PRIVACY Forum Archive Document

PRIVACY Forum Home Page

PFIR - "People For Internet Responsibility" Home Page

Vortex Technology Home Page


PRIVACY Forum Digest     Wednesday, 22 August 2001     Volume 10 : Issue 06

                (http://www.vortex.com/privacy/priv.10.06)

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

    -------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The PRIVACY Forum is supported in part by
               the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)     
                 Committee on Computers and Public Policy,      
                 Cable & Wireless USA, Cisco Systems, Inc., 
                           and Telos Systems.
                                 - - -
             These organizations do not operate or control the     
          PRIVACY Forum in any manner, and their support does not
           imply agreement on their part with nor responsibility   
        for any materials posted on or related to the PRIVACY Forum.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------


CONTENTS 
        "A Day in the Life" (Lauren Weinstein; PRIVACY Forum Moderator)
        Sometimes you get to worrying about privacy and search engines... 
           (Danny Burstein)
        RFID tagging of merchandise (Scott Crumpton)
        Strategic Warfare in Cyberspace (Jud Wolfskill)


 *** Please include a RELEVANT "Subject:" line on all submissions! ***
            *** Submissions without them may be ignored! ***

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
content.  Submissions will not be routinely acknowledged.

All submissions should be addressed to "privacy@vortex.com" and must have
RELEVANT "Subject:" lines; submissions without appropriate and relevant
"Subject:" lines may be ignored.  Excessive "signatures" on submissions are
subject to editing.  Subscriptions are via an automatic list server system;
for subscription information, please send a message consisting of the word
"help" (quotes not included) in the BODY of a message to:
"privacy-request@vortex.com".  Mailing list problems should be reported to
"list-maint@vortex.com". 

All messages included in this digest represent the views of their
individual authors and all messages submitted must be appropriate to be
distributed and archived without limitations. 

The PRIVACY Forum archive, including all issues of the digest and all
related materials, is available via anonymous FTP from site "ftp ftp.vortex.com",
in the "/privacy" directory.  Use the FTP login "ftp" or "anonymous", and
enter your e-mail address as the password.  The typical "README" and "INDEX"
files are available to guide you through the files available for FTP
access.  PRIVACY Forum materials may also be obtained automatically via
e-mail through the list server system.  Please follow the instructions above
for getting the list server  "help" information, which includes details
regarding the "index" and "get" list server commands, which are used to access
the PRIVACY Forum archive.  

All PRIVACY Forum materials are available through the Internet Gopher system
via a gopher server on site "gopher.vortex.com/".  Access to PRIVACY Forum
materials is also available through the Internet World Wide Web (WWW) via
the Vortex Technology WWW server at the URL: "http://www.vortex.com";
full keyword searching of all PRIVACY Forum files is available via
WWW access.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 06

     Quote for the day:

         "May you soon have many extensions!"

            -- Harry Pepper, telephone installer (Herb Edelman)
               "Barefoot in the Park" (Paramount; 1967)

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

Date:    Wed, 22 Aug 2001 18:58:05 PDT
From:    lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein; PRIVACY Forum Moderator)
Subject: "A Day in the Life"


                             "REALITY RESET" 
        
                      http://www.vortex.com/reality

                                   by

                  Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)

                        = = = = = = = = = = = = =

                             August 13, 2001

                             Today's Edition:

                           "A Day in the Life"
  
                 http://www.vortex.com/reality/2001-08-13
                 
                        = = = = = = = = = = = = =

       To subscribe or unsubscribe to/from this list, please send the
       command "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" respectively (without the 
       quotes) in the body of an e-mail to "reality-request@vortex.com". 

                        = = = = = = = = = = = = =


 "A Day in the Life" (August 13, 2001)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

*** CITIZEN ACTIVITY REPORT ***
 
C O N F I D E N T I A L 

August 11, 2014
1900 - 2100 PDT

Serial Ident: 0A49-Mat4-Net4G-9384-A4939-6
Requested by: Samuels, G. (G59949/DJ-44 WASH)
Request date: August 12, 2014, 0831 PDT
Detail Level: Normal

Citizen ID (E-SSN): 4842-39-2842
Citizen Name: Conners, Gerald T.
Citizen Poli Affil: Republican (030/219-3)
Citizen Voting Rec Score: 63 (Ref 2012 General)
 
REPORT BEGINS 

1900 PDT
LOCAT-Marker B39134 
Address Ident: Residence
Conners, Gerald T. (E-SSN: 4842-39-2842)
49212 N. Sawtelle Blvd., L.A. CA 90066-3942-31
Grid Ref: 90066-3942-04550-4

