Category «Privacy»

Guidelines for Derived 6 Personal Identity Verification (PIV) 7 Credentials

“This publication has been developed by NIST to further its statutory responsibilities under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Public Law (P.L.) 107-347. NIST is responsible for developing information security standards and guidelines, including minimum requirements for Federal information systems, but such standards and guidelines shall not apply to national security systems without the express approval of appropriate …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Internet, Privacy

EPIC – After Weakening Privacy Law, Education Department Proposes “Best Practices” for Student Data

“The Education Department has issued recommendations for schools that transfer student records to online educational service providers. Following the Department’s changes to a federal student privacy law, private companies and government agencies have access to student records without obtaining student consent. In the recommendations, the agency explained that the current regulations do not require written agreements for schools to disclose student information to private companies. The …

Subjects: Education, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Report – vast hidden surveillance network runs across America, powered by the repo industry

Follow up to previous postings on license plate collection programs – see Shawn Musgrave’s article [editor of MuckRock via BetaBoston]: “Today, a legislative committee in Boston is scheduled to hold a hearing on a bill that would ban most uses of license plate readers, including the vehicle repossession business, making exceptions only for law enforcement, toll …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

Teens & Technology: Understanding the Digital Landscape

“Pew Researcher Amanda Lenhart spoke to students in the school of Public Health at George Washington University about how adolescents ages 12 to 17 are using the internet, social media, and mobile phones in their daily lives. The talk includes data on smartphones, tablets, and youth who use mobile devices to go online most of the …

Subjects: E-Mail, Internet, Privacy

Report – Encryption Would Have Stopped Snowden From Using Secrets

Chris Strohm, Bloomberg: “Edward Snowden could have been thwarted from leaking classified U.S. documents if the National Security Agency encrypted the information to make it unreadable, two former senior cybersecurity officials said. Snowden would have needed a digital key to decipher the secrets after gaining access to them if the data was scrambled, Ira “Gus” Hunt, former …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Defense, Government Documents, Internet, Patriot Act, PC Security, Privacy

Paper – Is Data Speech?

Is Data Speech? January 2014 66 Stan. L. Rev. 57. Jane Bambauer, Associate Professor of Law, University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law; J.D., Yale Law School; B.S., Yale College. “Privacy laws rely on the unexamined assumption that the collection of data is not speech. That assumption is incorrect. Privacy scholars, recognizing an imminent clash between …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Legal Research, Privacy

The Economist, Essay – What’s gone wrong with democracy

[snipped – article includes charts and graphics] – “Democracy is going through a difficult time. Where autocrats have been driven out of office, their opponents have mostly failed to create viable democratic regimes. Even in established democracies, flaws in the system have become worryingly visible and disillusion with politics is rife. Yet just a few …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Defense, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Privacy

Education Dept. Releases New Guidance on Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services

“The U.S. Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) released new guidance today to help school systems and educators interpret and understand the major laws and best practices protecting student privacy while using online educational services. The guidance summarizes the major requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Education, Government Documents, Internet, Privacy

Guardian – Yahoo webcam images from millions of users intercepted by GCHQ

Spencer Ackerman and James Ball – The Guardian: “Britain’s surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the US National Security Agency, intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal. GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats in bulk and saved them to …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Internet, Privacy

FTC Announces Top National Consumer Complaints for 2013

News release: “Identity theft continues to top the Federal Trade Commission’s national ranking of consumer complaints, and American consumers reported losing over $1.6 billion to fraud overall in 2013, according to the FTC’s annual report on consumer complaints released today. “Americans of all ages are vulnerable to identity theft, and it remains the most common consumer …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Economy, Government Documents, ID Theft, Internet, Privacy

Extensive DHA Licence Plate Data Collection Exists – Expansion Planned

Follow up to previous posting – EFF – A Massive Expansion of Plate Data Collection, via ACLU – Setting the record straight on DHS and license plate tracking: ” First of all, contrary to widespread understanding, DHS’ solicitation for bids had nothing to do with asking a contractor to build a nationwide license plate tracking database. Such a …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

Joint Statement by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Attorney General Eric Holder on the Declassification of Additional Documents Section 501 of FISA

DNI News Release – February 12, 2014: ” On Jan. 3, 2014, the Director of National Intelligence declassified and disclosed publicly that the U.S. government had filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that, on Jan. 3, 2014, the court renewed that …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Defense, Government Documents, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

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