Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Posts/Editorials from recent conference on a Location-enabled society

A video of the recent conference on The Legal and Policy Framework for A Location-enabled Society will be available shortly. In the meantime, I would like to thank three of the speakers who wrote about the program in blog posts and editorials for contributing to the discussion on these important issues.

Nancy Colleton (Institute for Global Environmental Studies)   Location Data Reveals Our Changing Planet

Geoff Zeiss (Between the Poles) Privacy and Personal Geographic Data

Valerie Shuman (Shuman Group) Location-enabled Society Conference

Monday, May 20, 2013

5 Key Spatial Law and Policy Links (May 20, 2013)


Five links from the most recent Spatial Law and Policy Update prepared for the members of the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy. For more information about becoming a member of the Centre, click here.

ESA Study recommends free, open data policy for Sentinel data  (Geospatial World)

INTERNET LAW - Use of Mobile Phone Geolocation in Ireland's Criminal Proceedings  (ibls)  An informative discussion on the use of geolocation data from mobile devices by Irish authorities.

Judge Allows FBI To Use Evidence Collected Via Stingray Fake Cell Towers  (techdirt)  I find it interesting that it did not bother the judge that law enforcement failed to explain how the "Stingray" technology worked.


Germany cancels $1.3 billion purchase of unmanned Euro Hawk surveillance drones  (Washington Post) To quote from the article "A government official said Tuesday the decision not to buy four more drones was taken after it became clear that getting the required authorization to fly them over European airspace would be too costly." I wonder whether addressing privacy concerns were part of the anticipated costs.

Crowdsourcing - a great concept but are you aware of the legal risks?  (Kingsley Napley) Written by a UK law firm - but issues are applicable in most countries.
 

Monday, May 13, 2013

6 Key Spatial Law and Policy Links (May 13, 2013)


Apple's user data-sharing takes a hit in Germany after court objects to privacy policy  (ZDnet)  To quote from the article:  "Apple may need to redesign its data sharing practices for German consumers if the decision, handed down on Tuesday, by a Berlin regional court sticks." Location data is part of the issue.

Restaurants and hotels worried by EU data bill  (EU Observer.com) This article highlights how tougher data protection laws in Europe could impact a broad range of companies.

Has Big Data Made Anonymity Impossible?  (MIT Technology Review)
Reporting Fail: The Reidentification of Personal Genome Project Participants  (Info/Law) Anonymization and Reindentification are two very important concepts with respect to privacy. It is critical for the research surrounding them- be to be neutral and correct.


Will filming Times Square now require negotiating with hundreds of copyright owners?  (King & Wood Mallesons)  Discussion of copyright in U.S. and Australia.
  
China's Drone Program Appears To Be Moving Into Overdrive  (Huffington Post)  I wonder if other nations appreciate the    resources China is allocating to geospatial technology.  

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Upcoming Conference on The Legal and Policy Framework for a Location-enabled Society

When the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy started a few years ago, I was frequently asked why a lawyer was attending geospatial conferences. As a result, it is with a great deal of pride to be preparing to leave for a conference the Centre is co-hosting with Harvard University's Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA), Berkman Center of Internet and Society and Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs on May 2-3. The conference, titled "Creating the Policy and Legal Framework for a Location-enabled Society" will be live-streamed (details will be posted here) and combines leaders from many of the diverse aspects of the geospatial community with internationally-recognized academics and researchers from Harvard and other top universities.

One of the goals of the conference is for the various segments of the geospatial community to recognize that they each face many of the same policy and legal challenges, such as: privacy, intellectual property rights, licensing and potential liability risks.  Hopefully, such an understanding will result in organizations working together to address these difficult and critical issues world-wide. This will not be easy - geospatial technology is well out ahead of the legal and policy communities, and they are struggling to catch up

Another goal of the conference is to raise awareness within the technology policy community of the many societal, governmental and economic benefits that can be directly attributed to the collection and use of geospatial information. Such an awareness is critical as many policy (and budgetary) issues involve balancing potential benefits versus perceived risks. Unfortunately, the geospatial community often does not receive its proper share and/or credit on these broader policy issues.

If you have some time on Thursday and Friday I urge you to watch/listen to some of the conference. Admittedly, the issues to be discussed part of a broader set of issues that impact the adoption and use of geospatial technology. However, if the policy and legal issues are not adequately considered and addressed, there is a very good chance that geospatial technology will find its vast potential curtailed.