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Privacy International Releases 2007 Report
Posted by
timothy
on Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:03 PM
from the state-with-a-big-essssss dept.
from the state-with-a-big-essssss dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Privacy International has released their report on privacy for 2007, which includes a color-coded world map that highlights the countries with the best privacy laws, the privacy-hostile countries being in black. While many of the overall rankings may come as no surprise, it does highlight some of the more obscure abuses. For example, Venezuela requires your fingerprints just to get a phone and South Korea requires a government registration number linked to your identity before you can post on message boards. Makes you wonder who is Number One?"
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Submission: Privacy International Releases 2007 Report by Anonymous Coward
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Telescreen International (Score:3, Funny)
Report forgot Japan's treatment of "foreigners"! (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe other countries should start fingerprinting Japanese visitors and residents, and then sell the biometric data to those Nigerian scammers.
This fingering of "foreigners" is even worse considering that Japan is the only first world nation not to have any anti-discrimination legislation, and legal "foreigners" in Japan are not even afforded even the mere basic of protection under the law. (Foreigners in Japan do have any Habeas Corpus and can be tortured in prison for up to 21 days. Testimony by foreigners in Japan has been ruled inadmissible in court, since there are not considered to be human by the Japanese ministry of Justice.)
Re:Report forgot Japan's treatment of "foreigners" (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd%5B347%5D=x-347-558619 [privacyinternational.org]
"PI leads coalition of organisations against Japanese Government plans for fingerprinting at border
19/11/2007
Today, in a coalition with 18 Japanese rights groups, Privacy International delivered a letter to the Japanese Minister of Justice to protest against the implementation of a fingerprinting system and face-scanning system at its borders. All visitors and many forei
Re:Report forgot Japan's treatment of "foreigners" (Score:5, Informative)
Nope. Accenture was formerly named Andersen Consulting
which did the falsified books for Enron and Worldcom.
Nope. That was Arthur Andersen. Two different companies.
Parent
Re:Report forgot Japan's treatment of "foreigners" (Score:3, Informative)
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Absolutely true, and the fingerprinting is only the beginning.
You would think that if such fingerprinting measures were taken at the border, any foreigner admitted to the country would be considered not to be a criminal, but in fact the Japanese government doesn't start trusting you even a bit.
All non-citizens -- even permanent residents -- are forced to carry Alien Registration Cards at all times. These cards alone contain enough information to offer any mugger the opportunity to become an identity th
B.S. (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/internet/interimrankings.pdf [privacyinternational.org]
Regardless of what you think of Facebook's controversial features... even YEARS ago, Facebook has offered super granular acc
Facebook (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow, you're really kind to Facebook.
Have you also noticed that their entire modus operandi is basically to get friends to provide information about each other? And that if you've ever created an account there, even if you deactivate it, they still keep your personal information around indefinitely and allow people to continue doing things like tagging you in photos?
I don't know how anyone rational can view services like Facebook as not being a serious threat to privacy.
Of course, I'm about as likely t
Incorrect Data - UK Identity Cards (Score:3, Informative)
Ok, the Government wants to introduce them but AFAIK, the bill to introduce them has not been passed by Parliament and received Royal Ascent( The Queen's Signature )
There are several Political Parties which are totally opposed to the introduction of ID Cards.
Finally, given the fiasco that normally accompanies government IT Projects, I don't expect to see them introduced before 2020 anyway.
If only it were incorrect... (Score:3, Informative)
The UK does not have ID Cards. Ok, the Government wants to introduce them but AFAIK, the bill to introduce them has not been passed by Parliament and received Royal Ascent( The Queen's Signature )
Unfortunately, you are mistaken. The Identity Cards Act received royal assent, becoming law, on 30 March 2006. [homeoffice.gov.uk]
The first legal battle has already been lost. Now it's down to either electing someone to repeal the law before it really takes hold, or sufficient civil disobedience to undermine the law. Fortunately, both of those events are quite likely.
