PRIVACY Forum Digest      Tuesday, 11 August 1992      Volume 01 : Issue 12

         Moderated by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@cv.vortex.com)
                Vortex Technology, Topanga, CA, U.S.A.
	
                     ===== PRIVACY FORUM =====

   	  The PRIVACY Forum digest is supported in part by the 
	      ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy.


CONTENTS
	DNA databanking:  Just what data? (Jerry Leichter)
	[Gary Chapman: DNA databanking] (Brinton Cooper)
	Interesting Solicitation (A. Padgett Peterson)
	CNID press release (Nikki Draper)
	Online Access To Congressional Information (James P. Love)
	PDC '92 -- Advance Program (Paul Hyland)
	PDC '92 -- Call for Posters (Paul Hyland)


 *** Please include a RELEVANT "Subject:" line on all submissions! ***
            *** Submissions without them may be ignored! ***

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

VOLUME 01, ISSUE 12

    Quote for the day:

		"Uh oh..."

			-- Last words reported to have been recorded
			   on the space shuttle Challenger's cockpit
			   voice recorder before the craft's explosion
			   on Jan 28, 1986.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Tue,  4 Aug 92 22:25:14 EDT
From:    Jerry Leichter <leichter@lrw.com>
Subject: DNA databanking:  Just what data?

An article in a recent issue of PRIVACY raises the issue of possible misuse
of DNA "fingerprinting" data, proposed to be collected from all prisoners.
Among the possible abuses cited are discrimination in hiring, insurance, and
so on.

While there are many potential (though, so far, only a few reported real)
problems with the proliferation of genetic data, I don't believe this is one
fo them.  There's all sorts of different data that one can collect about
DNA.  The data used in "genetic fingerprinting" is a representation of the
relative levels of a fairly small number of specific gene variations.  There's
no information about anything else.  The sensitive data concerns genetic
markers for various inherited conditions; these have to be tested for
specifically, and are not part of the "fingerprinting" data.

Certainly, there is likely to be SOME disease whose likelihood can be "read
out" of a "DNA fingerprint".  The same could be said of blood type, racial
information, even traditional fingerprints.  Knowing someone is 5 foot 3 and
weighs 275 pounds - certainly something that would appear in any prisoner's
file - would give pause to any life insurance company.

Identifying anything involving DNA with a complete genetic scan and then
worrying about the horrible privacy implications is like panicking over the
danger from light bulbs on being told that they give off light "radiation".
Many more facts are called for.
							-- Jerry

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 5 Aug 92 14:39:17 EDT
From:    Brinton Cooper <abc@BRL.MIL>
Subject: [Gary Chapman: DNA databanking]

DNA databanking is quite properly an object of concern to all of us and
it is appropriate for the scientific and technical communities to take a
hard look at its use as evidence in criminal trials.

Nothing, however, occurs in a vacuum.  Years ago, Scientific American
examined the use of eyewitness testimony in tort cases and others.  The
conclusions were far from gratifying.  Yet, it does not appear that
any defense based upon these findings has been terribly successful in
ruling out such evidence as "conclusive prosecutorial evidence."  

One cannot help but wonder how the rates of false convictions based upon
eyewitness testimony and DNA matching will compare.  One wonders, too,
how one would ever "accredit" eyewitness testimony in a federal (or any
other) laboratory.

_Brint

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 5 Aug 92 15:45:52 -0400
From:    padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Interesting Solicitation

Just received in the mail my new DAK Catalogue (for those of you not
fortunate enough to be on Drew's mailing list, this is a California-based
super deal catalogue mostly on electronics, hi-fi, computers, and bread
makers).

Lately they have been pushing CD-ROM quite heavily with a featured $199.00
(dollars US) 800 (eight hundred) ms caddyless external CD-ROM and a plethora
of CD-ROM packages.

The item that caught my interest from a *privacy* standpoint was the
$129.00 (dollars US again) set of CD-ROMs containing "millions" of
names, phone numbers, and addresses for both US businesses and residences.

Could that heavily criticised address database from last year be surfacing 
again in a rather unlikely spot ? (don't know, haven't seen it.

