“According to FOIA documents obtained by EPIC new Postal Service self-service postage machines take portrait-style photographs of customers and retain them for 30 days.” IBM is the contractor behind the kiosks. Note that the kiosk is supposed to not complete the transaction if it determines the photograph has been compromised, so simply covering the camera is unlikely to work. As the cost of cameras and digital storage approaches zero, is it inevitable that every machine you interact with will take your photograph and store it? Via Slashdot.
Daily Archives: December 16, 2004
DC Politicians Display Smarts in Their Baseball Stadium Deal
Interesting contrast to the Miller Park scheme hatched in Milwaukee & Madison some years ago, DC Common Council Chairman Linda Cropp has added some reality to the District’s deal with Major League Baseball:
At the John A. Wilson Building, anxiety over the future of baseball in Washington was evident all day. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) pronounced during his morning news conference that the deal was “in great, great jeopardy.” Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), the architect of the legislative amendment that required private funding, said she was “looking to reduce the cost and risk for the District.”
“I keep hearing that we had a deal with baseball,” Cropp said. “Well, I have had a 30-year-plus deal with the citizens of this city. That deal trumps any other consideration with Major League Baseball.”
Safe Personal Computing
Security expert Bruce Schneier summarizes sensible personal computing safety tips here.
Duke’s 2 minute short copyright movies
Duke’s law school recently ran a contest that asked entrants to create short films demonstrating some of the tensions between art and intellectual property law, and the intellectual property issues artists face, focusing on either music or documentary film. Take a look here. Via Cory Doctorow.