1930 PDT
Power Consum = +.04
RF Detect = Radio (local/terrest): KFWB 980 (News)

1945 PDT
TEL [Dial Source: +310 1121 3912] (Dial OUT 1+11D): +1 415 2801 3913
Dial Dest Lookup: Framil, Betty K. (E-SSN: 5912-32-2911) 
Citizen Poli Affil: Democratic (050-239/3)
Citizen Voting Rec Score: 89 (Ref 2012 General)

2015 PDT
Vehicle Start [Vehicle Lic: CA 4LUVYA4-3]
GPS LOCK: Confirmed (Phase +3)

2020 PDT
LOCAT-Marker B59312
En-Route: Intersection: Sawtelle Blvd./Venice Blvd.
Grid Ref: 90066-3912-01111-5
GPS LOCK: Confirmed (Phase +1)

2025 PDT
EVENT: AUTOSPEED TRIGGER
Photo Ident CONFIRMED: Conners, Gerald T. (E-SSN: 4842-39-2842)
(Photo ID Confidence: 98.2%)
Vehicle Lic: CA 4LUVYA4-3
Venice Blvd. (CAM 09493-90066)
Grid Ref: 90066-3912-42919-1
Route Speed Limit: 25mph (+3)
Vehicle Speed (Lic: CA 4LUVYA4-3): 31mph 
FINE ISSUED, Debit CC/2919 32294 442190 99338 (First Bank of L.A.)
Total Debit: $1,750.00 (Auth TK4931301)
Points +3: UPDATE Milebank Insurance Policy #2921-1777-43
Confirmed Milebank OPS (BA3990-2D)

2035 PDT
Vehicle Stop [Vehicle Lic: CA 4LUVYA4-3]
3941 Venice Blvd.
Grid Ref: 90064-9921-11193-0
GPS LOCK: Confirmed (Phase +1)
Addr Ident: Bosco Drugstore (ID: 4921/2103-LA-92)

2045 PDT
EVENT: PURCHASE, Debit CC/2919 32294 442190 99338 (First Bank of L.A.)
1) Birthday Card (NottyStuff 0390A-393D) E-UPC: 39293034: $12.50 
2) Prophylac Quan:12 (Troj GG93023/Rib) E-UPC: 11948386: $42.12
Total Debit (incl loc tax): $65.49 (Auth TK4938703)

2048 PDT
Vehicle Start [Vehicle Lic: CA 4LUVYA4-3]
GPS LOCK: Confirmed (Phase +3)

2052 PDT
LOCAT-Marker B59791
En-Route: Intersection: Venice Blvd./Robertson Blvd.
Grid Ref: 90064-0003-01393-2
GPS LOCK: Confirmed (Phase +2)
Photo Ident CONFIRMED: Conners, Gerald T. (E-SSN: 4842-39-2842)
(Photo ID Confidence: 99.1%)

2058 PDT
Vehicle Stop [Vehicle Lic: CA 4LUVYA4-3]
Addr Ident: Residence
4388 Robertson Blvd., L.A. CA 90064-2912-01
Framil, Betty K. (E-SSN: 5912-32-2911) 
Grid Ref: 90064-2911-39399-1
GPS LOCK: Confirmed (Phase +2)

REPORT ENDS

"Have a Nice Day"
          
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

= = = = = =

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@pfir.org or lauren@vortex.com or lauren@privacyforum.org
Co-Founder, PFIR: People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

Copyright 2001 by Vortex Technology.  All rights reserved.
This item may be freely redistributed so long as it is complete 
and includes this notice.

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

Date:    Sun, 12 Aug 2001 05:18:08 EDT
From:    danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: Sometimes you get to worrying about privacy and search engines... 

As background, we recently had a highly publicized case where an off duty
NYC police officer, enroute to his roll call, was charged with driving his
car into, and killing three people. And, the indictment alleges, he had
spent the (nominal) 16 hours between tours drinking, leading to a blood
alcohol level that tested at 0.20 percent.

So I figured it was time to get an updated copy of the Federal regulations
concerning alcohol and drug testing in safety sensitive positions which
include, for example, transit workers (aircraft, train, bus, subway),
people with Commercial Drivers Licenses, and a fair amount of others [a].
So I went to one of the search engines.

After entering in a bunch of relevant keywords, I got back a list of a
couple of dozen likely looking sites.

Lo and behold, in the "sponsored links" (no endorsement implied nor
suggested for the companies... but their names are relevant to this
posting) on the side of the page I get:

        Pass your drug test
        clear choice drug testing solutions
        double your money back guarantee!!
        www.testnegative.com

                and

        certified clean urine
        if you're concerned about a drug
        test, we have the answer
        www.urinetheclear.com

So... throw in cookies and other tracking methods, and it looks like a bit
of nastiness can be on the way.

