A Dutch reader sent me some disheartening news from his country today. It appears that a challenge to a law requiring all Dutch citizens provide their fingerprints for passports was rejected by The Hague. The fingerprints are to be maintained in a centralized registry, and privacy advocates have raised concerns about privacy, the security of…
Category: Laws
ACTION ALERT: Contact your senator about S.193 today!
As an important update to my earlier post about PATRIOT Act extension bills: EFF has created a convenient way for you to contact your senator to express support for S. 193, which includes some checks and balances on government surveillance provisions. If your senator is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, it is particularly important for…
CDT Policy Post on Data Retention
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has issued a policy post on data retention. Here’s a snippet from their post: If Congress is seriously considering legislation, it should look carefully at the development of Europe’s mandatory data retention policy. Many European countries and courts are backing away from the European Union data retention…
“Don’t let the sun go down on me:” Congress moves to extend the PATRIOT Act (UPDATED WITH ACTION ALERT)
As I noted last week, some provisions of the PATRIOT Act are up for renewal this month. Two bills have been introduced in the Senate and two bills have been introduced in the House to extend the roving wiretaps and FISA-related provisions that will otherwise expire on February 28. In the Senate, Senator Feinstein introduced…