Transmogrifying Privacy: The Impact of the Internet of Things on Open Government

[extract] Privacy can be seen as both a personal right and an important pillar of open government. Yet, understandings of privacy are changing at breakneck speed in the digital era. In essence, privacy has become transmogrified; a shapeshifter. A particularly transformative influence has been the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT, a series of networks often but not always connected through the Internet, have opened a firehose of information for companies and governments alike. This treasure trove of information allows for government tracking in unprecedented ways. This paper explores the influence of the IoT, the mass self-surveillance it produces on privacy, and the new shapes of privacy that are emerging as a result.We live in a volatile world of diminishing privacy. Part of the reason lies with the enormous data flows created by the Internet and connecting devices, often labeled the Internet of Things (IoT). These data flows become part of information marketplaces, and often find their way to the government. Thus, the IoT, for all its progressive digital advantages, has become a huge feeder of information to private companies and the government, generally without any of the traditional safeguards of privacy, such as the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of probable cause or warrants for many searches. Controlling this IoT-enhanced information flow to government will be critical in coming years to maintaining open government, which otherwise could access information equivalent to serving general warrants, as was common in pre-United States England

Are Privacy and Public Disclossure Compatible?: The Privacy Exemption to Washington\u27s Freedom of Information Act—In re Rosier, 105 Wn. 2d 606, 717 P.2d 1353 (1986)

In 1972, Washington State voters passed Initiative 276, the Public Disclosure Act, by a substantial margin. The initiative contained four measures intended to open up government, including one designed to ensure public access to government-held records. This measure, popularly known as Washington\u27s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), provides a mechanism by which individuals can access information held by the government, subject to only a few exemptions. One such exemption prevents disclosure which is an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy. The Washington Supreme Court greatly expanded the scope of this personal privacy exemption in In re Rosier. Prior to this decision, the exemption had been interpreted potentially to exclude only information which was highly offensive to a reasonable person. After Rosier, any information which is linked to an individual and which reveals something unique about that individual may be exempted, subject to a balancing of the public and the private interest. This expanded protection of privacy, however, is both bad policy and an unwarranted interpretation of the FOIA. The supreme court ought to interpret the privacy exemption in a manner that acknowledges the specific circumstances which justify the protection of the individual\u27s privacy under the FOIA. Privacy ought to be protected, for example, when the government has illicitly acquired the information, has promised confidentiality in order to get more accurate information, or when disclosure would chill the individual\u27s exercise of fundamental rights. The privacy exemption should strictly protect privacy in such circumstances. This interpretation would make disclosure more predictable, better protect privacy, and best implement the FOIA\u27s main purpose of assuring free and open access to government-held information

Strategies for Protecting Privacy in Open Data and Proactive Disclosure

In this paper, the authors explore strategies for balancing privacy with transparency in the release of government data and information as part of the growing global open government movement. The issue is important because government data or information may take many forms, may contain many different types of personal information, and may be released in a range of contexts. The legal framework is complex: personal information is typically not released as open data or under access to information regimes; nevertheless, in some cases transparency requirements take precedence over the protection of personal information. The open courts principle, for example, places a strong emphasis on transparency over privacy. The situation is complicated by the availability of technologies that facilitate widespread dissemination of information and that allow for the searching, combining and mining of information in ways that may permit the reidentification of individuals even within anonymized data sets. This paper identifies a number of strategies designed to assist in identifying whether government data sets or information contain personal information, whether it should be released notwithstanding the presence of the personal information, and what techniques might be used to minimize any possible adverse privacy impacts

Public Security vs Personal Privacy: Analysis of PeduliLindungi from Open Government and Surveillance State Perspectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the development of the implementation of surveillance states in various countries worldwide. As various countries go all out to control the spread of the pandemic, the central pillar used in controlling the pandemic is tracking social mobility and collecting citizen data on a massive scale. The development of digital surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic has increasingly heated the debate regarding the dilemma between public security and citizens’ privacy. Indonesia’s PeduliLindungi is a mobile phone application that played a central role as the instrument for pandemic surveillance. This study aims to analyze PeduliLindungi as the object of research. The analysis focuses on whether PeduliLindungi is more likely based on the principles of open government or surveillance state. This study concludes that when viewed based on the features of the PeduliLindungi application, the terms and conditions of use of the application, to the privacy policy applied by the PeduliLindungi application, the PeduliLindungi application is more oriented toward open government rather than a surveillance state. Keywords: pandemic COVID-19, public security, personal privacy, PeduliLindungi, open government, surveillance stat

Transparent government, not transparent citizens: a report on privacy and transparency for the Cabinet Office

