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Press release: “U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today announced the introduction of legislation to prohibit a variety of surreptitious practices that result in spyware, adware and other unwanted software being placed on consumers computers. The bipartisan SPYBLOCK (Software Principles Yielding Better Levels of Consumer Knowledge) Act, introduced with Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), would prohibit the …
Released today by the GAO: Telecommunications: Greater Involvement Needed by FCC in the Management and Oversight of the E-Rate Program. GAO-05-151, February 9. Highlights. See also GAO Report: E-rate Mismanagement Continues Unabated – Barton to Accelerate Legislative Plans in Light of Findings
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection hearing today on Protecting Consumer’s Data: Policy Issues Raised by Choice Point. Prepared Testimony (PDF) is available from the following: Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman, Federal Trade Commission; Kurt P. Sanford , President and CEO, U.S. Corporate and Federal Government Markets, LexisNexis; Derek Smith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, …
Two articles worth reading from The Los Angeles Times (reg. req’d): from today’s paper, this one examines the remarkably straighforward, low-tech tools (including fax machines and Wite-out) and methods that have been successfully used to carry out ID theft scams. and from yesterday’s edition, Did ChoicePoint End Run Backfire? The data-collecting company has managed to …
Released March 10, 2005 to the Senate Armed Services Committee, this Review of DoD Detention Operations and Detainee Interrogation Techniques (21 pages, PDF), authored by Vice Adm. Albert T. Church III, determined that there was “no policy that considered or condoned torture…” Statement of Senator Carl Levin at the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on …
“The Federal Trade Commission testified…before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs about the reach of existing federal laws that require certain information providers to safeguard sensitive information and to ensure that the information doesnt fall into the wrong hands. The Senate Banking Committee is examining recent developments involving the security of …
Press release from Sen. Patrick Leahy today: “Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democratic member of the committee, introduced legislation on Thursday to establish an advisory Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays. The 16-member commission would be charged with reporting to Congress …
The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hold a hearing on Identity Theft: Recent Developments Involving the Security of Sensitive Consumer Information, 3/10/05, 2:30 PM. [Link]
The House Energy and Commerce Committee today approved, by 43-0 vote, the Antispyware bill, H.R. 29, The Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act or the ‘SPY ACT’. An Amendment #1, offered by Mr. Stearns, was agreed to by voice vote.
Over the past two days, significant primary and secondary information associated with the ChoicePoint ID theft scam has become available. Please see the following sources, which appear in chronological order: SEC probing ChoicePoint stock sales Rep. Markey Press Conference Statement Introducing the “Information Protection and Security Act” (S. 500 and H.R. 1080): “In the emerging …
Emerging Threats: Overclassification and Pseudo-classification, a hearing held on March 2, 2005. “The purpose of this hearing is to examine the proliferation of categories of information that are not classified but are withheld from public disclosure.” [Link (PDF) to Briefing Memo for March 2 Hearing on Classification] Opening Statement of Chairman Shays Links to testimony …
Emerging Threats: Overclassification and Psuedo-Classification, House Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, March 2, 2005. Related resources: Shays Holds Hearing on Overclassification: “Last year, more federal officials classified more information, and declassified less, than the year before. In our previous hearing on official secrecy policies, the Department of …
