Civil servants have refused to name inmates who have fled prison even though individual police forces will often identify them if they pose a risk to the public. They say releasing their names would breach obligations under the Data Protection Act. It echoes a row in 2007 when Derbyshire Police refused to release pictures of…
Category: Laws
Privacy Act reform likely delayed till 2010
Chances that Congress would enact legislation to update the 35-year-old Privacy Act this year are slipping away. The legislation would have had to be introduced by Independence Day for it to have any chance of being enacted this year, says Ari Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology, who has been working closely with…
Abandoned business records can’t be destroyed
Every year, businesses go under and disappear, leaving behind boxes of transaction records, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information that could lead to identity theft and other forms of fraud. Landlords and owners of storage companies, who tend to get stuck holding these records, have no legal way to dispose of them and are…
Whitaker on Massachusetts Senate Bill No. 173
Attorney Kevin Whitaker has been analyzing and criticizing Massachusetts Senate Bill No. 173 (pdf), “An Act ensuring the privacy of certain data.” The bill was proposed in January by Michael W. Morrissey. The text of the bill is relatively short: SECTION 1. Section 2 of Chapter 93H of the General 1 Laws, as appearing in…