Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society recent issues

Inefficiency and Bias of Search Engines in Retrieving References Containing Scientific Names of Fossil Amphibians

Brown, L. E., Dubois, A., Shepard, D. B. — 2008-07-14

Retrieval efficiencies of paper-based references in journals and other serials containing 10 scientific names of fossil amphibians were determined for seven major search engines. Retrievals were compared to the number of references obtained covering the period 1895—2006 by a Comprehensive Search. The latter was primarily a traditional library-based search which involved intensive work from 2002—2007. Only a few references originally obtained by search engines were included. Retrieval efficiencies were calculated by comparison to the number obtained through the Comprehensive Search (assumed to be 100%). All percent retrievals were quite low (mean = 11.3%, range = 4.0—22.9%). For all seven search engines combined (duplicate references excluded), the percent retrieval was only 40.7%. There was also retrieval inefficiency and bias of the search engines in: sampling over time, the top five journals containing the most references, the top five most prolific authors, and non-English references. Consequently, all seven search engines were unsatisfactory for retrieval of references for our scientific research.

Why the Future Doesn't Come From Machines: Unfounded Prophecies and the Design of Naturoids

Negrotti, M. — 2008-07-14

Technological imagination and actual technological achievements have always been two very different things. Sudden and unpredictable events always seem to intervene between our visions regarding possible futures and the subsequent concrete realizations. Thus, our ideas and projects are continually being redirected. In the field of naturoids—that is, artificial systems designed to simulate certain features of natural ones—the above-mentioned tendency is particularly frequent and illuminating, giving all prophecies a flavor of fiction rather than of reliable technological forecast. The dream of reproducing complete natural systems—man included—by means of technological strategies clashes with the "nature" of artificial objects and also with that of natural exemplars. The only certainty is that the future will exhibit growing rates of variety and heterogeneity, and we cannot know, from our present standpoint, what this will imply for our species, or, at least, for our cultures.

The Technological Culture of War

Pretorius, J. — 2008-07-14

The article proceeds from the argument that war is a social institution and not a historical inevitability of human interaction, that is, war can be "unlearned." This process involves deconstructing/dismantling war as an institution in society. An important step in this process is to understand the philosophical and cultural bases on which technology is employed as "tools" of war. The article focuses on such questions as, Is technology just viewed as instruments in the hand of its human masters in war? Does technology take on an autonomous role in war? How should we assess the impact of context (political, economic, and cultural) of technology when employed in war? By exploring these points, the article hopes to provide input into the discussion on the control of war technologies and ultimately the dismantling of war as an institution in society.

The Political Economy of Open-Source Software in the United Kingdom

Kettell, S. — 2008-07-14

The debate about the impact of information and communication technology has tended to focus on either its economic or its political aspects. The growing centrality of this technology to life in the 21st century, however, raises important questions about social ownership and control that necessitate a broader and more holistic analysis. Central to this issue is the growing challenge posed by open-source software to the proprietary business model that has hitherto dominated the market. The author examines how these developments are being mediated in Britain through the intersection of government policy, private interests, and the institutional configuration of the state.

The Engineers Versus the Economists: The Disunity of Technocracy in Indonesian Development

Amir, S. — 2008-07-14

This article observes the competition between two groups of technocrats in Indonesia during the New Order era that has hitherto afflicted national policy making. The first group is the engineers who advocate technology-based development strategy. The other group is the market-oriented economists who promote a comparative-advantages approach in development policies. The rivalry between these technocratic groups occurs in the arenas of policy-making process and bureaucratic structure. To explain how such a clash has emerged, this article offers a notion of disunity of technocracy to examine different logics, rationalities, and argumentations used by each group. It emphasizes that this confrontation is rooted in the epistemological foundations of technocratic expertise.

