PRIVACY Forum Digest     Friday, 31 December 1993     Volume 02 : Issue 38

          Moderated by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
            Vortex Technology, Woodland Hills, CA, U.S.A.
        
                     ===== PRIVACY FORUM =====

          The PRIVACY Forum digest is supported in part by the 
              ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy.


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                   *** BEST WISHES FOR 1994! ***
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CONTENTS 
        Mail with SSN visible (Wm. Randolph Franklin)
        Re: "On the Road to Nosiness?" (Judy Sammel)
        Public Hearings on Privacy (Dave Banisar)


 *** Please include a RELEVANT "Subject:" line on all submissions! ***
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The Internet PRIVACY Forum is a moderated digest for the discussion and
analysis of issues relating to the general topic of privacy (both personal
and collective) in the "information age" of the 1990's and beyond.  The
moderator will choose submissions for inclusion based on their relevance and
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VOLUME 02, ISSUE 38

   Quote for the day:

        "I'm strong to the finich,
         'Cause I eat my spinich.
         I'm Popeye the Sailor Man! (Boop! Boop!)"

             -- Animated and comic strip character "Popeye"; created in the
                1930's by Max Fleischer for his original animated cartoons.
                Two hundred more cartoons (much lower quality) featuring
                Popeye were made between 1961 and 1963, and were aired in
                various syndicated and network venues.

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Date:    Mon, 13 Dec 1993 18:39:52 -0500
From:    Wm Randolph Franklin <wrf@ecse.rpi.edu>
Subject: Mail with SSN visible

Concerning:

   > Date:    Fri, 10 Dec 93 18:33:15 GMT
   > From:    Brinton Cooper <abc@ARL.ARMY.MIL>
   > Subject: SSN's in Mail Addresses

   > Further, as the Postal Service is bound, under the Privacy Act, to
   > not disclose any information relating to the individual, ...

 ... except when they sell your change-of-address info to mass
marketers, or they ignore a forwarding order and deliver your mail to
the next occupant at the address, or they deliver your mail to your
neighbor, or ...

New York State also prints your SSN on address labels used to mail state
tax booklets and forms.  So does the IRS, if I remember rightly, at
least for the 1040.

When the Daily Racing Form printed notices of official actions
concerning jockeys, they would print the jockeys' SSNs as well as their
names.  At least they did 20 years ago; dunno about today.

On the other hand, T Rowe Price just announced that they've stopped
printing your SSN on account statements.

--
 Wm. Randolph Franklin,  wrf@ecse.rpi.edu, (518) 276-6077;  Fax: -6261
 ECSE Dept., 6026 JEC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst, Troy NY, 12180 USA

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Date:    Thu, 16 Dec 93 22:23 EST
From:    Sammel@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL
Subject: Re: "On the Road to Nosiness?"

Concerning the use of photos and sensors to catch traffic violations,
John M.  Joy (joyjohnm@cps.msu.edu) writes:

 : Dollars to donuts the person to whom the vehicle is registered gets the
 : bill (and the point assessment), not (necessarily) the driver.  Are these
 : photos really clear enough to identify the face of a driver beyond a
 : reasonable doubt (particularly when members of the same family tend to
 : drive the same vehicles, and members of the same family tend to resemble
 : one another)?

     I was living in Germany a couple of years ago, where these setups
are widely used.  I got nabbed for running a red light (it was still
yellow, officer, honest...)  by one of them.  The setup consists of two
cameras, one which takes a picture just as you cross into the
intersection, and another which takes one about a second later, to see
whether you went completely through.  (This is to avoid ticketing people
who actually stop at the intersection, but a little beyond the line.)  I
saw the flash from the first photo, but was going too fast to stop.
When I got the photos in the mail (along with a DM 120 ticket and
several points on my license) not only could you clearly recognize my
face, but you could also tell by the facial expression in the photo that
I was using my favorite obscenity at the time the second picture was
taken, since by then I knew I'd been caught.

     Sent along with this was a form you could fill out if you wanted to
fight the ticket, and it was my understanding that if you could show
that you were not the one driving, you might have a chance of winning.

  Judy Sammel
  Sammel@Dockmaster.ncsc.mil

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 17 Dec 1993 13:00:10 EST
From:    Dave Banisar <banisar@washofc.cpsr.org>
Subject: Public Hearings on Privacy

                              NEWS
                   US OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE              Contact: George  Idelson  (USOCA)
  December 10, 1993                           (202)634-4344
                                              Patricia  Faley  (USOCA)
                                              (202)634-4329

  PUBLIC HEARINGS ON INFORMATION AGE PRIVACY SET FOR CALIFORNIA AND
  WASHINGTON, DC.

  Sacramento: January 10-11,  1994;  Washington,  DC:  January  26-27,
  1994.  Public Invited to Participate.

       Representatives from the public,  private  and  non  profit
  sectors will present their views on personal privacy and data
  protection in the information age at public  hearings  of  a  U.S.
  Government task force in early 1994.

       The hearings will be open meetings  of  the  Privacy  Working
  Group, chaired by Patricia Faley,  Acting  Director  of  the  United
  States Office of Consumer Affairs (USOCA).  The Working Group is
  part of a task force set up by  the  Clinton  Administration  to
  consider how to spur development of an "information
  superhighway." officially known  as  the  National  Information
  Infrastructure (NII), the "data highway" will be capable of
  exchanging data, voice and images  electronically  within  a  vast
  network of individuals, businesses, government agencies and other
  organizations around the world.  Ensuring ready access to
  information is the goal of the Administrative initiative, but
  protecting individual privacy is essential to its success.

       The public meetings will examine privacy issues relating to
  such areas as law  enforcement,  financial  services,  information
  technology, and direct marketing.  The California meeting,
  January 10th and llth, will be hosted  by  Jim  Conran,  Director,
  California Department of Consumer Affairs  in  the  First  Floor
  Hearing Room at 400 R  Street  in  Sacramento.  The  Washington,  DC
  meeting, January 26th and 27th, will be held at the U.S.
  Department of Commerce Auditorium,  14th  &  Constitution  Ave.  NW.
  Registration begins at 8:30am, meetings at 9am.

       The public is invited to attend,  question  speakers  and  to
  make brief comments, but space is limited.  Concise written
  statements for the record should be sent to "Privacy," USOCA,
  1620 L Street NW, Washington DC 20036 or faxed to (202)634-4135.

                                  # # #

United States Office of Comumer Affairs - 1620 L Street, NW,  Washington,
D.C. 20036-5605

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End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 02.38
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