Matt Glenn of JURIST reports: The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that a lawsuit seeking to declare parts of the Patriot Act unconstitutional must be dismissed for lack of standing. Brandon Mayfield, an attorney arrested in 2004 based on FBI error in connection with the 2004 Madrid train…
Facebook backtracks on public friend lists
Caroline McCarthy writes: It’s been a matter of days since Facebook’s new privacy controls went into place, and the company is already making modifications in response to user complaints that they expose too much information. Namely, the company has made it easier to prevent people from seeing who your friends are. For one, Facebook no…
Student fights to change university privacy policies
This is another one of those “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” situations. Under the federal education privacy law known as FERPA, colleges may publish certain “directory” information on students without their consent. But they don’t have to, and this privacy blogger would strongly encourage colleges to adopt an opt-in strategy when it…
Man pleads guilty to stalking ESPN’s Erin Andrews
The L.A. Times and KTLA report: An Illinois man has pleaded guilty to stalking ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and shooting videos of her that he posted on the Internet and tried to sell, federal authorities said today. Michael David Barrett, 48, of Westmont, Ill., admitted that he had the intent to “harass or to cause…