Craig Timberg reports: Military surveillance aircraft slated to be set aloft over suburban Baltimore this year were originally designed to carry video cameras capable of distinguishing between humans and wheeled vehicles from a distance of at least five kilometers, according to documents the Army has newly released to a privacy group. But the documents, dated from 2009, contain such…
Category: Govt
Brennan Center Urges Series of Reforms to Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
From the Brennan Center for Justice: The Brennan Center for Justice submitted comments on the mid-term and long-term agenda of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), recommending that the Board focus on four issues: 1) the FBI’s authorities under the Attorney General’s Guidelines, 2) fusion centers and Suspicious Activity Reporting, 3) the NSA’s…
The Holder-Clapper Letter Ought to Make You Worried about Leahy’s USA Freedom
emptywheel writes: As the press is reporting right now, James “Too Cute by Half” Clapper and Eric Holder have written Patrick Leahy a letter endorsing his version of the dragnet reform bill. Reports claim this shows that Clapper supports reform. Consider me unimpressed. To understand why, it helps to understand what this letter was once supposed to do. According to…
FTC Announces Agenda, Panelists for Upcoming Big Data Workshop
From the FTC: The Federal Trade Commission has announced the final agenda for its upcoming workshop, “Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion?” taking place at 9 a.m. on Sept. 15 in Washington, D.C. “Big data” generally refers to advancing technologies that are dramatically expanding the commercial collection, analysis, use, and storage of data….