http://web.archive.org/web/20091108150053/http://www.smartmeters.com:80/the-news/656-brits-express-privacy-concerns-with-smart-meters.html
Update from the UK:The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) expressed privacy concerns within its impact assessment, stating that there “is theoretically scope…for using the smart metering communications infrastructure to enable a variety of other services, such as monitoring of vulnerable householders by health authorities or social services.”
“Information from smart meters could also make it possible for a supplier to determine when electricity or gas was being used in a property and, to a degree, the types of technology that were being used within the property,” the assessment reads. “This could be used to target energy efficiency advice and offers of measures, social programmes etc. to householders.”
The Council of Europe proposes rules for online profiling and wants your opinion.
Learn more here!
The Brattle Group, a leading consultancy with a focus on the smart grid, recently issued a *report* (expiered)
stating the following:
“Quantifying and stressing the environmental benefits of dynamic tariffs, ensuring transparent and adequate financial rewards and offering customers a lower flat tariff in return for providing “automatic” demand response could help boost customer participation.”
— this means the utility must understand and directly help control your power usage for the maximum savings, for you and them. Just giving consumers pricing and usage information doesn’t provide the maximum savings and puts a management burden on them. But, will consumers trust their utility enough? Only if privacy of their data and the appliances they use at home is handled very very wisely!
FPF is honored to have an Advisory Board that includes some of the country’s leading luminaries on privacy issues. We are also honored to announce the addition of three more esteemed privacy experts:
Michelle Dennedy, chief governance officer, cloud computing at Sun Microsystems. Ms. Dennedy is an expert in designing policies that foster trust in cloud environments. Formerly Sun’s chief privacy officer, she has overseen the development of data privacy policies that comport with international data regulations.
Lorrie Faith Cranor, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. The author of more than 80 research papers on issues such as online privacy, phishing, spam, anonymous publishing, and usable access control, Ms. Cranor is director of Carnegie Mellon’s CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS).
Andy Holleman, chief privacy officer at Qwest Communications. Mr. Holleman has been providing integral counsel to Qwest on privacy issues since 2001. As the company’s CPO, his work includes policy formation, the development and delivery of privacy training, and providing privacy-related advice on new products and services, among several other tasks.
We are honored and delighted that these prominent experts would serve on FPF’s Advisory Board.
Kudos to Harvard Asst professor Ben Edelman, for his latest expose of the underbelly of the online advertising environment. Edelman, an FPF Advisory Board member, has been a long time critic of ad networks or advertisers that don’t do enough to control where their ads are placed. At www.Benedelman.org, he has documented ads showing up in adware, spyware, porn sites and other unsavory locations. Here he shows how advertisers themselves are ripped off when their ad networks place ads on invisible, non-existent web sites. No one ever sees the ads, but the advertisers pay-up.
Until advertisers and publishers reclaim their relationships with web surfers, and press their ad partners to do the hard work to support the needed improvements in the areas of privacy, security, and quality, these are the kinds of exposes that are likely to keep on coming.
What will talking power meters say about you?
MSNBC’s Red Tape Chronicles
By Bob Sullivan
October 9, 2009
Would you sign up for a discount with your power company in exchange for surrendering control of your thermostat? What if it means that, one day, your auto insurance company will know that you regularly arrive home on weekends at 2:15 a.m., just after the bars close?
Welcome to the complex world of the Smart Grid, which may very well pit environmental concerns against thorny privacy issues. If you think such debates are purely philosophical, you’re behind the times.
Jules Polonetsky quoted:
“The potential benefits of the Smart Grid are fabulous,” he said. “I just think that it’s critical that sober and adequate thinking be done at this stage. We must do this right or we could hamper the rollout of the Smart Grid and you could have folks unwilling to participate. … We are trying to help before it’s too late.” Polonetsky, director of The Future of Privacy Forum, heads a small crowd of researchers who are asking important questions about the future of our futuristic power delivery plans. “Knowing what’s going on in people’s homes … this strikes at some of our most core values,” he said.
