The government’s power to read your email, access your private photos stored online and track your daily movements is defined in a 1986 law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The privacy protections of ECPA have not been updated since 1986. They say that the government can access your communications and surveil you without getting a warrant from…
Category: U.S.
When a government spies on its people, Wednesday edition
If you thought the recently revealed New York Police Department surveillance of Muslims on college campuses was outrageous, there are other new revelations about NYPD surveillance of Muslims. Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo report of Associated Press report: Muslims who change their names to sound more traditionally American, as immigrants have done for generations, or…
Congressman: Secret Report On TSA Pat Downs, Body Scanner Failures Will “Knock Your Socks Off”
Steve Watson reports: The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees the TSA, has asserted that the release of a classified report on TSA security failures will renew calls for the replacement of the agency with private airport security personnel. “The failure rate (for body scanning equipment) is classified but it would…
Wyden says privacy laws need changes
Paul C. Barton reports: Sen. Ron Wyden wants to keep the United States from taking a step toward the totalitarian state envisioned in the novel “1984.” The 1949 work by George Orwell depicted a society of pervasive government surveillance of citizens. The Oregon Democrat sees that possibility in law enforcement’s use of global positioning system…