New Vehicle categories

While autonomous vehicles takes the limelight, there is more much more to the story of transportation. The somewhat derided Segway was not so much the birth and death of a bad idea but the very tip of the beginning of a new class of mobility.

First I will point out that Segways are very useful for people with disabilities because it raises them from the seated position to the standing position. So first people with disabilities can use Segways safely and effectively.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17964882


Second, an interesting feature of the Segway is that it appears to also give therapeutic benefit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9W6XB8Nzmec

But beyond the segway there is a whole ecosystem of self-stabilising transport devices out there.
For example INMOTION builds mini-segways that can be used conventionally or for people with a particular disabilities.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocZyjW_hyfE


Then there is the airwheel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0wdWLJPGLY

And the Ryno moncycle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1YoCfm7nxU  

The legal status in many jurisdictions of these alternative - third vehicle class is entirely unclear. Even for people with disabilities using the Segway legally is often problematic.

Legal status of autonomous vehicles - the US case

Came across this, could be an interesting read.

SUE MY CAR NOT ME: PRODUCTS LIABILITY AND ACCIDENTS INVOLVING AUTONOMOUS VEHICLESJeffrey K. Gurney


AbstractAutonomous vehicles will revolutionize society in the near future. Computers, however, are not perfect, and accidents will occur while the vehicle is in autonomous mode. This Article answers the question of who should be liable when an accident is caused in autonomous mode. This Article addresses the liability of autonomous vehicle by examining products liability through the use of four scenarios: the Distracted Driver; the Diminished Capabilities Driver; the Disabled Driver; and the Attentive Driver. Based on those scenarios, this Article suggests that the autonomous technology manufacturer should be liable for accidents caused in autonomous mode because the autonomous vehicle probably caused the accident. Liability should shift back to the “driver” depending on the nature of the driver and the ability of that person to prevent the accident. Thus, this Article argues that an autonomous vehicle manufacturer should be liable for accidents caused in autonomous mode for the Disabled Driver and partially for the Diminished Capabilities Driver and the Distracted Driver. This Article argues the Attentive Driver should be liable for most accidents caused in autonomous vehicles. Currently, products liability does not allocate the financial responsibility of an accident to the party that is responsible for the accident, and this Article suggests that courts and legislatures need to address tort liability for accidents caused in autonomous mode to ensure that the responsible party bears responsibility for accidents.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2352108

Regulation of Nanotechnology and nano particles

The ISSP (Institute for Science Society and Policy) in Ottawa has released a paper that outlines a timeline for regulating Nanotechnology in OECD countries.

Over here and here there is some useful information on joint Canadian - U.S. and OECD activities to regulate nano related materials etc.

The important take away from the Canada-U.S policy work was the following.

The Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council Nanotechnology Initiative is now complete. Canada and the U.S. are implementing the new approaches and lessons learned in risk assessments of nanomaterials. An important outcome of the initiative is the development of consistent policy principles on the regulatory oversight of nanomaterials, which have now been endorsed by the Government of Canada. Watch for the publication of the final reports from the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council Nanotechnology Initiative this summer. The reports will include recommendations about ways in which Canada and the U.S. can align their nanomaterial regulatory work, including the application of consistent risk assessment approaches and methodologies and identifying categories of nanomaterials.

Ref http://www.frogheart.ca/?m=201407

'Emergency' legislation is the UK.

The BBC reports.

In the UK...Emergency powers to ensure police and security services can continue to access phone and internet records are being rushed through Parliament.

Prime Minister David Cameron has secured the backing of all three main parties for the highly unusual move.He said urgent action was needed to protect the public from "criminals and terrorists" after the European Court of Justice struck down existing powers. But civil liberties campaigners have warned it will invade people's privacy. Mr Cameron defended the move in a joint news conference with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, saying it was about maintaining existing capabilities - not introducing new snooping laws. But it will make legally clear the requirements include companies based abroad, whose phone and internet services are used in the UK. A former senior diplomat will also be appointed to work with other nations to speed up the "lawful and justified" transfer of data across borders. ...

ref for more information http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-28237111

Digital Identity

One of the really big issues for the digital era is identity. There seems no end of problems but one country may be on the right track.

