From tchur@bigpond.com Fri Apr 16 17:18:14 1999 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.01) with ESMTP id RAA33512 for ; Fri, 16 Apr 1999 17:18:13 -0700 Received: from teapot16.domain4.bigpond.com (teapot16.domain4.bigpond.com [139.134.5.164]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.01) with SMTP id RAA20524 for ; Fri, 16 Apr 1999 17:18:12 -0700 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by teapot16.domain4.bigpond.com (NTMail 3.02.13) with ESMTP id da667605 for ; Sat, 17 Apr 1999 10:14:52 +1000 Received: from CWIP-T-002-p-222-207.tmns.net.au ([139.134.222.207]) by mail4.bigpond.com (Claudes-Bashful-MailRouter V2.2f 7/345802); 17 Apr 1999 10:14:51 Message-ID: <000901be885e$c0913e00$cfde868b@doh.health.nsw.gov.au> Reply-To: "Tim Churches" From: "Tim Churches" To: References: <000601be8855$c844c3a0$1f8142d8@vic-53-0131.direct.ca> Subject: Re: Maps? and GIS and privacy Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 09:13:34 +1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2014.211 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2014.211 Glen Letham Nice observations Tim. This reminds me of a couple of years ago here in > Victoria, B.C. when the city of Victoria decided to put parcel ownership > data on their web site. The thought of property values, mortgage > information, liens etc.. being on-line caused a real stir in the city. > Needless to say the site yanked the property ownership info almost > immediately. > > What's public and what's private? You could argue this until the sun goes > down > > Glenn Glen, I suspect that when the relevant authorities released the land ownership data to the public domain they never thought that it would be combined with satellite imaging and remote sensing data in a searchable database available to anyone anywhere in the world. I bet Marlene and Fred Abrahamson never expected their details to be available for all to see when they bought the title to their land. Clearly there are important lessons here those building health GISes or data warehouses. Databases which were harmless (and had limited utility) while locked up in filing cabinets on their own can become dangerous (in terms of invasion of privacy and breach of confidentiality) as well as much more useful when combined with other databases. It is a double-edged sword, which is why extreme care is required when releasing any unit record (i.e. maximally disaggregated), even if it is "de-identified" (i.e. names and addresses have been removed) - it might be used in unexpected ways. Tim Churches > > -----Original Message----- > From: Tim Churches > To: waphgis@u.washington.edu > Date: Friday, April 16, 1999 2:29 PM > Subject: Maps? and GIS and privacy > > > >Richard E. Hoskins writes: > >> Interesting site: See below > >> > Goto http://www.geodata.org then select the "Create a Map" button. > >> > When you zoom in close enough you can turn on aerial photos and > >> > 50 other map layers. Email back if you have trouble. > > > >This is an impressive facility which illustrates the threat which GIS can > >pose to privacy and confidentiality - if misapplied. Go to the above Web > >site and click on Create a Map. Scroll down to the form search section and > >enter Abrahamson as the surname and click search. Click on the link to view > >the results, then click on the link of the single search result: > Abrahamson, > >Marlene and Fred. This will show a red shaded land parcel where Marlene and > >Fred live. Scroll down and click on the check box to display image data. > >While there, you will be able to learn Fred & Marlene's address details: > > > >OWNER: ABRAHAMSON, MARLENE & FRED > >Address: PO BOX 2658 > >City: OLYMPIA > >State: WA > > > >Parcel#: 11907120100 > >Site Address: 8510 NE GREENFIELD CT > >Site City: OLYMPIA > >Site Zip: 98506 > > > >Now scroll up and click a few times on the lower right corner (sorry, SE > >corner) of their block to zoom in and examine their house. They live on a > >wooded block with a cleared strip up the middle, like a golf fairway. They > >have a modest bungalow and drive a dark coloured car. Hey, there's Fred > >standing in front of it. He appears to be wearing a toupee... The house is > >very secluded - if I were a burglar (and weren't typing this in Australia), > >I might give Marlene and Fred a visit. > > > >OK, no health data on Marlene and Fred, but the potential for abuse is > >clear. What distinguishes this example is the linking of what appears to be > >public domain land ownership data with remote imaging in an Internet > >accessible GIS. Although each of the databases alone are fairly innocuous, > >linking them in a GIS and then making it globally available makes the sum > >far more dangerous than the parts. > > > >Tim Churches > >Sydney, Australia > > > > > > > .