Update Jan 3 with more background on report
According to a new international privacy report, governments around the world are increasingly invading the privacy of citizens with surveillance, identification systems, and archiving of private data.
Driven by concern over immigration and border control, countries have been quick to implement database, identity, and fingerprinting systems, according to the 2007 International Privacy Ranking report.
There was also an increase in the trend of governments archiving data on the geographic, communications, and financial records of citizens, as well as enacting legislation intended to increase the reach into individuals' private lives, the report found.
"At the same time, technological advances, technology standards, interoperability between information systems, and the globalization of information have placed extraordinary pressure on the few remaining privacy safeguards," the report says. "The effect of these developments has been to create surveillance societies that nurture hostile environments for privacy."
Specifically, governments have implemented or proposed use of fingerprint and iris-scanning biometrics, real-time tracking and monitoring through communications channels, geographic vehicle and mobile phone tracing, national DNA databases, global information-sharing agreements, and the elimination of anonymity in cyberspace.
The lowest-ranking countries in terms of privacy protections continue to be Malaysia, Russia, and China, with Greece, Romania, and Canada ranked highest.
In terms of statutory protections and privacy enforcement, the United States is the worst country in the "democratic world" and is outranked by both India and the Philippines on overall privacy protection. The U.S. has fallen into the "black" category reserved for countries with "endemic surveillance."
In the European Union, the worst-ranked country is the United Kingdom, particularly with regard to surveillance. Specifically, councils in England and Wales continue to spread surveillance policies, including RFID, CCTV, ID and data sharing, and road user tracking, according to the report.
The report, prepared by Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, is based on EPIC's annual Privacy and Human Rights survey, an 1,100-page report that covers 75 countries.
Chalk this up to overkill. The New England Patriots, victors in three of the past six Super Bowls, are accused of using technology to gain an unfair advantage last Sunday.
The NFL's front office has determined that the Patriots swiped defensive signals during Sunday's 38-14 drubbing of the New York Jets, according to a report published Tuesday on ESPN.com. League officials confiscated a video camera and tape from one of the Patriots' assistant coaches after he allegedly was caught taping Jets' coaches sending hand signals, ESPN reported.
A spokesman for the league could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. New England has been accused of stealing signals in the past.
What the league found on the tape convinced them that the Patriots were cheating and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is considering whether to hit the Pats with "severe sanctions," according to ESPN. NFL rules prohibit coaches from videotaping from the sidelines or the coaches booth.
The league is also looking into how the Patriots were using radio frequencies during the game, in which New England racked up 431 yards of offense.
Under NFL rules, only one offensive player, typically the quarterback, is allowed to receive communications from coaches via radio during games. Several teams are pushing for a rule change that would allow coaches to wire a defensive player with a radio helmet as well.
We now know a lot about tsunamis that we didn't know a few years ago. There's even been significant research showing how hurricanes and tsunamis can act alike once onshore. Today, we learn a little more about a tsunami that occurred 400 years ago.
Scientists now conclude that it was a tsunami that flooded the Bristol Channel in western England. It flooded hundreds of square miles and scoured the landscape, killing about 2,000 people. And that was on January 30, 1607. Long before anybody in England ever heard the word "tsunami." At the time, it was considered a storm.
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