Natasha Bita reports: Police will be given new powers to use people’s secret tax details against them in criminal trials, under legislation that weakens the privacy protection over Australians’ tax returns. For the first time, prosecutors will be able to use private tax information as evidence in court for “serious offences”, including identity theft, money…
Category: Non-U.S.
Some Brits fear garbage-spying microchips
Raphael G. Satter of the Associated Press reports: Monitored by millions of cameras and spied on by a secretive domestic intelligence network, Britons could be forgiven for feeling up in arms over the latest threat to their privacy: Intelligent garbage bins that can monitor how much they throw out. Although the technology is already nearly…
Swedish legal council says no to drug tests for kids
Sweden’s Council on Legislation (Lagrådet) has ruled against a government legislative proposal to allow drug tests on children below the age of 15. The Local reported in February that the government had presented a raft of proposals aimed at tackling youth crime. One of the proposals was for drug tests to be permitted for under-15s…
US tries to soothe EU privacy worries
Aoife White reports: A U.S. official said Thursday that Europeans are wrong to believe that they have few rights to see what information the U.S. government holds on them — a misperception that is holding up a key counterterrorism program. […] Parliamentarians have also demanded more safeguards from the U.S. They also complain that U.S….