Germany’s rail carrier Deutsche Bahn was fined a record 1.12 million euros (1.7 million dollars) on Friday, for breaching data protection laws. Earlier this year, it emerged that the rail operator had been accessing confidential staff data including emails and bank accounts for more than a decade, in attempts to fight possible corruption. The head…
Category: Surveillance
Cell-Tracking Bills Require Info Dump for Missing Persons
David Kravets reports: Mobile phone companies would have to immediately turn over location data to emergency responders to help them quickly track missing persons, if any one of the four bills floating in the House get traction. The law already allows, but does not automatically require, phone companies to turn over ping data from cell…
Writers strike case fuels criticism about how the WGA investigates misconduct
Richard Verrier reports: As a 20-year member of the Writers Guild of America, Jonathan Prince was startled to learn that his union was accusing him of being a scab during the writers strike. But he was even more stunned when he learned that the guild had been relying on a secret informant, code-named Clyde, who…
Ninth Circuit grants stay in EFF case seeking telecom lobbying documents
Marcia Hofmann of EFF writes: Today the Ninth Circuit postponed a court-ordered deadline for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice to turn over documents concerning a legislative push to give telecom carriers legal immunity for their participation in the government’s warrantless surveillance program. The order comes after three…