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The majority of states attorneys general expressed their opposition to federal anti-spam legislation during the course of the FTC’s three-day Spam Forum currently underway in Washington, D.C. “The states are concerned because both proposals (on the federal level – the CAN SPAM Act and the REDUCE Spam Act) would supersede any state laws, even if …
The RIAA launched yet another new anti-piracy campaign, this time using instant messaging (IM), to communicate with millions of individual users it has identified as sharing music files using KaZaA and Grokster. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the target group, college students, will be contacted in an “educational outreach effort” which also includes …
Via Slashdot, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts released 2002 Wiretap Report (For the Period January 1 through December 31, 2002), available in pdf. Data includes: Jurisdictions With Statutes Authorizing the Interception of Wire, Oral, or Electronic Communications Intercept Orders Issued by Judges During Calendar Year 2002 (federal and state) Types of Surveillance …
“The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding a contract to examine privacy protection in the use of terrorist tracking applications, such as the DARPA-led Total Information Awareness (TIA) program.” From Federal Computer Week.
Over a year ago, health care attorney Jeff Drummond launched HIPAA Blog, where he posts information and resources on medical privacy issues. This site is well worth a visit for links to related federal and state legislation and regulations, association and government website postings, news stories, and of course, commentary. This link is via UnivAtty.
ABC News has highlighted the ongoing story on the battle being waged by libraries and booksellers against the Patriot Act (Sec. 215. Access to Records and Other Items Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) that permits government access to data about patron reading habits, Internet usage, and book purchases. Opposition to many aspects of this …
Resources and news of note on Super DMCA legislation (“to combat broadband and communications piracy”) that is proliferating at the state level, driven in large measure by relentless lobbying on the part of the Motion Picture Assocation of America (MPAA), and which, for the most part, is based on the organization’s proposed model legislation. The …
Once again Judge John D. Bates (United States District Court for the District of Columbia) has ruled (55 page pdf) that Verizon Internet Services must reveal, within fourteen days, the name of an anonymous customer accused of using a peer-to-peer file sharing application (KaZaA) to pirate copyrighted songs. The judge’s earlier ruling of January 21 …
Junkbusters Corp., an organization whose declared mission is to stop spam, sent a letter to the FTC on April 22 requesting that the agency investigate discrepancies in the privacy statements posted by eBay as they result in the dissemination of personal data without customer knowledge. Junkbusters President Jason Catlett contends that eBay’s use of two …
The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) posted an Early Release on April 11, HIPAA Privacy Rule and Public Health Guidance from CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (pdf). This 24 page report includes an overview of the new privacy rule, as well numerous links to related online resources from …
The New York Times published an extensive article on the challenges posed by the adroit and aggressive junk e-mail industry that has to date overcome all challenges preventing the delivery of their unwelcome messages to our home and work e-mail accounts.
Dan Farmer, a software engineer and computer security expert, and Charles C. Mann, an editor and author, have a two part article in the Technology Review titled Surveillance Nation. Part One appears to be available in full-text as premium content (subscription req’d). However, Part Two has no restrictions, and provides a perspective on the evolution …
