When even the purchase of a pack of cigarettes becomes part of an information database, the surveillance of people’s private lives by technological means has gone too far. That statement is from an editorial in The Japan Times on how the Tobacco Institute of Japan handed over personal data and records of specific tobacco purchases…
Equal justice?
We’ve seen some huge judgments in file-sharing cases: the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case involving 24 songs where the damages rose from $222,000 to $1.92 million on re-trial, and now the Joel Tenenbaum case with damages on the order of $675,000 for 20 songs. While Thomas-Rasset’s lawyers will appeal the ruling and the constitutionality of the judgment,…
Cars.gov lets feds take control of your computer
Say what you want about the Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck and his antics, but to give credit where credit is due, he exposed some disturbing language from the Obama administration’s “Cash for Clunker” program Web site Cars.gov. Beck on his July 31 program hosted a segment about the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) Web…
Privacy fears over Greek DNA bank
Greece’s privacy watchdog yesterday expressed concerns about draft legislation foreseeing the creation of a DNA bank containing genetic information about all suspects arrested by the Greek police, which the force hopes would boost its crackdown on domestic terrorism. Just a few days after slamming an amendment paving the way for authorities to use surveillance cameras…