Did you miss a lot of news while you were getting ready for the holidays? Here’s some of what Joe Cadillic compiled for his December 20 round-up:
Oregon TITAN Fusion Center Sued Over Domestic Spying Operation:
https://indiancountrytoday.com/the-press-pool/oregon-sued-over-domestic-spying-operation
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58a33e881b631bc60d4f8b31/t/61b8bb6d462c75142d0b2bea/1639496557832/Farrell-Smith+v.+Oregon%2C+Complaint+%2812.14.21%29.pdf
The US public isn’t fully aware of the extent of law enforcement and government surveillance:
https://reclaimthenet.org/public-isnt-fully-aware-of-the-extent-of-law-enforcement-surveillance/
Federal Study Acknowledges Failures in Police Surveillance Oversight:
https://themarkup.org/privacy/2021/12/13/federal-study-acknowledges-failures-in-police-surveillance-oversight
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21151429-wiretap-study-report-final
Senator Ron Wyden: Data Broker Sales To Law Enforcement Violate Fourth Amendment
“These practices amount to an outrageous privacy violation and a shameless end run around the 4th Amendment,” Wyden said. “These agencies would need a court order to obtain location data from AT&T and Verizon, or from Google and Facebook, but they’re exploiting the data broker loophole.”
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Wyden%20Cato%20Institute%20Remarks%20on%20Secret%20Law%20and%20the%20Fourth%20Amendment%20is%20Not%20For%20Sale%20Act.pdf
CLEAR using holiday pop-ups in malls and retail stores to convince people to accept facial recognition:
The company (CLEAR) has temporarily installed the biometrics machines this month inside a Showfields Inc. interactive mall and at a Rimowa Distribution Inc. luggage store in New York City as well as a Rimowa in San Francisco.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biometrics-company-clear-brings-its-scanners-to-retail-stores-11639589068
NEC unveils encrypted facial recognition information:
https://www.nec.com/en/press/202112/global_20211216_02.html
Encrypted Phone Company Anom Backdoored by FBI Will Lead to ‘Years’ of Arrests:
“In 2018, a former distributor for another encrypted phone company called Phantom Secure was developing Anom as a next-generation encrypted device. They offered Anom to the FBI for use in current and future investigations. The informant, the FBI, and the Australian police then added a master key that could be used to decrypt messages sent by all of Anom’s users essentially in real-time.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7wbgv/anom-backdoor-fbi-years-of-arrests
Legislators Hid a Sneaky Crypto Reporting Provision in the Infrastructure Bill:
“Imagine a crypto trader who does hundreds or thousands of transactions a day. What if he was legally required to collect personal data about every single person he does business with. Section 6050I requires people who transact large amounts of cash—above $10,000—to file reports to the IRS detailing the senders’ names and Social Security numbers.”
https://reason.com/2021/12/16/legislators-hid-a-sneaky-crypto-reporting-provision-in-the-infrastructure-bill/
Is Beijing Weaponizing Your DNA?
Why is a US DNA-processing firm sharing Americans’ DNA with China? The answer is staggering.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/is-beijing-weaponizing-your-dna_4134462.html
FTC fined OpenX Technologies $7.5M for collecting children’s personal data without parental consent:
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/ecf_3-1_-_stipulated_order.pdf
Lawmakers ask FTC for Stronger Location Data Privacy Protections for Consumers:
https://raskin.house.gov/press-releases?ID=BBFEBB36-06D7-4CEE-BE60-BEA5C63DCF09
The High Privacy Cost of a “Free” Website:
“Trackers piggybacking on website tools leave some site operators in the dark about who is watching or what marketers do with the data. An array of free website-building tools, many offered by ad-tech and ad-funded companies, has led to a dizzying number of trackers loading on users’ browsers, even when they visit sites where privacy would seem paramount. Some load without the website operators’ explicit knowledge—or disclosure to users.”
https://themarkup.org/blacklight/2020/09/22/blacklight-tracking-advertisers-digital-privacy-sensitive-websites
AI bills included in FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act:
https://www.portman.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/portman-heinrich-announce-bipartisan-artificial-intelligence-bills-included
The UPDPA Is Not the Privacy Bill You’re Looking For:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/not-privacy-bill-youre-looking
How the U.S. is taking cues from Europe on tech privacy policies:
https://www.axios.com/us-europe-tech-policy-margrethe-vestager-bf52369d-8083-4cc8-ac93-e6632e7159c1.html
RI- Appeals Court reverses lower courts ruling allowing police to search vehicles without a warrant:
Furthermore, the Providence police officers directed the search towards finding contraband — the police conceded that the search was not . . . for weapons only, making it improper under Terry and Long. The bottom line then is that given the Supreme Court cases in vogue after Lott, we believe the Lott panel would (if it had the chance) reverse its view of the actual-fear issue 180 degrees. Applying Michigan v. Long years later, we said in United States v. Lott that officers cannot do a frisk for weapons . . . where, although the circumstances might pass an objective test, the police were not actually concerned for their safety.”
U.S., Australia, Denmark, Norway Announce Work Toward Non-Binding Agreement on Surveillance Tech:
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-12-10/u-s-australia-denmark-norway-to-curb-tech-exports-to-human-rights-abusers
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/10/joint-statement-on-the-export-controls-and-human-rights-initiative/
Big Tech faces new curbs as European Parliament passes landmark rules:
https://www.politico.eu/article/big-tech-obligations-eu-parliament-rules-google-amazon-facebook/
AU- Telstra fined $2.5M for failure to protect unlisted phone numbers:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/16/telstra-fined-25m-for-failure-to-protect-unlisted-phone-numbers
Find more at MassPrivateI, where Joe’s probably busy working on his next roundup already.