HIPAA Blog

[ Wednesday, July 14, 2004 ]

 

Slightly off-topic: From "Spectrum," the online magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, pronounced "eye-triple-ee", not "ieee"), an interesting article on the electronics revolution and where we're going with privacy. Sample:

"Passing you on the street, I swipe my RFID reader to obtain your name and address. Googling you on a few public databases, including one of new homeowners in the neighborhood, I discover that you're in the market for a used lawn mower. Your bank account is in order, and your credit is fantastic, even after you paid off your ex-wife's debt as part of your recent divorce settlement. You had a quadruple bypass last year and need a riding mower just like the one sitting in my garage. Your spy tracker alerts you to the fact that I'm checking you out, prompting you to launch your own investigation. You learn I suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder and am taking medication to keep my life together. But you also know that my disorder manifests as a cleaning fetish; it's a good bet that the lawn mower I listed on eBay is in pristine shape. Furthermore, you can infer that I'm so desperate to make my credit card payments this month that I'll sell you that mower for a song."

Interesting.

Jeff [9:58 AM]

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