Manchester has been named as the first UK city in which residents will be able to voluntarily acquire a government ID card. As of autumn 2009,
any of the city’s permanent residents over the age of 16 in possession of a valid passport will be able to apply to the Home Office’s Identity and Passport Service for the document, which will cost £30 in the first instance. It is anticipated that the cards will be available nationwide from 2012, at a projected total cost of £5bn. For more details, see BBC News. Picture: Wikimedia Commons
Posts Tagged 'Civil Liberties'
Britain: The Database State
Published March 26, 2009 Member Activities , News Stories , Publications Leave a CommentTags: Britain, Civil Liberties, Legal Frameworks, Policy, Privacy, Registration, Surveillance, technology
A new report on the ‘Database State’ has argued that many of Britain’s public sector databases are inefficient, invasive of privacy and vulnerable to legal challenge. The study was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and undertaken by members of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, including IdentiNet member Ross Anderson (Security Engineering, University of Cambridge). The report suggests that 11 of the 46 largest central databases are illegal under human rights or data protection laws (a further 29 are given an ‘amber light’), and makes a range of new recommendations for the collection and management of personal data and the development of government IT systems. Here’s the report and the executive summary, while Ross has also blogged some conclusions at The Guardian‘s Liberty Central. Picture: Chris Campbell/flickr (CC)
Police Files in France: The STIC
Published March 10, 2009 Member Activities , Publications Leave a CommentTags: Civil Liberties, France, Policing, Registration
IdentiNet member Pierre Piazza has contributed to an article entitled ‘Le Stic, un fichier mal fichu’, recently published in the French daily newspaper Libération. It assesses the reliability and privacy implications of the Système de Traitement des Infractions Constatées (STIC), a police database containing the details of 8.7% of the French population (or 5.5 million people). Picture: stock.xchng
CFP: Ethical Issues in E-Business
Published March 4, 2009 Calls for Papers , Publications Leave a CommentTags: Civil Liberties, Identity Theft, Security, technology
A new collection of essays on ‘Ethical Issues in E-Business: Models and Frameworks’ is seeking contributions. The book will be edited by Daniel E. Palmer (Kent State University) and published by IGI Global in 2010 as part of their Advances in E-Business Research series, and aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the ethical issues associated with the expanding world of online transactions. Proposals are invited on a range of themes relevant to the network, including consumer identification, tracking techniques, data mining, privacy, and online security. The deadline for 2-3 page chapter proposals is 20 March 2009; for full details and submission instructions, see H-Net.
Cultures et Conflits: Issue Proposal
Published February 10, 2009 Calls for Papers , Member Activities , Publications Leave a CommentTags: Biometrics, Civil Liberties, Globalisation, Migration, Policing, Profiling, Registration, Surveillance
Posted by Didier Bigo
Numéro de Cultures et Conflits consacré à la thématique
« Conséquences humaines de l’échange transnational des données individuelles »
Didier Bigo et Pierre Piazza (dir.)
Depuis quelques années, on assiste à l’échelon transnational à une accélération et amplification du processus de partage et d’échange d’informations sur les personnes. Surtout légitimé comme un indispensable impératif de sécurité en vue de faire face efficacement à des risques et menaces susceptibles de saper les fondements de la démocratie (terrorisme, criminalité organisée, immigration illégale, fraudes, etc.), l’essor de ce processus prend forme à travers la mise en place d’une multitude de canaux et de dispositifs (via par exemple, dans le cadre de l’UE, la mise en avant des principes de disponibilité de l’information et d’interopérabilité des systèmes servant à la récolter) qui, rendant possible une massification de la circulation de ces informations, implique désormais un nombre croissant d’acteurs étatiques (services de renseignement, d’immigration, de contrôle des frontières, magistrats, etc.) et supranationaux (Interpol, Europol, Eurojust, etc.). Ces informations à caractère personnel dont le traitement autorise notamment l’accomplissement de pratiques policières sous-tendues par une logique proactive d’anticipation des comportements (data mining, profilage, etc.) concernent des individus stigmatisés comme dangereux enregistrés sur des « listes de suspects » mais aussi des catégories de personnes de plus en plus larges (systématisation du recours aux passengers name records, aux identifiants biométriques, etc.) sur lesquelles s’exercent à présent de nouveaux modes de contrôle et de surveillance.
Britain: A ‘Surveillance State’?
Published February 6, 2009 News Stories Leave a CommentTags: Britain, CCTV, Civil Liberties, DNA Databases, Registration, Surveillance
An Upper House report on ‘Surveillance: Citizens and the State’ has warned that Britain risks becoming a ‘surveillance state’. The report, published today by the Lords Constitution Committee, argues that the proliferation of CCTV cameras (the highest density in Europe) and the growth of the UK’s DNA database (‘the largest in the world’) are undermining democracy, and recommends a raft of controls including tighter judicial oversight of surveillance and new codes of practice for the use of CCTV. For full details see BBC News, while the report itself can be accessed here. Picture: stock.xchng
Identification et Surveillance des Individus
Published January 28, 2009 Conferences , Member Activities Leave a CommentTags: Biometrics, Civil Liberties, France, Passports, Surveillance, technology
Following on from the workshop on ‘Identification et surveillance des individus: quels enjeux pour nos Démocraties?’ held in Paris a fortnight ago which we flagged below, high definition video interviews with the speakers have been posted (in French) to the web. Here, IdentiNet member Pierre Piazza describes his research on the shift from paperized to biometric modes of identification:
Interviews were also held with Vincent Denis (historian), Sébastien Laurent (historian), Christian Aghroum (divisional commissioner), Laurent Bonelli (conference organiser), Jean-Claude Vitran (League of Human Rights), Sylvia Preuss-Lausinotte (lawyer), Thierry Rousselin (spatial imaging consultant), Anastassia Tsoukala (criminal lawyer), and Jérôme Thorel (‘Big Brother Awards’).
Workshop: Identification et Surveillance des Individus
Published January 15, 2009 Conferences , Member Activities Leave a CommentTags: Biometrics, Civil Liberties, France, Passports, Surveillance, technology
This Saturday (17 January 2009), the Paris Pompidou Centre hosts a workshop on ‘Identification et surveillance des individus: quels enjeux pour nos Démocraties?’. A wide range of academics, journalists and consultants (including IdentiNet member Pierre Piazza) will attend to the political, philosophical, social, economic and legal implications of the recent proliferation of identification and surveillance practices in light of terrorist threats, increasing global mobility and the availability of ever more sophisticated technologies. For details and a full programme, download the pdf flyer or visit the workshop webpage. Picture: stock.xchng