Re:I see the US (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet for those who are aware of the world around them, it is easy to see great chunks of freedom, liberty and privacy being wrestled from our grasps on a daily basis. Usually without much defense on our part. We just hand it over. It's like being a passenger on an ocean liner and touting the safety and reliability of the vessel even as you wade across the submerged deck, up to your hips in salt water.
What it all really means, is "I can still buy a $5 latte and my favorite sit-com with the offensively stereo-typed ethnic characters is still on television and I can still follow my favorite commercial sports team, so I *must* have an ass-load of freedom!".
Parent
Re:I see the US (Score:4, Insightful)
The value of "freedom" as an american ideal was a great thing and shaped the very foundations of our government. That value is long since dead. Early Americans understood the value of personal freedom. They were very diverse and many of them were immigrants from oppressive cultures. Even the strict puritans espoused a policy of letting those outside their community make choices they disapproved of.
Here's an experiment. Go find a few normal people and have a conversation with them about a few political topics. Notice that no matter what their political affiliation, the vast majority of them think it is just and ethical for them to pass laws to take choices away from others, even when those choices do not affect anyone else. Be it hunting bans or gay marriage or prohibiting heroin, nearly everyone is in favor of passing at least one law to tell other people how to live their lives. Ask them if they value freedom and they'll tell you they do, but ask them specifics and you'll see they don't mean it. They want everyone to be free so long as they don't make choices they disapprove of.
Freedom is the right of others to make choices you think are wrong and supporting freedom means supporting the right of others to make those wrong choices. Unless that value becomes important to Americans, our civil rights will continue to erode from both ends of the political spectrum and both major political parties.
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Personally I find this offensively stereo-typing americans.
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Well, actually, if that's all you care about, isn't that all that matters? I mean, life can be good even without freedom and democracy.
I know, I know. Checks on the power of government are supposed to protect us against the government making our lives miserable. But how effective are they,
Re:I see the US (Score:5, Insightful)
And that's a problem.
Parent
Re:I see the US (Score:4, Insightful)
Another point is that many Americans are capable of perceiving problems where there are not any problems.
And that too is a problem.
Parent
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pre-2001 USA Versus post-2001 USA (Score:5, Interesting)
Note that the European Union seems to have protected its citizens (from terrorism) without abridging basic civil rights.
Parent
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But the changes to privacy-law's done alone in the past year in Germany is an outrage. And did you know that the police can track _any_ vehicle on highways and most lar
Re:pre-2001 USA Versus post-2001 USA (Score:4, Interesting)
9/11 was triple christmas for Bush-Cheney. Those who would disagree I have one word, ASHCROFT.
Note that the European Union seems to have protected its citizens (from terrorism) without abridging basic civil rights.
A lot of the former slave states from the USSR seem to have gone out of their way to be pro-Privacy. 7 ranked higher then the US and 3 for the top five were former soviet.
Parent
Re:pre-2001 USA Versus post-2001 USA (Score:4, Insightful)
Seems, perhaps, but hasn't. We (I live in the EU) weren't very much of a target until we went along with the USA invading Afghanistan and Iraq. But we did go along, and we got train bombings in Madrid. Perhaps the bombings in London are related, too. So I wouldn't really say the EU has protected its citizens (but it's good to note here that the EU had little to do with anything; everything I'm talking about in this post was actually decided by individual member states).
As for privacy, take into account that in many European countries, there wasn't much of that to begin with. I believe the Netherlands (where I live) is the country that spies on its citizens most, worldwide. This is not widely perceived as a problem, however. People here are far more trusting of the government than people in the USA. The government knows where I live. My Internet traffic is logged. Phones may be tracked and tapped; I don't think there is any need to get a warrant for that. Police can stop me and require me to show ID whenever they want to. There are cameras everywhere. Speeding on the highway? Picture taken; ticket is in the mail. Soon, they'll track cars to make us pay taxes depending on where we drove at what time.
