Two recently released reports (one from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the other from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario) offer thorough, carefully considered looks at security and privacy in a world that relies increasingly on mobile and Wi-Fi internet.

The Canadian Privacy Commissioner issued her annual report to Parliament on the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). What follows is a snippet from the introduction to her report.

"Personal information has become a valuable commodity. Companies make money from the use of personal information – it’s no wonder that some would like us to believe that privacy doesn’t matter. [...] The pressure on privacy is not just the result of new social standards or new and captivating technologies. In the commercial sphere where PIPEDA applies, it chiefly comes from the fact that there is big money to be made in pushing the privacy boundaries."

The Ontario-specific Commissioner's Office released a more focussed report, examining the implications of security flaws in the information architecture of Wi-Fi Positioning systems. They come out strongly advocating a Privacy by Design model, as opposed to Open by Default, since we all know "the default rules".

"Privacy is predicated on providing users with personal control along with openness and transparency associated with one’s practices, which demonstrates respect for the user, and builds greater trust."

They give strong examples to indicate why there's a need for policy:

As wireless technology gets smaller and smarter, it is used in all kinds of innovative ways. Researchers in Japan have developed microscopic RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags that are smaller than a human hair, 0.05mm by 0.05mm. RFID chips in many ways resemble bar codes - they broadcast identification information of one sort or another about whatever it is that they are attached to. The signals from these tags can be used to track products, people, and information. The usefulness of the new micro RFID tags is limited because even the smallest antennas are about eighty times larger than the chips. As antennas shrink in size, this kind of technology will become ubiquitous, embedded anywhere and everywhere.

Initially RFID technology focused on inventory management and logistics: RFID are currently widely used to keep monitor transport of containers at ports, on ships, trains, trucks and their eventual arrival in warehouses. This is by no means the only use of RFID technology, and these new microscopic chips have a much broader potential use - RFID could even be used for paper. Imagine a bureaucracy or records system in which each piece of paper emitted a radio signal that made it possible to digitally track every piece of paper (record) in real time. It would become practically impossible to lose paperwork. And if RFID tags were included in paper money, just imagine the effect on conspiracy theorists around the world.

I know this may seem a little tardy, but I thought it would be nice to collect a few of the most interesting musings on Google, in case you have somehow missed the biggest non-Apple news of 2010. This has already been a big year for Google, between the announcement that it was leaving China, the launch of the Nexus One, Google Buzz, and their energy and broadband initiatives. Without further ado...

Brad Stone writes for the New York Times about a study on attitudes towards privacy and the inconsistencies of human behaviour:

"Our privacy principles are wobbly. We are more or less likely to open up depending on who is asking, how they ask and in what context."