National Public Radio has a story about the vacant Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Terms for the original board (created in 2004) expired in January 2008, but President Bush delayed the nomination of new board members for many months; none were confirmed by the Senate. President Obama has not yet nominated any members. As a result, the board strengthened by a 2007 law has never begun operations. (For the history of the Board, read a previous post.)

NPR reports, “The board is supposed to ensure that the government protects Americans’ privacy and civil liberties in a range of counterterrorism activities. [...] Former member Lanny Davis says the board was “extremely effective” during its existence, though he believes there were problems with the organization’s structure.”

NPR notes that several legislators, including Senators Patrick Leahy and Susan Collins, have written to President Obama about the vacancies. NPR mentions a letter from more than 30 groups (including Privacy Lives) sent to the White House urging that President Obama nominate individuals to fill the board. The groups explained that it is more critical than ever that the board convene. “As a result of the attempted Christmas Day bombing, your Administration and Congress are considering numerous policy changes that impact the privacy and freedoms of Americans, including expanding watch lists and more intrusive searches at airports. It is crucial that you nominate qualified individuals to serve on the PCLOB, so that it may begin to provide guidance as new policies and procedures are developed.”

Two columns give opposing opinions on privacy. In the Canadian Globe and Mail, Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian says that privacy remains a norm:

What I emphatically submit is that there is little evidence to change our view that privacy remains a social norm. Privacy relates to freedom of choice and control in the sphere of one’s personal information – choices regarding what information you wish to share and, perhaps more important, what you do not want shared with others. What has changed, however, is the means by which personal information is now readily exchanged, at the speed of light. [...]

Let me speak for a moment as a psychologist (in my former life). The human condition requires connection: We are social animals who seek contact with each other. We also seek privacy: moments of solitude, intimacy, quiet, reserve and control – personal control. These interests have co-existed for centuries and must continue to do so, for the human condition requires both. [...] Read more »

Last year, Michael David Barrett of Westmont, Illinois, pleaded guilty to interstate stalking of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews. Prosecutors said Barrett used a hacksaw to change the peephole on at least two different hotel-room doors in order to surreptitiously film a naked Andrews walking around her hotel rooms; later, Barrett distributed the video online. Prosecutors said Barrett also videotaped 16 other women.

Now, the Associated Press reports that the man who stalked and videotaped Erin Andrews has been sentenced by a judge to 30 months in prison, longer than the 27-month plea bargain Barrett had agreed to with prosecutors. The judge “said 30 months was the maximum he could impose under court guidelines.”

Andrews spoke Monday just after the Illinois insurance executive who acknowledged shooting videos of her naked through hotel peepholes received a 2 1/2 year federal prison sentence. Read more »

InformationWeek reports on a way to identify individuals by using the bacteria left by people on objects.

Scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder have found that the bacteria trail left behind on objects like computer keyboards and mice can analyzed and used to help identify users of those devices.

“Your body is coated with bacteria inside and out,” says CU-Boulder assistant professor Noah Fierer in a video on YouTube. “You’re basically a walking microbial habitat. And we found that the diversity of bacteria just on the skin surface is really pretty incredible. You habor hundreds of different bacteria species just on your palm, for example. We’ve also found that everybody is pretty unique. So of those let’s say hundred or so bacteria species, very few are of them are shared between individuals.” [...] Read more »

UPDATE: The FCC has released the full plan (pdf). The plan notes, “Increased use of personal data raises material privacy and security concerns. Almost half of all consumers have concerns about online privacy and security, which may limit their adoption or use of broadband. Better security and more control over private information may trigger a more robust applications market.”

MediaPost reports on the Federal Communications Commission’s broadband plan (a summary (pdf) was released), which includes a privacy discussion:

While the six-page summary was short on details, the FCC said it intends to suggest measures to “clarify the relationship between users and their online profiles … including the obligation of firms collecting personal information to allow consumers to know what information is being collected, consent to such collection, correct it if necessary, and control disclsoure of such information to thrid parties.”

The FCC in January asked for comments about online privacy in response to a proposed notice of inquiry submitted by the digital rights group Center for Democracy & Technology. But it wasn’t clear until Monday whether the FCC intended to address the issue in its broadband plan.

In January, Privacy Lives joined eight groups in submitting comments (pdf) to the Federal Communications Commission recommending stronger consumer privacy protections. Read more »

The Wall Street Journal reports on a plan by consumer-research firm Nielsen and digital-marketing Firm eXelat to merge online and offline data in order to create more detailed profiles of consumers for targeted behavioral advertising. (Last month, the Financial Times reported on a new deal in the United Kingdom between Yahoo search engine and Nectar, a loyalty-card company, that would link online ads to individuals’ offline purchases, raising privacy questions.)

EXelate Media, a start-up that collects and sells Web data on consumers, is set to announce an alliance Monday with Nielsen, the big consumer-research firm. The two firms say that under the deal, eXelate will tie its data on more than 150 million Internet users to Nielsen’s database, which includes information on 115 million American households, to provide more-detailed profiles of consumers.

“We can build [consumer] profiles from any building blocks,” says Meir Zohar, chief executive of eXelate, which has offices in New York and Israel. “Age, gender, purchase intent, interests, parents, bargain shoppers—you can assemble anything.” Read more »