An editorial in the Press-Citizen expresses concerns that universities increasingly misuse or misapply FERPA to shield records from public disclosure by declaring them “educational records.” You can read the editorial here. The paper had previously reported on some of the inconsistent responses they received to requests under open records law.
New Book Details the NSA’s Warrantless Wiretapping Program, As Government Moves to Avoid All Accountability in Court
Trevor Timm writes: Former New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald’s new book, published last week, provides yet more details about how the the NSA’s unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping program came about, and confirms that even top Bush Administration lawyers felt there was a “strong argument” that the program violated the law. “Officials might be slammed for violating the Fourth Amendment…
Facebook Gifts could encourage users to expose more private information
Lucian Constantin reports: Facebook Gifts, the new social gifting service launched by Facebook on Thursday, might encourage users to expose information like their home addresses, birth date, clothing or shoe size that could pose security and privacy risks, according to security experts. Facebook used to have a Gift Shop application that allowed users to send…
EPIC FOIA Uncovers Google’s Privacy Assessment for Consent Order Compliance
From EPIC: Through a Freedom of Information Act request to the Federal Trade Commission, EPIC has obtained Google’s initial privacy assessment. The assessment was required by a settlementbetween Google and the FTC that followed from a 2010 complaint filed by EPIC over Google Buzz. The FTC has withheld from public disclosure information about the audit process, procedures to assess…