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March 2007 Archives

March 1, 2007

Anonymous Voice speaks!

ID Card - is Big Brother stalking you?
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Diffusion identity card special edition

Synthetic interview with Anna Johnston about privacy concerns by Anonymous Voice,
Aras Vaichas speaks with Ian Woolf about RFID technologies,
Interview with Professor Graham Greenleaf about Access and Cyberlaw by Anonymous Voice

Who is Anonymous Voice? Can you catch the hidden messages masked in the music? Will the Access Card bill be passed into Identity Card legislation without any debate at all?

Rocket Car Day 7 and 8 photos

Forty new photos from Rocket Car Days 7 and 8 have been added to the Rocket Car day 666 pictures at flickr

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March 5, 2007

National Identity Card references:

Diffusion ID Card special podcast - http://www.diffusionradio.com/2007/03/id_card_is_big_brother_stalkin.html

Updates and developments:

[Senate]:  Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee report is critical of many aspects of the Legislation (15th March 2007)
[SMH]:  Government moves quickly to defer legislation for AU$1.1Bn card "Sydney Morning Herald: Backlash fear sparks ID card rethink"
[ZDNet]:  Minister, Senator Campbell, resigns (on unrelated matter).
[Silicon.com]:  ID card support collapses
[ZDNet]:  Tendering for the card continues!

International and General

[Privacy International]:  Leading surveillance countries around the world
[ABC Radio National]:  Background Briefing. "Getting Smart: the Access card"
[IndyMedia]:  Difference between rejected 1986 ID-card and present proposal
[Spychips]:  Issues about RFID cards
[Privacy.Org]:  Privacy International - National ID Cards
[CNet]:  The Real ID rebellion (a similar proposed card in the US is called Real ID)

Privacy legislation applied to businesses is substantially different from privacy legislation for government organisations.

[Privacy.gov]:  Australian State and Territory privacy legislation
[Privacy.gov]:  Australian privacy legislation for the Private Sector


Campaigns and Issues

[ACLU]:  Flash animation of ordering pizza in an Identity card world
[ACLU]:  Flash animation of ID card interaction at airport. "Privacy, Its about Power."
[Privacy.Org]:  Australian Privacy Foundation ID-card Campaign
[Privacy.Org]:  Greenleaf, Graham "Australia's Proposed ID Card: Still Quacking Like a Duck." UNSW Law Research Paper No. 2007-1 Available at SSRN:
[SSRN]:  G Greenleaf "Access All Areas': Function Creep Guaranteed in Australia's ID Card Bill (No. 1)", Computer Law and Security Report Vol 23, 2007 (accepted)
[CyberLaw]:  "The Australian Government's Submission is seriously misleading to the Senate - Supplementary submission to the Inquiry Into the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007" 2 March 2007
[CyberLaw]:  "Submission to the Inquiry Into the Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007' 25 February 2007"
[EFA]:  Electronic Frontiers Australia
[CyberLaw]:  Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre
[SMH]:  Warning over medical details on national card
[ABC]:  Govt concedes age limit on access card

Need for Identity? - Need for Privacy?

[TheRegister]:  Centrelink database abuse 2006
[AccessCard.gov]:  Access Card and Privacy Taskforce Report
[AccessCard.gov]:  Government response to Taskforce Report
[Wikipedia]:  The Vivian Solon case.


Blogs

[Here's Why]:  Radio ID Skim Scam
[Here's Why]:  The Card that Accesses You!
[FOI-Privacy.Blogspot]:  Peter Timmins Open and Shut (blog)

Australian Government Websites

[Accesscard.Gov]:  Office of the Access Card
[Accesscard.Gov]:  The Access Card Bill
[Accesscard.Gov]:  Public submissions on the Access Card Bill
[Privacy.Gov]:  Proof of ID required?
[AG.Gov]:  Attorney General: Protecting identity security
[AG.Gov]:  Identity Security strengthened
[AG.Gov]:  Identity Theft Kit
[Senate]:  Access Card questions with notice in Parliament (Australia)

Technology Sites

[Wikipedia]:  Radio Frequency Identification techology (Wikipedia)
[The-Gold-Blog]:  Are your credit cards safe?
[RFIDProductNews]:  Applications of RFID cards
[Bruce Shneier]:  Skimming RFID Credit cards
[TechNewsWorld]:  Hacking RFID passports
[RPI-Polymath]:  How to make your wallet safe from RFID attack with Duct Tape
[Wikipedia]:  Model 204 database
[ACEvents]:  Australian RFID Summit
[SMH]:  E-tags are another example of surveillance by stealth

Business Issues

The Australian government's push for an "access" card is supported by a business model which is claimed to justify the billion-dollar expenditure.

Unfortunately, the relevant sections in government publications are inaccessible "for commercial reasons" or are labelled "government in confidence".

At the same time businesses appear to be directly resisting attempts for more open access by shareholders, or - more indirectly - via a shift to "private equity" funding.

[SMH]:  "Business needs to keep its secrets"
[AccessCard.Gov]:  KPMG Access card Business Case to Australian Government 2006
[McCombs.Utexas.]:  1998 KPMG White Paper on Smart cards
[RFIDNews]:  KPMG sell biometric radio computer cards to the Department of Defense
[KPMG]:  KPMG report on the benefits of Radio Frequency computer chipped cards


March 10, 2007

Digital Brains?

If some of your brain works in binary, is it more like a digital computer than we thought?

March 11, 2007

Super Solar Cells

Solar cells that are 8 times more efficient for half the cost, and lithium batteries to store 4 times more of the power they generate.

March 12, 2007

Molecular Condoms

Play now

The Smart Semen-Triggered Vaginal Microbicidal Vehicle works a little like Vaginal Contraceptive Film, except that it also prevents AIDS.

March 26, 2007

Liquid electricity

Play Now

Liquid electricity may be the car fuel of the future. You can charge the liquid up with power, and then transport it by tanker to a filling station. Cars can empty their discharged liquid and refill with charged up liquid and drive using pollution-free electrical power. Pollution-producing petrol is replaced by elegant electricity.

March 27, 2007

Termites do your head in


Play now

Termites do your head in! They emit poisonous naphthalene gas to keep other insects away from them. The termite toxin can cause headaches and nausea in small doses. The neurotoxin leads to organ failure in extreme cases.

March 30, 2007

Nobel Prizes add life

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Can winning a Nobel Prize help you live longer?

About March 2007

This page contains all entries posted to Here's Why in March 2007. They are listed from oldest to newest.

February 2007 is the previous archive.

April 2007 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.