The Comparative Effects of Constructivist Versus Traditional Teaching Methods on the Environmental Literacy of Postsecondary Nonscience Majors

Wright, J. M. — 2008-07-14

Using a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental control group design, a learning environment study was conducted to evaluate the environmental literacy of postsecondary, nonscience majors. Data were collected from 183 students taking an introductory environmental science class—a 41-question Environmental Literacy Instrument (ELI) prompted students for responses across four subscales of environmental literacy: Knowledge, Beliefs, Opinions, and Self-Perceptions. Differences between presurvey and postsurvey scores were compared to determine whether a constructivist-based or traditional learning environment improved students' environmental literacy more. Results showed that the constructivist-based curriculum was not a significant factor of influence, suggesting that regardless of which learning environment they were exposed to, participants experienced similar improvements to their environmental literacy across a 16-week semester. Given that the findings were contrary to expectations, and counterindicated by several other learning environment studies as well, a broader investigation as to why the two learning environments produced similar results is warranted.

Determining Why Students Take More Science Than Required in High School

Robinson, M., Ochs, G. T. — 2008-07-14

This study reports the results of a survey of 405 high school students in a school district in the western United States. The data were used to determine why so many students take only the minimal science required for graduation. Key areas addressed included how science is taught; science literacy; science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); science, technology, and society (STS); and who influences students to take science. Results were directed at how to motivate more students to continue science study beyond the required courses and how to improve the prospect of more students choosing STEM majors in higher education. Key conclusions included that no new science courses are needed to increase enrollments, but existing courses need to be taught differently, specifically with more labs and activities that create more interest and relevance for students. Furthermore, students need more awareness of good reasons for taking science. Last, science instruction must improve.

Rewriting My Autobiography: The Legal and Ethical Implications of Memory-Dampening Agents

Aoki, C. R. A. — 2008-07-14

The formation and recall of memories are fundamental aspects of life and help preserve the complex collection of experiences that provide us with a sense of identity and autonomy. Scientists have recently started to investigate pharmacological agents that inhibit or "dampen" the strength of memory formation and recall. The development of these memory-dampening agents has been investigated for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Currently, these agents are being tested in multicenter clinical trials and will likely soon be approved for the treatment of PTSD. With advancements in technology, more targeted memory-dampening techniques may be developed in the future. Accessibility to these agents will inevitably affect one's sense of identity and also one's sense of autonomy. Therefore, it is essential that the legal and ethical implications of using these agents be examined for governments and courts to appropriately address issues that may emerge.

Implications of Peak Oil for Industrialized Societies

McPherson, G. R., Weltzin, J. F. — 2008-05-21

The world passed the halfway point of oil supply in 2005. World demand for oil likely will severely outstrip supply in 2008, leading to increasingly higher oil prices. Consequences are likely to include increasing gasoline prices, rapidly increasing inflation, and subsequently a series of increasingly severe recessions followed by a worldwide economic depression. Consequences may include, particularly in industrialized countries such as the United States, massive unemployment, economic collapse, and chaos.

Hybrid Design of Electric Power Generation Systems Including Renewable Sources of Energy

Wang, L., Singh, C. — 2008-05-21

With the stricter environmental regulations and diminishing fossil-fuel reserves, there is now higher emphasis on exploiting various renewable sources of energy. These alternative sources of energy are usually environmentally friendly and emit no pollutants. However, the capital investments for those renewable sources of energy are normally high, and there are also maintenance cost differences to be considered. Furthermore, due to the intermittency of some of these power sources, reliability issues should be addressed when integrating different power sources. In this article, as an example, the design of hybrid generating systems comprising wind turbine generators, photovoltaic panels, and storage batteries is discussed based on multidisciplinary optimization. In this multisource generation system design, three design objectives are considered, that is, system cost, reliability, and pollutant emissions.

