"Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance" report launched

[Brian Randell]

Dave:

The (UK) Royal Academy of Engineering has just issued a report on  
"Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance" that will I trust be of  
considerable interest to IP.

>From their press release at:

http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/releases/shownews.htm?NewsID=378

>People think there has to be a choice between privacy and security;  
>that increased security means more collection and processing of  
>personal private information. However, in a challenging report to  
>be published on Monday 26 March 2007, The Royal Academy of  
>Engineering says that, with the right engineering solutions, we can  
>have both increased privacy and more security. Engineers have a key  
>role in achieving the right balance.
>
>One of the issues that Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance -  
>challenges of technological change looks at is how we can buy  
>ordinary goods and services without having to prove who we are. For  
>many electronic transactions, a name or identity is not needed;  
>just assurance that we are old enough or that we have the money to  
>pay. In short, authorisation, not identification should be all that  
>is required. Services for travel and shopping can be designed to  
>maintain privacy by allowing people to buy goods and use public  
>transport anonymously. "It should be possible to sign up for a  
>loyalty card without having to register it to a particular  
>individual - consumers should be able to decide what information is  
>collected about them," says Professor Nigel Gilbert, Chairman of  
>the Academy working group that produced the report. "We have  
>supermarkets collecting data on our shopping habits and also  
>offering life insurance services. What will they be able to do in  
>20 years' time, knowing how many donuts we have bought?"
>
>Another issue is that, in the future, there will be more databases  
>holding sensitive personal information. As government moves to  
>providing more electronic services and constructs the National  
>Identity Register, databases will be created that hold information  
>crucial for accessing essential services such as health care and  
>social security. But complex databases and IT networks can suffer  
>from mechanical failure or software bugs. Human error can lead to  
>personal data being lost or stolen. If the system breaks down, as a  
>result of accident or sabotage, millions could be inconvenienced or  
>even have their lives put in danger.

The full report is at:

http://www.raeng.org.uk/policy/reports/pdf/ 
dilemmas_of_privacy_and_surveillance_report.pdf

Cheers

Brian

-- 
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/



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