Lauren Weinstein's Blog Update: Who Sees Your Digital Prints? You Might Be Surprised ...

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: lauren () vortex com
Date: June 18, 2005 1:04:49 AM EDT
To: lauren-blog-notify () vortex com
Subject: Lauren Weinstein's Blog Update: Who Sees Your Digital  
Prints? You Might Be Surprised ...


 Lauren Weinstein's Blog Update: Who Sees Your Digital Prints?  You  
Might Be Surprised ...

                             June 17, 2005


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http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000136.html



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Greetings.  The issues of commercial "photo surveillance" go very deep,
and it seems likely that few customers are even aware that they exist
at all.

A few days ago, I had a chat with a spokesperson from Albertson's, Inc.
corporate headquarters.  Albertson's owns the giant Osco / Savon
drugstore chain, which does a great deal of both conventional and now
digital  photofinishing.  I had called to investigate privacy policies
related to the use of digital print self-service kiosks.

What I learned was interesting.  It appears that at least as far as
Albertson's is concerned, not only is it impossible for a customer to
make a print that isn't inspected by their "trained photo service
personnel," but digital prints are technically capable of "retroactive"
inspection after customers have left the store with
their prints.

It doesn't matter whether the print is from conventional film or the
self-service kiosks -- if the print hasn't been passed by the store's
photo person, the customer can't receive it.  Albertson's insists that
this is a quality-control issue.  But if the "inspector" in their
highly-trained opinion feels that something is amiss with the photo in
terms of content, trouble can follow.

The result can be the customer not receiving prints, and/or the calling
in of law enforcement -- though the spokesperson pointed out that their
policy stated that the latter decision would only be made at high
corporate levels.  Obviously the ability to identify the
customer can become an issue, especially for  customers who pay with
cash.  I was told that Albertson's does not require photo ID or other
verified ID in order to receive prints.

Even after customers leave the stores, the digital print kiosk
equipment in use can store the customer photos for up to around seven
days before they are deleted.  This is ostensibly so that customers can
return to the store to easily make additional prints from those same
images.  However, the store photo person has the ability to access all
of those currently retained digital photos.

It's instructive to compare the issues of photofinishing with other
services in our daily lives.  By the same logic being applied to photo
printing, the output even of conventional self-service copy machines
would be subject to inspection and possible confiscation and/or
reporting before users could receive their copies.

And the issues extend into the telecom world as well.  Millions of
people are using camera-equipped cell phones, and merrily sending
images through their carriers' networks, without a thought as to the
potential privacy issues involved.  Even local storage of images may be
problematic.  In a recent case, Houston police officers were "fired"
after downloading nude photos from a female DWI suspect's camera phone
into one of their own PDAs.

Tiny digital cameras -- increasingly even those in cell phones -- can
now create very high quality images and prints.  The entire spectrum of
attitudes and laws regarding photography and privacy are being stressed
in ways that weren't anticipated even a relatively
few years ago.    We can't hold back the technology, even if we wanted
to.

As a society, we need to bring these issues to the forefront of public
visibility and discussion, and not let them remain hidden in corporate
boardrooms -- or behind the counters at drugstores.

--Lauren--

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