When even the purchase of a pack of cigarettes becomes part of an information database, the surveillance of people’s private lives by technological means has gone too far. That statement is from an editorial in The Japan Times on how the Tobacco Institute of Japan handed over personal data and records of specific tobacco purchases…
Category: Non-U.S.
Privacy fears over Greek DNA bank
Greece’s privacy watchdog yesterday expressed concerns about draft legislation foreseeing the creation of a DNA bank containing genetic information about all suspects arrested by the Greek police, which the force hopes would boost its crackdown on domestic terrorism. Just a few days after slamming an amendment paving the way for authorities to use surveillance cameras…
A hard case makes bad law
What case did Debbie Purdy win on Thursday? I am sure that most people believe that, as Channel 4 News put it, she won “a landmark ruling allowing her husband to travel with her to Switzerland where the MS sufferer plans to end her life”. That is how most of the media, who seem to…
UBS, Swiss reach pact on tax battle
UBS and the Swiss government, rocked by months of embarrassing details about bank secrecy and guilty pleas for UBS clients, agreed to settle a tax-evasion probe with US authorities. The agreement appears to signal that thousands of US client accounts, hidden in offshore shadows, will be turned over to US revenue agents. The settlement, announced…