Possible Hearings On Surveillance Technology A "Wake Up Call"
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, is calling on the relevant House committees to hold hearings on law enforcement use of surveillance technology, noting a Colorado program to create a database containing computerized three-dimensional facial maps of all those applying for driver's licenses.
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA--House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, is calling on the relevant House committees to hold hearings on law enforcement use of surveillance technology, noting a Colorado program to create a database containing computerized three-dimensional facial maps of all those applying for driver's licenses.
"This is a wake up call," says John Bagby, professor of business law and an expert privacy issues at Penn State's Smeal College of Business. He is also Legal Issues Committee chair for the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.
"Privacy is a balance between personal seclusion and the public interest. As intelligent transportation system deployments increase, the underlying applications and services will be exposed to more and more political crosswinds and privacy concerns. It
is predictable that the public will react negatively to unpleasant surprises and blatant disrespect for privacy."
During his research sabbatical in the fall 2000, Bagby shepherded the ITS America Privacy Principles through its passage. The Privacy Principles were recently adopted by the United State's Department of Transportation as the definitive guidelines for using landline and wireless telephony for traveler information services (e.g., 511).
Bagby has published numerous books or parts of books including Irwin's Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business (Third Edition), Legal Aspects of the Management Process (Fourth Edition), and the forthcoming West's Cyberlaw . He is serving as editor of an upcoming special "Cyberlaw" issue for The American Business Law Journal (ABLJ), the top scholarly journal of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB).
Bagby has completed funded research projects in liability risk management and technology transfer for numerous sponsors including the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Transportation Research Board and the Applied Research Lab. He is a Research Associate at the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute (PTI) and a Faculty Associate of the eBusiness Research Center (eBRC).
The mission of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) is to foster public/private partnerships to increase the safety and efficiency of surface transportation through the application of advanced technologies. ITS America was mandated by the U.S. Congress in 1991 to coordinate the development and deployment of intelligent transportation systems in the United States.
