Corporate Sponsered Surveillance

[Longeyes]

This is a very dangerous precedent. Just laziness on behalf of employers but the consequences could be disastrous.
There need to be new laws to protect citizen rights world-wide to stop this. It is an infringement of personal space and liberty. It’s bad enough that we carry around smart phones, which can be tracked and hacked into even when they are off.
Normalisation will lead to ID chips etc, if things start to go wrong in your country, and democracy gets weakened, and you end in a totalitarian state - control becomes too easy. You already have access to everything you can possibly need with your mind.

[CasperParks]

This is a very dangerous precedent. Just laziness on behalf of employers but the consequences could be disastrous.

There need to be new laws to protect citizen rights world-wide to stop this. It is an infringement of personal space and liberty.

It’s bad enough that we carry around smart phones, which can be tracked and hacked into even when they are off.

Normalization will lead to ID chips etc, if things start to go wrong in your country, and democracy gets weakened, and you end in a totalitarian state - control becomes too easy. You already have access to everything you can possibly need with your mind.

You're correct with "normalization"... It's baby-steps toward full-blown electronic tattoos or RFID implants in the hand.

[calikid]

Engadge article: More companies are chipping their workers like pets, click here to read. Dated 11/16/18.

Article make reference that one company preparing to chip workers has "hundreds of thousands of employees". They mention a "opt-in", however direct deposit of paychecks started as an "opt-in". I can see the "opt-in" turn into a boycott of potential employees who don't want to be chipped, and or in the near future make chipping a condition of employment.

Well, at least here in the west our politicians showed a bit of restraint.... for now.

California in 2007 swiftly moved to block companies from being able to make RFID implants mandatory, as well as blocking the chipping of students in the state.

Seems like voluntary is only a step away from mandatory.
Implants are a wonderful idea for a police state, not so great for the average Joe trying to conduct business without worries some hacker walking past is going send out a pulse to trigger the RFID, and capture whatever data is available.

[calikid]

Wow! Talk about the shoe being on the other foot. Aiding the enemy?

Google Earth accidentally reveals secret military sites.
By Charlie Osborne.

An update to the Google Earth online platform has accidentally led to the exposure of secretive Taiwanese military locations.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, some of Taiwan's most sensitive military sites have been revealed publicly through the update, which included new three-dimensional renditions of Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, and Taichung.

At the time of writing, a military base which is reportedly a facility for Patriot missiles is crystal clear and no blurring has been implemented to prevent the public from viewing the site at leisure.

It is possible to see the exact location, military base layout, building structures, and the locations of missile launchers.

The Post reports that Taiwan's National Security Bureau and the Military Intelligence Bureau have also become visible on the new maps.
Story Continues
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Google-Taiwan.jpg

[calikid]

The California State Attorney General is holding public hearings on the rules California residents want to see implemented under the new CCPA law.
It is scheduled to implement in 2020.
The CCPA is similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU).
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California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
Home Privacy California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Current Rulemaking Activity

On June 28, 2018, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 375, now known as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which grants consumers new rights with respect to the collection of their personal information. The California Attorney General’s Office will be promulgating regulations and soliciting broad public participation to further the purposes of the CCPA. The regulations aim to establish procedures to facilitate consumers’ rights under the CCPA and provide guidance to businesses for how to comply.
Notifications Regarding This Rulemaking Process

Information regarding the rulemaking process will be posted on this page. If you would like to receive notifications regarding future rulemaking activities, please subscribe to our email list.
Preliminary Rulemaking Activities: Upcoming Public Forums

The California Attorney General’s Office will hold public forums as part of its preliminary activities in the CCPA rulemaking process. All members of the public are invited to participate and can RSVP to any of the forums on the RSVP form.

Interested persons can also submit written comments via email or by mail to the California Department of Justice, ATTN: Privacy Regulations Coordinator, 300 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013. Please submit written comments by March 8, 2019 for consideration during this pre-rulemaking stage. Please note that any information provided is subject to the Public Records Act.
See more
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Public Forum PDF

[CasperParks]

Click here for article at The Washington Post: With fitness trackers in the workplace, bosses can monitor your every step — and possibly more.

This is slowly being rolled-out through employers and insurance companies. It is not only tracking and monitoring people at the work-place, it is tracking and monitoring them away from work.

[calikid]

‘There’s going to be a fight here to weaken it’: Inside the lobbying war over California’s landmark privacy law
By Tony Romm

SACRAMENTO — A landmark law adopted in California last year to rein in the data-collection practices of Facebook, Google and other tech giants has touched off a lobbying blitz that could water it down, potentially undermining new protections that might apply to Internet users across the country.

The fight between regulation-wary businesses and privacy watchdogs centers on the Golden State’s first-in-the-nation online privacy rules, known as the California Consumer Privacy Act. The law, which other states are now trying to mimic, is set to grant people the power to learn what information is collected about them and block it from being sold, while promising tough punishments for companies that mishandle consumers’ most sensitive data.

“People will recognize who’s supposed to be protecting them because right now, [it’s] no one — there’s nobody,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D), whose role overseeing the new law will make him one of the country’s top privacy enforcers.

But the law won’t take effect until next year, creating an opening for lobbying groups representing Facebook, Google and other businesses beyond Silicon Valley to tinker with its guts. The delay has left local policymakers and privacy watchdogs fearful that their signature accomplishment might not remain intact.

Some organizations, including the tech-backed Internet Association and the California Chamber of Commerce, known as CalChamber, are arguing in favor of tweaks that consumer groups contend would limit who the law covers, and how it would work. At a listening session in Sacramento this week, industry leaders said the privacy rules aren’t workable in their current form.

“We’re not rolling back rights; we’re trying to make things work,” Sarah Boot, the chamber’s top privacy policy aide, said in an interview.

California’s race to regulate the tech industry stands in stark contrast to the federal government, where lawmakers long have failed to adopt a national privacy law of their own — even as scandals at Facebook, Google and other tech giants have infuriated Web users and drawn international scorn.
Story Continues

[CasperParks]

Click here to read, CBS News: Facebook reportedly received users' sensitive health data from apps: "It’s incredibly dishonest".
(Notation: The video at CBS covers Facebook. The print article beneath the video is regarding access to personal health.)

Click here to read, The Wall Street Journal: You Give Apps Sensitive Personal Information. Then They Tell Facebook.

[CasperParks]

NBC News article March 12th, 2019: Facial recognition's 'dirty little secret': Millions of online photos scraped without consent, click to read.

According the article, IBM and Flickr are involved. It is likely that other tech giants are doing something similar. IBM assured "user could opt out".

Doubtful that people posting photos are aware their images are loaded into a massive database.

Entities with access are "supposedly research groups".

One of the excuses for harvesting photos of individuals is to improve "Facial Recognition" technology.

[CasperParks]

CBS News reports: Amazon workers are listening to what you tell Alexa, click here to watch report and read article.

Something to consider: If using Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, Apple's Siri, and Google Assistance are people allowing "surveillance" of their personal lives?

My portable Bluetooth speaker and tablet have a "virtual assistant" type of thing. I have both Apps "turned-off". Although the Apps appear as if turned-off, are they really turned-off? I wonder what would happen if uninstall was done to the Apps? Would that cause errors on the tablet? For the Bluetooth speaker there isn't an uninstall feature, it is only an "off" type of thing.