Christopher Parsons, Author at Toward Freedom

Against Privacy: The Enhanced Driver’s License Security Show

Christopher Parsons June 15, 2009 Christopher Parsons

We're paying for a high-tech Broadway show that's themed around 'security', but we're actually watching the equivalent of a catastrophic performance in a low budget community theatre. The price of admission? Only millions of dollars and your privacy. As of June 1, 2009, Canadians and Americans alike require an Enhanced Drivers License (EDL), a NEXUS card, a FAST card, a passport, or a Secure Certificate of Indian Status to cross a Canadian-American land border.

Britain’s Digital Surveillance: Hiding from Her Majesty’s ‘Black Boxes’

Christopher Parsons November 11, 2008 Christopher Parsons

There are plans to deploy 'black boxes' in UK ISPs' networking hubs so that the government can capture and record every website that UK citizens visit. A similar operation is in full swing in the United States, where the NSA has hooked up their own 'black boxes' to American Internet Service Providers' (ISPs) networks to capture 'questionable content' passing through these networks. Unlike the Americans, who only examine questionable content, the UK government is planning to develop a database to hold the contents of all messages passing along their nations' telecommunications networks.

Tracking Your Every Move: ‘Enhancing’ Driver’s Licenses at the Cost of Privacy

Christopher Parsons October 28, 2008 Christopher Parsons

Provincial and state governments in North America are proposing to 'enhance' driver's licenses in coming years by including a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips in them. These 'enhanced' licenses emit unique identifiers and will be optional when they are first available to the public, though they will be required to enter the United States using a driver's license beginning in July 2009. The proposed Enhanced Driver's Licenses (EDLs) are intended to be associated with border security, but are also accompanied with concerns linked to individuals' reasonable expectations of privacy.