Spatial Law and Policy Update (November 5, 2012)

The Centre for Spatial Law and Policy provides its members a weekly update on recent developments on legal and policy issues that impact the collection/use/distribution of geospatial data. The purpose of the Update has been to highlight both the number of legal/policy domains that impact geospatial data as well as the variety of technology platforms that will be impacted as laws and policies evolve. I decided to post this week's Update  as I think it is a good reflection both of how far the technology has gone and the legal/policy/regulatory issues that the industry is facing. For example, this week's Update includes links to the importance of geospatial technology during Sandy (and other natural disasters), the value of a smarter power grid (increasingly smarter with respect to technology means location-enabled) as well as issues associated with location privacy (drones, license plate readers, CCTVs and even drug sniffing dogs) intellectual property rights, data quality, and the challenges of open data and creating spatial data infrastructures. I also suggest you read the excellent series of Economist articles on the growing importance of location. 

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10 Spatial Law and Policy Links From Around the Globe

Legal/Policy Disciplines

Privacy

Minneapolis police pushing for more license plate data privacy (ARS Technica)

Big Data in Law: Cloud Challenge, Analytics Opportunity (Forbes)

Yahoo, Microsoft spat highlights flaws of Do Not Track (Wired)

Court OKs warrantless use of hidden surveillance cameras (c/net)

Police drones prompt privacy concerns (The Hill)

The Supreme Court weighs in on an employer’s right to monitor employee personal communications  (Norton Rose)

The proliferation of the little black box (BBC)

Intellectual Property Rights

Will Supreme Court protect your right to resell your own stuff? (c/net)

EU allows resale of downloaded software  (Field Fisher Waterhouse)

Data Quality

U.S. Satellite Plans Falter, Imperiling Data on Storms (New York Times)

Google loses Australia 'gangland' defamation lawsuit (BBC)

How One Well-Connected Pseudonymous Twitter Spread Fake News About Hurricane Sandy (Buzz Feed Politics)

Law Enforcement

Predicting crime - a step towards a safer world? (BBC)

Minneapolis police pushing for more license plate data privacy (ARS Technica)

Court OKs warrantless use of hidden surveillance cameras (c/net)

Supreme Court Considers Two Drug Dog Cases (Huffington Post)

GPS to monitor housing schemes, misuse of funds to be curbed (Deccan Herald)

Ramsey County project will use GPS on stalkers (Star Tribune)

National Security

Most U.S. Drones Openly Broadcast Secret Video Feeds (Wired)

Apple Maps Sees Its First International Territorial Dispute As Korea Protests Island Naming (Search Engine Land)

CRPF uses GPS, UAVs to fight Maoists (The Hindu)

African Union sets deadline for continent-wide maritime strategy (Guardian)

After Sandy, Intelligence Agencies Scramble To Feed Maps, Data To Rescuers (AOL Government)

New Iranian Surveillance Drones Likely, Expert Says (US News)

Crowdsourcing

Long Islanders Use Facebook, Google Docs to Find Loved Ones Post-Sandy (Mashable)

What can Twitter tell us about Hurricane Sandy flooding? Visualised (Guardian)

The battle for Maarat: Using social media to cut through the fog of war (Storyful)

Technology Platforms

GNSS

Europeans want space monitoring system for disasters: Survey (Geospatial World)

UAVs

Most U.S. Drones Openly Broadcast Secret Video Feeds (Wired)

New Iranian Surveillance Drones Likely, Expert Says (US News)

Police drones prompt privacy concerns (The Hill)

Smart Grid

The case for a distributed, smarter, cleaner power grid post Hurricane Sandy (Gigaom)

Intelligent Transportation System

Yes, Driverless Cars Know the Way to San Jose (New York Times)

Take a drive down the 'Route 66 of the future' (c/net)

The proliferation of the little black box (BBC)

Remote Sensing

Europeans want space monitoring system for disasters: Survey (Geospatial World)

Spatial Data Infrastructures

The Power of Zoom Transforming government through location intelligence (Deloitte)

Urban planning: Marrying GIS with cultural psychology (Geospatial World)

Royal Mail 'should make postcode address data available for free' (Guardian)

African Union sets deadline for continent-wide maritime strategy (Guardian)

Tracking the data storm around Hurricane Sandy (Strata O'Reilly)

      Minneapolis police pushing for more license plate data privacy (ARS Technica)

NYC’s PLAN to alert citizens to danger during Hurricane Sandy (Radar O'Reilly)

Digital revolution lights up Africa with maps, mobiles, money and markets (Guardian)

Towards a public digital infrastructure: why do governments have a responsibility to go open? (Open Knowledge Foundation)

    Miscellaneous

    Location Analytics: Bringing Geography Back (MIT Sloan Management Review)

    A sense of place (Economist)

    Geography: A Platform for Understanding (ARC News)

    PBS Video Looks at Apple Maps v Google Maps and Crowdsourcing (AnyGeo)

    Mapping America: Every City, Every Block (New York Times)

    Leveraging the Power of Geodata in the Reinsurance Industry (Directions Magazine)

    Do It for the Beer Money: Turning Your Car Into a Rolling Billboard (Wired)

Upcoming Events and Centre Programs

National Transportation Safety Board Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Transportation Safety Public Conference (December 4-5) NTSB Board Room and Conference Center

Register here if you wish to become a member of the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy. (Scroll to the bottom for individual membership)