What Future?

Posted by Greg at February 8th, 2007

So, the Calgary Health Region has finally rolled out their Electronic Health Record program, after years in development. They even hope to make it available to to home user:

The public will eventually be able to access their own health information, but that won’t happen until a consultation process is completed.

Wait a minute. What about privacy? What if a hacker gets access to our most personal of personal information, that about our own biological bodies? Worry not:

Bill Trafford, the head of advanced technology for the health region, said the system was secure against hacking. None of the information is downloadable and it is password protected.

Anyone who says systems are secure against hacking and that none of the information is downloadable while promising to let people view the information from home over the internet needs to a) give their head a shake and b) not be in charge of advanced technology.

Posted by Greg at November 2nd, 2006

From Slashdot comes Privacy International’s 2006 ranking of the best and worst international defenders of privacy and perpetrators of surveillance.

What Future? usually tries to avoid this kind of Big Brother privacy/surveillance talk, but anything other than anecdotal evidence of the erosion of privacy rights around the world is pretty rare. This kind of comparative study shows us exactly where we stand in terms of rights of the individual and offers incentive for governments to improve through legislation and regulation.
The final rankings:

1. Germany
2. Canada
3. Belgium
3. Austria
5. Greece
6. Argentina
6. Hungary
8. France
8. Poland
8. Portugal
8. Cyprus
12. Finland
13. Italy
13. Luxembourg
13. Latvia
13. Estonia
13. Malta
18. Denmark
18. Czech Republic
18. Ireland
18. Lithuania
18. New Zealand
18. Slovakia
24. Australia
24. Spain
26. Slovenia
26. Netherlands
28. Israel
28. Sweden
30. United States
31. Thailand
31. Philippines
33. Britain
34. Singapore
34. Russia
36. Malaysia
36. China

Posted by Greg at June 7th, 2006

You’d be hard pressed to find Canadians who aren’t glad that the suspects in the alleged terrorist plot to blow up the Peace Tower, and no matter their thoughts on Stephen Harper they’d rather see him removed from office at the polls than by a machete.

That said, when the RCMP start throwing around terms like “cyber-jihadish” and “generation jihad” to describe how the plot was orchestrated over the internet, I get a bit nervous. We’ve seen the abuse of increased police surveillance powers in the United States in recent weeks, from illegal wiretapping to the NSA keeping a record of every phonecall made in the country. Will the RCMP, CSIS, and Harper’s Conservatives take this opportunity to use the fears of Canadians to push for increased powers in this country? Let’s just keep in mind that the terror suspects were caught before they could execute their plot. It seems the RCMP’s current powers are just fine.

We’ve already seen the spittle flying from the mouths of the Western Standard bloggers, but that’s not unusual. I’ll be watching major newspapers over the coming weeks to see if they start suggesting that we spy on our neighbours of buff up the RCMP’s rights to surveil Canadians.

Posted by Greg at December 22nd, 2005

Merry Christmas, UK:

Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several yeears.

I’ve got nothing to hide, so what do I have to be scared of? Right guys? Right? In the words of Coldcut, “the more you’re watched, the safer you are.”

From We Make Money Not Art.

Posted by Carol at November 29th, 2005

C-60. Yep, that bitch is deader than the nerves in Tara Reid’s nipples.

But before the requisite hoorays for the dissolution of parliament, shouldn’t we give pause and consider what reincarnation this beast will take in the February sitting?

Posted by Greg at October 11th, 2005

In a move sure to draw fire from the insurance industry but that has already won cheers from cranky privacy advocates, IBM has promised not to use DNA testing as a factor in deciding employment or insurance eligibility.

…and the image of GATTACA as a possible future gets a much-needed kick in the teeth.