Entries from April 2008 ↓

About a year and a half ago two of us from ReputationDefender set out
from what was then our trusty office at the Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto to one of the first IIWs at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. We’re going back now, to the one to be held May 12-14.

This was one of those great conferences that was actually brainstormy,
creative, collaborative, etc., because it was actually a workshop, run
in the open space style that works so well in so many circumstances.

The IIW has got to be one of the more serious events on the identity
calendar, if not the most serious one. Phil Windley, who organizes it, is dedicated and knowledgeable, as are most of the people we met when we attended last
time. The tenor of the discussion is upbeat but serious, and there are
clearly some strong ideas that emerge from the discussions.

Greatly looking forward to attending, supporting the effort this year,
and learning from the collaboration.

One topic we may want to raise at the event is How to Establish Your
Identity On the Web.

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ReputationDefender will be hosting a reception in the Mission tomorrow night, giving the hard working geeks employees of this Silicon Valley startup a chance to enjoy a few cocktails and show off their stylish evening attire.

We invite our readers to come join us at Medjool around 8 and get to know the faces behind ReputationDefender. Bring your crew.

I’ll see you there!

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It’s being reported by The Smoking Gun today that a former employee of the UCLA Medical Center has been indicted for accessing the confidential medical records of various celebrities and attempting to sell them to what is being called “a national media outlet.”

Lawanda Jackson, 49, was charged with obtaining the information between 2006 and May 21, 2007, when she was terminated from her position as an administrative specialist at the Los Angeles hospital. According to the U.S. District Court indictment […] the media outlet paid Jackson at least $4600 for the information.

The media outlet is not identified in the Federal indictment, nor does it specify exactly which celebrities’ records were compromised. While Jackson defends her actions as being merely “nosy” and points to the fact that she did not sell information from the electronic files, if she is found guilty of the felony charge of illegally obtaining individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage she could receive up to 10 years in prison.

This story is a good reminder that not all breaches of privacy can occur in the private sector and even confidential medical files are at times compromised.

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the National Security Agency is working in concert with telephone and internet companies to collect electronic data from American citizens without a warrant. While recent Congressional debates have focused on telecom immunity related to FISA, the black-budget actions of the NSA have received far less attention. Information collected by the secretive organization includes internet browser history and search queries, email date and time stamps, subject lines as well as sender and recipient identities. Quoting from the article:

According to current and former intelligence officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records of domestic emails and Internet searches as well as bank transfers, credit-card transactions, travel and telephone records. The NSA receives this so-called “transactional” data from other agencies or private companies, and its sophisticated software programs analyze the various transactions for suspicious patterns.

Typically the information within the emails is not examined, but according to Susan Landau, an electronic privacy advocate and author, “‘Transactional information is remarkably revelatory.’” When the government is aware of the websites you visit and emails you send and who you are speaking to on the phone they are able to paint a remarkably accurate profile, Landau said.

While NSA officials maintain that their data gathering “only [involves] foreign threats,” the scope of the spy agency’s data mining gives privacy advocates pause. Current and former intelligence officials state: “the government’s spy systems may be directed to collect and analyze all electronic communications into and out of [an American] city.”

Do these actions violate the Fourth Amendment which guarantees protection against unreasonable search by the government? Currently case law is unclear as to what, if any, expectations of privacy exist online. The Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Donald Kerr, says social networking inherently erodes people’s right to online privacy.

Since many people routinely post details of their lives on social-networking sites such as MySpace, [Kerr] said, their identity shouldn’t need the same protection as in the past. Instead, only their “essential privacy,” or “what they would wish to protect about their lives and affairs,” should be veiled, he said, without providing examples.

ReputationDefender feels that placing personal information online in no way constitutes a forfeiture of one’s Fourth Amendment rights and remains committed to protecting online privacy.

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Dan Costa has an informative article in PC Magazine this week that does a good job of synthesizing the related topics of identity theft, corporate data mining, online privacy and internet legislation 2.0. In Defend Your Virtual Life Costa advocates for stronger internet privacy laws in the United States and looks to the European Union’s comprehensive Data Protection Directive as a model for US lawmakers concerned with online privacy.

The E.U. has stricter laws regarding the collection and distribution of personal information, and they work better than ours. We need them, too. I want my I.D. back.

Given that current internet laws afford little or no expectation of privacy in the United States, Costa turns to the private sector to keep his sensitive information private. Mr. Costa goes on to profile various information brokers who specialize in “people finding,” and collect publicly available information in their databases. Specifically these firms compile

current address, address history, phone number, lists of relatives and associates, property ownership, bankruptcy, lawsuit and marriage reports, criminal history, and more.

Costa says that these firms then sell this information to companies and people alike and lists a myriad of concerns for consumers including increased predatory marketing and the potential risk of identity theft.

ReputationDefender is committed to online privacy and encourages individuals concerned about keeping their sensitive information secure to check out MyPrivacy.com.

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