Lyle Denniston reports on oral argument in the Supreme Court this morning: The Supreme Court showed Monday that it is genuinely troubled that the govenment, carrying on a sweeping program of wiretaps seeking to track terrorism activity, may be putting lawyers in a serious professional and ethical bind as they represent individuals potentially caught up in that eavesdropping. It…
Category: Govt
FTC Finalizes Settlements with Two Businesses that Exposed Consumers Sensitive Information Over P2P Networks
From the FTC: Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has accepted as final settlements with two operations it charged with illegally exposing the sensitive personal information of thousands of consumers by allowing peer-to-peer file-sharing software to be installed on their corporate computer systems. Settlements with Utah-based debt collector EPN, Inc., and Georgia…
The Legal Battle Over Cell Phone Location Privacy
Larry Bodine writes: It’s just a “routine investigation.” The feds want the location records of MetroPCS and T-Mobile cell phone customers in Texas without bothering to show that a crime was even committed. The U.S. Attorney in Houston asserts that cell phone users have no reasonable expectation of privacy as to their location, and he…
Judge Questions Tools That Grab Cellphone Data on Innocent People
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries reports: A judge in Texas is raising questions about whether investigators are giving courts enough details on technological tools that let them get data on all the cellphones in an area, including those of innocent people. In two cases, Magistrate Judge Brian Owsley rejected federal requests to allow the warrantless use of “stingrays”…