Comments on: WSIS – better late than never

By: Maria

Maria — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 09:49:10 +0000

Thanks very much abusabletech, I’ll check that out. Mary Kay – you’re right, it turns out there were RFID tags in the I.D. badges we had to have. Privacy nut that I am, I’m amazed I never challenged the registration process with a query for how they were going to use my information. There were no privacy policies available, and I signed nothing to allow my personal data to be passed onto third parties. Judging from the amount of spam I’ve received from organisations tangentially connected to the WSIS, it’s plain that my email at least has been passed on without my consent – a clear violation of the Swiss data protection law. This stuff may be of theoretical or relatively trivial interest to me, but for some of the NGO people there it would be very worrying that their personal data is passed along to, for example, the Tunisian government. I know some NGO people were planning to bring to the summit a Tunisian who had been jailed for posting political comment on the internet – for this guy, it would be no joke at all if his personal info was passed along. Here’s the report on the issue which EPIC circulated in its newsletter yesterday; “Privacy protection of civil society representatives attending the Summit was called into question by a study highlighting technology used in Summit security. Independent researchers attending the event revealed security and privacy flaws in the security system used to control access to the Summit. Security badges issued to participants contained SmartCards and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Such technology can be triggered remotely without the cardholder noticing and allowed cardholders to be tracked in their attendance at the Summit. When participants were required to obtain security badges, they were not informed of the possible surveillance and were not provided with any information on privacy policies and procedures. ”

By: Abusabletech

Abusabletech — Wed, 17 Dec 2003 16:31:37 +0000

Maria: Thought this might interest you (assuming you aren’t already aware of it!). Abusable Technologies Awareness Center (ATAC) aims to provide current and accurate information about technology that oversteps its bounds. Whether the concerns relate to unexpected privacy violations or inappropriate security, ATAC serves as a clearinghouse for informed discussions. The panelists, all respected Computer Scientists introduce topics as new disclosures are made, and the forum is open to the public for discussion. This site is hosted at the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University. http://abusabletech.org/ or click the link below

By: Mary Kay

Mary Kay — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 20:37:50 +0000

That ever doubtful source the Washington Times had a report of a discovery of RFID chips implanted in badges which I could have sworn I blogged about, but can now no longer find. Am I hallucinating? Is it a conspiracy? Did anything of the sort actually happen? I did find the report online http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031214-011754-1280r.htm MKK

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 18:08:50 +0000

Andy Oram has written an excellent article on ICANN and the WSIS. He talks a lot of sense.