Byron Acohido reports: Americans are willing to have their thumbprints and eyeballs scanned to keep cybercriminals from stealing their sensitive data, according to survey results released this week. Of the 583 respondents polled by tech consulting firm Unisys and Leiberman Research, 93% said they would be interested in using fingerprinting to secure their data; 58%…
Category: U.S.
School had no right to read messages on student’s cell phone, family say
Eric Been reports: Owensboro High School violated the Constitution by confiscating a student’s cell phone after it slipped from his pocket during class, and expelling him because of the text messages that school officials read on it, the student’s family claims in Federal Court. The student, identified only as G.C., says his teacher confiscated his…
Medill Case: Are Student Journalists Protected?
Dan Fletcher of Time writes about a case reported here earlier this week: Northwestern University is dealing with a class project that may have become too successful. From 2003 to 2006, students at the university’s Medill School of Journalism investigated the evidence surrounding the murder conviction of Anthony McKinney, who was sentenced to life in…
Privacy and civil liberties: Where’s the watchdog?
Alan Charles Raul is a a lawyer in Washington, and was vice chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from 2006 to 2008. He wrote an OpEd in the Washington Post that begins: Assuming the executive branch is still fighting terrorists as fiercely as necessary to protect Americans, the need for oversight on…