					Warmly,
						Padgett

	[ DAK has their warehouse, offices, and walk-in store about 20
	  minutes from my area.  I've been down there a number of times to
	  *very carefully* buy various items.  The important thing to keep
	  in mind about DAK is that much of their merchandise consists of
	  closeouts or "old versions" of items that have already been
	  supersceded by later versions.  One would have to wonder about the
	  degree of data "staleness" in a DAK CD-ROM nationwide white pages
	  (which is what I believe this item to be). -- MODERATOR ]

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 10 Aug 92 16:00:25 PDT
From:    draper@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Nikki Draper)
Subject: CNID press release

            PACIFIC BELL'S  PHONE PRIVACY RINGS FALSE, SAYS 
          COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

PALO ALTO, Calif., August 10, 1992 -- Computer Professionals for 
Social Responsibility (CPSR), a national alliance of professionals 
concerned with the impact of technology on society based here, 
expressed deep concern over Pacific Bell's attempt to gut a recent 
California Public Utility Commission (PUC) order on Calling-Number 
Identification (CNID).  Pacific Bell has requested a rehearing on the 
PUC restrictions.  PacBell's proposal will eliminate important safety 
and privacy protections in the Commission's order, CPSR charged.  
CNID allows businesses to collect the phone numbers of customers 
who call them. 

The Commission's order guarantees privacy protections for all 
Californians.  PacBell proposes to eliminate a key privacy protection 
called Per-Line Blocking with Per-Call Unblocking.  This feature 
prevents home numbers from being collected by businesses, unless 
the caller decides to give it to them.  Phone companies would prefer 
to only offer per-call blocking, a scheme in which caller numbers are 
always given out unless the caller remembers to dial a blocking code 
before dialing the desired number.

"If this happens, Californians will inevitably receive more junk mail, 
more annoying phone calls, and greater invasions of their privacy, 
some of which may be dangerous," said CPSR Chair and user interface 
expert, Dr. Jeff Johnson.

PacBell claims that CNID would give people more control over their 
privacy by providing the phone number from the calling phone.  This 
is the wrong technological answer to the problem according to 
Johnson.  "What people want to know is who is calling, not what 
phone is being used.  If my wife's car breaks down and she calls me 
from a pay phone, that's a call I want to answer.  CNID doesn't give 
me any information that will help me do that."

In PUC hearings held last year, Johnson accused the phone companies 
of designing a service that is more useful for businesses in gathering 
marketing data than for consumers in screening calls.  Phone 
companies are opposed to per-line blocking because it would 
presumably result in more numbers being kept private, thereby 
reducing the value of the CNID service to business subscribers.  

"Phone companies don't want you to block your phone number when 
you call movie theaters or appliance stores.  The more times your 
number is revealed to businesses, the better!  So they oppose 
reasonable blocking options and are pushing an error-prone one," he 
said.

If only per-call blocking were available, residential phone customers 
-- or their children, parents, grandparents, guests  --  would often 
forget to dial their blocking code before making a call, resulting in 
frequent disclosure of private information to businesses without the 
consent, and sometimes even without the knowledge, of the caller.  

"Unless PacBell is willing to live within the very reasonable bounds 
set by the PUC decision, the concerns of Californians will be far better 
served if CNID is simply not offered at all,"  said Johnson.  
"Subscriber privacy is more important that Pacific Bell's profits."

Founded in 1981, CPSR is a public interest alliance of computer 
scientists and other professionals interested in the impact of 
computer technology on society.  As technical experts and informed 
citizens, CPSR members provide the public and policy makers with 
realistic assessments of the power, promise, and limitations of 
computer technology.  It is a national organization, with 21 chapters 
throughout the United States.  The organization also has program 
offices in Washington D.C. and Cambridge, MA.  

For information on CPSR, contact the national office at 
415-322-3778 or cpsr@csli.stanford.edu.

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 10 Aug 1992 22:13:41 EDT
From:    James P Love <LOVE@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: ONLINE ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONAL INFORMATION

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
                     Information Access Memorandum

To:     Citizens interested in public access to government
        information

Re:     Public Access to U.S. House and Senate Legislative
        Information Systems (LEGIS)

Date:   July 21, 1992


Dear friend:

The following letter to Senator Ford (D-KY) and Representative
Rose (D-NC) asks for public access to the House and Senate LEGIS
systems.  LEGIS provides online access to the full text of bills
before congress, as well as other items.  Access is now
restricted to members of congress and their staff.  (except for
limited walk-in service).

If you want to join us in asking for remote online access to this
important taxpayer funded information system, please provide us
with the following information, along with permission to add your
name to the letter.

