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News release: “The Federal Trade Commission today unveiled a community outreach kit with new resources to help parents and communities keep kids safe online and on their mobile phones. With more than five million copies of the Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online guide already in the hands of families across the country, …
“EPIC and 14 other privacy and consumer protection groups (including the American Library Association) sent a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt about Google’s revised privacy policy. Under this new policy, twelve specific Google privacy policies will be replaced by a single policy that will enable greater data sharing within the corporation. EPIC previously raised …
“Biometric recognition–the automated recognition of individuals based on their behavioral and biological characteristic–is promoted as a way to help identify terrorists, provide better control of access to physical facilities and financial accounts, and increase the efficiency of access to services and their utilization. Biometric recognition has been applied to identification of criminals, patient tracking in …
News release: [On September 22, 2010] the Federal Trade Commission told a Senate Subcommittee that it supports proposed legislation that would require many companies to use reasonable data security policies and procedures and require those companies to notify consumers when there is a security breach. In testimony before the Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation …
Transparency Report: “Transparency is a core value at Google. As a company we feel it is our responsibility to ensure that we maximize transparency around the flow of information related to our tools and services. We believe that more information means more choice, more freedom and ultimately more power for the individual. Weve created an …
EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) External Strategy (9/21/10): “The European Commission adopted today a package of proposals on the exchange of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data with third countries (countries outside the EU), consisting of an EU external PNR strategy and recommendations for negotiating directives for new PNR agreements with the United States, Australia and …
A Review of the FBI’s Investigations of Certain Domestic Advocacy Groups, September 2010 The Atlantic: “FBI agents misled officials and the public, violated their own policy manual, used poor judgment, and engaged in sloppy police work when they investigated certain left-leaning, high-profile, domestic advocacy groups in the years immediately following 9/11, the Justice Department announced …
Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security: Vol. 2, Privacy and the Smart Grid. The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel Cyber Security Working Group, August 2010 “The Smart Grid brings with it many new data collection, communication, and information sharing capabilities related to energy usage, and these technologies in turn introduce concerns about privacy. Privacy relates …
“A Wall Street Journal investigation into online privacy has found that popular children’s websites install more tracking technologies on personal computers than do the top websites aimed at adults.” “Marketers are spying more on young Internet users than on their parents, building detailed profiles of their activities and interests. The Wall Street Journals What They …
“The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorizes a special court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), to undertake electronic surveillance in the United States for foreign intelligence information. The FISC is now seeking public comments concerning its procedures. Comments must received by Monday, October 4, 2010. EPIC previously submitted an amicus brief regarding FISA authority …
Views on Genetic Testing: An AARP Bulletin Survey, by: Helen W. Brown, Ph.D., Research & Strategic Analysis: “A large majority of Americans have never been tested for their genetic makeup, according to a recent AARP Bulletin survey. Moreover, most would not consider undergoing genetic testing to find out if they are susceptible to a disease …
Official Google Blog: “Long, complicated and lawyerly that’s what most people think about privacy policies, and for good reason. Even taking into account that theyre legal documents, most privacy policies are still too hard to understand. So were simplifying and updating Googles privacy policies. To be clear, we arent changing any of our privacy …