1. Privacy is extremely important to transparency. The political legitimacy of a transparency programme will depend crucially on its ability to retain public confidence. Privacy protection should therefore be embedded in any transparency programme, rather than bolted on as an afterthought. 2. Privacy and transparency are compatible, as long as the former is carefully protected and considered at every stage. 3. Under the current transparency regime, in which public data is specifically understood not to include personal data, most data releases will not raise privacy concerns. However, some will, especially as we move toward a more demand-driven scheme. 4. Discussion about deanonymisation has been driven largely by legal considerations, with a consequent neglect of the input of the technical community. 5. There are no complete legal or technical fixes to the deanonymisation problem. We should continue to anonymise sensitive data, being initially cautious about releasing such data under the Open Government Licence while we continue to take steps to manage and research the risks of deanonymisation. Further investigation to determine the level of risk would be very welcome. 6. There should be a focus on procedures to output an auditable debate trail. Transparency about transparency – metatransparency – is essential for preserving trust and confidence. Fourteen recommendations are made to address these conclusions

Warrantless Aerial Surveillance: A Constitutional Analysis

This Recent Development endorses the qualified open view approach, but proposes a new list of considerations to be applied when evaluating an aerial surveillance case. This proposed analysis rejects the open fields doctrine. Instead, courts should apply the Katz test to aerial surveillance. The per se open view approach,however, which holds that no reasonable expectation of privacy can exist in any open area visible from the air, is too narrow to ensure protection of the public\u27s privacy rights. A broader view of the open view approach, which will subject government air surveillance to the warrant requirement in certain circumstances, strikes a more satisfactory balance between the use of a potent investigatory tool and the preservation of constitutionally guaranteed privacy. Once the defendant has established a subjective expectation of privacy under the first part of the Katz test, the reasonableness of the warrantless observations should be examined

Documenting Death: Public Access to Government Death Records and Attendant Privacy Concerns

This Article examines the contentious relationship between public rights to access government-held death records and privacy rights concerning the deceased, whose personal information is contained in those same records. This right of access dispute implicates core democratic principles and public policy interests. Open access to death records, such as death certificates and autopsy reports, serves the public interest by shedding light on government agency performance, uncovering potential government wrongdoing, providing data on public health trends, and aiding those investigating family history, for instance. Families of the deceased have challenged the release of these records on privacy grounds, as the records may contain sensitive and embarrassing information about the deceased. Legislatures and the courts addressing this dispute have collectively struggled to reconcile the competing open access and privacy principles. The Article demonstrates how a substantial portion of the resulting law in this area is haphazardly formed, significantly overbroad, and loaded with unintended consequences. The Article offers legal reforms to bring consistency and coherence to this currently disordered area of jurisprudence

The Evolving Balance of Transparency and Privacy in Open Government

The important principles informing the topic of this symposium include recognition that meaningful citizen participation in government is essential to a viable democracy, and that governmental transparency is a necessary condition for fostering citizen participation. Any discussion of openness or transparency in government necessarily involves administrative law, the area of law dealing with the “organization and the operation of administrative agencies (including executive and independent agencies) and the relations of administrative agencies with the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, and the public.

Documenting Death: Public Access to Government Death Records and Attendant Privacy Concerns

This Article examines the contentious relationship between public rights to access government-held death records and privacy rights concerning the deceased, whose personal information is contained in those same records. This right of access dispute implicates core democratic principles and public policy interests. Open access to death records, such as death certificates and autopsy reports, serves the public interest by shedding light on government agency performance, uncovering potential government wrongdoing, providing data on public health trends, and aiding those investigating family history, for instance. Families of the deceased have challenged the release of these records on privacy grounds, as the records may contain sensitive and embarrassing information about the deceased. Legislatures and the courts addressing this dispute have collectively struggled to reconcile the competing open access and privacy principles. The Article demonstrates how a substantial portion of the resulting law in this area is haphazardly formed, significantly overbroad, and loaded with unintended consequences. The Article offers legal reforms to bring consistency and coherence to this currently disordered area of jurisprudence

Documenting Death: Public Access to Government Death Records and Attendant Privacy Concerns

This Article examines the contentious relationship between public rights to access government-held death records and privacy rights concerning the deceased, whose personal information is contained in those same records. This right of access dispute implicates core democratic principles and public policy interests. Open access to death records, such as death certificates and autopsy reports, serves the public interest by shedding light on government agency performance, uncovering potential government wrongdoing, providing data on public health trends, and aiding those investigating family history, for instance. Families of the deceased have challenged the release of these records on privacy grounds, as the records may contain sensitive and embarrassing information about the deceased. Legislatures and the courts addressing this dispute have collectively struggled to reconcile the competing open access and privacy principles. The Article demonstrates how a substantial portion of the resulting law in this area is haphazardly formed, significantly overbroad, and loaded with unintended consequences. The Article offers legal reforms to bring consistency and coherence to this currently disordered area of jurisprudence