James Bamford writes: Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the…
Category: Govt
Schumer calls for probe of personal info stolen over Internet
Oh, goody. Another investigation. My senator issued the following press release: “United States Senator Charles E. Schumer today called for the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into reports that smartphone applications sold on the Apple and Android platforms are allowed to steal private photos and customers address books. “This past week, the New…
EPIC Urges DHS to Abide by Privacy Laws When Conducting Technology Research
From EPIC: Earlier this week, EPIC submitted comments to the DHS on “The Menlo Report: Ethical Principles Guiding Information and Communication Technology Research.” DHS sought public views on the privacy implications of ethical human subject research in information and communication technology research. EPIC said that many federal privacy laws, such as the Privacy Act of 1974, set out legal standard…
The White House issues plan to protect consumer privacy
A “fact sheet” issued by the White House outlines a proposed Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights: The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights applies to personal data, which means any data, including aggregations of data, that is linkable to a specific individual. Personal data may include data that is linked to a specific computer or other device. …