A Review of the Application of Lifecycle Analysis to Renewable Energy Systems

Lund, C., Biswas, W. — 2008-05-21

The lifecycle concept is a "cradle to grave" approach to thinking about products, processes, and services, recognizing that all stages have environmental and economic impacts. Any rigorous and meaningful comparison of energy supply options must be done using a lifecycle analysis approach. It has been applied to an increasing number of conventional and renewable energy generation systems and in an increasing range of countries. There is now a good amount of research reporting the lifecycle environmental and economic aspects of power generation systems. This article reviews the existing lifecycle analyses of renewable energy systems to determine the current understanding of their full lifecycle impacts. These are then compared with each other and those of conventional power generation systems. The renewable energy systems reviewed include wind, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal (for electricity), hydroelectric, solid biomass, wave, geothermal, biogas, and tidal. The article also highlights the areas where more lifecycle analysis is needed.

Environmental and Economic Impacts of Integrating Photovoltaic and Wind-Turbine Energy Systems in the Canadian Residential Sector

Syed, A. M., Fung, A. S., Ugursal, V. I. — 2008-05-21

The Canadian residential sector contributes approximately 80 megatons of GHGs to the environment yearly. With the ratification of Kyoto Protocol, Canada has committed to reduce its 1990 GHG emission levels by at least 5% between 2008 and 2012. To meet this target, Canada must evaluate and exploit all feasible means to reduce fossil fuel energy consumption and GHG emissions. Test-case Canadian houses were modeled in the building-energy simulation software ESP-r. Requisite housing stock data were extracted from Canada's residential end-use energy surveys. Photovoltaic and wind-turbine energy systems were assessed for their contribution to electricity generation and GHG savings. Typical household electrical consumption versus renewable electricity generation was assessed to estimate the GHG reduction, cost saving in electricity, and the impact of these technologies on single detached houses. With the use of net-metering, 100% of electricity requirements can be met by these technologies in certain cases, resulting in significant reductions in GHG emissions.

Bio-Product Recovery From Lignocellulosic Materials Derived From Poultry Manure

Champagne, P., Li, C. — 2008-05-21

This study examines the hydrolysis of lignocellulose extracted from poultry manure for the purpose of investigating low-cost feedstocks for ethanol production while providing an alternative solid waste management strategy for agricultural livestock manures. Poultry manure underwent various pretreatments to enhance subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis including untreated, alkaline pretreatment with 0.5N KOH, drying, and grinding. The KOH-treated, dried, and grinded poultry manure yielded the highest glucose conversions. When poultry manure without pretreatment was hydrolyzed at 40°C with an enzyme loading 400 units/g feedstock, 7.1 ± 0.3% was converted to glucose in 24 hours. This increased to 27.6 ± 1.2% when a KOH pretreatment followed by drying and grinding was applied. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses were used to examine differences in the composition of the pretreated feedstock before and after enzymatic hydrolysis. These indicate that the cellulose content in pretreated poultry manure was removed during enzymatic hydrolysis.

Increasing Geothermal Energy Demand: The Need for Urbanization of the Drilling Industry

Teodoriu, C., Falcone, G. — 2008-05-21

Drilling wells in urban spaces requires special types of rigs that do not conflict with the surrounding environment. For this, a mutation of the current drilling equipment is necessary into what can be defined as an "urbanized drilling rig." Noise reduction, small footprint, and "good looking" rigs all help persuade the general public to accept the presence of drilling rigs in their neighborhood. This article reviews international projects that aim to integrate drilling with the urban infrastructures with a special focus on geothermal projects. Case studies are presented where tailored drilling rigs and new technology have already been implemented. The review aids the analysis of the main urban-related technical aspects of modern drilling rigs. Finally, the new trends in integrating architecture, urbanism, and drilling rig design are discussed.

