An editorial in the L.A. Times earlier this week begins: Suppose Congress created a board to protect the privacy of Americans and no one showed up. That’s the bizarre reality of the five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, all of whose five seats have been vacant since 2008. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) is pressing…
Category: Govt
Google: U.S. Demanded User Info 3,500 Times in 6 Months
Ryan Singel reports: Search engines and ISPs have for years refused to tell the public how many times the cops and feds have forced them to turn over information on users. Google broke that unwritten code of silence Tuesday, unveiling a Government Requests Tool that shows the public how often individual governments around the world…
DHS Says It Cannot Stop Private Posting of Sensitive Info
Steven Aftergood writes: The law does not authorize the Department of Homeland Security to regulate or penalize the publication of sensitive transportation security-related information on private websites, the Department advised Congress (pdf) recently. Last December, the Transportation Security Administration inadvertently posted a manual marked “sensitive security information” that described procedures for screening of airline passengers. …
Public Meeting: Information Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Telecommunications and Information Administration International Trade Administration Information Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy AGENCIES: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce; and International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of Public Meeting. Summary: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the International Trade Administration…