fuNctioN cReeP

Monday, June 13, 2005

"With the recent power outage in Dubai, many establishment and home owners could not enter their premises as their card technology would not work whereas buildings using SimonsVoss digital locking systems and transponder technology did not face such a problem. SimonsVoss Technologies AG, the leading German Access Control and Biometrics Company, has developed the latest digital locking and access control system, which does not require electricity to work."
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Cash, Charge, or Fingerprint?
"The owner of BioPay LLC, which makes the technology used at the store, predicts the finger scan soon will be ubiquitous, offering speed and convenience for consumers. But civil libertarians have raised privacy concerns, citing some recent problems. In February, ChoicePoint Inc., a background-screening company that collects personal information -- including biometric data -- said it accidentally sold more than 100,000 individual profiles to identity thieves."
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The Dangers Of Medical e-Records
"'You won't believe what I've found,' the young woman's friend wrote in an email. "Check out this weblink." She clicked on the address. It took her straight to a publicly accessible part of the St Vincent's Hospital website, where her personal medical file had been posted along with the files of 12 others.

Containing information she had disclosed to no one other than the hospital - involving self-harm, mental illness and gender identity - the inadvertent revelation of such personal details was devastating. The hospital quickly removed the files but, for her, the damage was done.

Most of us are seduced by the convenience of technology, and often live a life connected by mobiles, email and the internet. But it is only a matter of time, some say, before "function creep" takes us to places we thought we would never go. Where the possible becomes the inevitable, where governments, business and industry will do it just because they can.

The changes will seem minor at first. But experts warn the barriers to accessing personal medical information will soon be broken down, and the privacy we had once taken for granted will soon disappear."
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Written at 12:07 AM by rene - PermaLink

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fuNctioN cReeP: is what occurs when an item, process, or procedure designed for a specific purpose ends up serving another purpose for which it was never planned to perform.

Big Brother: an entity that is able to watch over all our actions in a unknown restrictive, controlling way with covert technology or other clandestine activities. It is commonly used to refer to a fear of the day when we will have zero privacy, due to government surveillance and personal accurate knowledge. The term was born from George Orwell's book "1984" where a government controls its citizens through continual surveillance.

The 4th Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Panopticon: first used by Jeremy Bentham as an architectual model in designing a prison. The concept follows that you could save money by building a circular prison with a singular tower in the middle for the guard. By keeping the guard in the dark and all the prisoners in the light, those being guarded could not tell when they were being watched.

Surveillance: In the middle ages, Surveillance was a man on a horse who was called a "scout." Now surveillance includes satellite imagery and aerial photography, sometimes from unmanned aircraft, and computer network hacking. Some more common, everyday surveillance techniques include eavesdropping, dumpster diving, video monitoring, and RFID.

Biometrics: automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic. Among the features measured are; face, fingerprints, hand geometry, handwriting, iris, retinal, vein, and voice. Biometric technologies are becoming the foundation of an extensive array of highly secure identification and personal verification solutions.

Iris Scanning is a method of biometric identification; pattern recognition is used to determine the identity of the subject. Iris scans create high-resolution images of the irides of the eye; IR illumination is used to reduce specular reflection from the cornea. The iris itself is a "good subject" for biometric identification, because it is an internal organ that is well protected, it is mostly flat and it has a fine texture that is unique even for identical twins.

RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items at a distance. RFID "spy chips" have been hidden in the packaging of Gillette razor products and in other products you might buy at a local Wal-Mart, Target, or Tesco - and they are already being used to spy on people.

The VeriChip passive RFID device is the core of key VeriChip applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip contains a unique verification number, which can be used to access a Subscriber-supplied database providing specific information. Once implanted just under the skin, via a quick, painless outpatient procedure (much like getting a shot), the VeriChip can be scanned when necessary with a proprietary VeriChip scanner. A small amount of radio frequency energy passes from the scanner energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the individuals unique verification (VeriChipID) number.