Last week, this site picked up a story by Declan McCullagh of Cnet that indicated that a bill by Senator Jay Rockefeller would give the president the authority to seize control of privacy networks during a cybersecurity emergency. Senator Rockefeller has issued a statement, indicating that the Cnet story was inaccurate. Tony Rutherford of HuntingtonNews.net…
Consumer, privacy groups urge Congress to regulate behavioral tracking
Earlier today, a coalition of ten consumer and privacy advocacy organizations urged Congress to enact legislation to protect consumer privacy in response to threats from the growing practices of online behavioral tracking and targeting. The coalition consists of the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Consumer Watchdog, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy…
DHS: All your laptops are belong to us
As a follow-up to the position of the Department of Homeland Security on searching laptops at the border (reported here last week), Jaikumar Vijayan of Computerworld reports: The Department of Homeland Security’s Privacy Office has approved the controversial searches, copying and retention of laptops, PDAs, and other digital devices without cause at U.S. borders. Travelers…
York University obtains court order for Bell and Rogers subscriber information
Michael Geist writes: There has been considerable discussion in recent weeks regarding the prospect of court orders mandating ISPs or other intermediaries disclose identifying information about anonymous individuals (Google model case, Ottawa city hall blog). Overlook, however, is a recent order obtained by York University requiring Bell and Rogers to disclose subscriber information. Neither ISP…