privacy

Supreme Court rejects domestic wiretap appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in an appeal of a lawsuit accusing the National Security Agency of illicit spying on millions of Americans communicating with foreigners.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit in 2006 on behalf of journalists, scholars, criminal defense attorneys and Islamic-Americans, had sought review of a 2-1 decision last summer by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to throw out its case.

The ACLU obtained a victory at the trial court level in August 2006. A federal judge in Michigan ruled that the NSA's once-secret … Read more

Homeland Security seizes electronics and information at border

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Asian Law Caucus are suing the Department of Homeland Security over aggressive searches and seizures of travelers' property and information at U.S. borders.

As reported on BoingBoing:

ALC, a San Francisco-based civil rights organization, received more than 20 complaints from Northern California residents last year who said they were grilled about their families, religious practices, volunteer activities, political beliefs, or associations when returning to the United States from travels abroad. In addition, customs agents examined travelers' books, business cards collected from friends and colleagues, handwritten notes, personal photos, laptop computer files, and cell … Read more

High school students stand up for privacy, refuse to take military test

Teens may have a better understanding of privacy issues than the adults around them. Unfortunately, when you are a high school student, your personal judgment can still be challenged by an unsympathetic principal.

The Raleigh News & Observer reports that at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough North Carolina, more than 300 juniors were given the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The military provides and administers the tests without charge, and in return the scores and students' contact information are sent to military branch recruiters and the school.

Cedar Ridge Principal Gary Thornburg was willing to sign on to this deal to get access to what he views as a valuable career assessment tool. There is supposed to be an opt-out procedure, but three students who refused to take the test were sent to the in-school suspension room to take it--not as discipline, according to Thornburg, but because the in-school suspension teacher was available to supervise them while other students were taking the test. Sounds like a blatantly disingenuous answer to me. In my experience as a student and teacher, when you send students to in-school suspension, it is going to feel like a punishment and be perceived that way by others. Surely their well-equipped media center could have handled three students for independent study.… Read more

Underexposed blog: Links of the day

Olympus E-430 rumor: Photography Bay - "Rumors and photos of an alleged Olympus E-430 have surfaced on the web." If true, the wacky, swoopy design breaks new ground for an SLR. Nikon D300 firmware 1.02 fixes rare issue - Nikon says this addresses a problem that "in rare cases, caused vertical bands (lines) to appear in images captured at shutter speeds slower than 8 seconds." Corbis makes marketing push for its microstock site SnapVillage | about the image - Corbis says it will now start to "aggressively target customers, including introducing its first advertisements, launching … Read more

'Abusive' political robocalls targeted by senators

"Robocalls," the bane of many an Americans' existence during the heat of political campaigns, would encounter new limits under a U.S. Senate bill proposed Tuesday.

Under the "Robocall Privacy Act of 2008," anyone who makes or sets up the one-sided, computer-generated calls without following certain rules could be hit with fines of up to $1,000 per violation--or up to $3,000 if those violations are found to be "willful."

The rules would look like this: No calls after 9 p.m. or before 8 a.m., no more than two calls to … Read more

Rediscovering Identity Finder

Ask yourself this: Should a hacker leap over your firewall and duck your antivirus to successfully deliver a rootkit and poke around your system, what would the thieving perp find?

Unless you've painstakingly encrypted every instance of your driver's license, bank account, and mother's maiden name there's a good chance your privacy jig could be up were someone to apply the right kind of malicious script. Identity Finder seeks out, and shreds or encrypts personal data sprinkled throughout your computer files, Web tracks, e-mail, and registry. Ahem. That is, if you're a registered, paying customer.

If you're not, Identity Finder will constantly point to your deficiency with nag screens galore and crossed-out circles where interface functions should be ("Demo users--No outlet!"). Until you pony up the cash, Identity Finder won't let you undo your data show-and-tell, or even supply the location of those files which are overly inviting. However, even if scanning with the trial version is all you do, you'll get an idea of how often you hang on to sensitive data that's best hidden or removed.… Read more

Obama, not McCain or Clinton, votes for electronic privacy

A U.S. Senate vote that took place two hours ago reveals how much three of our leading presidential candidates are committed to electronic privacy and the rule of law.

Barack Obama passes the test. John McCain failed. Hillary Clinton gets an incomplete.

The vote was on an amendment to deny AT&T and other telecommunications companies legal immunity if they are proven in court to have violated federal privacy law by opening their networks to the National Security Agency.

Obama voted for the amendment. That's a vote for electronic privacy and for the rule of law. It … Read more

Senate shields phone companies from spy lawsuits

Editor's note: This story was updated at 12:23 p.m. PST to add more information about the Senate votes and the upcoming House action, and at 2:56 p.m. PST to add information about the final vote.

In a setback for privacy and civil liberties groups, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to protect telephone and Internet companies from lawsuits alleging illegal cooperation with government spy agencies.

By a 31-67 vote, senators failed to approve a Democratic-sponsored amendment that would have allowed lawsuits against AT&T and other telecommunication companies accused of illegal activities to … Read more

Your privacy is variable: Iminta gets it

My former co-worker, Aaron Newton, is launching this week the product he quit CNET to build: Iminta (as in, "I'm inta," get it?). It's a service that aggregates all your social network feeds into one place, so your buddies can more easily keep track of what you're doing online, and vice versa.

Since Aaron's a buddy, I can't give this product a fair review (see TechCrunch for an opinion on the service itself). However, I did want to point out that Iminta has a cool thing going for it: you can put your … Read more

Real ID worries domestic violence groups

Editor's note: A May deadline looms as just one flash point in a political showdown between Homeland Security, privacy advocates, and states that oppose Real ID demands. Friday's story follows a four-part series that we published earlier this week.

Every year, about 1,000 domestic violence victims legally change their Social Security numbers in an attempt to elude people who may pose threats, and many more change their legal names, according to figures compiled by advocacy groups.

But hiding from stalkers may become more difficult under a federal law called the Real ID Act that's scheduled to … Read more