Name
Affiliation
  (for purposes of
  identification only)
Address
City, State and Zip Code
Telephone (for verification)
email address

Please send (mail, fax, or email) this information to:

Taxpayer Assets Project
P.O. Box 19367
Washington, DC  20036
voice:202/387-8030
fax:202/234-5176
internettap@essential.org

Thank you.

James Love
Director
Taxpayer Assets Project

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Senator Ford
Chairman, Senate Committee
  on Rules and Administration
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC  20510

Representative Rose
Chairman, Committee on
  House Administration
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC  20515

August XX, 1992

RE:  Public Access to Senate and House LEGIS


Dear Sirs:

This letter is to request that the public be granted access to the
Legislative Information Systems operated by the United States Senate and
House of Representatives.  These taxpayer financed information systems
provide online access to information of immense interest to millions of
citizens.  (For purposes of this letter the two systems will be referred
to simply as LEGIS).

Examples of the information contained in LEGIS are:

-       Summary information about the content and status of all
        Senate and House bills, resolutions, floor amendments,
        public and private laws

-       Full text of the latest versions of Senate and House bills

-       Summary information on all Presidential nominations
        requiring Senate confirmation

-       Summary information on treaties submitted to the Senate for
        ratification

-       Summary information on communications from the executive
        branch and state and local governments on matters before the
        Congress

Our specific recommendations are as follows:


1.      CITIZENS SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEARCH LEGIS ONLINE FROM REMOTE
        LOCATIONS.

While the public pays for the operation of LEGIS we have never
been allowed access, except for limited walk-in access in
Congressional reading rooms.  This policy should change.  In a
period when Congress is seeking to reform itself, it is
appropriate to extend access to these valuable information
systems beyond the members and staff of congress, to the citizens
whom they serve.


2.      PUBLIC ACCESS TO LEGIS SHOULD BE MODELED ON THE PROPOSED GPO
        GATEWAY TO GOVERNMENT/WINDO LEGISLATION.

As sponsors of S. 2813, the GPO Gateway to Government, and H.R.
2772, the GPO Wide Information Network for Data Online (WINDO),
you have worked hard to expand public access to federal
databases.  Should the Gateway/WINDO become law, LEGIS should be
among its initial core databases.  In any event, the approach
taken in these two bills is appropriate for LEGIS.

-       The public should have the right to subscribe to online
        access to LEGIS from remote locations.  For most
        subscribers, the cost of the subscription should be based on
        the incremental cost of providing such access.

-       LEGIS information should also be made available without
        charge through the federal Depository Library Program.  As
        you know, this important program, which began in the middle
        of the 19th century, is designed to promote universal access
        to federal government information.

3.      CONGRESS SHOULD REGULARLY SOLICIT FEEDBACK FROM LEGIS USERS
        TO DETERMINE IF THE SYSTEM CAN BE IMPROVED.

There are several areas where LEGIS could be improved.  For
example, some citizens may ask that Congress provide more
detailed information on voting, committee actions, or other
congressional business.  Citizens should have opportunities to
identify the types of information that would be useful in
monitoring the actions of the Congress.

Your support for the Gateway/WINDO bills is deeply appreciated,
as are your other efforts to broaden public access to databases
and information systems that are financed by the taxpayer.
Please inform us of the specific steps that you will take to
broaden public access to LEGIS.  Thank you.


Sincerely,


-----------------------------------------------------------------
The following persons will be among those signing the letter
asking for public access to LEGIS:


Joan Claybrook                          Howard C. Weaver
President                               Editor
Public Citizen                          Anchorage Daily News
2000 P Street, NW                       Box 149001
Washington, DC  20036                   Anchorage, Alaska 99514-9001

Brian Kahin                             Jack D. Lail
Director, Information                   Metro Editor
Infrastructure Project,                 Knoxville News-Sentinel
Science, Technology and                 P.O. Box 59038
Public Policy Program                   Knoxville, TN 37950-9038
John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University          Marc Rotenberg
79 John F. Kennedy St.                  Director, Washington Office
Cambridge, MA  02138                    Computer Professionals for
                                        Social Responsibility
Professor James Galbraith               666 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.
LBJ School of Public Affairs            Suite 303
and Department of Government            Washington, DC 20003
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX                              James Love
                                        Director
Howard Rheingold                        Taxpayer Assets Project
Editor                                  P.O. Box 19367
Whole Earth Review                      Washington, DC  20036
27 Gate Five Road
Sausalito, CA 94965                     Dr. James R. Veatch
hlr@well.sf.ca.us                       Nashville Tech Library
                                        120 White Bridge Road
                                        Nashville, TN 37209-4515

