44.493
Issues in Technology and Security
Are these invasions of privacy, erosions
of due process limited to terrorist activities?
- 30 million cars now record drivers' behavior
- "Danny Hopkins of New York
was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for killing Lindsay
Kyle after the black box in his Cadillac CTS indicated the car
was going 106 miles per hour five seconds before the crash. Investigators
originally thought the car was going only 65 to 70 miles per
hour. "
- "The problem is most people
don't realize these devices are in their vehicle," says
Eric Skrum, spokesman for the National Motorists Association
in Madison, Wis. "That information can be used against you,
and there's no sort of regulation about who owns that information."
- State anti-terror laws being used to
pursue gangs, drug makers.
"While some hail these new additions to
the legal toolbox -- other say they invite the abuse of power."
- Town will end RFID identification of
school kids
"We'd accomplished
everything we needed to accomplish in terms of testing the RFID
readers and tags," says InCom vice president of operations
Doug Alhers, "and the protests were negatively affecting
the education process at the school, so we pulled the program."
- Phoenix will ask people with moving violations
to be fingerprinted
(Sherrif) stressed
that giving fingerprints would be voluntary, but constitutional
law experts and civil rights groups were quick to point out problems
with the program. Many doubted whether the public would understand
that they weren't required to give their fingerprint.
"It won't be completely voluntary,'' said Paul Bender, a
constitutional law professor at Arizona State University. "Most
people don't realize they have a choice. The police likely won't
say 'Would you like to give us your fingerprints even though
you don't really have to?'"
- Men in Truro being asked to give DNA
sample
"Cape and Islands
District Attorney Michael O'Keefe has said that investigators
'will be compelled to look at why people won't' submit a DNA
sample."
Conclusion: surveillance
society now a possibility
"Given the capabilities of today's
technology, the only thing protecting us from a full-fledged surveillance
society are the legal and political institutions we have inherited
as Americans"
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