Cecilia Kang reports: Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Wednesday introduced a smart phone privacy bill that would require companies like Apple and Google to get permission from users before sharing geo-locational data with third parties. The bill comes amid increased concern that mobile phone and apps makers are collecting information about a consumer’s…
Category: Featured News
U.S. Supreme Court, 8 to 1, suspends Fourth Amendment
Great piece by Nat Hentoff from last week: […] On May 16, 2011, in these United States, eight justices, apparently unaware of the deep roots the Fourth Amendment has in our history, ruled in Kentucky v. King — as warned in the interpretation of the lone dissenter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg — to suspend the Fourth…
UK: Cabinet Office talks to Facebook & co about new ID system
Kelly Fiveash reports: Facebook and other social networks could be used by British citizens to sign into public services online, The Register has learned. A Cabinet Office spokeswoman confirmed to us this morning that the department was speaking to “a range of industry” about its ID assurance scheme, a prototype for which is expected in…
F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds
Charlie Savage reports: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention. The F.B.I. soon plans to issue a new edition of its…