Overnight, the Clear Registered Traveler Program ceased operation. I do travel by air 5-10 times per year, and had considered the program to speed my visits through airports. There were three main reasons why I didn’t, and I wonder if they are reasons why they have had to cease operation. There weren’t Clear lanes at every airport I travel to; the only way this system could be cost effective for me would be if it worked everywhere. As mentioned at the Consumerist, the Clear lanes just provide shorter lines; you still were subject to all the security checkpoint hassles. My home airport, Dulles International, opened the Black Diamond lanes: basically the same as Clear without the fee. In addition to[…]
Category: privacy
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires a number of protections for the electronic storage and transportation of personal health care and private information in a vastly unregulated environment. Title II, in particular, forces health care providers, drug companies, and other entities who handle patient data to provide a number of administrative, technical, and physical protections. Social networking sites like the health oriented Inspire.com allow drug companies to get around the requirements of HIPAA and other protections, all with your help. Inspire, which has around 100,000 members, is used by its members to discuss and share medical conditions they have or are concerned about. The site is also used by at least 4 major pharma companies to target[…]
A couple years ago, Facebook.com revealed just how much information is shared on social networking sites when they introduced news feeds to the home page and user profile pages. These feeds made users nervous perhaps because they had thought that their personal information was safe as long as it was not broadcast to everyone on their friend lists. In reality, it was a new way of distributing information that had always been available to them. Since then, Facebook has added a wide array of privacy options, yet we still find stories of people being fired because of something they said online. How do you prevent this from happening to you? I guess one option could be to start removing Facebook[…]
Ok, so the actual article headline is “Obama pledges better cybersecurity, top advisor”. The article goes on to detail the plan as such: In the homeland security document, published on Thursday, the administration pledged to create a top cybersecurity position, harden the nation’s infrastructure, fund research and development of secure computing technologies, and work with the private sector to set standards from cybersecurity. The document also promised that the administration will work with industry to develop better defenses against cyber espionage, shut down the mechanisms through which online criminals profit from their crimes, and mandate better privacy and breach disclosures. (Emphasis Added) I’m not opposed to the government taking a more active role in securing the communications infrastructure, and I’m[…]
According to the IRS: The IRS has developed six new security and privacy standards to better protect taxpayer information collected, processed, and stored by Authorized IRS e-file Providers participating in Online Filing of individual income tax returns. These new standards are based on industry best practices and are intended to supplement the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the implementing rules and regulations promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission. So, what does this mean for the average online tax-filer? It means that the company that you e-file through (TurboTax, efile, TaxACT, etc) will have to adhere to stricter policies and standards regarding the handling of customer information. Most of these policies seem to be standard precautions from a security perspective. However, I can[…]
The register has an article about three London hospitals shutting down their computer systems due to a worm. However, except for transportation, all functions of the hospital seem to be continuing despite the lack of computer systems. I took away three things from this article: computer systems are not essential for health care, someone wasn’t patching or following security policies, and the worm provides a back door for attackers. The doctors and the hospital are still providing medical care to patients. The computer systems certainly help them do this job more efficiently, but they’re not required. I think this points out the importance of security vs. convenience. The doctors just want to help their patients, and if they have to[…]