To view the full article click here.
We found this ClickZ article about ad network evolution both educational and amusing. Enjoy!
The following piece was published on the New York Times website on October 8, 2009
Tracking Consumers Online: Make It Transparent
To the Editor:
Re “Tracked for Ads? Many Americans Say No Thanks” (Business Day, Sept. 30):
As your article suggests, there’s little doubt that consumers will object to behavioral advertising when they feel it is being done to them instead of for them.
So what can responsible companies do online? For starters, they can take the advice of Prof. Joseph Turow, the lead author of the study of attitudes toward online tracking, and help consumers “feel they have control over the data that marketers collect about them.”
This means clearly letting consumers know what is going on at a Web site, not hiding the information in a privacy policy that isn’t usually read. It means giving consumers real choices about the collection and use of their data. It also means showing consumers the profiles that are created and then deleting the old data on a regular basis.
The only way to turn around the online advertising debate is to provide users with real transparency and control. Why wait for Congress or regulators to mandate a solution?
Jules Polonetsky
Christopher Wolf
Washington, Sept. 30, 2009
The writers are co-chairmen of the Future of Privacy Forum, a think tank that focuses on consumer privacy issues.
Privacy Scholars to Partner with Think Tank to Focus on the Future of Privacy Law and Policy
WASHINGTON, October 8, 2009 – The Washington-based think tank The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) announce a unique partnership to advance programs focused on the future of privacy law and policy.
“FPF and GW Law have come together to create something quite new: a formal partnership to examine the privacy challenges presented by new technology,” said FPF Co-Chair Christopher Wolf. “By bringing together some of the best-thinking people from academia, the private sector and government, we can ensure critical examination of the social, legal and policy implications of the digital age.”
GW Law boasts a prestigious roster of privacy scholars on its faculty including professors Jeffrey Rosen, Daniel Solove and Orin Kerr, and is known for its in-depth scholarship on privacy issues. FPF, led by founder and co-chair Christopher Wolf (who leads the privacy and data security law practice at Hogan & Hartson LLP) and co-chair and director Jules Polonetsky (formerly chief privacy officer of AOL) is known for its efforts to advance responsible data practices. FPF and GW Law will jointly present programs on privacy issues of scholarly interest, as well as address policy issues to government, businesses, and advocates. The partnership will also help support the Privacy Law Scholars Conference, an annual gathering of top privacy academics organized by GW Law and Berkeley School of Law.
“GW Law is one of the leading law schools in the country for privacy scholarship,” said Mr. Solove, professor and author of numerous books on privacy issues and policy. “At a time when privacy models are being debated by government and industry, this relationship will enhance the opportunities for faculty and students to participate in some of the most important privacy developments in our nation’s capital.”
As part of the new partnership, GW Law and FPF will host a series of public events and panel discussions throughout the year to explore a variety of different privacy issues. FPF will also provide fellowship opportunities for two GW Law students each summer. These students will research the privacy implications of issues posed by technologies such as behavioral profiling, mobile devices and smart grid technologies.
Mr. Polonetsky said, “FPF is focused on advancing responsible data practices in both the United States and abroad. This partnership will bring a greater visibility and more thorough discussion of the legal intricacies involved in privacy-related public policies.”
The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that seeks to advance responsible data practices. The forum is led by internet privacy experts Jules Polonetsky and Christopher Wolf and includes an advisory board comprised of leading figures from industry, academia, law and advocacy groups. FPF was launched in November 2008, and is supported by AOL, AT&T, Deloitte, eBay, Facebook, Intel, Microsoft, The Nielsen Company, Verizon and Yahoo.
Established in 1865 and located four blocks from the White House, The George Washington University Law School is the oldest law school in the District of Columbia. Accredited by the American Bar Association and a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools, the Law School enrolls approximately 2,000 students each year in its J.D. and LL.M. programs.
For media inquiries or interviews about this partnership, please email: [email protected]