<p>“If a car is trespassing on another persons property, is it OK for the landowner to electronically tag the vehicle for later reporting to police?”</p>
<p>Interesting point. Since police don’t require permission to put a GPS on a registered car, I don’t see why permission could be required from private citizens. (I believe this is called a “slippery slope.”) Of course there COULD be some published regulation covering “appropriate” depositing of GPS devices … you know, “devices must be securely attached” and “batteries must be at least eighty-percent charged” and “installation must be witnessed by a second law enforcement officer” and “off-duty installation during off-duty hours is prohibited” and “device must be issued from a governmental stock” etc.</p>
<p>So could I put a GPS on a few police cars in order to find out where speed traps are being set up? how fast officers drive on freeways? where the best donut shops are?</p>
<p>How are these things publicly accessible? Do you (or anyone else) have the ability to monitor the internet traffic of someone else? Or to just listen in on any phone call you want? This isn’t like watching for speeders, where anyone could go out by the road and see who’s speeding. These are private communications that should be protected by law and require a warrant for any monitoring. In my mind, it is equivalent to one’s home. Like suzuki pointed out, do you think these abilities should extend there (put a camera in your bedroom/home/etc.)?
And why is this acceptable to you? Especially given how integrated with all aspects of our lives the internet (and to a lesser extent, phones) have become with our lives. I’m also intrigued by the “I’ve got nothing to hide…” argument. Of course you do. Do you want your entire internet history to be public record? (or even able to be monitored by any government agency that wants to without probable cause?) Think about all the private things you do on the internet - medical history, personal situations, bank accounts, purchases, private converstations with friends, business transactions, etc. etc. etc.</p>
<p>Your traffic travels over private and public networks which can be intercepted.</p>
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<p>Sure. With the right equipment, training and access.</p>
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<p>We still have one of the old wireless phones from about 25 years ago. I think that our phone used 20 frequencies shared with other cordless phones before the move to much higher frequencies. We could often here the conversations of others on our cordless.</p>
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<p>If you’re broadcasting a signal into the air, do you have a reasonable expectation of
privacy?</p>
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<p>Some people do this on their own. Computers in bedrooms with video cameras aren’t unheard of. You could also have a video baby monitor. People have been known to not secure their networks so that anyone driving by could see what’s going on in their home.</p>
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<p>Your stuff is already monitored. By the government and by others that may have access.</p>
<p>I had a database with medical records for probably a million people in my file cabinet. It was secured and I had legitimate business reasons for holding onto the database. I’m sure that this sort of thing happens all the time for legitimate business, government, security purposes. It’s just that information that you might think is private really isn’t.</p>
<p>I’ve spoken to security people (basically companies engineering security products) that record and can playback what you do on your web browser. Guess who their target customers are.</p>
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I had a database with medical records for probably a million people in my file cabinet.<a href=“accessible%20by%20people%20who%20have%20been%20given%20the%20data”>/quote</a> != (accessible to everyone)</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>(accessible by someone) != (legally accessible by anyone)</p>
<p>Your weakness in the security chain is the weakest link. It could be the security guard paid minimum wage or your Iron Mountain van driver or the folks cleaning your offices at night.</p>
<p>I get the idea that nobody here is into security risk analysis.</p>
<p>BC, we are talking about two different thing! What’s fair game for private entities is not fair game for the government. The data I send over an open network is a fair game for anyone to look at at any given point in time, however, the government cannot demand Google to send them the data that Google, a private business, collects in my “file” without a warrant.</p>
<p>There are companies that sniff and collect data on open networks and sell that data. I don’t think that a subpoena or warrant is needed for their services. Just money.</p>
<p>That said, a look at the Duke Lacrosse case shows you that fair game isn’t always fair.</p>
<p>“There are companies that sniff and collect data on open networks and sell that data. I don’t think that a subpoena or warrant is needed for their services. Just money.”</p>
<p>For private entities - yes. Not for the government as the US laws specify.</p>
<p>BCEagle, you didn’t really respond to my statements in any… reasonable way… or any way whatsoever in some cases.</p>
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<p>That isn’t publicly available. Needing to have special access and equipment at network hubs or other sensitive points in the network (places which I imagine you can’t just waltz in and plug into) is not “publicly accessible”</p>
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<p>Wow :rolleyes: - ok 25 years ago it might have been easier to overhear other conversations on certain phones. That is most definitely not the case now. Tell me how current cell and wireless phone conversations are publicly accessible or have no reasonable expectation of privacy and we’ll talk.
I suppose that because your mail or packages travel through “various public and private networks” and are often left in unlocked mailboxes, it is all publicly accessible. You wouldn’t have any problem, then, with government (or anyone else for that matter) going through your mailbox/mail/packages/other correspondance.</p>
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<p>That might be debatable, but I (and anyone with half a brain) encrypt my wireless router connection using one of the many built-in encryption standards in my router. And yes, I have a reasonable expectation of privacy for that connection.</p>
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<p>Thats not what I said - what I was talking about was privacy in the home and government placing the equivalent of cameras in that (very not public) domain. Anyone is of course free to put as many cameras they want in their home and broadcast it to the world if they so desire.</p>
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<p>Again, not related to the point in the least. I’m not talking about how things are, I’m talking about how things should be (hence the question “why is this acceptible to you”).</p>
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<p>“Legitimate business reason” doesn’t necessarily correlate to a legal reason. But I’ll assume you were legally retaining those medical records. Even so, I’m guessing that you couldn’t actually access them without breaking one or more laws. Again, we’re not talking about how things actually are. The guy who works at the desk at my doctors office could probably easily grab my and a bunch of other people’s medical records and take them home. Doesn’t mean that it is (or should be) legal/ethical/whatever, or that my medical records are/should be considered “publicly accessible”.</p>
<p>Ever buy something from a Canadian supplier and receive it with the
envelope all torn apart and retaped back together again?</p>
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<p>And that encryption is based on computational limits which have
already been broken. You just need the right equipment.</p>
<p>Read up on the TJ Maxx case.</p>
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<p>It doesn’t matter; it’s already happening.</p>
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<p>Sure I could. At that time.</p>
<p>We trust individuals with a great amount of responsibility. Airline
pilots, school bus drivers, nuclear power plant operators, software
engineers, Database Administrators, IRS agents. We’ve already heard
of stories where employees misuse sensitive information or sell it.</p>
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<p>That’s what I am talking about as that’s all that matters.</p>
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<p>They are accessible for the right amount of money.</p>
<p>My personal information has already been compromised several times
but organizations that I have had past dealings with. It could be
a laptop left in a car or a contractor with access to the network.</p>