Results tagged “privacy” from Birmingham Mail - Technobabble

The law is currently still being formed on computer privacy.

Currently the internet resembles something like the 'wild west' with a fairly lawless frontier environment.

In most cases laws actually exist but few resources are dedicated towards enforcing them and protecting people - not least because there are no real borders online, so enforcing locally held laws is incredibly complex and difficult.

In my opinion one of the areas which certainly needs more attention is that of the 'tracking' programmes which seemingly get downloaded with great frequency, often contained in cookies.

I see some people are getting their knickers in a twist over plans which could see the government monitoring social networking sites like Facebook in the fight against crime and terrorism.

Some, such as Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake are concerned, and he said: "It is deeply worrying that they now intend to monitor social networking sites which contain very sensitive data like sexual orientation, religious beliefs and political views."

I suppose one question is: has anyone who choses to live their life in public got any claim to privacy any more?

The Facebook ethos is everyone can see everything.

People complain about the CCTV culture in our towns and cities but then stick up pictures of themselves wearing hardly anything or drunk out of their skulls.

A lot of people seem unable even to make the most rudimentary privacy settings meaning all their information, pictures and videos will be available to anyone.

And don't forget, if you die in a bizarre and horrible fashion, The Sun, (or *ahem* your regional paper) may well illustrate the story with a picture of you. Drunk. From Facebook.

The problem with all this government snooping is that they WILL end up misusing the legislation.

Other anti-terrorist measures have led to octagenarians being ejected from Labour Party Conferences and then arrested, and councils using the laws to monitor if people's wheeliebin lids are open more than an inch, along with many other examples.

Below: Would you want this to be your epitaph? Some people's privacy settings suggest they wouldn't mind if it was.

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Privacy campaigners have made a formal complaint about Google's controversial new mapping service, it was disclosed today.

Privacy International has lodged the complaint with the Information Commissioner over claims that a number of people are identifiable through the Street View service.

The application allows users to access 360-degree views of roads and homes in 25 British towns and cities and includes photographs of millions of residential addresses, people and cars.