Bonnie Tubbs reports that South Africa is getting closer to having a privacy law: A significant step towards the enactment of what has been called a ground-breaking law for personal privacy in SA – the Protection of Personal Information Bill (POPI) – was taken by the powers that be yesterday. POPI, which has existed only…
Category: Laws
Privacy goes missing with Alberta’s new Missing Persons Act
James Wood and Kelly Cryderman report: A new law that came into effect Friday giving Alberta police easier access to personal records when investigating missing persons cases is being touted as a potential lifesaver by the provincial government. But critics say that however well-intentioned the Missing Persons Act is, it presents real dangers to privacy…
Jimmy Wales threatens to encrypt Wikipedia if UK passes snooping bill
Timothy B. Lee writes: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has joined the opposition to the Communications Data Bill that was proposed by the UK government earlier this year. Civil rights groups have raised the alarm about provisions that could require British ISPs to keep records of every website their customers visit for 12 months. Now Wales is threatening…
Police seizure of text messages violated 4th Amendment, judge rules
Jon Brodkin reports: At 6:08am, on October 4, 2009, Trisha Oliver frantically called 911 from her apartment in Cranston, Rhode Island when her six-year-old son, Marco Nieves, stopped breathing. The Fire Department took Marco to Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where he was found to be in full cardiac arrest. He died 11 hours later. By 6:20am,…