An OpEd by former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman and former Senator Mark Udall writes, in part: The IRS, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have been purchasing our personal data from data brokers, an unregulated industry that Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has termed “shady.” The Defense Intelligence Agency admitted to Wyden in January that it disregards…
Category: Govt
The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people
Sam Biddle reports: The Treasury Department has in recent months expanded its digital surveillance powers, contracts provided to The Intercept reveal, turning to the controversial firm Babel Street, whose critics say it helps federal investigators buy their way around the Fourth Amendment. Two contracts obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request and shared with…
Dutch watchdog slams tax office fraud list as privacy breach
Mike Corder reports: A Dutch data protection watchdog issued a damning report Friday about the country’s tax office, saying it breached privacy law for years by keeping a list of potential fraudsters. It was another blow for the scandal-plagued Dutch tax office, which already is embroiled in the fallout from a discredited effort to root…
Inadequate access controls that permit access to non-patients’ data? That will cost you.
The Norwegian Data Protection Authority recently fined the Høylandet Municipal Council 41,000 euros ($47,565.00) because image files containing health data about people with no connection to the municipality were accessible to staff at the health clinic, and the council still did not implement appropriate access controls after they became aware of the problem. Read more…