Article 8 ECHR comes good again

The verdict is out on the Marper case. The Marper case revolved around Articles 8 & 14 of the ECHR and the European Court of Human Rights was called upon to decide whether the retention of the applicants' DNA material was in breach of the right to respect for private life, and aggravated by the fact that the information was actively used in criminal investigations despite charges having been dropped and being acquitted post arrest.

The European Court of Human Rights has criticised the "...blanket and indiscriminate nature of the power of retention in England and Wales" and found it to be "disproportionate interference with the applicants' right to respect for private life and could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society.

See BBC News Report

What happens next is going to keep me on the edge of my seat. P Johnston tackles some probable results in the Telegraph.

Sample some Indian kanoon!

Great portal for Indian law, articles and else.

Indian Kanoon - http://www.indiankanoon.com/

One ingenious way of encouraging the use of identification.

The Times of India reports about how Indian tourists visiting Indian monuments are being asked to pay the overseas entry rates if they don't look the part. Or carry an identity card proving they are Indian citizens.

Woe is us. I wonder whether I will get past!

I am what I am. But am I free to be?

So I am what I am.
And I am what I chose to be
But I am not that at all times.
or in all places.
Or for all people,
I am different, yet I am same.
There is growth and simultanoeus constancy.
But it's good as long as I am FREE to be.
But am I truly free?

30 May 08. Musings.

Cops, digital clues and cultural bias

A news report by CNN-IBN raises the issue of whether the police force in India are actually competent enough to evaluate electronic evidence and its significance to a crime.

The report speculates that policing does not take into account new cultural tastes and behaviour (influenced by the global technological age) and goes so far as to make an allegation that the police may be weighing the evidence according to their personal moral values (read traditionally acquired).

Take for instance, traditionally, Indian unmarried women (and even married women) did not and still do not (openly) maintain "relationships" with men they are not normally associated with in the course of their personal lives. What happens in the case where a girl has ten male friends seeking friendship or partners in her 'Friends List' in her social networking profile? Or has emails from random male members of the social networking community in her Inbox?

Or what happens when the police discover in their course of their investigations that a suspect belong to a homosexual community? (Same sex relations are legally still a crime and punishable as an unnatural offence under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code with imprisonment and a fine (though attempts are being made to get section 377 to be “read down” to exclude adult consensual sex from within its purview and though the Law Commission in 2001 recommended its repeal, backed by the Union ministry of family and child welfare in 2006).

It is a matter of “wait and watch,” to see how this will pan out.

Why ID cards aren't the new "cool"

Two reports show why simply having identity cards isn't the new "in".

In the first, identity cards were taken away (read appropriated) by goons ahead of Gram Panchayat Elections.

In the second, it led to pro-India activists being shot.

There's loads more like this.

But will the implementors listen?

So, what's it with us and databases ? Maybe the InfoCom needs to pre-vet databases.

It is so disappointing that society has got to a point where every problem can be sorted with DATA in a DATABASE. Seems like if you have a problem, what you need is a database - whatever's happened to intelligence ?

Ok. I'm peeved with recent news that employers will share a database of workers which will be used for vetting prospective employees and companies like Harrods, Selfridges, Reed Managed Services and Mothercare are alleged to have signed up to the scheme.

I won't even go into the nitty gritty.

Of course, the "private" database will propose to comply with DP laws and practice.

Who makes these stupid decisions about setting up databases?

Perhaps the Information Commissioner can set up some procedure for PRE-VETTING prospective databases. Anyone who wants to sent up a database should apply to the InfoCommr and while I understand this would be a daunting task in terms of resources and convenience, it would serve to deter those bureaucrats that put our lives at risk of being compromised.

Making the TURING point

A very interesting link via Random Thoughts on Digital Identity.

It's game on Kurzweil v Kapor. And of course, we will all know for sure in 2029.

Googling out the bad 'uns in Brazil

The Associated Press reports that Google will take steps to "stop chid pornography and hate crimes" on Orkut.

It is estimated that approx 90% of paedophilia complaints are prompted by material on Orkut and a Brazilian Senate Panel has ordered Google to permit it access to nearly 3000 profiles containing suspect material.

Loss of ID cards

Losses of military cards to talk about now. MOD figures in a Commons written answer reveal that 4,433 ID cards disappeared in 2006 and a further 6,812 went missing in 2007.

Scientia est Potentia

Scientia est potentia. Knowledge is power. We have made it so.

We want to know. It is good to know, it is good to learn, and it is good if it helps us grow.

Turn that around and read as Information is power. It is good for the state to know (all). It is good for the state to learn(all). And it is good if it helps the state to use it for the greater good.

Its time for some constitutional re-thinking. And more thoughts on who will bell the cate if the need arises.

Postscript: Just saw Kim's post on the Need-to Know Internet. More at his blog.

Tell me all that you are, and there will be no sex offenders on SNS. Identity stakes go up another notch in NY

Outlaw reports that "sex offenders will be banned from using social networking sites under a law proposed in the US state of New York." The law would, if enacted permit the release of offenders details to SNS operators in order to restrict them from using these sites. In this regard, the "offenders" would have to register all of their online identities, internet acounts and email id's with with the police as conditions of their probation or parole. The New York Senate passed the proposed law this week, and it remains to be debated by the Assembly.

A step forward, but a bit over ambitious I think for the following reason: how would you register a uncreated identity? How will they deal with new identities? How will they prevent these people from stealing other people's identities or using them to their own benefit ? The identity stakes have gone up another notch in New York

Is a single digital identity good for me?

Thought for the day:

You have one key that opens all the (many) doors you need to access.

This is very convenient for you, saves time and makes life so much more hassle free and easy to manage. It saves you the trouble of carrying aorund many keys or remembering where you put them all.

This one key thus becomes a very valuable asset. But surely, this must be ok. Of course, it is. Provided you dilligently look after the key, and keep it safe. Or insure it.

But, what if someone stole that key, and gained access to all your rooms, lockers and hideaways. Yes, you could change the locks and get another similar key.

Then again, what if your key was compromised without your knowledge? And you were targetted on the basis of someone knowing something about you? Perhaps you may never wisen up to this, if you are not overly affected or then again something nasty might happen to you and your personal effects.

Defining digital identity

Here is something I have come up with in my quest for the definition of digital identity. This is only a working definition and all comments and suggestions are welcome.

"Digital identity refers to any digital representation (whole or partial)
of an entity,
in tangible or abstract form,
either self-created,
externally assigned
or consequentially generated."

Watch this space.

Links to this definition: http://citizenl.hors-sujet.com/?p=12

My quest to find the perfect ( or rather holistic) "digital identity" definition is on.

The question is is this possible? Or even advisable?

I'm also very, very upset by the whale killing pictures I've seen. And I'm no vegetarian.

The right to DI life and privacy

Can the right to digital identity be read into the right to life and privacy? or need it be made a separate right altogether? I going to think long and hard about this one. So should you.

Catching up with news

A lot happened while I was busy in the real world. Google, NTT and the US GSA deployed SAML 2.0. Yahoo rolled out OpenID 2.0 framework. The ECJ ruled that the identity of file sharers was to be protected in civil suits. Press reports like this show how golden the biometric goose is. And in India, the MNIC came under fire once again.