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News release: “This morning, Google released their semi-annual transparency report, and once again, it revealed a troubling trend: Internet surveillance around the world continues to rise, with the United States leading the way in demands for user data. Google received over 21,000 requests for data on over 33,000 users in the last six months from …
Via Public Intelligence: “The following request for participants (RFP) was issued by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on June 8, 2012. The RFP concerns the construction of a wireless control and communications system for managing the citys future network of dimmable LED streetlights. The RFP states that future uses for the secure wireless network …
EFF news release: “Earlier this week, Facebook launched a new featureGraph Searchthat raised some privacy concerns with us. Graph Search allows users to make structured searches to filter through friends, friends of friends, and strangers. This feature relies on your profile information being made widely or publicly available, yet there are some Likes, photos, or …
Follow up to previous postings on airport use of full body scanners, news from EPIC: “the US Transportation Security Administration will end the contract for backscatter x-ray devices. As a consequence, all devices that produce a detailed naked image of air travelers will be removed from US airports. Beginning in 2005, EPIC and then a …
Privacy on the Go – Recommendations for the Mobile Ecosystem, Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, California Department of Justice. January 2013 “Today, 85 percent of American adults own a cell phone and over half of them use their phones to access the Internet. The mobile app marketplace is also booming with more than 1,600 new …
EPIC: “California Attorney General Kamala Harris has issued a report describing best practices for mobile application privacy. The report, Privacy on the Go, recommends that app developers implement safeguards such as privacy-by-design and notice, but stops short of setting forth a comprehensive set of Fair Information Practices. The report follows a law that requires all …
“Facebook Messages has a feature that tells you when a chat recipient has seen a message. This “read receipt” is, in true Facebook fashion, both nifty and unsettling. And it brings with it tons of potential for abuse. Unfortunately, there’s no built-in method to opt out. Facebook’s privacy interface has undergone change upon change, yet …
“This document contains proposed regulations that create a new taxpayer identifying number known as an IRS truncated taxpayer identification number, a TTIN. As an alternative to using a social security number (SSN), IRS individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), or IRS adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN), the filer of certain information returns may use a TTIN …
December 17, 2012: “the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published his Report on the Status of Data Protection Officers (DPOs) as part of his ongoing task to monitor the compliance of EU institutions and bodies with Article 24 of the European Data Protection Regulation, which obliges the appointment of DPOs…Article 24 of the Data Protection …
New release: “The Federal Trade Commission adopted final amendments to the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Rule that strengthen kids’ privacy protections and give parents greater control over the personal information that websites and online services may collect from children under 13. The FTC initiated a review in 2010 to ensure that the COPPA Rule keeps …
Intelligence Identities Protection Act, Jennifer K. Elsea, Legislative Attorney/ December 13, 2012 “Concern that government documents obtained by WikiLeaks and disclosed to several newspapers could reveal the identities of United States intelligence agents or informants focused attention on whether the disclosure or publication of such information could give rise to criminal liability. This report summarizes …
FindLaw – “Data stored on personal cell phones is not protected by the Stored Communications Act (SCA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled. As mobile technology changes rapidly, legal questions remain about the extent of digital privacy protection. The Fifth Circuit determined that the act does not protect information stored …
