Privacy

A prominent Ellicott City blogger and businessman was stabbed to death by his daughter's 19-year-old boyfriend, who plotted with the 14-year-old girl to kill him so the two could run away together, Howard County police said Friday. Dennis Lane, 58, was found before dawn in his Winding Ross Way home. Police charged Jason Anthony Bulmer and Morgan Lane Arnold, both students at Mount Hebron High School, as adults in his killing; they both face conspiracy and murder counts. Both were held without bail, according to online court records.

Stars are shooting, drinking, driving and chomping, and the government is watching. Welcome to your post-weekend trends report for April 22, 2013.  You have to love Congress. America's favorite band of geriatric jokers decided it would be hi-LAR-ious to use a week full of manhunts and explosions as a backdrop for jamming through the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which many civil libertarians view as the most Orwellian surveillance-state bill since the Patriot Act. The bill, which moves from the House to the Senate this week, is co-sponsored by Maryland's own Dutch Ruppersberger.

In London, motorists shouted profanities at photographers outside Buckingham Palace. At the Paris hospital where Princess Diana died early Sunday, the epithets were worse: "Murderers," medical staff shouted at the men and women with cameras outside. And at the tunnel where the fatal car crash occurred, angry mourners scrawled red graffiti labeling paparazzi cowards.What had seemed a sort of game -- though an increasingly aggressive one -- changed early Sunday when probably the world's most photographed woman died after trying to elude paparazzi on motorcycles.

Millions of people put their lives on Facebook, but thanks to the site's convoluted and ever-changing privacy policies, they often have little idea who else can see the information they provide or what the company itself is doing with all the personal data it collects. For that reason, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's effort as president of the National Association of Attorneys General to partner with Facebook on a public information campaign is welcome - so long as it doesn't give the public the impression that the problem of Facebook privacy has been solved.

The last rose of summer is spent by September, and wildflowers shortly thereafter. Stems turn to stalks alongside state highways and in the many median strips now left to run wild.For long stretches, land that parts the traffic rolls toward the horizon like ribbons of prairie. Chicory, a haze of blue dust at a distance, bobs beside a speeding car as though scraps of sky had caught in a whistle of air. Deeper in the median meadows grow thistles, clover, goldenrod. Were a traveler to pull over to pick a last autumn armful of flowers, the plants would pale as soon as their stems were cut.In fact, travelers do not pull onto the median strips.

In February, President Obama signed a bill requiring the Federal Aviation Administration to accommodate unmanned aerial vehicles in America's civilian airspace. The legislation slipped through without much media notice and certainly with no input from the American people. I'm glad aerospace manufacturers in Maryland will profit from this emerging new technology, but when I think of 10,000 or more drones soon to be in the air I'm troubled ("Md. sees a future in the rise of unmanned aircraft," Aug. 14)

The picture in Wednesday's Sun ("Election draws lowest turnout in history," Sept. 14) illustrates my huge complaint and frustration about the lack of privacy while voting. If the machines were placed with the screens facing the wall instead of open to the public, our votes wouldn't be visible to anyone behind us. I don't accept any excuse. The Board of Election Supervisors has a duty to see that the screens are private and are wired so that each machine is shielded. Claudia R. Fielding

My favorite thing about J.D. Salinger wasn't his seminal work -- or his most famous character, Holden Caulfield -- but how little I knew of him, thanks to his relentless pursuit of privacy. It's the same thing I also love about two other favorite writers, Harper Lee and Florence King. The former, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," has declined most interview requests since the 1960 publication of the novel. Her recorded public ventures have included judging an annual high school essay-writing contest.

I see you have another article about employers looking at people's pages on Facebook. But the solution is obvious. Don't waste your time on Facebook, and you don't have to worry about people looking at it. Problem solved. You're welcome. William Smith, Baltimore

The criminal defense lawyers make the fair and typical plea for the "right to privacy" on behalf of the violent suspects they represent, but they ignore that the victim of a crime, be it an individual, a store or whatever, has not only lost their privacy but considerably more in the process ("Maryland police continue to collect DNA samples," April 26). There are consequences to bad behavior and if giving up your DNA is one of them, so be it. Peter Bell, Monkton

On Monday, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is expected announce a partnership with Facebook on a national campaign to educate teens and parents about safety and privacy when using social media. Gansler, president of the National Association of Attorneys General, will discuss the initiative as he kicks off the NAAG Presidential Initiative Summit, "Privacy in the Digital Age. " The summit is being held at National Harbor, in southern Prince George's County. According to a release from the attorney general's office, the goal of the summit is to bring together attorneys general and representatives of the information technology industry, government and education and others to explore privacy risks and how to limit them.

A bill that would ban gathering of biometric data from school children in Maryland - including information culled from the palm scanners that drew protest in Carroll County last year - is slated for a hearing Wednesday in Annapolis. Senate Bill 855, proposed by State Sen. Joseph M. Getty, a Republican who represents part of Carroll and Baltimore counties, would prohibit public school boards from collecting biometric information, defined as "fingerprint, vocal and facial characteristics; and any other physical characteristics used for the purpose of electronically identifying that individual with a high degree of certainty.

Dr. Joshua Zimmerberg says he's careful not to publicly disclose any personal information that could be of use to identity thieves. But soon, he might not have any choice but to have his finances published on the Internet for the world to see. Zimmerberg, a researcher and manager at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, is one of 28,000 federal employees in the executive branch who come under last year's Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge...

The Senate rejected a bill Monday night that would have prevented the Maryland Transit Administration from audio-taping passengers' conversations after a vigorous debate over the competing values of safety and privacy. The 23-22 vote to kill the measure was a victory for Baltimore senators, who were annoyed that they were not consulted in the development of a bill that disproportionately affects their constituents -- many of whom travel on buses through high-crime neighborhoods.

Mika J. Cross, a human resources manager for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sometimes uses a laptop issued by the agency. But she is far more likely to check email or collaborate with colleagues on one of her two personal computers. As someone who frequently works from home, she finds using her own technology more convenient. "It allows for greater flexibility," said the 39-year-old Waldorf woman, who oversees a program that helps employees balance work and personal commitments.

This week, the United States, Canada, and the 27 countries in the European Union "celebrated" Internet Privacy Day. However, it seems there is little to really celebrate; the past few years have given rise to the largest increase in electronic wiretapping our nation has seen. To be sure, access to information is important for fighting crime and terrorism. However, because the major laws that govern Internet privacy were written in 1986, they fail to protect the modern-day security needs of American citizens.

University professors and scientists who conduct research financed by the taxpayers should have to give up their rights to privacy on matters regarding their work ("Bill would shield academic research," Feb. 5). If they want to keep what they do private, they should work for a privately held company. It seems like a conflict of interest for Del. Samuel I. "Sandy" Rosenberg to sponsor a bill to protect their rights since he is an adjunct professor at two state law schools and therefore has a vested interest in the issue.

Here's a recipe for systematically fact-checking the accuracy of speed camera tickets, at least in Baltimore City where the time stamps on citation photos go to the thousandth of a second: Take a random sample of tickets. Use the two time-stamped photos on each one to physically measure the distance traveled so as to calculate the vehicle's actual speed. Then compare that to the alleged speed listed on the ticket. Repeat. The Sun has employed this method to document erroneous readings at seven city speed cameras.

A Maryland Transit Administration decision to record the conversations of bus drivers and passengers to investigate crimes, accidents and poor customer service has come under attack from privacy advocates and state lawmakers who say it may go too far. The first 10 buses - marked with signs to alert passengers to the open microphones - began service this week in Baltimore, and officials expect to expand that to 340 buses, about half the fleet, by...