in the process of establishing a unique program called Laurier Safe Place. Similar to Block Parent, the program will involve downtown businesses that agree to put signs in their windows indicating that students who are feeling unsafe, for any reason, are welcome to come inside. Business owners will be supplied with emergency information to assist students. Arabski said about a dozen businesses are already on board. Some downtown shop owners themselves have recently been asking for added security to protect their businesses. Smash-and-grab robberies are common in the core. Some cities, including Hamilton and London, have surveillance cameras in their downtowns. Critics say the cameras provide a false sense of security, are costly and are an invasion of privacy.

Source: The Register
Science minister Malcolm Wicks suggested that such tagging technology, which is already used to track convicted criminals on early release from prison, could also help a family caring for an elderly relative. He told the BBC: “This is about dignity and independence in old age,” and said that far from making someone a prisoner in their own home, such a device could give a dementia sufferer the “freedom to roam around their communities”. Wicks said that permission from the individual concerned should be sought before using such a device.

Kate Jopling of Help the Aged told the BBC: “Although when we first hear this it smacks of ‘Big Brother’, we shouldn’t dismiss the possibility of some new technologies to help us in providing better care for people with dementia”. Tagging was introduced by the UK Home Office in 1999 as part of its home detention curfew scheme, which came about in an attempt to help reduce prison overcrowding. Such a surveillance device, which is attached to a person’s ankle, uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The tag communicates with a base station that is hooked up to a telephone line. If the person wanders out of range it sets off an alert.

But other technology options could also be considered, including GPS tracking. “Let’s use satellites and satellite technology to tackle some real important social issues that worry many families,” said Wicks. Symptoms of dementia, for which there is no cure, can often include memory loss and confusion, making thre sufferer more vulnerable to wandering off. According to the Alzheimer’s Society, there are currently 700,000 sufferers of dementia in the UK of which the majority are elderly people.

Source: UK Daily Mail
Up to 5.9 million children face having their fingerprints taken by schools in another move towards a ‘Big Brother’ society. Pupils will have to hand over their biometric details simply to borrow library books or gain access to school dinners. A million children’s fingerprints are believed to have been taken already, some without parental approval and even by ‘con tricks’ such as pretend spy games.

Freedom of Information data obtained by the Tories reveals a further 4.9 million sets of prints could now be added to school computers after the vast majority of local education authorities sanctioned the practice. Critics say it is part of a ’softening-up’ exercise to condition children to accept a creeping surveillance society. They also point to the danger of identity theft, if hackers manage to access school databases. Phil Booth, of the NO2ID campaign, said: “This is an abrogation of moral duty. Schools should be teaching children to look after their biometric information. They are going to grow up in a world where keeping it secure is enormously important, yet they are being taught that it is OK to hand it over for the most trivial of matters. It is a disgrace.”

The Tories say that, in some cases, it is being done without parents’ permission. Last month, it emerged a primary school headmaster had persuaded pupils to give their prints by pretending they were playing at being spies. He reportedly told youngsters at Ghyllside Primary School in Kendal, Cumbria, it was ‘just a game … so there’s no need to tell your parents’. The prints are used to operate the school’s new library system.

Source: Telegraph
The European Union’s privacy watchdog has given warning that new access for Europol to personal data could lead to individuals being labelled as terror suspects based on hearsay or records of their shopping habits.

The warning, from the head of the European Data Protection supervisor, comes amid moves to allow the EU police agency to process so-called “soft data” in search of relevant information for its criminal investigations. Peter Hustinx said that moves to give Europol the power to gather intelligence on “people who have not (yet) committed a crime” are without privacy safeguards.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “The proposal does not specify what data could be used in criminal investigations. It could be everything. It could be a vital detail such as an insurance company about a stolen car. But it could also be soft data, behavioural data.” The information could include statements of hearsay given to a local police force or data on personal shopping habits from a supermarket loyalty card, he said. Under the new Europol rules, expected to be agreed by governments later this year, people will be unable to find out what information is held on them unless all 27 EU police forces unanimously grant permission.

