Date: Mon, 10 Aug 92 17:55:45 EST Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator To: Comp-privacy@PICA.ARMY.MIL Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V1#071 Computer Privacy Digest Mon, 10 Aug 92 Volume 1 : Issue: 071 Today's Topics: Moderator: Dennis G. Rears Information Age course at Georgetown IRS: ssn for my kids ? re: SSNs and Southern California Re: Cellular phone scanners Re: cellnet privacy? Re: CC's and South Korea The Computer Privacy Digest is a forum for discussion on the effect of technology on privacy. The digest is moderated and gatewayed into the USENET newsgroup comp.society.privacy (Moderated). Submissions should be sent to comp-privacy@pica.army.mil and administrative requests to comp-privacy-request@pica.army.mil. Back issues are available via anonymous ftp on ftp.pica.army.mil [129.139.160.200]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1992 15:31 MST Subject: Information Age course at Georgetown From: stapleton@misvax.mis.arizona.edu (Dr. Ross Alan Stapleton) For those in the greater Washington DC area, I will be teaching a course in Georgetown University's continuing education program, surveying issues arising from our entry into the "Information Age." The course description is below, and it runs for eight Thursday evenings. Contact the School of Summer and Continuing Education at Georgetown for further information (and forward this note to others if you like). Ross * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ISSUES FOR THE INFORMATION AGE This course will address issues of the "Information Age" for a nontechnical audience, i.e., how computers and computer-based information and systems are transforming the world around us. What does it mean to say that "information about money is as valuable as money itself?" Many companies do nothing more than broker information, as an increasingly larger percentage of the U.S. economy. But where ought the boundary between commercial profit and personal privacy be drawn? Lotus Development Corp. cancelled its plans to market a database on consumers in the face of protests from those it would have monitored, and across the U.S. "caller ID" technology is facing severe scrutiny from all sides. In the wake of the failed Soviet coup, a U.S. communications company took out a full-page ad to congratulate Soviet citizens who, "armed with nothing more than information...saved the day." News of the Tiananmen Square massacre came to us out of China by way of portable satellite dishes and the fax machine. Information systems are making life more efficient, but never before has it been possible for a simple computer glitch to cause a billion dollars worth of damage--twice in 1991 software bugs crippled large portions of the U.S. telephone system, and a Cornell graduate student's program shut down tens of thousands of networked computers in 1988. The legal profession is scrambling to apply yesterday's laws to new realities, and "artificial reality" has been used in court testimony, while the FBI lobbies to make digital telephones easier to wiretap. What do we have to fear from "hackers?" Does computer crime pay? Readings will be provided, taken largely from the current press, to serve as background and focus for discussion. Dr. Ross Alan Stapleton is a science and technology analyst with extensive experience studying computer and information technologies in the former USSR and Eastern Europe. 8 sessions, Thursday evenings, 7:45 to 9:15 p.m., September 24 through November 12, 1992. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Aug 92 17:15:52 MDT From: Tom Wicklund Subject: IRS: ssn for my kids ? [Moderator's Note: I think the tax reform act of 1986 requires it for children over 2 years of age. ._dennis ] As of a year or so ago you must have an SSN for all children over 1 year of age. Many hospitals will submit the SSN info to the proper authorities for you when your child is born. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Aug 92 09:37:54 PDT From: Phydeaux Subject: re: SSNs and Southern California Someone wrote: >> The plot thickens. I was required to give my SSN to PURCHASE >> (with cash) a television, and there was much wailing and gnashing >> of teeth when I explained that, as a foreign national, I do not Robert McMillan responded: >>You wouldn't think it ritualistic if you knew anything about what >happens on the other side of the counter. My father owned a retail >music store for three years and got a tremendous number of bad checks. ... >Stores where people routinely write >checks for large amounts (Home Depot comes to mind here) frequently keep >internally-generated lists of known rubber check writers. I expect that But he was trying to purchase a television with *CASH*. Why anyone should be required to give a SSN for a CASH purchase is beyond me. Cash is "legal tender for all debts, public and private." A check is merely a promise to pay, so naturally the stores want ID. I think we should take up a collection to buy the sales clerks a clue. reb ------------------------------ From: "Wm. L. Ranck" Subject: Re: Cellular phone scanners Date: 7 Aug 92 19:14:51 GMT willis@iris.rand.org (Willis H. Ware) writes: : But do remember that Virginia makes it illegal to OWN, much less operate, : a radar detector so such laws are possible -- at least until challenged in : court. : This is no longer true. A fellow had his new radar detector seized a few years back by Virginia police. It had never been unpacked from the box. He fought it in court and won. Now you can *own* a radar detector in Va. but not use it in your car. -- ******************************************************************************* * Bill Ranck DoD #496 ranck@joesbar.cc.vt.edu * ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ From: Graham Toal Subject: Re: cellnet privacy? Date: 9 Aug 92 00:52:36 GMT Reply-To: gtoal@stack.urc.tue.nl Organization: MCGV Stack, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands In article keith.willis@almac.co.uk writes: > I must make the effort to find out how the law stands on this > over here... No problems with the law over here regarding cellular transmissions. The only laws we have are against listening to police or military. G ------------------------------ From: Graham Toal Subject: Re: CC's and South Korea Date: 9 Aug 92 01:05:15 GMT Reply-To: gtoal@stack.urc.tue.nl Organization: MCGV Stack, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands In article 72307.1502@compuserve.com (Gordon Meyer) writes: :[this submission is being xposted to RISKS] : : "Governments Come Looking for Card Information" : It has been six months since the South Korean government's order : that {credit card} issuers surrender files detailing individual : account information, and card companies are still smarting. The : reason: The companies are uncertain whether they can prevent the : government of any foreign country from taking similar action. Damn, I've just been looking for a book I know I have, but I can't find it. Anyway, it's a fairly well-known book by an ex-Mossad employee who includes at the back of his book several Mossad organisational charts - including one showing computer links to the credit card companies, including Amex. I presume it isn't just the accounts of the nationals of a country that a government can access if they have a line to or an operative in a major credit card centre. Graham (If I find the book, I'll post the reference) ------------------------------ End of Computer Privacy Digest V1 #071 ******************************