-----------------------------------------------------------------
James Love, Director               VOICE:    609-683-0534
Taxpayer Assets Project            FAX:      202-234-5176
P.O. Box 19367                     INTERNET: love@essential.org
Washington, DC 20036

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 11 Aug 1992 14:04:17 EDT
From:    Paul Hyland <PHYLAND%GWUVM.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: PDC '92 -- Advance Program

                  Advance Program
       PDC'92:  PARTICIPATORY DESIGN CONFERENCE
        MIT Kresge Auditorium, Cambridge MA US
                6-7 November 1992

PANEL:  PARTICIPATION AND POWER
Charley Richardson and Raymond Scannell

PANEL:  FLEXIBILITY AND TAILORABILITY IN SYSTEM AND WORK DESIGN
Kim Halskov Madsen, Hans Dooreward, Trond Knudsen

PANEL:  FROM PARTICIPATORY DESIGN TO DEMOCRACY:  SOCIAL CHANGE AS
BOTH CAUSE AND EFFECT
Steven E. Miller

PLENARY PAPER:  RETROSPECTIVE
Andrew Clement.  Participatory design projects:  A retrospective
look

PAPERS:  DESIGN PRACTICE
William L. Anderson, and William T. Crocca. Experiences in
reflective engineering practice: Co-development of product
prototypes
Ina Wagner. Caught in a web of fuzzy problems:  Confronting the
ethical issues in systems design
Julian E. Orr and Norman C. Crowfoot. Design by anecdote -- The
use of ethnography to guide the application of technology to
practice

PAPERS:  TECHNIQUES AND PRACTICES I:  USING ARTIFACTS
Barbara Katzenberg and Peter Piela.  Studying work language as an
aid in evolutionary design processes
Finn Kensing and Andreas Munk-Madsen.  Participatory design:
Structure in the toolbox
Preben Mogensen and Randall H. Trigg.  Artifacts as triggers for
participatory analysis

PAPERS:  TECHNIQUES AND PRACTICES II:  HANDS ON THE DESIGN
Peter Aiken and Kim Halskov Madsen.  Some experiences with
cooperative interactive storyboard prototyping
Michael J. Muller, John G. Smith, David S. Miller, Ellen A.
White, and Daniel M. Wildman.  Designing a groupware
implementation of a manual participatory design process

PAPERS:  TECHNIQUES AND PRACTICES III:  DIARIES
Karlheinz Kautz.  Communication support for participatory design
projects
Kristin Braa.  Influencing system quality by using process
documentation in prototyping projects

PAPERS:  INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS
Erran Carmel, Randall Whitaker, and Joey F. George.
Participatory design versus joint application design:  Trans-
Atlantic differences in systems development
Philip Kraft and Joergen Bansler.  The collective resource
approach as a model of worker participation

PAPERS:  ORGANIZATIONAL CONSTRAINTS
Yoram Reich, Suresh Konda, Ira Monarch, and Eswaran Subrahmanian.
Participation and design:  An extended view
Jonathan P. Allen.  Enabling participatory design in a tightly
integrated, hierarchical setting
Thea Turner, Suzi Levas, Mike Atwood, and Craig Reding.  The
influence of the existing environment on the design of a new
workstation

PAPERS:  ANALOGIES TO NON-COMPUTER FIELDS
Chengzhi Peng.  Participatory architectural modeling:  Common
images and distributed  design environments
Joan Greenbaum.  Notes toward a discussion of ethics and
esthetics: Scandinavian design -- from furniture to participatory
design

INTERACTIVE POSTERS

WORKSHOPS (parallel tracks, half-day)
Michael K. Epstein and Elaine K. Yakura.  Managing the stresses
of participatory design
Robert Karasek.  The conducivity game:  Developing worker re-
coordination vocabularies
Debbie Mrazek and Tom Cocklin.  A paradigm shift to customer
focus
Charley Richardson and Raymond Scannell.  Participation and power
workshop
Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders.  Participatory design research in the
product development process

COMMITTEES:

Conference Committee:  William Anderson, JoAnn Brooks, Andrew
Clement,  Paul Czezewski, Elizabeth Dykstra Erickson, Dan Franklin,
Sarah Kuhn, Michael McFarland, Judith A. Meskill, Susan Miller,
Michael Muller, Ken Schroder, Melanie Weaver, Ellen White, and
Dan Williams.

