[LINK] Schneier: The Internet is a surveillance state

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

> Seems to me the most objectionable aspect to an increasing commercial
> personal-surveillance is the linking of your virtual & physical location.


NYTimes
EDITORIAL

"Googling You"

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Pub: March 16th, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com

<quote> The settlement last week between a group of state attorneys general
and Google over the company’s improper data collection from home wireless
networks shows the need to overhaul a 27-year-old federal law that is not
up to the task of addressing new forms of privacy invasion.

A federal law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, is
supposed to protect Americans’ phone calls and personal messages from
being monitored without warrants and subpoenas. But it was written for
a different era, and offers only partial protection against the kind of
surveillance that worries privacy advocates today.

For starters, the law provides little or no protection for data about
**the location of cellphones** and other devices that is not considered
communications but can be used to identify, connect or place individuals. 

Google has also said that it has privacy safeguards to ensure that the 
locations of individual wireless users are not disclosed without their 
consent. Those assurances do not go far enough. Congress needs to 
explicitly protect such information from prying eyes. </quote>

It appears that virtually the same may be said about Australia

Cheers,
Stephen