] In general, people would be well-advised firstly to stay
] well clear of all address-book and 'social networking
] systems', and secondly to prevail upon their friends,
] colleagues and acquaintances that they should avoid
] making any data about them available to service-operators
] like Plaxo.
]
] There are two qualifications to that general statement.
] Firstly, a service that was subject to reasonable data
] protection laws would be less objectionable than services
] located in the U.S.A. or other havens such as Australia
] or a third world country. Secondly, it is feasible to
] design a privacy-sensitive address-book service or social
] networking service. Unfortunately, none of the services
] referred to in this paper have demonstrated sufficient
] understanding of the issues to suggest that they could
] mature in that direction.

On the privacy of social networking sites

] Google notes and saves information such as
] time of day, browser type, browser language, and IP
] address with each query.
]
] Please be aware, however, that we will release specific
] personal information about you if required to do so in
] order to comply with any valid legal process such as a
] search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order.

While everyone is freaking out about their Tivos, Jeremy mentioned a much more serious issue. The fact is that TV only shows you popular culture. There are limited circumstances where surveillance of TV watching habits would really be problematic politically. TV is the soma. The Internet, on the other hand, makes your local library look tame. Google knows everything that you've thought about seriously in past 5 years. And what Google knows, the police know.

If they don't need permission or notification to pull your records from the library, how long before they can do the same with your Google records?

Google Privacy Policy

] TiVo estimated that halftime viewership among its
] customers was up 12 percent from 2003.
]
] The play-it-again company also reported that usage of its
] replay technology spiked a whopping 180 percent, the
] biggest surge ever measured, following the broadcast TV
] debut of Jackson's right mammary gland "as hundreds of
] thousands of households [TiVo'd] to view the incident
] again and again."

TiVo maintains records of everything that its customers view, including everything they ask for replays of! Is the FBI now going to be accessing this information to determine who's watching which TV shows??

TiVo's records of viewing habits

] This brings up a first major point: legislators do not
] pass laws in the expectation that everybody who violates
] them will automatically be caught and punished. Rather,
] they often pass new laws in order to send a message -- to
] their voters (that they're doing something about their
] concerns) and to the criminals (that if caught they will
] be dealt with harshly). There is a well-known presumption
] that criminals are acting rationally (in the economic
] sense) and their behaviour is influenced by the perceived
] reward for a successful crime, and both the risk and
] severity of punishment. This theory is implicitly taken
] into account by legislators when they draft legislation,
] because in our current state of affairs most crimes go
] undetected and unreported. A panopticon singularity would
] completely invalidate these assumptions.

This article contains little material that ought to be new, although some of the links are nice. I recommend it because I said this exact thing before. People tend to believe you more readily when you can reference someone else who has already said it.

The Panopticon Singularity

] This site provides live scanner audio of DeKalb County,
] Georgia Police, Fire, and EMS radio communications. Click
] on one of the links below to listen to the scanner.

ScanDeKalb: Live DeKalb County Police, Fire, and EMS Radio

] The FBI demanded Las Vegas hotels turn over their guest
] lists leading up to New Year's Eve to check against a
] U.S. master list of suspected terrorists, a law
] enforcement official said on Sunday.

This is the reason they are checking IDs at hotels now.

Wired News - FBI obtains ALL Las Vegas Jan 1 room lists with no court auth.

Chock full o' good "insider" informtion on the miltary and intelligence communities internationally.

Cryptome

Critics worry that it will become ubiquitous before legal guidelines are established.

Just Say No.

Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping Tabs

] I would promote a regime where the gov't required a very
] strong warrant-like reason before it could break the code that
] makes the link.

Well, I think maybe this is the first time I've found myself disagreeing with Lessig. I recall times when I've been unsure, but here I just flat disagree. Lessig is promoting identity escrow, which is kind of like key escrow, but for who you are rather then what you are saying. I'm bothered that Lessig doesn't think anonymnity is defendable. If you think that it always ought to be possible to identify everyone then you see with eyes of the policeman. If thats really how most people think today then I have little hope for our ability to maintain any freedom in the face of these threats. You don't have freedom defended by a vigilant public if the public likes freedom is dangerous.

[Politech] Larry Lessig replies to Politech over limiting anonymity [fs][priv]

] Unlike a database run by the state's Bureau of Criminal
] Apprehension, the MJNO network doesn't just tell police
] if a person has been convicted of a crime. It also tells
] whether they've ever been arrested or if they appear in
] police files as a victim, a suspect, a complainant or a
] witness. It has juvenile files.

Ever get turned down for a job because you were investigated but not charged with a crime? You will... (This is absolutely aweful. Its clear that this was done outside of the government because its grossly illegal and obviously couldn't get state funding. By retaining data about suspects once cases are over, and about people found innocent by the courts, you turn getting investigated/charged into something that carries a punishment (greater scrutiny forever). By retaining juvenile files you eliminate one of the core features of the juvenile justice system, which is that people who make mistakes when they are young are allow to make good and start again when they grow up. Finally, by doing this with a private company they ensure that this information will ultimately become available to private companies and PIs. This system must be pulled!)

USATODAY.com - Growing use of private police network raises concerns