Teaching Green Engineering: The Case of Ethanol Lifecycle Analysis

Vallero, D. A., Braiser, C. — 2008-05-21

Lifecycle assessment (LCA) is a valuable tool in teaching green engineering and has been used to assess biofuels, including ethanol. An undergraduate engineering course at Duke University has integrated LCA with other interactive teaching techniques to enhance awareness and to inform engineering decision making related to societal issues, such as energy sources and environmental quality. The course also includes a three-part studio beginning with application of thermodynamics, moving to team projects, and ending with a "green" innovation proposal by each student. Students who participated in this interactive series were able to apply LCA to venues beyond biofuels (e.g., computing and brick making). They were also able to consider societal and geopolitical aspects of complex issues, such as comparing benefits to costs and risks associated with increased production of ethanol on decreased food production and environmental impacts.

Accuracy of Satellite-Measured Wave Heights in the Australian Region for Wave Power Applications

Meath, S. E., Aye, L., Haritos, N. — 2008-05-21

This article focuses on the accuracy of satellite data, which may then be used in wave power applications. The satellite data are compared to data from wave buoys, which are currently considered to be the most accurate of the devices available for measuring wave characteristics. This article presents an analysis of satellite- (Topex/Poseidon) and buoy-measured significant wave heights for a 1-year period at Cape Sorell and Rottnest Island, off the Australian coast. The analysis found that the satellite-measured wave heights showed a slight positive bias. This is contrary to the findings of most other authors, who have analyzed data from the Northern Hemisphere and generally found a negative bias in the satellite-measured wave heights. The implication is that calibration functions to improve the correlation between the buoy and satellite data may vary for different hemispheres or even regions within these.

Sustaining the Commons: The Tragedy Works Both Ways

Ellerbrock, M., Bayer, J., Bradshaw, R. — 2008-05-21

In the management of common property resources, privatization is often advocated as the surest path to sustainability because of its reliance on human self-interest in natural resources decision making. This article demonstrates that the motive of self-interest, though powerful, does not necessarily lead to environmental outcomes that promote the common good. The key to avoiding the Tragedy of the Commons is not private ownership but controlling access.

Sustaining Action and Optimizing Entropy: Coupling Efficiency for Energy and the Sustainability of Global Ecosystems

Rose, M. T., Crossan, A. N., Kennedy, I. R. — 2008-05-21

Consideration of the property of action is proposed to provide a more meaningful definition of efficient energy use and sustainable production in ecosystems. Action has physical dimensions similar to angular momentum, its magnitude varying with mass, spatial configuration and relative motion. In this article, the relationship of action to thermodynamic processes such as the spontaneous increase in entropy of the second law is explained and the utility of action for measuring changes in energy and material distribution is promoted. In particular, the view that increases in entropy and action are equivalent to disorder is challenged. Given that the development of action states may be assigned an economic value and the various sources of free energy assigned a price, action theory may provide a novel mechanism for the economic allocation of resources. The importance of the diversity and redundancy of energy resources and work processes to optimize action is highlighted.

Alternative Energy as the Ultimate No-Regrets Principle?

Karimi, S., Vanderburg, W. H. — 2008-03-25

The Most Economic, Socially Viable, and Environmentally Sustainable Alternative Energy

Vanderburg, W. H. — 2008-03-25

The strengths and weaknesses of current energy planning can be attributed to the limited economic, social, and environmental contexts taken into account as a result of the current intellectual and professional division of labor. A preventive approach is developed by which the ratio of desired to undesired effects can be substantially improved. It takes into account supply-and demand-side options, renewable and nonrenewable sources, and net energy availability. Alternative energy must be considered within such a strategy, which carefully examines its effects on society and the biosphere. Intellectual barriers are identified, and ways of overcoming them are suggested.

Renewable Energy for Rural Sustainability in Developing Countries

Alazraque-Cherni, J. — 2008-03-25

This article establishes the benefits of applying renewable energy and analyzes the main difficulties that have stood in the way of more widely successful renewable energy for rural areas in the developing world and discusses why outcomes from these technologies fall short. Although there is substantial recognition of technological, economic, institutional, and other supply-side barriers that have generally interfered with success, the household and other stake-holders have been left outside the scope of evaluation. This article first discusses the usefulness of renewable energy for encouraging sustainability in rural, poor areas, analyzes barriers that have often interfered with the promotion and delivery of expected outputs of installed modern energy technology in remote communities, and finally presents findings from a survey on the actual performance state of the renewable energy technology and degree of satisfaction with it.

