Two Florida detectives tried to use a dead man’s fingerprints to unlock his phone, the Tampa Bay Times reported, and that act raised privacy questions.

Linus F. Phillip “was shot and killed [by a Largo, Fla., police officer] March 23 at a Wawa gas station after police said he tried to drive away when an officer was about to search him,” the Times reported. Later, two detectives came to the Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home in Clearwater with Phillip’s phone, according to Phillip’s fiancee, Victoria Armstrong. “They were taken to Phillip’s corpse. Then, they tried to unlock the phone by holding the body’s hands up to the phone’s fingerprint sensor,” the Times reported.

Phillip’s fiancee is upset. She was not notified that the detectives would be coming to the funeral home, and the police did not get a warrant for their actions.

Although the detectives’ actions have been criticized as unethical, they are legal because dead people have fewer rights than the living, especially concerning privacy and search and seizure. The courts have split on whether living defendants can be forced to use biometrics such as fingerprints or facial scans to unlock their mobile devices. (Another difference from the Phillips case is that these court cases involved warrants.) Read more »

International Data Privacy Day is Sunday. There are a variety of events occurring this week to celebrate. Visit the official site to find events near your area. Take the time to think about how privacy is important in your life and how you can protect your rights from being infringed upon. Please also donate to any number of organizations out there trying to protect your privacy rights.

Decades ago, China began a system of online surveillance and censorship that was nicknamed “the Great Firewall of China.” Now, that firewall is getting stronger, and there is also an increase in broader surveillance of the public, and the surveillance is becoming more focused, so a particular individual could be targeted.

China has long had a vast camera surveillance, or CCTV, system throughout the country and it includes face-recognition technology. In June, the Wall Street Journal reported that Industry researcher IHS Markit estimated “China has 176 million surveillance cameras in public and private hands, and it forecasts the nation will install about 450 million new ones by 2020. The U.S., by comparison, has about 50 million.” And the Chinese government is using pairing the CCTV surveillance systems with biometric technology “on streets, in subway stations, at airports and at border crossings in a vast experiment in social engineering. Their goal: to influence behavior and identify lawbreakers.”

The system is powerful. BBC News recently reported that, in a test, it took China’s surveillance system seven minutes to locate and apprehend one of its reporters. Notably, China’s CCTV system isn’t the only one to integrate face-recognition technology in order to better target individuals.  Read more »

Today is Giving Tuesday, and here are a few consumer, privacy, and civil liberty groups that could use donations to continue to fight for your rights: ACLU national (or give to your local chapter), Center for Digital Democracy, Consumers Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy International, and the World Privacy Forum.

We’ve discussed before the many ways that companies have been monitoring their employees. They’re using key-logging technology to monitor workers’ keystrokes and Internet-tracking software to log the sites that employees visit. Or tracking workers using GPS technology. More workplaces are using employee badges that have microphones and sensors for tracking individuals’ movements. Now, there’s a move toward a more invasive way to track employees: By implanting microchips in workers.

Wisconsin technology company Three Square Market announced that it is “offering implanted chip technology to all of their employees. … Employees will be implanted with a RFID chip allowing them to make purchases in their break room micro market, open doors, login to computers, use the copy machine, etc.” The company continued: “The chip implant uses near-field communications (NFC); the same technology used in contactless credit cards and mobile payments. A chip is implanted between the thumb and forefinger underneath the skin within seconds.” Read more »

A couple of years ago, we discussed the increasing use license-plate-recognition camera technology and the possible privacy, civil liberty and security implications about the surveillance tech used to gather and record information on drivers’ movements. At the time, we noted that license-plate-reader technology (also called automated license plate readers, ALPRs), like other surveillance systems, has the ability to create a profile of an individual using personal, possibly sensitive data. Now, the technology is in even more jurisdictions nationwide, and the privacy questions remain.

Two examples of the proliferation of the license-plate-reader technology are in Rhode Island and Tennessee. In Rhode Island, state legislators are considering HB 5531, “An Act Relating to Motor and Other Vehicles — Electronic Confirmation and Compliance System,” which would create a state-wide license-plate-reader network to identify and fine uninsured drivers. The chief sponsor is Rep. Robert Jacquard (D), who “said he has made a number of changes to address fears of growing state surveillance and concerns the cameras could be used to expand highway tolling,” reports the Providence Journal.

The ACLU of Rhode Island testified (pdf) against the bill, noting “this legislation would nevertheless facilitate the capture and storage of real time location information on every Rhode Islander on the road, with no guidance as to how this information is to be used, at the benefit of a third-party corporation.” ACLU-RI wants the state to “implement clear and specific restrictions on the use of this technology, particularly by law enforcement” and notes such restrictions are included in HB 5989, whose chief sponsor is Rep. John G. Edwards (D). Read more »