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The Grid

The Grid

A law enforcement officer tickets a driver for a minor infraction and checks to see if the motorist is wanted. A truck driver with a suspended license applies for a license in a neighboring state. A corrections officer unknowingly prepares to release the wrong inmate. A welfare caseworker is about to grant public assistance to a person with a phony identification. A family -- whose electricity has been turned off -- applies for service under another name. As our society becomes more electronic and more closely networked, identity and privacy are issues that won't go away. Our panel of experts confronts the issue of identity verification.
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The Panel:

Simon Davies is an expert in privacy, security and data protection. He has worked in more than 20 countries on issues ranging from identity cards to military surveillance. He directs Privacy International -- a nongovernment organization based in Washington, D.C., that has members in more than 40 countries. Davies is also a visiting fellow in the Computer Security Research Center of the London School of Economics and a visiting fellow of law in the University of Essex. Davies is the author of five published books, and he regularly writes for such publications as The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and Wired.

Scott McDonald is a political writer and legal researcher on biometric identification and associated database applications. In July 1997, McDonald was instrumental in building a coalition in Alabama to stop the state Department of Public Safety from requiring fingerprints on state-issued driver's licenses. He drew together state chapters of such groups as the Christian Coalition, Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America, Alabama Family Alliance and the Libertarian Party. McDonald is Webmaster for the Fight the Fingerprint Web site, which features information on national and regional developments in biometric identification applications. McDonald is also editor of the Internet-based Scan This News e-mail newsletter.

David Mintie is the digital imaging project director at the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS). He is responsible for technology acquisition, contract implementation and ongoing contract management. He also has responsibility for directing DSS's Central Processing, Convalescent Payments and Direct Services divisions. Mintie is a frequent speaker at identification technology conferences that focus on biometric systems. He is editor of the Biometrics in Human Services User Group Newsletter and is also currently serving as a member of the Connecticut Law Revision Commission's Electronic Communications Drafting Committee.

Thomas B. Riley is vice chair of Canada's Coalition for Public Information, chair of the coalition's privacy subcommittee and a member of the Privacy Committee for the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC). He has served as executive secretary for the International Freedom of Information Institute in the United Kingdom and is co-author of Privacy in the Information Age: A Handbook for Public and Industry Officials. His appointments include serving as a senior advisor to the Hong Kong government on access issues and as a visiting professor of law and technology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Mary Van Zandt is the director of marketing at Sterling Commerce. She is responsible for the strategic direction of enterprise security products, which are key to enabling secure electronic commerce. These products address multiple security issues, including authentication, access, authorization, integrity, confidentiality and nonrepudiation of information stored or in transit. Van Zandt has over 18 years of experience in the security, database, application development, knowledge base systems and data warehousing markets with companies such as Platinum Technology, Altai, Sybase, AICORP, Cap Gemini and Hewlett-Packard.
May Table of Contents


With more than 20 years of experience covering state and local government, Tod previously was the editor of Public CIO, e.Republic’s award-winning publication for information technology executives in the public sector. He is now a senior editor for Government Technology and a columnist at Governing magazine.