Wind Power in Australia: Overcoming Technological and Institutional Barriers

Healey, G., Bunting, A. — 2008-03-25

Until recently, Australia had little installed wind capacity, although there had been many investigations into its potential during the preceding decades. Formerly, state-owned monopoly utilities showed only token interest in wind power and could dictate the terms of energy debates. This situation changed in the late 1990s: Installed wind capacity began growing rapidly following the introduction of supportive renewable energy policies and the restructuring of the electricity industry. However, wind farms still provide only 1% of Australia's electricity, the future of supportive policies is uncertain, and industry momentum is yet to become self-sustaining. Wind power, the authors argue, faces significant technological and institutional barriers, which need to be overcome if wind power is to play a significant role in Australia's electricity supply. The current window of opportunity is providing—for the first time—a significant space in which these barriers can be better understood and addressed and the requirements for wind power institutionally embedded.

Energy Conversion Chain Analysis of Sustainable Energy Systems: A Transportation Case Study

Evans, R. L. — 2008-03-25

In general terms there are only three primary energy sources: fossil fuels, renewable energy, and nuclear fission. For fueling road transportation, there has been much speculation about the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier, which would usher in the "hydrogen economy." A parallel situation would use a simple battery to store electricity directly in order to power vehicles. The efficiency of these two different approaches has been compared and shows that the hydrogen and fuel cell system would consume nearly three times the primary energy required by a battery storage system. Successful introduction into the marketplace of the plug-in hybrid vehicle would eliminate the need for road vehicles to use petroleum fuels, at least for the majority of miles traveled. If electricity were to be generated primarily from sustainable primary energy sources, then road transportation would also become sustainable, resulting in an "electricity economy" rather than a "hydrogen economy."

Development of Affordable, Low-Carbon Hydrogen Supplies at an Industrial Scale

Roddy, D. J. — 2008-03-25

An existing industrial hydrogen generation and distribution infrastructure is described, and a number of large-scale investment projects are outlined. All of these projects have the potential to generate significant volumes of low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen. The technologies concerned range from gasification of coal with carbon capture and storage to gasification of a range of biomass streams. These biomass streams derive in turn from the supply chains that feed large liquid biofuel production plants—some operational and the others under construction. Having described how such developments are coming together in a particular location to allow accelerated movement toward a hydrogen economy, this article explores the conditions under which similar acceleration could be seen in other locations.

A Review of the Potential of Bio-Ethanol in New Zealand

Acharya, V., Young, B. R. — 2008-03-25

This article presents a study of the techno-economical feasibility of manufacturing biofuel ethanol at small scale from agricultural sources in New Zealand. It investigates possible agricultural products and wastes as potential feedstock and looks at laboratory-scale fermentation trials to determine their ethanol yields. The ethanol requirement to replace all gasoline in New Zealand with a 10 vol% blend (E10) is 300 ML/yr. Current production is derived from whey with output being about one sixth of this requirement. Sugarcane, sugar beets, maize, potato waste, and spoilt kiwifruit possess potential for use as feedstock. New Zealand currently grows approximately 150,000 t/yr maize, sufficient for making 45 ML/yr ethanol, and also has the potential to exploit 100,000 t/yr potato processing waste and 18,000 t/yr spoilt kiwifruit. Sugarcane and sugar beets are currently not grown on a large scale in New Zealand. However, sugarcane is of particular interest because of its high ethanol yield (7,750 L/Ha) and ease of processing.

