Barbara Ortutay of Associated Press set off a new round of news stories on Facebook’s “memorializing” of profiles of deceased members with her report yesterday. But Facebook’s “memorializing” isn’t new. The company has been doing that since the beginning of the year. What’s new, perhaps, is that Facebook’s new “Reconnect” tool applied to memorialized profiles…
UK councils get ‘Al Capone’ power to seize assets over minor offenses
Sean O’Neill reports: Draconian police powers designed to deprive crime barons of luxury lifestyles are being extended to councils, quangos and agencies to use against the public, The Times has learnt. The right to search homes, seize cash, freeze bank accounts and confiscate property will be given to town hall officials and civilian investigators employed…
Firm wins claim against ex-employee after losing privacy lawsuit
As a follow-up to a case previously described here, Ameet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune reports that the same judge who awarded Kathy Lawlor $1.8 million when she sued her former employer, North American Corp. of Illinois for invasion of privacy found for the company in its separate lawsuit against her for anti-competitive conduct: Judge…
No reasonable expectation of privacy if you use a stolen ID
In U.S. v. Eric Dustin Johnson, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals took up the issue of “whether an individual can have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in a storage unit rented with a stolen identity.” From the court opinion: During a search of a storage unit that Defendant-Appellant Eric Johnson’s girlfriend had rented in…