Russ Zimmer reports: On July 10, the Middletown government received a public records request seeking all the names and email addresses of people who had voluntarily turned over this contact information to the town in order to receive emergency alerts and updates on local happenings. Ten days later, Middletown gave “Watch07748@gmail.com” — the requesting party that…
Category: Govt
EPIC FOIA: Records Show DHS Ignored Privacy, First Amendment Threats of Media Monitoring Program
From EPIC.org: EPIC has obtained records concerning “Media Monitoring Services,” a controversial DHS project to track journalists, news outlets, and social media accounts. The records, released in EPIC’s FOIA lawsuit against the federal agency, reveal that the DHS bypassed the agency’s own privacy officials and ignored the privacy and First Amendment implications of monitoring the coverage…
What AAMVA doesn’t want you to know about the national REAL-ID database
Ed Hasbrouck writes: Another “deadline” for enforcement of the REAL-ID Act of 2005 passed uneventfully today. The US Department of Homeland Security had advertised that DHS extensions of time for voluntary compliance with the REAL-ID Act by many states would expire today. The DHS threatened that starting today it would “enforce” the REAL-ID Act through…
Senate confirms PCLOB members ahead of Privacy Shield second-annual review
Jedidiah Bracy reports: The U.S. Senate Thursday confirmed three members, including a new chairman, to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. The news could be potentially significant for the future of transatlantic data flows as it comes just before the European Commission’s second annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield agreement. Confirmed by voice…