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The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age
Category: Public Records
Posts about public records by Professor Daniel J. Solove for his blog at TeachPrivacy, privacy awareness training company.
The Demi Moore 911 Call: A Breach of Medical Confidentiality?
I’ve written before on the issue of whether 911 calls should be public [link no longer available]. The recent release of the Demi Moore 911 call raises the issues once again. From CBS News:
The SeaWorld Killer Whale Death Video and the Right to Privacy
Jessica Bennett at Newsweek brought my attention to a story about the family of the killer whale trainer (Dawn Brancheau) who was killed while training the whale at SeaWorld: Brancheau’s family announced this week that they would seek an injunction to protect the release of the death imagery, captured by SeaWorld’s surveillance cameras on Feb. […]
Should People’s Political Donations Be Public?
Pursuant to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), people’s campaign contributions must be accessible to the public. I’ve long found this to be problematic when applied to the campaign contributions of individuals. Certainly, information must be reported to the government to ensure that campaign contribution limits aren’t exceeded. But I don’t know why it is […]
The Problems of More Accessible Criminal Conviction Information
A recent New York Times article by Brad Stone discusses a website called CriminalSearches.com, which allows you to punch in a name of a person and do a search for any criminal records about him or her. From the article:
When Wikipedia Knows Something Too Soon
One of the virtues of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia is that it can reflect new information very quickly after it becomes known. But there’s a rather odd development in the case of wrestler Chris Benoit’s murder of his family and suicide. From the AP [link no longer available]:
FBI Plans Data Mining Project
Several years ago, the Department of Defense began developing a program called Total Information Awareness, a massive data mining project analyzing personal information on every citizen of the United States. After a series of blistering op-eds and strong negative public reaction, the Senate voted to stop all funding for the program.
Blacklisted and Rebuffed by Canada
So you want to go to Canada, eh? Well, you might get turned away at the border if you have any criminal convictions in your past. Even ones from 20 or 30 years ago. Even minor crimes. From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Verifying Identity: From One Foolish Way to Another
For quite some time, banks and financial institutions have been using people’s Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to verify their identities. Suppose you want to access your bank account to check your balance, change addresses, or close out the account. You call the bank, but how does the bank know it’s really you? For a while, […]
The Reincarnation of Expunged Criminal Records
The New York Times reports: In 41 states, people accused or convicted of crimes have the legal right to rewrite history. They can have their criminal records expunged, and in theory that means that all traces of their encounters with the justice system will disappear. But enormous commercial databases are fast undoing the societal bargain of expungement, […]