How personal is personal?
The Register is reporting that the ICO wants a clearer definition of what consititutes ‘personal data’ – and it is indeed a crucial question, particularly under the current data protection regime. The...
View ArticleTaking a lead on privacy??
Two related stories about privacy and tracking are doing the rounds at the moment: both show the problems that companies are having in taking any sort of lead on privacy. The first is about Apple, and...
View Article10 reasons to leave Facebook…
If you’re looking for a New Year’s Resolution – have you considered leaving Facebook? There are many reasons to do so, and getting more compelling all the time – all it takes is a little resolution. 1)...
View ArticleBig Brother is watching you…. and so are his corporate partners
Privacy advocates are spoilt for choice these days about what to complain about – privacy invasions by business, or privacy invasions by the authorities? Over the last year or so, I’ve written...
View ArticleFood stamps and the database state…
The latest proposal for ‘food stamps’ has aroused a good deal of anger. It’s a policy that is divisive, depressing and hideous in many ways – Suzanne Moore’s article in the Guardian is one of the many...
View ArticlePRISM: Share with the CIA – and Facebook!
Going out for a pizza? Who wants to know? There’s been a joke going around the net over the last couple of weeks, inspired by the PRISM revelations. The picture above is just one of the examples –...
View ArticleiPhones, fingerprints and privacy
The latest iPhone, the iPhone 5S, launched last night with the usual ceremony. Slick, clever, sexy technology at its best. One feature stood out from the rest: ‘Touch ID’. As the Apple website puts it:...
View ArticleSurveillance and Consent
I was fortunate enough to speak at the Internet and Human Rights Conference at the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham on Wednesday. My talk was on the topic of internet...
View ArticlePrivacy isn’t selfish…
The importance of privacy is often downplayed. It sometimes seems as though privacy is viewed as something bad, something inherently selfish, something that ‘good’ people don’t need or really want – or...
View ArticleThe Facebook Experiment: the ‘why’ questions…
A great deal has been written about the Facebook experiment – what did they actually do, how did they do it, what was the effect, was it ethical, was it legal, will it be challenged and so forth – but...
View ArticleHappy Christmas from the IP Bill – part 4
Happy Christmas from the Investigatory Powers Bill – part 4
View Article