Continuing on with the theme of digital identities, this one cried out to be talked about. It's not just websites that are looking toward digital profiles for their target market, now GM has thrown their hat in the ring with a bid to gear roadside advertising to specific drivers by using the information collected by their OnStar system.

You have to give credit where credit is due - it's a very clever idea. But it also represents an admission of the various things that the system is capable of - tracking where you go, where you like to shop, buy your lunch, go to the movies, or (potentially) even who is driving your vehicle, and who is riding in it.

I guess we should have seen this coming some time back, but when the ACLU came out with that YouTube video about ordering a pizza all we could do is laugh. Now it seems there may be more truth to it than any of us ever suspected.

Just had to throw my two cents in here - word on the internet is that Chicago police intend to shut down cell service over the weekend, to thwart protesters who may use the services to organize protests during the NATO meetings.

I read that, and the first thing I thought of (oddly enough) was my mom. She's not in Chicago, but she recently had a new-fangled alarm system installed in her house. "You don't have to worry if someone cuts power" the tech told her, "because it has a backup power supply. And since it runs on cell towers, you don't have to worry about someone cutting the phone lines either."

Security systems run on cell towers, cell towers will be shut off in Chicago for the weekend,  I look to see reports of increased robberies and home invasions. Not that anyone would be able to call 911 if all they have is a cell phone... I guess they'll just have to wait until the NATO summit is over.

Looking at the idea of a "digital profile" I couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk about Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) used by various police agencies around the country. Sure, they've been around for years on the side of highways, punishing speeders with tickets in the mail, but now they're showing up on police cruisers. And they're building a database of where they've seen you before. Added to the GPS tracking and mobile phone surveillance we've been hearing so much about lately, it looks like yet another type of digital profile that is being collected against your will, without warrant or your consent.

Technically speaking, a license plate is public information. But if someone is tracking your movements, for example keeping a notebook filled with places they've seen your car, it would serve as damning evidence at a stalking trial - and probably put them away for a while. However, if the police are doing it indiscriminately, on everyone, we are lead to believe that it is somehow a good thing?

Anyone who knows me will tell you I've never been fond of double standards. And this strikes me as more of a violation than employers asking for my Facebook password... because I can at least tell them to get bent and refuse.

I've talked a few times this year about the practice of employers demanding employees or job candidates provide access to their Facebook account. The word "reprehensible" comes to mind. But I've taken some fire from a few of you about calling the practice "illegal".

My position has been that various aspects of our personal identity are already protected in other ways, and that a court case would show the interpretation of the law would hold that likewise Facebook passwords are protected. But rather than wait for case law to be made, Congress is apparently going to just put a specific law in place to take care of this.

I know there's a bunch of ruckus lately about the collapse of civilization, a-la Mayan Calendar style; but I can't help but wonder how we're going to address things like this if the world is still here on December 22nd? It may be a good idea to go ahead and put some laws in place to make sure companies and law enforcement aren't trampling everyone under foot.

You know, just in case all the experts are somehow wrong about the Mayan Calendar?