Category «Privacy»

CRS – National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations

National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: Legal Background, January 3, 2014: “Five statutory provisions vest government agencies responsible for certain foreign intelligence investigations (principally the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)) with authority to issue written commands comparable to administrative subpoenas. A National Security Letter (NSL) seeks customer and consumer transaction information in national security investigations from communications providers, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Patriot Act, Privacy

The Cost of Surveillance

Via Ashkan Soltani: “The Yale Law Journal Online (YLJO) just published an article that Ashkan Soltani co-authored with Kevin Bankston (first workshopped at the Privacy Law Scholars Conference last year) entitled Tiny Constables and the Cost of Surveillance: Making Cents Out of United States v. Jones. In it, we discuss the drastic reduction in the cost of tracking an individual’s location and show how technology has greatly …

Subjects: Courts, E-Government, E-Mail, Government Documents, Legal Research, PC Security, Privacy

New GAO Reports – Government Support for Bank Holding Companies, InfoSec, James Webb Space Telescope

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR BANK HOLDING COMPANIES – Statutory Changes to Limit Future Support Are Not Yet Fully Implemented, GAO-14-174T, Jan 8, 2014: “GAO found that from 2007 through 2009, the federal government’s actions to stabilize the financial system provided significant funding support and other benefits to bank holding companies and their subsidiaries. The Board of Governors of …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Defense, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, ID Theft, Internet, Privacy

Consumer Privacy Framework Needs to Reflect Changes in Technology and the Marketplace

INFORMATION RESELLERS: Consumer Privacy Framework Needs to Reflect Changes in Technology and the Marketplace, GAO-14-251T, Dec 18, 2013 “No overarching federal privacy law governs the collection and sale of personal information among private-sector companies, including information resellers. Instead, laws tailored to specific purposes, situations, or entities govern the use, sharing, and protection of personal information. For example, …

Subjects: Congress, E-Commerce, E-Records, Health Care, Internet, Legislation, Privacy

Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools

Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools, Fordham Center on Law and Information Policy, December 12, 2013. “Today, data driven decision-making is at the center of educational policy debates in the United States. School districts are increasingly turning to rapidly evolving technologies and cloud computing to satisfy their educational objectives and take advantage of new opportunities for cost savings, flexibility, and always-available service among others. …

Subjects: Education, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

Federal Appeals Court Rules that Legal Policy Memos Can Be Withheld From the Publi

“The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has ruled that the FBI may withhold a memo prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel concerning the law governing “exigent letter” requests to telephone companies for call records. The decision affirmed an earlier opinion that the memo was privileged advice, and exempt from disclosure under the Freedom information Act. The …

Subjects: Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

Foreign Policy – THE LEADING GLOBAL THINKERS OF 2013

Foreign Policy – THE LEADING GLOBAL THINKERS OF 2013 THE SURVEILLANCE STATE DECISION-MAKERS CHALLENGERS NATURALS INNOVATORS ADVOCATES CHRONICLERS HEALERS ARTISTS MOGULS

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, E-Government, E-Mail, Economy, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Patriot Act, Privacy

Spiegel – Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit

“The NSA’s TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency’s top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting.” [TAO – Tailored Access Operations] “TAO specialists have directly accessed the protected networks …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Defense, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Patriot Act, Privacy

Judge Grants Motion to Dismiss in NSA Surveillance Case

ACLU: “A federal court issued an opinion and order in ACLU v. Clapper [American Civil Liberties Union v. Clapper, 13-cv-03994, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)], the ACLU’s challenge to the constitutionality of the NSA’s mass call-tracking program, ruling that the government’s bulk collection of phone records is lawful under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and under …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Defense, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

Digital Attack Map displays global DDoS activity on any given day

“The Digital Attack Map is a live data visualization of DDoS attacks around the globe, built through a collaboration between Google Ideas and Arbor Networks. The tool surfaces anonymous attack traffic data to let users explore historic trends and find reports of outages happening on a given day.”

Subjects: Cybercrime, Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy

New Services Track E-Book Reading Habits

NYT: As New Services Track Habits, The E-Books Are Reading You – “Several new e-book subscription services are analyzing the data of readers and providing it free.”

Subjects: E-Commerce, Internet, Privacy

Research – MetaPhone: The NSA’s Got Your Number

by Jonathan Mayer, a grad student at Stanford – Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler – via the Web Policy Blog “MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata. If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating. In earlier posts, we reported how automated analysis of call and text activity can reveal private relationships, as well as how phone subscribers are closely …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, Free Speech, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Patriot Act, Privacy

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