Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.

[...]

Use of CCTV images for court evidence has so far been very poor, according to Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, the officer in charge of the Metropolitan police unit. "CCTV was originally seen as a preventative measure," Neville told the Security Document World Conference in London. "Billions of pounds has been spent on kit, but no thought has gone into how the police are going to use the images and how they will be used in court. It's been an utter fiasco: only 3% of crimes were solved by CCTV. There's no fear of CCTV. Why don't people fear it? [They think] the cameras are not working."

This is, of course is absolutely no surprise.

This might not be everybody's idea of utopia -- and it certainly doesn't address the inherent value of privacy -- but this theory has a glossy appeal, and could easily be mistaken for a way out of the problem of technology's continuing erosion of privacy. Except it doesn't work, because it ignores the crucial dissimilarity of power.

You cannot evaluate the value of privacy and disclosure unless you account for the relative power levels of the discloser and the disclosee.

If I disclose information to you, your power with respect to me increases. One way to address this power imbalance is for you to similarly disclose information to me. We both have less privacy, but the balance of power is maintained. But this mechanism fails utterly if you and I have different power levels to begin with.

An example will make this clearer. You're stopped by a police officer, who demands to see identification. Divulging your identity will give the officer enormous power over you: He or she can search police databases using the information on your ID; he or she can create a police record attached to your name; he or she can put you on this or that secret terrorist watch list. Asking to see the officer's ID in return gives you no comparable power over him or her. The power imbalance is too great, and mutual disclosure does not make it OK.

You can think of your existing power as the exponent in an equation that determines the value, to you, of more information. The more power you have, the more additional power you derive from the new data.

Another example: When your doctor says "take off your clothes," it makes no sense for you to say, "You first, doc." The two of you are not engaging in an interaction of equals.

This is the principle that should guide decision-makers when they consider installing surveillance cameras or launching data-mining programs. It's not enough to open the efforts to public scrutiny. All aspects of government work best when the relative power between the governors and the governed remains as small as possible -- when liberty is high and control is low. Forced openness in government reduces the relative power differential between the two, and is generally good. Forced openness in laypeople increases the relative power, and is generally bad.

Seventeen-year-old Erik Crespo was arrested in 2005 in connection with a shooting in a New York City elevator. There's no question that he committed the shooting; it was captured on surveillance-camera videotape. But he claimed that while being interrogated, Detective Christopher Perino tried to talk him out of getting a lawyer, and told him that he had to sign a confession before he could see a judge.

Perino denied, under oath, that he ever questioned Crespo. But Crespo had received an MP3 player as a Christmas gift, and surreptitiously recorded the questioning. The defense brought a transcript and CD into evidence. Shortly thereafter, the prosecution offered Crespo a better deal than originally proffered (seven years rather than 15). Crespo took the deal, and Perino was separately indicted on charges of perjury.

Without that recording, it was the detective's word against Crespo's. And who would believe a murder suspect over a New York City detective? That power imbalance was reduced only because Crespo was smart enough to press the "record" button on his MP3 player. Why aren't all interrogations recorded? Why don't defendants have the right to those recordings, just as they have the right to an attorney? Police routinely record traffic stops from their squad cars for their own protection; that video record shouldn't stop once the suspect is no longer a threat.

Cameras make sense when trained on police, and in offices where lawmakers meet with lobbyists, and wherever government officials wield power over the people. Open-government laws, giving the public access to government records and meetings of governmental bodies, also make sense. These all foster liberty.

Ubiquitous surveillance programs that affect everyone without probable cause or warrant, like the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping programs or various proposals to monitor everything on the internet, foster control. And no one is safer in a political system of control.

This essay originally appeared on Wired.com.

Date Reported:
2/15/08

Organization:
Crossline Ministries of Carthage (MO)*

*"Crosslines is a food pantry and clothing bank for low-income families in the Carthage area." - Source: KOAM-TV 
"Crosslines has been working to help the less fortunate in Carthage for 23 years" - Source: The Carthage Press

Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
None

Victims:
Clients

Number Affected:
2,000

Types of Data:
Names, ages, and Social Security numbers

Breach Description:
The Crosslines Ministries of Carthage offices were burglarized sometime between 5PM Thursday and 8AM Friday, February 15th 2008.  Computer equipment and files containing sensitive personal information belonging to clients are missing.

Reference URL:
The Carthage Press online story
The Carthage Press online story (updated)
The Joplin Globe online story
KOAM-TV Channel 7 News story

Report Credit:
John Hacker, The Carthage Press

Response:
From the online sources cited above:

One of the largest aid agencies in Carthage was burglarized overnight Thursday night or Friday morning

(Carthage Police Detective Randee) Kaiser said among the items stolen were paper files containing names, addresses, social security numbers and other personal information of 2,000 individuals served by Crosslines.
[Evan] Why does Crosslines collect and store Social Security numbers?  I don't understand the need to give a Social Security number in order to donate or receive aid.  Nuts.

"They stole files, hard copies, a whole box of papers from the ministry," Kaiser said. "We can't say what else they took and we have no indication of why they took the box of papers in the first place or whether they knew what they were taking."
[Evan] There isn't any real value in paper (of this quantity), so it's a pretty good guess that the theives are interested in the information.

Kaiser recommended that anyone who has given personal information belonging to themselves or family members to Crosslines should take steps to avoid potential identity theft.

Kaiser said the burglar or burglars forced their way into the ministry.

Kaiser said with the files missing, Crosslines doesn't have any way to notify the people affected of the incident, which is why the police, in cooperation with Crosslines are reaching out to potential victims through the media.
[Evan] No backup information either, so Crosslines does not know who may be affected.

An emotional Belle Lown, director of Crosslines Ministries, vowed to continue helping people in and around Carthage despite the burglary

Lown said the person who broke into the building sometime late Thursday or early Friday seemed to know what he or she was looking for

Lown said whoever got into the building breached a fairly sophisticated security system to get in.

"We're beefing up security in the building," Lown said.

Lown said the burglar also got her computer system. The burglar also seemed to be looking for specific items in Crosslines' inventory of clothing, food, soap and toiletries, and other products.

Commentary:
This is a sad breach to read and write about.  I admire what Crosslines Ministries does and I feel for the people involved.  The person or persons responsible for this breach took this a little too low by stealing the personal information.  If the burglar(s) only took hardware, food, and clothing than this would be almost (ephasize almost) acceptable.

I am very curious to know why Crosslines needs to accept and store personal information, and I wonder what the options are for doing things in a better way.  If Crosslines MUST collect and store personal information, then obviously they should do so more securely.

Maybe there is an information security consultant (preferably local to Carthage, MO) out there that would like to donate some free service?  Crosslines can be reached at (417)358-1577

Past Breaches:
Unknown