Posted on Facebook’s blog yesterday: Today, a San Jose, Calif. court awarded Facebook $711 million in damages against Sanford Wallace, one of the spammers who accessed people’s accounts without their permission and sent phony Wall posts and messages. While we don’t expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will…
NZ: Telecom blows whistle on Search and Surveillance Bill
Stephen Bell Wellington reports: Telecom is warning that provisions in the Search and Surveillance Bill, now before a Parliamentary select committee, could amount to unwarranted surveillance. The company says in its submission that, as currently written, an order for a telecommunications operator to produce the “call-related information” of a particular customer, could effectively become a…
Arizona public records law applies to metadata
In a decision that will be welcomed by transparency advocates but may induce handwringing in others, the Supreme Court of Arizona ruled that: Arizona law provides that “[p]ublic records and other matters in the custody of any officer shall be open to inspection by any person at all times during office hours.” Ariz. Rev. Stat….
Privacy Act Does Not Apply to White House?
From their press release: Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that the Obama administration argued in a recent court filing that the Privacy Act does not apply to the Executive Office of the President (EOP). This court filing came in a Judicial Watch lawsuit filed in 1996…