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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:53 pm Post Subject: Is Your Technology Telling on you ?
Hi All
Just reading one of my computer related email newsletters this afternoon and come across this
Quote:
Is Your Technology Telling on You?
We've addressed various aspects of this issue before, and this week we'll put them all together. More and more, the machines that we use and depend on are collecting information about us. In some cases, they just store it for later access. In other cases, they actually report back to their makers (the product manufacturer). This information can and does find its way into the hands of the government and who know who else? Is this a problem, or just a way to make the world safer for law abiding citizens? Let's take a look at some of the ways our technology is telling on us.
It's been common knowledge for a while that several major printer vendors engineer their color laser printers to embed tiny yellow dots into the printed documents to make it possible to track the origins of the document. This was done in cooperation with the U.S. Secret Service for the ostensible purpose of tracking down counterfeiters who use the printers to make their own currency. Last month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was able to crack the code for Xerox DocuColor printers. Their researchers discovered that printers made by Xerox imprint the serial number of the printer and the date and time the document was printed.
Xerox isn't the only vendor using the technology; it's just the only one for which the code has been cracked. Other printer brands that embed identifying information include Canon, Dell, Epson, HP, Lexmark and others. Wondering if your color laser is telling the world (or at least, the U.S.S.S.) where and when your documents were printed? Here's a list of some of the brands and models that do:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=051108ED-Printers
Last spring, the Real ID Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Bush. It requires state issued driver's licenses and ID cards to have "machine readable technology" in order for them to be accepted for air travel, banking and entering federal buildings. Just last month, the U.S. State Department laid out rules for embedding radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in U.S. passports issued after October 2006.
At the same time, our cell phones have built-in Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) transceivers that can pinpoint our locations (although most of them currently allow you to turn the feature off). Our new cars contain "black boxes" (or more formally, Sensing and Diagnostic Modules or SDMs) that record data about travel velocity, heading, location and even the number of occupants and whether they're using seatbelts. Cameras are watching and recording our actions in stores and office buildings, at red lights and toll booths, and even on public streets. The U.K. has had cameras everywhere for quite some time. In the wake of the London bombings, New York City is now planning to add cameras to their own subways.
Any one of these, by itself, seems fairly innocuous. Taken together, it paints a picture of a society in which privacy has become a thing of the past and we're under constant surveillance. Now the European Commission is proposing to keep detailed records of phone calls made, emails sent and Web sites surfed by all 450 million EU citizens, see:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=051108ED-EU
Does this trend make you nervous, or is it just the price we pay to live in high tech times? Do the advantages of modern technology outweigh the disadvantages (including the privacy issues)? How far will it go? What do you think the future holds for individual privacy - or the lack thereof? Let us know what you think at feedback@wxpnews.com.
Followup: Technology Takeover and Microsoft's Right to Refuse Service
Last week, we asked if you think technology is taking over your life in slightly less ominous way - targeted advertising, expectations of 24/7 accessibility - as well as some scary prospects, such as remote control of human movement. Plenty of you wrote with your opinions.
Lots of you feel, as I do, that the technological advances that have occurred over a short period of time are nothing short of amazing. One reader pointed out the irony that many of detractors of technology do so from their computers, cell phones or Blackberries.
Pete K. commented that technology is indeed taking over our lives, and Leonardo Da Vinci, Mendel, Ben Franklin and the like are to blame for starting it. Similarly, Daniel M. notes that technology has been taking over our lives since the invention of the wheel. Good point! But maybe the technology takeover has gone further than we thought - Matthew P. tells us that (at least according to the Singularity Institute), the "human era" will be over soon.
Alan P. had perhaps the best answer to the question of whether technology is taking over our lives: "only if you let it." And many other readers chimed in on the same theme: we do, after all, have control over whether we choose to take our laptops (and work) with us everywhere, leave our cell phones turned on all the time, etc. Why do so many folks assume that if the phone rings, they're obligated to answer it? Especially in this day of voice mail, it's not as if that call will be lost forever if you decide to just let it ring.
On another topic, we reported that Microsoft is considering withdrawing Windows from the South Korean market if their Fair Trade Commission orders that Messenger and Media Player be unbundled from the operating system. Most who weighed in on this said any company should have the right to sell (or not sell) their products wherever they want. However, some of you said that having the right doesn't mean it's a good business decision, and that you suspect the cost of compliance would be less than the lost profits from withdrawing from the market.
Several readers used this or a similar comparison: If GM decides to include OnStar on all their vehicles, governmental entities should not be able to force them to sell cars without OnStar just because some people don't like it. Those people can buy a car from a different manufacturer who doesn't include OnStar.
One of the biggest technology news stories to break last week was the Sony rootkit story, and we got lots of mail from readers about it. It seems that Mark Russinovich from Winternals (www.winternals.com) discovered a "rootkit" lurking on his hard disk and tracked it back to the Digital Rights Management (DRM) software that's part of Sony Music's new audio CDs. So what's a rootkit anyway, and why is this such a big deal? Read about it on Mark's blog at:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=051108TI-Sony
The question nobody seems to be asking is: Can Sony possibly be the only music company that's using such technology? Or are they just the first ones to get caught?
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:06 am Post Subject:
There has been much recent debate about this one. Russell Brown states in his blog this morning that Sony has announced it is temporarily suspending production of the CDs using this form of copy protection:
The concern of course, to law abiding music lovers, is that eventually when you buy a CD you will only be allowed to play it on a single device - much like when you buy software that can only be installed on one machine... Ruling out playing it on your computer AND your stereo or in the car. In my opinion this sort of draconian and punitive attempt to stem piracy only encourages it and escalates the buying public's hostility towards them...
