U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are advocating reforms to the USA PATRIOT Act and related surveillance laws as part of the reauthorization of expiring provisions that the Senate will consider later this year. Feingold and Durbin have informed the Attorney General and the Chairmen of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees…
Category: Surveillance
Police told to ignore human rights ruling over DNA database
Chief constables across England and Wales have been told to ignore a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights and carry on adding the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of innocent people to a national DNA database. Senior police officers have also been “strongly advised” that it is “vitally important” that they…
Court: Woman can smoke in her own garden
A feud in Åkarp in southern Sweden between a cigarette-puffing woman and her smoke-sensitive neighbour has finally been put to rest by Swedish courts. On Friday, the the Environmental High Court made a final ruling that the woman may light up as much as she wants to in her own garden. In its decision, the…
UK national ID card cloned in 12 minutes
The prospective national ID card was broken and cloned in 12 minutes, the Daily Mail revealed this morning. The newspaper hired computer expert Adam Laurie to test the security that protects the information embedded in the chip on the card. Using a Nokia mobile phone and a laptop computer, Laurie was able to copy the data…