[a] in very short and superficial summary, a large category of workers are
considered to be in "safety sensitive" positions. These folk are supposed
to be drug and alcohol tested after any serious incident [b]. Also, of
cours,e if there's suspicious behaviour such as walking into the wall
instead of to the locker. And depending on occupation, various percentages
are supposed to be randomly screened each year.

There are different federal regs and agencies involved depending on the
types of workers and a whole bunch of other factors so the exact specifics
will vary, but the concepts are similar. Note that for most of these
groups the Feds use the "funding" trick wielded so successfully in, for
example, the late 55 mph speed limit.

[b] while there's a lot of latitude as to what's considered a serious
incident, in general it's one in which there is an injury or if there's
enough damage to (quoting a NYC Transit Authority directive from memory)
"remove the vehicle from revenue service".

Note, btw, that in the case of a subway derailment (or similar events in
other transit situations) it's not just the train operator who gets
tested, but all crew members on the train, as well as the tower
operators and a whole bunch of others.

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

Date:    Wed, 11 Jul 2001 12:29:25 EDT
From:    Scott Crumpton <nescc@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu>
Subject: RFID tagging of merchandise

In the June 21, 2001, issue of EDN magazine on page 52 there's a "How It
Works" article by Warren Webb entitled "Stop! Thief!" that explains how
merchandise anti-theft, or Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS),
devices work.  Here's an excerpt from the article:

Some retailers now require manufacturers to include security tags inside
merchandise packaging.  This technique, called source tagging, saves
retailers the labor cost associated with applying the tags.  Some
manufacturers have proposed integrating security tags into the product.
For example, RF tags sewn into garments as a brand label would be
difficult to remove.

And the closing paragraph:

You can describe most of today's EAS systems as 1-bit subsets of RFID
technology. Retailers of the future will probably use
manufacturer-supplied RFID tags to combine EAS functions, customer
checkout, and inventory tracking. Each tag will deliver a unique code
upon interrogation, and deactivation will be unnecessary because the EAS
system will have a record of purchases. In fact, with a common Internet
database, EAS systems will be able to identify stolen goods from any
retailer.

Now mix 1 part garment imbedded RFID tags, 1 part credit card data, and
a dash or two of big brother paranoia and I think it's obvious where
this could lead.  Where were you last Thursday?  Don't bother answering,
they'll already know.

---Scott.

-- 
Scott C Crumpton,  Systems Coordinator
Northeast Regional Data Center,  University of Florida
mailto:nescc@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu
(352) 392-2061

                [ I recently found such a tag deep inside a new programmable
                  thermostat.  However, it's unclear if the tag was present
                  as a theft-detection measure, or (more likely in this case)
                  as a manufacturing/inventory control mechanism. 

                                -- PRIVACY Forum Moderator ]
     
------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 24 Jul 2001 13:35:37 EDT
From:    Jud Wolfskill <wolfskil@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Strategic Warfare in Cyberspace 

Book Announcement:

Strategic Warfare in Cyberspace
by Gregory J. Rattray

In the "information age," information systems may serve as both weapons and
targets. Although the media have paid a good deal of attention to
information warfare, most treatments so far are overly broad and without
analytical foundations. In this book Gregory Rattray offers a comprehensive
analysis of strategic information warfare waged via digital means as a
distinct concern for the United States and its allies.
Rattray begins by analyzing salient features of information infrastructures
and distinguishing strategic information warfare from other types of
information-based competition, such as financial crime and economic
espionage. He then establishes a conceptual framework for the successful
conduct of strategic warfare in general, and of strategic information
warfare in particular. Taking a historical perspective, he examines U.S.
efforts to develop air bombardment capabilities in the period between World
Wars I and II and compares them to U.S. efforts in the 1990s to develop the
capability to conduct strategic information warfare. He concludes with
recommendations for strengthening U.S. strategic information warfare
defenses.

Gregory J. Rattray is currently the Commander of the 23rd Information
Operations Squadron responsible for U.S. Air Force information warfare
tactics and target development. He was previously assigned to Headquarters
Air Force as the Deputy Chief, Defensive Information Warfare Division. He
is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

7 x 9, 480 pp., 16 illus., 3 charts, cloth ISBN 0-262-18209-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jud Wolfskill                                   617.253.2079 phone
Associate Publicist                             617.253.1709 fax
MIT Press                                       wolfskil@mit.edu
5 Cambridge Center                              http://mitpress.mit.edu
Fourth Floor
Cambridge, MA  02142

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

End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 10.06
************************


PRIVACY Forum Home Page

Vortex Technology Home Page

Copyright © 2005 Vortex Technology. All Rights Reserved.