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Press release from NJPIRG: “Today the New Jersey Legislature passed the potent, comprehensive “Identity Theft Prevention Act” (6 pages, PDF) with overwhelming, bipartisan majorities in each house. The law limits the use and display of social security numbers, requires business to thoroughly destroy discarded documents, requires businesses to notify consumers if an unauthorized person accesses …
In what appears to be a parallel data mining program to that of the Dept. of Education, about which I posted on November 30, 2004 (Federal Gov’t Wants To Mine College and University Student Data), and again on April 6, 2005 (Gov’t Proceeds With Plans to Mine Personal Data on Students), new reports today on …
FTC press release: “Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing technology offers significant benefits but also poses risks to consumers who use it, according to a Federal Trade Commission staff report issued today. The staff report, Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Technology: Consumer Protection and Competition Issues (51 pages, PDF), analyzes the consumer protection, competition, and intellectual property issues that were discussed …
June 21, 2005 — Hearing Chronology of the USA Patriot Act – Hearings held by the House Committee on the Judiiciary (3 pages, PDF).
Social Security Opened Its Files for 9/11 Inquiry: “The Social Security Administration has relaxed its privacy restrictions and searched thousands of its files at the request of the F.B.I. as part of terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, newly disclosed records and interviews show.” From EPIC: “Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney has recommended (2 pages, …
Information Security: Key Considerations Related to Federal Implementation of Radio Frequency Identification Technology GAO-05-849T, June 22, 2005. Highlights. “Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an automated data-capture technology that can be used to electronically identify, track, and store information contained on a tag that is attached to or embedded in an object, such as a product, …
From CNN Money, ID data breaches: as rampant as it seems documents the circumstances of the most recently reported incident of hacking, called skimming, that involved the illegal acquisition and storage of credit card data, the exact impact of which still has been not fully disclosed apparently due to the ongoing investigation. Related references: Personal …
AP reports that the TSA continued to purchase and aggregate air passenger data despite specific direction from Congress not to do so. See also: March 28, 2005 GAO report, Secure Flight Development and Testing Underway, But Risks Should be Managed as System is Futher Developed Transportation Security Administration Notices: Privacy Act, System of Records, 05-12405 …
From today’s New York Times, Libraries Say Yes, Officials Do Quiz Them About Users reports on a study, not yet released by the American Library Association (ALA), that documents law enforcement inquiries for information on library patrons’ reading materials. The article indicates that there have been “at least 200 formal and informal inquiries to libraries… …
Following are links to several related documents worth reviewing on the Google Library Project to digitize the entire collections of participating libraries. Google Library: Peril for Publishers? Michigan Digitization Project Brief Overview (12/13/04) PDF Format Cooperative Agreement between the University Library and Google (PDF Format) Sample Titles Googles Library Digitization Project: Reports from Michigan and …
According to an article today by Declan McCullagh, the DOJ is reviewing the implementation of “data retention rules that could permit police to obtain records of e-mail, browsing or chat-room activity months after ISPs ordinarily would have deleted the logs–if they were ever kept in the first place.”
Press release this evening from Rep. Bernie Sanders: “Congressman Sanders today led a tri-partisan coalition in restoring Americans’ constitutionally guaranteed right to read and access information without governmental intrusion or monitoring. With 199 Democrats, 38 Republicans and one Independent (Sanders) voting in support, the House passed Congressman Sanders legislation to amend Section 215 of the …
