I spoke on a panel recently on the topic of all things privacy and biometrics. The Biometrics Institute hosted the discussion at the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC. The panel discussion was subject to Chatham House rules, and, in order to foster open dialogue, the audience did not include any members of the press. The

Most parents are unaware that schools can compromise their children’s privacy and possibly their safety by sharing private information like their child’s phone number, home address, date of birth, email, and photos with anyone without consent. The good news is that parents already have the right to opt out of data sharing. Parents and students need

Most parents and students do not know that under the law as it is now, Directory Information about students can be shared with third parties without parental or student consent. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act determines what kinds of information schools can share with third parties. Although directory information may sound innocuous, it can include information about each student that is quite detailed. Directory information can include:

Many people have told us that they think opting out is confusing. We agree. Opting out can range from the not-too-difficult (the FTC’s Do Not Call list is a fairly simple opt out) to the challenging (the National Advertising Initiative opt out can be tricky). Our hope is that this list will clarify which opt out does what, and how to go about opting out.

  India’s Supreme Court has issued an important ruling and interim orders about a much-watched case related to India’s national biometric IDs and how they are used. More than 800 million biometric IDs have been issued to Indians, and are called the Aadhaar card or the UID, for Universal ID. The ruling raises questions about whether