Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery With Daily Postings Since 2002
“In response to an EPIC FOIA request, the Department of Homeland Security has produced documents revealing that the agency has failed to establish privacy safeguards for “BOSS” (the Biometric Optical Surveillance System), an elaborate system for facial recognition and individual identification. The documents obtained by EPIC indicate that none of the agency’s contracts or statements …
Washington Post – Ellen Nakashima, “The National Security Agency unlawfully gathered as many as tens of thousands of e-mails and other electronic communications between Americans as part of a now-discontinued collection program, according to a 2011 secret court opinion [redacted]. The 86-page opinion, which was declassified by U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, explains why the chief …
“Created at the direction of the President of the United States, IC ON THE RECORD provides immediate, ongoing and direct access to factual information related to the lawful foreign surveillance activities carried out by the U.S. Intelligence Community.”
Via EPIC: “In a keynote speech at the Technology Policy Institute Aspen Forum, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez called upon companies to “move their data collection and use practices out of the shadow and into the sunlight.” Chairwoman Ramirez highlighted the risks of big data including indiscriminate collection, data breaches, and behind-the-scenes profiling. She stressed the …
“Metadata is information generated as you use technology, and its use has been the subject of controversy since NSA’s secret surveillance program was revealed. Examples include the date and time you called somebody or the location from which you last accessed your email. The data collected generally does not contain personal or content-specific details, but …
Where Teens Seek Online Privacy Advice – by Amanda Lenhart, Mary Madden, Sandra Cortesi, Urs Gasser, Aaron Smith, August 15, 2013 “Many teens ages 12-17 report that they usually figure out how to manage content sharing and privacy settings on their own. Focus group interviews with teens suggest that for their day-to-day privacy management, teens …
“In a stunning admission contained in a brief filed recently in federal court, lawyers for Google said people should not expect privacy when they send messages to a Gmail account. Consumer Watchdog said today that people who care about their email correspondents’ privacy should not use the Internet giant’s service. Google’s brief said: “Just as a …
By Steve Wood : “The evolution of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will reach a key milestone on 1st September, as the new open data rights come into force. Changes to the law not only give new rights to request data in a form that means it can be re-used, but also give users the right to …
Cory Doctorow: “The European Parliament is currently involved in a wrangle over the new General Data Protection Regulation. At stake are the future rules for online privacy, data mining, big data, governmental spying (by proxy), to name a few. Hundreds of amendments and proposals are on the table, including some that speak of relaxing the …
WSJ – Obama Proposes Surveillance-Policy Overhaul – President Plans Changes to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Transcript of President Obama’s press conference on surveillance, August 9, 2013 Background on the President’s Statement on Reforms to NSA Programs, August 9 2013 Huffington Post – Obama Proposes FISA Reforms Amid Growing Concerns Over NSA Surveillance DOJ/Obama Administration White Paper on …
Spy agency has secret backdoor permission to search databases for individual Americans’ communications – “The National Security Agency has a secret backdoor into its vast databases under a legal authority enabling it to search for US citizens’email and phone calls without a warrant, according to a top-secret document passed to the Guardian by Edward Snowden. The previously …
“Central to the growing dispute about the legality and value of the very extensive electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) is the secret federal court that approves the search warrants authorizing the NSA’s world-wide efforts. While the operations of both the NSA and the decisions of what is now incorrectly called the Federal …