The Biorefinery--Challenges, Opportunities, and an Australian Perspective

Rowlands, W. N., Masters, A., Maschmeyer, T. — 2008-03-25

Biomass provides the only sustainable source of organic carbon for the production of chemicals used in manufacturing and as liquid transportation fuels. In this article, the authors examine some of the challenges that society faces in the transition from a global economy in which transportation fuels are derived from fossil fuels to one in which they are derived from renewable biomass via a "biorefinery." In so doing, the authors present an overview of the technology currently available to society and highlight some of the key issues that must be resolved in order to grasp the opportunities that stem from the transition. They conclude by considering the situation of their own country, Australia, to illustrate that the solutions to the challenges will likely depend not only on technology development but also on social, political, and geographical factors.

Economic Assessment of Rural District Heating by Bio-Steam Supplied by a Paper Mill in Canada

Marinova, M., Beaudry, C., Taoussi, A., Trepanier, M., Paris, J. — 2008-03-25

The article investigates the feasibility of district heating in a small town adjacent to a Kraft pulp mill in eastern Canada. A detailed heat demand analysis is performed for all buildings using a geographical information system and archived data provided by the municipality. The study shows that the entire space heating requirement of the town can be supplied by steam from the mill, even during exceptional peak demands. A screening test based on load density indicators, however, reveals that a district heating serving the entire town would probably not be economically viable. An economic analysis of partial districts show that a district covering about half of the town can be economically viable with a proper balance between the price of the steam sold by the mill to the district operator and the cost of the energy sold to customers.

Ground-Coupled Heating-Cooling Systems in Urban Areas: How Sustainable Are They?

Younger, P. L. — 2008-03-25

Ground-coupled heating-cooling systems (GCHCSs) exchange heat between the built environment and the subsurface using pipework buried in trenches or boreholes. If heat pumps in GCHCSs are powered by "green electricity," they offer genuine carbon-free heating-cooling; for this reason, there has been a surge in the technology in recent years. Interference between adjoining installations is being reported, raising issues of sustainability in terms of performance, equitable sharing of natural resources, and localized ecological impacts. Using an analytical model for heat transport in porous media, sensitivity analyses have been obtained for open-loop systems in typical hydro-geological settings for urban GSHCSs in the United Kingdom, revealing that breakthrough of injected water will likely lead to significant declines in system performance in less than 25 years for well spacings less than 300 m, unless injection rates are kept below 250 m³/d. Only by cooperatively planning will adjoining landowners in urban areas achieve large-scale sustainable system designs.

Editor's Note

Burkell, J. — 2008-01-22

Closing the Barn Door: The Effect of Parental Supervision on Canadian Children's Online Privacy

Steeves, V., Webster, C. — 2008-01-22

Empirical data from a large sample of Canadian youth aged 13 to 17 years suggest that, although the current privacy policy framework is having a positive effect on the extent to which young people are complying with the types of behavior promoted by adults as privacy protective, its primary focus on parental supervision is inadequate to fully protect children's online privacy. Respondents with high levels of either social interaction or identity play are more likely than those with lower levels to divulge personal identifiers and display privacy-risky behavior, independent of their level of parental supervision. High levels of parental supervision, therefore, do not eliminate but merely reduce privacy-risky behaviors associated with social uses of the Internet. As such, parental supervision cannot adequately protect children who have integrated the Net most fully into their social lives, especially given the high premium that children place on the use of the Net to talk to friends and explore social roles.

Can You See Me Now? Audience and Disclosure Regulation in Online Social Network Sites

Tufekci, Z. — 2008-01-22

The prevailing paradigm in Internet privacy literature, treating privacy within a context merely of rights and violations, is inadequate for studying the Internet as a social realm. Following Goffman on self-presentation and Altman's theorizing of privacy as an optimization between competing pressures for disclosure and withdrawal, the author investigates the mechanisms used by a sample (n = 704) of college students, the vast majority users of Facebook and Myspace, to negotiate boundaries between public and private. Findings show little to no relationship between online privacy concerns and information disclosure on online social network sites. Students manage unwanted audience concerns by adjusting profile visibility and using nicknames but not by restricting the information within the profile. Mechanisms analogous to boundary regulation in physical space, such as walls, locks, and doors, are favored; little adaptation is made to the Internet's key features of persistence, searchability, and cross-indexability. The author also finds significant racial and gender differences.

