In a study that challenges current initiatives to reduce identity theft, researchers Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross of Carnegie Mellon University have released the results of a study showing how easily all nine digits of an individual’s Social Security Numbers can be accurately predicted from information that is readily available in numerous public databases. Based…
Category: Govt
New cellphone laws in Zambia
Experts have lambasted new laws to collect information about prepaid cellphone users, citing their “severe” privacy implications. One academic described existing rules that forced operators to retain personal call data for a minimum of three years as “excessive”. And as of last Wednesday the government will collect more data. Operators now have to obtain the…
Judge orders release of public pension data
California’s leading taxpayers’ rights group says the public scored a major legal victory this week when a judge ruled that a county’s pension records are not entirely confidential. The judge ruled that the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, a public pension watchdog group, are entitled to a list of names…
Tips for Britain’s new privacy chief
Christopher Graham has just become the UK’s new , replacing Richard Thomas who stepped down this week after nine years. The Information Commissioner is the person responsible for policing the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Graham was previously the director general of the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA). Graham will have…