Privacy? What's that? Oh, you mean these laws that companies have to adhere to, where they have to make sure data doesn't fall into other company's hands...but they have to keep it around in case the government needs it. Yeah, those laws might be enforced. There certainly seem to be fewer problems with identity fraud here than in the USA.
Don't get me wrong. Life in the EU is good. I am happy to live in the Netherlands. But let's not point and laugh at the USA before taking a look at ourselves.
Parent
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How are any of the above privacy issues; the subject being discussed?
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Or maybe you just made a groundless claim?
Re:bogus research (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
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So the ACT is the only place with an explicit right to privacy.
* Comprehensive privacy laws at federal level and others within some states and territories, but there are broad exemptions that have precluded action by the privacy commissioner against small businesses and political parties; and does not meet international standards
* Power of commissioner diminished because determinati
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Re: Australia (Score:2)
Let's see what Austrailia has been up to this week:
"The Australian government is mandating the creation of 'clean' internet feeds", but you also "scrapped the proposed Australian universal ID 'Access Card'."
So far, that's a draw.
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compared to a federal id card with biometeric data on it i'd say we are more then better off this week. i suggest you learn to read more then the slpashy headlines.
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yes i agree this filtering is a retarded expensive waste of time, typical of everything you can expect from a labor government, but it is NOT anywhere near as bad as a federal ID card with your life on it.
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No argument there, but that's not my point. Sorry if I didn't make my theory clear, but I meant that content would be classified in line with ACMA guidelines. We see something similar with the laws banning the importation of pornography. reference [qld.gov.au]
When you get right down to it, access to externally published material over the net is an oddity; all content imported by any other means is either banned or subject to classification/censorship. I honestly
there is border surveilance and there is retard (Score:3, Interesting)
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Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and Maine have passed legislation opposing it.
Similar bills are pending in Alaska, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, D.C., Wyoming and Vermont.
Tha
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Huh? I thought REAL-ID was dead in the water.
Just because a handful of states have passed legislation say they won't implement real-id because it is an unfunded mandate does not mean it is anywhere near dead. Especially when there are another set of states that have passed legislation embracing it.
More people cross the southern borders of the USA every year undetected than *live* in some of these countries.
However, everyone who does cross the borders LEGALLY is subjected to all kinds of privacy invasions like fingerprinting. Even just those who transit through the country - without ever leaving the international terminals at the airports - are recorded. T
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# World leading in border surveillance, mandating trans-border data flows
I call FUD on that. Prove that we have more per capita surveillance of border crossings than, say, Switzerland, Singapore, Norway or Israel.
Well, I haven't been to Norway or Israel, but in a lifetime of constant travel, the US is the only country that I know of that requires my photo and finger prints in order to enter it, or even to transit through it.
... Which, incidentally, is why I will no longer visit the US.
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I challenge you to produce a better measure of
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How exactly would this be the case.
which IMPROVES PROTECTION AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT which would seem
Except that cetralised and overloaded identity document concepts make "identity theft" considerably easier.
Real-ID requires the sharing of databases between states. OK they are worried about the detriment of centralized databases, but show me where any other country gets attacked for requiring a centralized database for drivers licenses. They don'
Re:Hoho! USA and China in the same club! (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
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The UK and China don't surprise me at all (Score:3, Insightful)
Though I am inclined to classify this research as bogus, it's quite funny and intriguing that the USA, Britain, Russia and China are in the same club.
Actually, speaking as someone from the UK, I think it's just sad... and entirely, objectively accurate. Our modern surveillance state/database society in the UK would make any dictator proud.
We are rapidly moving towards a state where the government monitors, inter alia,
The government is essentially compiling databases, to be kept near enough forever, of:
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Re: Budgieton Minicity (Score:2)
Yet there isn't even a direct payoff. What happens if someone turns around and puts monetary incentives on these things?
Re: Holdenville Minicity (Score:2)
There's #2 of 5...
Re: Minicity (Score:2)
I figured out a little about how to hijack those cities. Would you like your own with an instant population?
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