Robert McMillan reports: IDG News Service – Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say they’ve discovered a way to circumvent the networking technology used by law enforcement to tap phone lines in the U.S. The flaws they’ve found “represent a serious threat to the accuracy and completeness of wiretap records used for both criminal investigation…
German privacy law vs. our First Amendment
David Kravets writes: Wikipedia is under a censorship attack by a convicted German murderer invoking his country’s privacy laws in a bid to remove references to him killing Bavarian actor Walter Sedlmayr in 1990. Lawyers for Wolfgang Werle, of Erding Germany, sent Wikipedia a cease-and-desist letter (.pdf) demanding the free encyclopedia remove Werle’s name from…
Groups urge Obama to move on Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Today CDT and 28 other civil liberties and public interest groups sent a letter to the White House voicing concern about the absence of nominations by President Obama to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. “The Board is one of the few safeguards put into place to protect privacy and civil liberties following the…
UK: DNA of innocent still to be retained for six years
Tom Whitehead reports that the government will announce a revised plan that would still keep innocent people’s DNA on file for six years. … the revised plans mean no change for the majority of adults, even if only arrested for a minor offence, with their profiles still kept for up to six years. But those…