Program Committee:  William Anderson, Susanne Bodker, JoAnn
Brooks,  Andrew Clement, Joan Greenbaum, Marc Griffiths, Jonathan
Grudin,  Susan Harker, Pertti Jarvinen, Sarah Kuhn, Kim Halskov
Madsen,  Andrew Monk, Michael Muller, Horst Oberquelle, Charley
Richardson,   Lucy Suchman, Kari Thoresen, and Terry Winograd.

Co-chairs:  Sarah Kuhn, Michael Muller.

PDC'92 is sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility, and is in cooperation with ACM SIGCHI, IFIP, and
the Greater Boston SIGCHI chapter, with corporate sponsorship
by Xerox PARC.

For more information:  Please contact either co-chair:

  Sarah Kuhn
  Department of Policy and Planning
  University of Massachusetts - Lowell
  Pasteur 2B
  Lowell MA 01854 US
  +1-508-934-2903 (voice)
  +1-508-934-3011 (fax)
  kuhns@woods.ulowell.edu

  Michael Muller
  Bellcore, Room RRC-1H229
  444 Hoes Lane
  Piscataway NJ 08854 US
  +1-908-699-4892 (voice)
  +1-908-336-2969 (fax)
  michael@bellcore.com

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 11 Aug 1992 14:02:56 EDT
From:    Paul Hyland <PHYLAND%GWUVM.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: PDC '92 -- Call for Posters

                Call for POSTERS - 15 August 1992
            PDC'92 - Participatory Design Conference
                      MIT Kresge Auditorium
                         Cambridge MA US
                        6-7 November 1992

Computer technology today has a profound effect on our
workplaces, communities, homes, and social institutions.
Decisions about the design and implementation of computerized
systems influence the character, pace, and organization of work,
the extent of our privacy or isolation, and our ability to take
an active role in our social, political, and economic lives.
Participatory design examines the questions:

o  Who makes these decisions?  and
o  How can we include the people who are directly affected
   by the technology and whose expertise is essential to making
   the technology fit into the users' lives?  and
o  What processes, methods, and technologies support more
   inclusive decision-making?

The Participatory Design Conference will bring together computer
specialists, human factors workers, scholars, members of the
labor and business communities, human resource workers, and
design professionals from other fields. It will be practice- and
action- oriented, interdisciplinary, international, and
participatory.

Possible topics:

o  Defining Participatory Design
o  Issues of particular user constituencies
o  Case studies of design processes
o  Methods for Participatory Design
o  Reports on work in progress
o  National and cultural contexts of design
o  Constraints on Participatory Design
o  Theories of design
o  Participatory research practices
o  PD in non-computer fields

Other relevant topics are also welcome!

Submission requirements: Poster proposals will be accepted until
15 August 1992. Please provide a 1500 word abstract and, if
possible, an informal sketch of the poster. We also request a
cover sheet with the following information:

o  primary contact author (with as much contact information
   as possible),
o  a 100 word abstract, and
o  an indication of which of the above topics is addressed
   by the submission.

Send 5 copies of each proposal. Notifications regarding poster
proposals will be sent out by 1 September 1992.  We plan to
publish posters in the Conference Proceedings by title only;
poster abstracts will be published in the Conference Program.

Please send all submissions to the following address:

  Michael J. Muller / PDC'92
  Bellcore RRC-1H229, 444 Hoes Lane, Piscataway NJ 08854 US
  michael@bellcore.com
  +1 908 699 4892 (voice)
  +1 908 336 2932 (fax)

The Conference is organized by Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility, and is in cooperation with ACM, IFIP, and Greater
Boston SIGCHI, with corporate sponsorship by Xerox PARC.  The
Conference co-chairs are Sarah Kuhn and Michael Muller. Program
Committee:  William Anderson, Susanne Bodker, JoAnn Brooks,
Andrew Clement, Joan Greenbaum, Jonathan Grudin, Susan Harker,
Pertti Jarvinen, Sarah Kuhn, Kim Halskov Madsen, Andrew Monk,
Michael Muller, Horst Oberquelle, Charley Richardson,  Lucy
Suchman, Kari Thoresen, and Terry Winograd.

------------------------------

End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 01.12
************************
