Deirdre K. Mulligan

Respectful cameras: detecting visual markers in real-time to address privacy concerns

To address privacy concerns with digital video surveillance cameras, we propose a practical, real-time approach that preserves the ability to observe actions while obscuring individual identities. In our proposed respectful cameras system, people who wish to remain anonymous agree to wear colored markers such as a hat or vest. The system automatically tracks these markers using statistical learning and classification to infer the location and size of each face and then inserts elliptical overlays. Our objective is to obscure the face of each individual wearing a marker, while minimizing the overlay area in order to maximize the remaining observable region of the scene. Our approach incorporates a visual color-tracker based on a 9 dimensional color-space by using a probabilistic AdaBoost classifier with axis-aligned hyperplanes as weak-learners. We then use particle filtering to incorporate interframe temporal information. We present experiments illustrating the performance of our system in both indoor and outdoor settings, where occlusions, multiple crossing targets, and lighting changes occur. Results suggest that the respectful camera system can reduce false negative rates to acceptable levels (under 2%).

Implementing Copyright Limitations in Rights Expression Languages

Drafters of rights expression languages (RELs) claim that RELs will form the basis for generic, content-neutral expressions of rights in digital objects, suitable for a broad range of contexts. Generally modeled on access control languages, RELs are structured predominantly as permission languages – meaning that no rights exist in an object until they are affirmatively and specifically granted. The permissions-based exclusivity likely to result from existing RELs and digital rights management (DRM) contrasts with the myriad limitations on exclusivity in the Copyright Act. Unless REL designers and DRM system implementers consider these limitations, DRM systems will alter the copyright balance in the direction of copyright holder exclusivity. In this paper we propose changes to RELs that would approximate the copyright balance more closely than current DRM technologies do.

Your place or mine?: privacy concerns and solutions for server and client-side storage of personal information

The best way for a well-meaning company to avoid a privacy gaffe is to refrain from collecting any personal information. However, while companies should limit collection of information to only what is necessary to complete a transaction, interactions often require more information. Complete anonymity or even pseudonymity are not always desirable. Indeed, software companies and Web site operators have begun to build systems that store personal information. For consumers, these digital “wallets” offer the ability to avoid retyping information such as credit card numbers and shipping addresses. For the businesses, the wallet may be a pure storage device or they may have hopes of customizing, targeting, personalizing and profiling individuals based on this information. While technology alone cannot prevent “bad actor” companies from misusing personal information, systems can be designed to help well-meaning companies build in privacy protections for users.

Radio frequency Id and privacy with information goods

1. NORMS AND LAW This paper examines the privacy impacts of using radio frequency identification (RFID) to tag information goods such as books, music, and video. Individuals have strong expectations of privacy in their choice of information goods. These expectations are supported by both social norms and law. As a matter of practice, people may generally purchase and browse information goods without identifying themselves or the subject of their inquiry. People may pay in cash and avoid creating records that provide opportunities for third parties to learn of their information habits. Information providers that maintain records, such as libraries and bookstores, have staunchly defended their patrons’ privacy, and indeed are often bound legally to demand due process of law before disclosing those records. Data holders can examine subpoenas for authenticity and cause, and challenge them in court before disclosing private information. Bookstores have done so in recent high-profile cases. [6][9] Libraries have developed elaborate policy mechanisms to ensure records are kept private, [1] and lobbied for laws protecting library records.

Data Mining and Privacy: An Overview

The availability of powerful tools to analyze the increasing amounts of personal data has raised many privacy concerns. In this article, we provide an overview of data mining, aimed at a non-technical audience primarily interested in the social and legal aspects of data mining applications.

Square pegs & round holes: applying campaign finance law to the Internet—risks to free expression and democratic values

The US Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) regulates the contributions of corporations and individuals to political campaigns. Intended to limit the “corrupting” influence of big money and to “return the political process to the people,” the complex campaign finance rules were developed for the centralized, scarce, and expensive media of radio, television and print. The Internet is uniquely decentralized, global, abundant, inexpensive, interactive and user-controlled. It supports a diverse range of content, much of it spontaneous and independent from campaign committees and the political parties. It would be worse than ironic if rules designed to de-emphasize the unfair advantage of money and to broaden the diversity of voices meaningfully heard in the election process were applied in ways that deterred individuals from using the “electronic soapbox” of the Internet.