David K. Shipler writes: … Digital inspections raise constitutional questions about how robust the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee “against unreasonable searches and seizures” should be on the border, especially in a time of terrorism. A total of 6,671 travelers, 2,995 of them American citizens, had electronic gear searched from Oct. 1, 2008, through June 2, 2010, just…
Category: Featured News
Should Govt. Employers Be Allowed to Require Your Facebook Login? (updated)
Meredith Curtis of the ACLU of Maryland describes a case that should concern us all: Maryland corrections officer Robert Collins approached the ACLU of Maryland late last year, disturbed that he was required to provide his Facebook login and password to the Maryland Division of Corrections (DOC) during a recertification interview. He had to sit…
UK: Biometrics in schools
Action on Rights for Children (ARCH) has produced a paper, “Biometrics in schools.” From the introduction: … From small beginnings, biometric usage in schools has increased rapidly in the last few years. In 2001, a company called Microlibrarian systems (MLS) approached the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to ask for comments on the company’s plans to incorporate biometric fingerprint…
Petition to Council of Europe on government use of citizens’ biometrics
The following item is open to signatures from organisations around the world. Please send your organisation’s intention to sign to [email protected] European governments are increasingly demanding storage of biometric data (fingerprints and facial scans) from individuals. These include storing them on contactless ‘RFID’ chips in passports and/or ID cards. Some are going even further and…