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California’s Department of Motor Vehicles apparently caught personnel from Allstate Insurance illegally accessing online records for personal purposes, and subsequently banned the company’s direct access to the system pending further review. Previous incidents involving obtaining personal data through online DMV searches has resulted in criminal acts, and is therefore an issue of significant concern for …
A recent survey of how U.S. public librarians have responded to information requests from law enforcement as a result of the Patriot Act indicates that the community is divided in regard to protecting patron privacy. Of those surveyed, 219 indicated that they provided data on patrons, while 229 responded that they did not do so. …
The increased focus on the activities of the Total Information Awareness program culminated this week with several legislative initiatives, as mentioned in my post here. It is interesting to note that the TIA site now hosts a slide show with detailed accompanying notes, titled, Security With Privacy (in PDF). There is also a media update …
Senators Ron Wyden, and Harry Reid are seeking to disable the Total Information Awareness surveillance program by the most direct means possible – an amendment to discontinue its funding. Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued a press release that stated, “It is time for the Senate to put some reins on this …
The press release is here. The full-text report, Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society, was issued by the ACLU on January 15.
Following quickly on the heels of Sen. Harkin’s letter requesting a hearing on the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, Vermont’s Senator Leahy also sent a letter to Attorney General Ashcroft requesting answers to a list of specific questions, so at to determine “the extent to which the Justice Department is relying on data-mining” applications and …
Senator Tom Harkin issued a written request on January 13 to Daniel K. Inouye Chair, Subcommittee on Defense U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriation, for a hearing to investigate the work of the Total Information Awareness Project. Quoting the Senator, “The Total Information Awareness project raises serious issues of privacy violations and legality, the choice of …
According to a January 7, 2003 press release from Privacy & American Business (P&AB), “A majority (56%-91%) of the U.S. public believes it is acceptable for the private sector to use biometric technologies.” The study was funded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The full-text of the survey is available to P&AB members in the …
Federal Computer Week reports on efforts underway by the United States Postal Service to create and implement uniform customer data collection activities to meet the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 as it applies to website transactions.
A new Missouri law went into effect on January 1, 2003 that “requires public (elementary and secondary) schools and public libraries that provide access to the Internet to either: use filtering software; purchase Internet service through a provider that provides filter services; or otherwise restrict minors’ access to the Internet by local rule.”
Privacy has been a hot button issue since 9/11, but now it would appear that government surveillance is being joined by another twist on snooping: parents aggressively monitoring their kids’ activities on the Web. This article in today’s WSJ details how parents are using sophisticated new software applications to remotely track how their kids are …
According to this AP report, via ABCNews.com, there is a new draft of the White House National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace (first draft from September 18, 2002 is here) circulating among a group of government officials and “industry executives,” and of course AP has a copy too. Apparently, it was ‘leaked’ by the administration to …
