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“In response to recent letters from Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), nine mobile wireless carriers have provided detailed reports of law enforcement requests for user cell phone records. These requests come from agencies – across all levels of government – seeking text messages, caller locations, and other information in the course of investigations. The reports show …
Privacy, Security and Trust in Cloud Computing, by Siani Pearson, HP Laboratories, HPL-2012-80R1, June 28, 2012 “Cloud computing refers to the underlying infrastructure for an emerging model of service provision that has the advantage of reducing cost by sharing computing and storage resources, combined with an on-demand provisioning mechanism relying on a pay- per-use business …
Follow up to previous postings on drones, via EPIC: “The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the organization representing drone manufacturers and operators, has released an Industry “Code of Conduct“. Compliance with the guidelines is both voluntary and not enforceable. The association acknowledges that invasive drone surveillance technology poses a risk to the public, and …
“Wednesday marks Independence Day here in the United States. Beyond the fireworks and barbecue, July 4th serves as an important reminder of the need to hold governments accountable, especially on behalf of those who may not have a chance to do so themselves. With that in mind, today were unveiling our first Twitter Transparency Report. …
“According to the 2011 Wiretap Report, released by the Administrative Office of the US Courts, federal and state applications for wiretap orders dropped 14 percent in 2011, compared to the number reported in 2010. The reduction in wiretaps resulted primarily from a drop in applications for intercepts in narcotics offenses. In 2011, a total of …
“The Article 29 Working Party, representing the privacy agencies of European Union countries, has released a new Opinion in which it states that cloud service providers will be subject to the EU Data Protection Directive. The expert group also advises users of cloud-based services to conduct a comprehensive and thorough risk analysis of cloud services. …
Ars Technica: “As the result of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Department of Justice has revealed, for the first time, the types of secret letters that the government can send out to ISPs and other tech companies being asked to reveal personal data about their users …
WSJ: “In the past, publishers and authors had no way of knowing what happens when a reader sits down with a book. Does the reader quit after three pages, or finish it in a single sitting? Do most readers skip over the introduction, or read it closely, underlining passages and scrawling notes in the margins? …
“What are cookies? – A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that is downloaded on to your computer when you visit a website. Cookies are used by many websites and can do a number of things eg remembering your preferences, recording what you have put in your shopping basket, and counting the …
EPIC: The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Prohibiting the Use of Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Tactics in Federal Elections.” The Senate is considering new legislation to address the problem of deceptive practices and voter intimidation. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy cited “burdensome identification laws” as one of the obstacles to public participation in …
“EPIC has asked the Federal Trade Commission to review Facebook’s decision to change the default email address of Facebook users. The company recently removed email addresses, selected by users, with a @facebook.com address assigned by Facebook. EPIC asked the FTC to review this practice as it finalizes the terms of a settlement with Facebook. “Facebook’s …
Berkeley Center for Law and Technology: “The Web Privacy Census is intended to formalize the benchmarking process and measure internet tracking consistently over time…This effort was developed and executed in partnership with Abine, Inc. Abine has been our technical collaborator and resource partner, helping us develop a reliable method for web crawling and analysis of …