The Economist Reports (28 June 2014)

Private providers are offering their own schemes; miiCard, for example, uses bank accounts as a way of issuing a verified online identity. But these fall short of the reliability of a state-backed identity, issued by a government official, checked against other databases, using biometric data (such as fingerprints and retinal scans) and backed by law—in effect an electronic passport.There is one place where this cyberdream is already reality. Secure, authenticated identity is the birthright of every Estonian: before a newborn even arrives home, the hospital will have issued a digital birth certificate and his health insurance will have been started automatically. All residents of the small Baltic state aged 15 or over have electronic ID cards, which are used in health care, electronic banking and shopping, to sign contracts and encrypt e-mail, as tram tickets, and much more besides—even to vote.Estonia’s approach makes life efficient: taxes take less than an hour to file, and refunds are paid within 48 hours. By law, the state may not ask for any piece of information more than once, people have the right to know what data are held on them and all government databases must be compatible, a system known as the X-road. In all, the Estonian state offers 600 e-services to its citizens and 2,400 to businesses.Estonia’s system uses suitably hefty encryption. Only a minimum of private data are kept on the ID card itself. Lost cards can simply be cancelled. And in over a decade, no security breaches have been reported. Also issued are two PIN codes, one for authentication (proving who the holder is) and one for authorisation (signing documents or making payments). Asked to authenticate a user, the service concerned queries a central database to check that the card and relevant code match. It also asks for only the minimum information needed: to check a customer’s age, for example, it does not ask, “How old is this person?” but merely, “Is this person over 18?”

 I remember, a long time ago, that is Before the Internet  Era (BIE) the Australian government wanted to issue an identity card - in effect a social security card which other countries have. There was the usual controversy and at the time it became to hot too touch. The problem is the world has changed radically and now the identity crisis needs an answer - perhaps Estonia is on the right track. We look forward to more serious experiments. It seems contradictory but perhaps to protect privacy and individuality we need a step like this - digital birth certificate.

Facebook a digital landlord

The BBC reports that Facebook has been described by a court as a digital landlord.

Facebook is fighting a US court order in which it was forced to hand over data belonging to almost 400 people involved in a benefit fraud trial. The social media site said the request was "by far the largest" it had ever received from a government body. Photographs, private messages and other information were supplied to a New York court last year, but the process was only made public by a judge this week. The ruling defined Facebook as a "digital landlord". A judge said this definition meant the company must comply with search warrants. The original case investigated fraudulent claimants of US federal disability benefits, whose Facebook accounts apparently showed that they were in fact healthy. The web giant was ordered to hand over information from the 381 accounts, which the court said contained "evidence of criminality".

The courts continue to define the digital policy in the absence of legislation. The web of court orders relating to data companies such as google and facebook continues to evolve fast.

This is really smart practice for the digital age

The Government of Canada - at least in the justice Depart tests its employees with fake emails. 

The CBC reports

An internal survey shows almost 2,000 staff were conned into clicking on a phoney "phishing" link in their email, raising questions about the security of sensitive information. The department launched the mock scam in December as a security exercise, sending emails to 5,000 employees to test their ability to recognize cyber fraud. The emails looked like genuine communications from government or financial institutions, and contained a link to a fake website that was also made to look like the real thing.

... A February briefing note on the exercise was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. The document indicates there are more such exercises planned — in June, August and October — and that the simulations will be "graduating in levels of sophistication." Those caught by the simulation are notified by a pop-up window, giving them tips on spotting malicious messages.

 I think this is very smart practice and shouldn't it be government wide, not just the Justice Department? That is a great place to start though! Actually, this seems like like a great thing to do for the population. As we move toward a digital society we need a head shift about how we protect people and educate them. Some of us who have grown up more digital than others can get pretty smug; oh we don't fall for those emails! But I joke with my wife that as we get older and new strategies emerge then what will we fall for later in life? Government phishing with education behind it could be a great tool for keeping society up to speed on the latest tricks.

I like it I like it alot!