Wikisurveillance: A Genealogy of Cooperative Watching in the West

Arntfield, M. — 2008-01-22

This article interrogates the relationship between technology and law enforcement and how changing police surveillance techniques have influenced Western expectations of privacy from the mid-19th century to the present. By examining the evolution of telecommunications devices in particular, the author identifies a diffuse and publicly inclusive system of collaborative data mining maintained by private citizens—a culture of wikisurveillance—as being a technologically determined consequence of police reforms made in 1829 Britain. From the now extinct police signal box to modern AMBER alerts, technology allows the police to be divested of their public presence as mechanical surveillance responsibilities are willingly usurped by private enterprise and largely unaccountable civilians who collectively coauthor and codify the occidental discourse on privacy. As public and private spaces alike become increasingly subject to internal, unregulated monitoring that mimics the police methodology, this article explores the origins of our present zeitgeist of mediated voyeurism.

Research in the Biotech Age: Can Informational Privacy Compete?

Peekhaus, W. — 2008-01-22

This article examines the privacy of personal medical information in the health research context. Arguing that biomedical research in Canada has been caught up in the government's broader neoliberal policy agenda that has positioned biotechnology as a strategic driver of economic growth, the author discusses the tension between informational privacy and the need for medical information for research purposes. Consideration is given to the debate about whether privacy for medical information serves or hinders the "public good" in respect of medical research and to discussions of informed consent as an element of "fair information practices" designed to safeguard the privacy of personal information, including attempts to subvert requirements for informed consent in the medical research context.

Pursuing the Anonymous User: Privacy Rights and Mandatory Registration of Prepaid Mobile Phones

Gow, G. A., Parisi, J. — 2008-01-22

In recent years there has been concern among law enforcement and national security organizations about the use of "anonymous" prepaid mobile phone service and its purported role in supporting criminal and terrorist activities. As a result, a number of countries have implemented registration requirements for such service. Privacy rights advocates oppose such regulatory measures, arguing that there is little practical value in attempting to register prepaid mobile devices, and the issue raises important questions about a citizen's entitlement to anonymity in the ownership of a networked communications device. This article provides an overview of the issue and presents findings drawn from a recent study on prepaid mobile phone regulation in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. The article concludes by suggesting that there are significant problems with the claim that mandatory registration of prepaid mobile phone service is a necessary or an effective regulatory course of action.

Balancing Good Intentions: Protecting the Privacy of Electronic Health Information

McClanahan, K. — 2008-01-22

Electronic information is a vital but complex component in the modern health care system, fueling ongoing efforts to develop a universal electronic health record infrastructure. This innovation creates a substantial tension between two desirable values: the increased quality and utility of patient medical records and the protection of the privacy of the information they contain. This article discusses related U.S. legislation, policy, and law—including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This article offers an inclusive, equilibrium model to conceptualize the spectrum of challenge that this interplay of desirable but oppositional values creates. The model illustrates the relationship between information privacy and information flow, and that between individual and society-level needs, within the resulting impact sectors of individual security, health care priorities, public health effectiveness, and e-health development, while specifying beneficial outcomes for each.

Reconsidering the Right to Privacy in Canada

Shade, L. R. — 2008-01-22

This article argues that post—September 11 political debates and legislation around security necessitate a reconsideration of a right to privacy in Canada. It looks at the proposal for a Canadian Charter of Privacy Rights promoted by Senator Sheila Finestone in the late 1990s and the current challenges of emergent material technologies accelerated by digitization and political technologies of regulation and governance.