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The results of a new Harris Interactive poll, conducted between February 12 and 16, focus on public response to increased government surveillance of citizens since 9/11. Results from this poll are consistent with one conducted a year ago, although overall support for the use of various technologies by the FBI and other government agencies did …
From StateWatch, this report (PDF) from the European Parliament’s Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms expressing strong concerns about the collection and use of EU passenger data by the INS and TSA. See also How US Customs bounced the European Commission into a quick decision.
From the March 10 Federal Register: “The Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee (TAPAC) is being established in consonance with public interest and in accordance with the provisions of Pub. L. 92-463, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, title 5 U.S.C., Appendix 2. The TAPAC will advise the Secretary of Defense concerning the legal and policy considerations …
Poaching threatens privacy of résumés posted on job boards.
From the Center for Democracy and Technology, this new 108 page compendium of papers (PDF), Considering Consumer Privacy: A Resource for Policymakers and Practitioners. The papers address a range of privacy issues including: notice, consent/choice, access, security, private right of action, state pre-emption, the online/offline question, ADR, safe harbors, and verification. The CDT’s resource was …
Spurred on by an October 22, 2002 letter from the Vermont Library Association, Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) introduced a new bill on March 6, the Freedom to Read Protection Act, to exempt libraries and bookstores from Section 215 of the Patriot Act. He did so with a bi-partisan coalition of 24 co-sponsors. Section 215 is …
From the blog Pleasing to Remember, detailed information on how Washington state’s 700,000 Verizon customers can opt-out of being the recipients of marketing and junk mail from the company. If customers do not indicate a choice to opt-out, Verizon will share their data with affiliates and third parties.
The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) was ruled unconstitutional for a second time by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision ACLU v. John Ashcroft, no. 19-1324, filed March 6. The court stated that “…provisions of COPA are not narrowly tailored to achieve the Government’s compelling interest in protecting minors from harmful material …
Today the Supreme Court ruled in two cases involving Megan’s law, one from Connecticut and one from Alaska. In Smith et al v. Doe et al, No. 01-729, (PDF – appeal in Doe I v. Otte, 259 F.3d 979, C.A. 9, Alaska, 2001) the court upheld the right of states to use the web to …
An update on SB 1, the California Financial Information Privacy Act: it received approval from the Senate in a vote of 23 to 6 on March 3. See my previous post on the bill here.
This Columbia Journalism Review article, Why Information Will No Longer Be Free, highlights the growing trend by newspapers to cut losses from free access to their websites with the addition of new subscriptions models, expanded advertising campaigns and the collection of more customer personal data for marketing purposes by third parties.
From the International Herald Tribune, Net programs to catch spies gives a positive review to the free application Spybot Search Destroy from PepiMK Software. One of its features “is a file shredder under the Tools button that lets you completely delete a file from your computer in a way that leaves no traces of it …
