Shayndi Rice and Friedrich Geiger report: A German court ruled against Facebook Inc. Tuesday for the way it uses members’ email addresses to solicit new users, in an ongoing battle between the Menlo Park, Calif.-based social network and European privacy groups. The Berlin regional court said on its website that some of Facebook’s terms of…
Category: Featured News
ACLU-MN files lawsuit against Minnewaska Area Schools
If the allegations in this complaint are true, this is a truly egregious over-reach by a school district that simultaneously invaded a student’s privacy and punished her for protected speech. Here’s the press release from the ACLU of Minnesota: St. Paul, Minn. – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a lawsuit in…
Surveillance Inc: How Western Tech Firms Are Helping Arab Dictators
Trevor Timm and Jillian York of EFF name names and kick some butt about how the almighty dollar seems to be winning out over human rights and decency – and why western technology firms may need greater regulation or accountability as to how their technology is used or misused: For all the evil of Syria’s…
German Federal Constitutional Court Restricts Access to User Data for Law Enforcement Purposes
On February 24, 2012, the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) ruled that certain provisions in the Federal Telecommunications Act concerning the disclosure of telecom user data to law enforcement agencies violate the German constitution. The Court held that strict conditions apply when law enforcement authorities and intelligence agencies ask telecommunications service providers (which may include hospitals and…