Andrew Duffy reports: Canada’s border agency engaged in an unauthorized intelligence-gathering exercise, rather than a legitimate search, when it raided the home of Ottawa terror suspect Mohamed Harkat, a Federal Court judge has ruled. Judge Simon Noël said Harkat’s constitutional right to privacy was seriously breached in last month’s raid, which featured 16 law enforcement…
TSA needs privacy IT tools, IG says
Alice Lipowicz reports: The Transportation Security Administration should deploy automated tools to test and monitor the effectiveness of privacy safeguards in its programs, according to a new report from Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner. In a report issued Sept. 18, Skinner recommended that TSA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer implement such tools, and…
Project ‘Gaydar’
Carolyn Y. Johnson reports: It started as a simple term project for an MIT class on ethics and law on the electronic frontier. Two students partnered up to take on the latest Internet fad: the online social networks that were exploding into the mainstream. With people signing up in droves to reconnect with classmates and…
Do social network acquisitions run roughshod over privacy?
Attorney Venkat Balasubramani has a commentary on the issue that begins: Did Facebook’s acquisition of FriendFeed comport with FriendFeed’s privacy policy? In arguing this point, lawyers may debate the nuances of the policy, but consumers are largely left in the dark. Most observers pegged the recent acquisition by FriendFeed of Facebook and by Mint of…