Sayed Kamall, the Conservative Euro-MP, shares the watchdog’s fears and is concerned that “behavioural data” will lead to ethnic profiling. “For example, someone who purchases kosher meat and never shops on the sabbath, or who buys halal meat but not alcohol, can easily be categorised and every purchase scrutinised, no matter how innocent it may be,” he said. Mr Hustinx, a Dutchman with decades of experience as a national privacy watchdog and data protection at the European level, is worried at the absence of proper safeguards to ensure the reliability of “soft data”.

He said that individuals could easily be identified as suspects, giving the example of someone seen standing next to a terror suspect at a bus stop and becoming labelled “a facilitator for terrorism”. Max-Peter Ratzel, Europol’s director, said that European law enforcers needed to update and extend the scope of intelligence gathering - which is unchanged since the EU police agency was set up in the early 1990s. “Our databases are on organised or serious international crime so I would assume that ordinary citizens would not have any possibility of being there,” he said.

Comment: Haven’t we seen what happens when governments ASSUME?

Source: Times Online
The government is predicting that some 15m people will revolt against Tony Blair’s controversial ID card scheme by refusing to produce the new cards or provide personal data on demand.

The forecast is made in documents released by the Home Office under the Freedom of Information Act. The papers show ministers expect national protests similar to the poll tax rebellions of the Thatcher era, with millions prepared to risk criminal prosecution.

Opposition MPs said the new documents proved their case that the programme would never work. David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: “This will cripple the system. Fifteen million is a massive number. What the Home Office is accepting in private, but refuses to accept in public, is that a massive number of ordinary law-abiding citizens simply will not go along with their scheme.”

Davis, whose party’s policy is to scrap the cards, added: “This will render it completely useless as a security or check mechanism of any sort.” The documents, quietly released during parliament’s Easter break, also show that the government is planning to make ID cards compulsory in 2014, despite the expected revolt. The first cards are due in 2009, alongside new passports. Labour has said it will make the scheme compulsory if it wins the next election.

Source: WREX TV
We’re used to giving personal information about ourselves when there’s a security issue, maybe using a credit card in a store or getting on an airplane. But new technology tracks us in places we may not even know about.

You can now put “going to a bar” on the list. Now when some places check your ID, they’ve got a permanent record of your information. The next time you request a table or order a round, the bartender might know your age, height, and eye color before you even make eye contact. That’s thanks to new scanning equipment that’s becoming mainstream. Rockford’s Silver Lounge uses scanners to uncover the underage. General Manager Addison Jun says, “It’s just pretty much this little scanner that’s meant to scan drivers licenses, business cards and it just kind of helps keep track of everybody.”

Bar-goers have mixed feelings about being cyber-carded and having their personal information saved in a database. One told 13 News, “It makes me pretty uncomfortable. You don’t know who’s working behind the door.” Billy Cook from Roscoe says, “I feel like it’s an invasion of privacy if they find out where you live. You never know where that info is going to go.”

But Jun says they do it for a good reason. “If it’s a fake, it lets us know that it’s not a valid ID. Security is a huge, huge issue in the nightlife business.”

But local security experts say don’t underestimate the old-fashioned role of the bouncer. Merchants Police Director Larry Hodges says, “It says here she’s 5′11″. The girl that produced the ID was only 5′5″. It says she’s 160 pounds, the girl that produced the ID was 125. So the machine doesn’t catch that. But the person does.” Cook says, “The established places that have good security will hopefully use it in the right manner and not abuse it.”

But bar owners also use it as a marketing tool. Because the scanner saves your address, they can then send out information about special events or upcoming promotions. They can only see and save what’s on the front of your license, including your address and picture. But they do not have access to a person’s criminal record, health information or credit background.

Source: BBC
The UK’s first talking CCTV cameras are publicly berating bad behaviour and shaming offenders into acting more responsibly. Recent trials saw cameras in Middlesborough have been fitted with speakers and allow control room operators who spot any anti-social acts - from dropping litter to late night brawls - to send out a verbal warning. The success of the trial in Middlesborough means the scheme will today be rolled out in designated areas across the country.