Paul C. Barton reports: Sen. Ron Wyden wants to keep the United States from taking a step toward the totalitarian state envisioned in the novel “1984.” The 1949 work by George Orwell depicted a society of pervasive government surveillance of citizens. The Oregon Democrat sees that possibility in law enforcement’s use of global positioning system…
Category: Laws
Judge Orders Injunction On Florida’s Welfare Drug Testing Law
David Taintor reports: A U.S. district judge on Monday ordered an injunction on a Florida law requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving state benefits. An ACLU lawsuit filed in September claimed the Florida law violates the Fourth Amendment by requiring welfare applicants to submit to a “suspicionless” drug test. The suit was filed…
Facebook to give German state privacy exemption
Facebook has offered a special exemption from its data handling practices to Schleswig-Holstein after the northern German state’s data protection commissioner complained about the online social network’s popular “like” button. Thilo Weichert, who leads the state’s data protection efforts, said in August that the site’s “like” button violated German privacy laws because it allowed Facebook…
Wyden Pushes for Warrants for Govt. Geolocation Tracking
John Eggerton reports: As advertised, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), joined by new co-sponsor Sen. Ron Kirk (R-Ill.), Tuesday (Oct. 18) renewed his push for a bill introduced in both the House and Senate — the Geolocation Privacy Surveillance, or “GPS,” Act — that would make the government get a court’s permission before using geolocation from…