Senators John Kerry and John McCain today requested that the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission issue their final reports on consumer privacy protections. Both agencies released draft reports identifying large holes in current privacy protections in December 2010, but have not yet issued final reports. Senators Kerry and McCain introduced legislation aimed…
Category: Laws
Updated European law will close Patriot Act data access loophole
Zack Whittaker reports: European lawmakers have been revising and updating the data protection laws that apply to all 27 European member states, after it was discovered that the United States can use the Patriot Act to access European citizens’ data without their consent. The European Commission’s justice commissioner Viviane Reding met with German Consumer Protection…
It’s for the children, EU Tuesday edition
John Leyden reports: Improved safeguards and greater resources for law enforcement are needed to tackle the related problems of cyber-bullying and online grooming, according to a report by an EU security agency published on Tuesday. ENISA (the European Network and Information Security Agency) warned that the mishandling of personal information gathered using data-mining or profiling…
GPS Surveillance: A Crossroads for the Fourth Amendment
Privacy law scholar Dan Solove comments on United States v. Jones, scheduled for oral argument in the Supreme Court tomorrow. He writes, in part: The Supreme Court has long held that there is no expectation of privacy in public for the purposes of the Fourth Amendment. Because the Fourth Amendment turns on the existence of…