Can you tell which of these is real?
It’s going to get extremely hard to tell what is real and what is computer generated
It should be noted that the privacy commisioner of Canada has released her report
Jennifer Stoddart is the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Some quotes I noticed:
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Privacy Act Reform
Recommendations for reform of the Privacy Act have been made ever since the first legislated review, which resulted in the 1987 report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Solicitor-General, Open and Shut: Enhancing the Right to Know and the Right to Privacy. Despite the fact that the report, containing more than 100 recommendations, was unanimously supported by members of the Committee, none of the recommended changes have been enacted, although, in its response, the government committed to move on amendments by the fall of 1988.
In his last report, for 1999-2000, then-Commissioner Bruce Phillips pointed out that Parliament had not turned its mind to the Privacy Act in 14 years, although numerous recommendations had been made during the 1990s by the Privacy Commissioner. He called the weaknesses of the Privacy Act
“… all the more striking now that Parliament has passed the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. This act (which regulates personal information handling in the private sector) contains many features that are superior to the Privacy Act, making a comprehensive review of the existing law both urgent and unavoidable.”
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Government has right to monitor use of its e-mail systems
| A Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) employee was annoyed that each time he logged on to his CBSA computer system, he had to agree to an online statement or else be denied access to the system. The statement in question indicates that the CBSA may monitor the use of its systems. The complainant maintained that the use of e-mail should receive the same privacy considerations as use of the telephone. In his view, monitoring his e-mails violated his privacy rights. |
Our Office ascertained that the CBSA’s monitoring policy is drawn from two Treasury Board policies: the Government Security Policy and the Policy on the Use of Electronic Networks. These policies clearly state that government departments must conduct active monitoring and internal audits of their security programs. As such, electronic networks may be monitored for operational reasons and for assessing compliance with the policies. While normal routine analysis does not involve reading content, if due to routine analysis or a complaint the institution reasonably suspects that an individual is misusing the network, the matter is referred for investigation and action that may involve special monitoring and/or reading the content of the e-mails. In this case, the CBSA confirmed that the complainant’s personal e-mails were never read.
The CBSA pointed out that e-mail is a corporate communications tool provided to employees for the purpose of conducting official government business. The department allows limited personal use when it complies with CBSA’s policies and legislation, and when employee performance is not adversely affected.
Our Office concluded that the CBSA displayed fairness and transparency by informing its employees of its monitoring practices through the online statement, and by making the electronic network policy guidelines readily available on its intranet. Employees therefore have clear expectations of the level of privacy they can expect from the employer. Our Office determined that the complaint was not well‑founded.
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However, during our investigation, we discovered that two fax machines with thermofax rolls intact and originating from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had also been sold by Crown Assets. Again, the staff was simply unaware of the need to sanitize such equipment. CRA too has amended its policies and procedures with respect to disposal of equipment with memory capability.
Given the far-reaching implications of this matter and the likelihood that every department and agency is using some type of equipment with memory that requires special disposal, our Office advised the Information, Privacy and Security Policy Directorate at the Treasury Board Secretariat. It too is pursuing the matter and will be issuing a bulletin to all government departments and agencies.
In conclusion, this highlights the importance of all institutions ensuring that personal information is properly erased from electronic data storage devices. The subject is not straightforward but there are three ways for “media sanitization” or destruction of electronic data:
- Overwriting – overwriting with 1s and 0s where the data was located
- Degaussing – magnetically erasing the data with an electric degausser
- Destruction – physical destruction of the storage medium
Two technical documents provide advice on these topics:
- Communications Security Establishment Clearing and Declassifying Electronic Data Storage Devices, available online at http://www.cse-cst.gc.ca/documents/publications/gov-pubs/itsg/itsg06.pdf
- U.S. Department of Defense Standard 5220.22-M – Advising Users on Computer Systems Technology, available online at http://www.qsgi.com/usdod_standard_dod_522022m.htm
Although these documents do not provide specific guidance on the destruction of thermofax rolls, the general techniques outlined in the documents (e.g. shredding) should be readily adaptable.\\\\\
heise-security is reporting — Copy protection hole in Blu-ray and HD DVD movies
The Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD are new data carriers for high-resolution motion pictures. For fear of piracy, Hollywood had the developers install a cornucopia of copy prevention mechanisms on them. For instance, the film data on the disks are protected by means of the Advanced Access Content System (AACS). Digital output only reaches the monitor via connections encrypted by means of High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). This copy protection chain is designed to ensure that no unencrypted data can be grabbed.
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But this security chain has a giant hole. Computer magazine c’t has discovered that the first software players running on Windows XP allow screenshots of the movies to be created in full resolution. To do so, you only need to press the Print key on your keyboard while the movie is running. Such a screenshot function could then be automated to produce copies of HD movies both from Blu-ray Discs and from HD DVDs picture by picture. As c’t calculated, the performance of current PC systems is sufficient for a clean recording using this procedure. Once a pirate has all of the individual pictures, they can be put together to create a complete movie and mixed with the audio track that is grabbed separately.
This copy protection hole affects both Sony’s first Blu-ray PC Vaio VGC-RC 204 and Toshiba’s first HD DVD notebook Qosmio G30. Both of them use special OEM versions of Intervideo’s WinDVD player software.
Antivirus software vendors recommend switch to Mac OS X
While these recommendations may seem at first glance to undermine the raison d’être of antivirus vendors, this new strategy could be an attempt to compete with Microsoft’s Windows OneCare and Antigen. The more users switch to Mac OS X and Linux, the more attractive these operating systems become for virus authors and cyber criminals, who, after all, also balance costs and benefits. If an operating system does not reach critical mass, it simply does not pay to write malicious code for it. Last May, McAfee expressed its belief that Mac OS X could become a second Windows from the security point of view.
If so, venders of antivirus software would also benefit by having to protect Mac OS X and Linux from genuine viruses and worms. In addition, other software vendors such as Apple, Novell, and Red Hat have not yet shown any interest in the antivirus market, so that no competition is expected from them within the security industry.
