The federal government has passed tough new legislation to give police and courts added powers to fight identity theft. “This legislation … will better address identity theft and provide police with the tools they need to help stop these crimes before they are committed,” Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement released Tuesday in…
India’s new IT law increases surveillance powers
John Ribeiro reports: A new IT law has come into force in India that frees Internet portals from liability for third-party content and activity, but also gives the government powers to monitor communications on the Internet, and block web sites that are found to be offensive. The Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 was passed by…
Maine ruling due on privacy of anti-gay-marriage donors
David Hench reports: A federal judge will rule Wednesday on whether the state may require two national organizations that are working to repeal Maine’s gay-marriage law to disclose their contributors. The National Organization for Marriage and American Principles in Action have challenged the state campaign finance laws that apply to ballot question committees, arguing that…
UK police forces challenged over files held on law-abiding protesters
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis report: Chief constables will be forced to justify the legality of recording thousands of law-abiding protesters on secret nationwide databases, the government’s privacy watchdog announced today. Christopher Graham, the information commissioner, said he had “genuine concerns about the ever increasing amount” of personal data held by police. Graham’s move came…