Monthly Archives: March 2009
Update: EDLs in Saskatchewan
The costs have been increasing and if they go to a point where it just doesn’t make sense anymore then we’re not going to move forward. … This being said, I should be fair and point out that the Privacy Commissioner of Saskatchewan hasn’t received the Privacy Impact Assessment from Sask. … I don’t know exactly what the consequences of this kind of ‘tweaking’ would be, especially given how limited those governments incorporated suggested privacy protections, but it would be nice to see documents that really put the Commissioner’s cards (and desired changes) on the table. Continue reading
Update: EDLs and Real ID
There has been wide speculation about what her position would be concerning Real ID now that she is running the department that was pushing Real ID. We’re now starting to see her position come out: Enhanced driver’s licenses give confidence that the person holding the card is the person who is supposed to be holding the card, and it’s less elaborate than Real ID. … While it’s good that the DHS is retreating from a full-scale deployment of Real ID, I’m not so sure that shifting to EDLs is a ‘solution’ to the privacy issues that are discussed surrounding the RFIDs in EDLs. Continue reading
Thoughts: Google and ‘Interest Based’ Advertising
I’ve made references to Google and privacy in a variety of blog posts , but whenever I think about Google my mind returns to a comment from Peter Fleischer, the chief privacy officer for Google. … If your users don’t trust you, you’re out of business ( Source ) Perhaps naively, I think that this statement is accurate – look at the nightmares that Facebook, NebuAd, and Phorm (to name a few) all have when they ‘invade’ customers’ privacy without being fully transparent about what, and why, they are engaging in their practices. … While I’m not a fan of behavioral ads, and don’t think that Google’s solution would eliminate all of the concerns, this is the first time that a company has offered an easily understood, easily used, opt-out system in a reasonably transparent fashion (something that certainly can’t be said about either NebuAd or Phorm). Continue reading
Conference Presentation: The Ontological Crisis of Melacholia
The abstract is below: Abstract In The Psychic Life of Power , Judith Butler argues that the power structures ordering individuals and states alike are predicated on a mourning that cannot be mourned; melancholia permeates the primary ordering structures of the individual and the state. … In this paper, I ask whether digital environments are spaces that can facilitate the resolution of modern subjects’ ontological crisis, and thus might provoke the reconstitution of modern politics. … I conclude by adopting the stance that Cyberspace may enable some individuals to acknowledge their experience of melancholia, but stop short of claiming that the possibilities afforded by this space’s plasticity can or will provoke a widespread reconstitution of modern politics. Continue reading
