WASHINGTON -- Big Brother met little brother this week in the nation's capital when Washingtonians learned of a plan to keep digital fingerprint and photograph files of the city's schoolchildren.
Officials in the District, where police are caught up in the unsuccessful hunt for missing intern Chandra Levy, claimed that the massive central database of children from 2 to 14 years old would help locate kidnapped or runaway tots.
In response to public outcry, Carol Schwartz, a Republican member of the D.C. Council, said a committee she heads would hold hearings on the privacy implications.
It took a group of privacy advocates, the National Consumer Coalition, to point out the obvious: Parents, not the government, should be responsible for keeping personal records about their children if they feel worried.
The group dubbed the District of Columbia the "privacy villain of the week."
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Facecam update: Speaking of faces in government databases, a recent Rand paper argues that police face-recognition software plugged into surveillance cameras is a splendid way to thwart terrorism.
The paper, written by former CIA official John Woodward, says that "while we must remain alert to potential abuses, it would be ill advised to decry the technology's use under all circumstances." He said that "the technological impartiality" of police facecams offers a "significant benefit for society."
Woodward, an attorney who lives in Virginia, was most recently a CIA operations officer for 12 years in addition to being the CIA staff assistant to the undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon.
Facecams have been in the news recently after Tampa, Florida, decided to install them along public sidewalks in one area of the city.
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France v. Yahoo: U.S. businesses are backing Yahoo in its ongoing tussle with a French court.
In an amicus brief filed this week, groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Council for International Business say that nettled Frenchmen should not be able to haul Yahoo into a French court if they happen to object to what's on the company's servers.
The 41-page brief was not filed in France, but in California: Yahoo has asked a U.S. judge to rule that a French verdict is not enforceable if the company is not violating any U.S. laws.
"The uniquely global nature of the Internet makes the hazard of inconsistent laws and regulations particularly threatening to American individuals, organizations and companies," the brief says.
French activists sued Yahoo for allowing the auction of World War II-era memorabilia, a practice that Yahoo halted on Jan. 10.
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Thin-skinned bureaucrats: Remember those thin-skinned New Jersey politicians who sued a news website over name-calling and criticism?
Earlier this month, a bunch of local officials sued The Eye on Emerson over comments posted on the site's discussion board such as "(She) hasn't told the truth since she was sworn into office," and "What animal does (plaintiff) Vince (Donato) most resemble?" with choices including ass, horny toad, snake, weasel and chicken.
This week, the liberal group Public Citizen decided to help out the embattled website publisher -- who says he's not responsible for what discussion participants say -- by writing a letter to the state judge hearing the case. Paul Alan Levy, of Public Citizen's litigation group, says "we rather doubt that a public official can sue a citizen for saying in a public forum, 'I hate you.'"
Levy asked Judge Mark Russello to be careful about approving a subpoena to VantageNet, a local Internet provider, that would order the company to turn over information about the identities of the Eye on Emerson readers who may have posted the comments. Said Levy: "The Supreme Court of the United States has held that the First Amendment protects the right to speak anonymously," especially when criticizing elected officials.
