Data collection and privacy

[newfhouse]

A post the other day about the big tech companies being given access to government level data about us set me thinking about how much I share, deliberately or carelessly. Mozilla’s ‘Privacy Not Included’ project makes for interesting reading. Happy to share the details of your sex life? Keep driving that Nissan or Kia.

• Nissan earned its second-to-last spot for collecting some of the creepiest categories of data we have ever seen. It’s worth reading the review in full, but you should know it includes your “sexual activity.” Not to be out done, Kia also mentions they can collect information about your “sex life” in their privacy policy. Oh, and six car companies say they can collect your “genetic information” or “genetic characteristics.” Yes, reading car privacy policies is a scary endeavor.

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/p...t-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/

 

[newfhouse]

If liar Chris Philp is in favour…

The UK's surveillance camera commissioner has said government plans to allow police to access passport photos to catch criminals risks damaging public trust.
Policing minister Chris Philp said he wanted officers to be able to access a wider range of databases.
He claimed a new data platform could be built within two years.
But Prof Fraser Sampson said it could make passport-holders feel as if they were in a "digital line-up".
At present, photos on the police national database are limited to individuals who have been arrested.
The police can check images from dashcam and doorbell technologies, as well as home and business security cameras, against the national database.
Mr Philp told the Conservative Party conference this week: "I'm going to be asking police forces to search all of those databases — the police national database, which has custody images, but also other databases like the passport database."
However, Prof Sampson told the BBC it was important that the police avoided giving people the impression they were on a "digital line up."
"The state has large collections of good quality photographs of a significant proportion of the population - drivers and passport holders being good examples - which were originally required and given as a condition of, say, driving and international travel," he said.
"If the state routinely runs every photograph against every picture of every suspected incident of crime simply because it can there is a significant risk of disproportionality and of damaging public trust."
Mr Philp said he wanted a system that would enable officers to "press one button" and "search it all."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67004576