Free Republic

Communications firms warn of unprecedented extension of state powers Wednesday, August 5, 2009 A group of over 300 internet service providers and telecommunications firms is fighting back against the British government’s plans to monitor all emails, phone calls and internet activity nationwide. The London Internet Exchange (LINX), which represents some 330 companies, including BT, Virgin and Carphone Warehouse, says that the government is misleading the public about the extent to which it plans to monitor their communications and internet activity. LINX has described the Government’s surveillance proposals as an “unwarranted” invasion of people’s privacy. A statement from the group to...

Seconds after BART police officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed Oscar Grant, police immediately began confiscating cell phones containing videos that have yet to see the light of day. [...] But the truth is, police had no legal right to confiscate a single camera. “Cops may be entitled to ask for people’s names and addresses and may even go as far as subpoenaing the video tape, but as far as confiscating the camera on the spot, no,” said Marc Randazza, A First Amendment attorney based out of Florida and a Photography is Not a Crime reader. Bert P. Krages II,...

"In extreme secrecy from the public, the Obama administration is hammering out an international treaty with other several other countries and the EU ......under ACTA, the government will get sweeping new powers to search and seize material thought to be in breach of copyright. But why all the secrecy? What it will do on a larger scale is let big brother watch you; however, this time on a completely different level." "Border guards will be given unprecedented powers to search travelers without warning. They will be able to go through and confiscate any material a person has on their laptop."

Hathaway’s abrupt resignation probably signals her recognition that the whole concept of a cybersecurity czar was misguided. “The status quo is no longer acceptable,” said the executive summary of her report. “Leadership should be elevated and strongly anchored within the White House to provide direction, coordinate action, and achieve results.” Having the old “Czar” report to both the national security and economic advisers shows that the White House is looking to insure “a balance between homeland security and economic concerns,” anonymous sources said. It also points out they’re trying to put out a fire [internal battle] in which Larry Summers,...

"When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the U.S. Government. Any or all uses of this system and all files on this system may be intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected and disclosed to authorized CARS, [Department of Transportation] and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign."

China is the world's most successful Internet censor. While the Great Firewall of China isn't perfect, it effectively limits information flowing in and out of the country. But now the Chinese government is taking things one step further. Under a requirement taking effect soon, every computer sold in China will have to contain the Green Dam Youth Escort software package. Ostensibly a pornography filter, it is government spyware that will watch every citizen on the Internet. Green Dam has many uses. It can police a list of forbidden Web sites. It can monitor a user's reading habits. It can even...

For once I agree with the ACLU!

Glenn Beck exposes a privacy agreement on the "Cash for Clunkers" website that in part reads: "This application provides access to the DoT CARS system. When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the U.S. Government."

Federal Websites: Cookie Policy During the Open Government Initiative outreach, Federal employees and the public have asked us questions about the federal government’s policy on cookies. As part of our effort to create a more open and innovative government, we’re working on a new cookie policy that we’ll want your input on. But before we get into that, let’s provide some context. In June 2000, the OMB Director issued a memorandum (M-00-13, later updated by M-03-22)) that prohibited Federal agencies from using certain web-tracking technologies, primarily persistent cookies, due to privacy concerns, unless the agency head approved of these technologies...

Start-up cost estimated at $1.5 million The city of Lancaster may take to the skies in an effort to keep the city safe. City Mayor R. Rex Parris and aviator Dick Rutan are working on an "eye in the sky" surveillance system. The plan is to have a plane, armed with a camera, patrol the city 24 hours a day. The system would cost an estimated $1.5 million. "Suppose your wife is at home and she thinks somebody is breaking in the back door," Parris told the Daily News. "We can see it in 30 seconds." But now let's suppose...

Perhaps the most incredible aspect of the ObamaCare proposal isn't the colossal growth of government, or the arrogant way it's being rammed down our throats with almost no discussion, or even the magical claims that it will simultaneously boost the economy and operate without any new taxes (even though the odds are astronomically good that it will do neither). No, what's most astonishing is the level of silence – even from those who ought to know better and should be screaming at the top of their lungs – on the way this plan will trample one of our most cherished...

It's all in the name of research on finding a better way to tax motorists, and the pay is $895. Wanted: 250 Maine drivers willing to let a stranger put a black box under their dashboard. The reward: $895 and the opportunity to speak their minds about the highway tax experiment to a researcher. University of Iowa researchers are seeking 250 motorists in Cumberland, York and Sagadahoc counties willing to have a computer tracking system installed in their cars for 10 months. The system could someday be used to tax drivers according to the number of miles they drive, rather...

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court aspirant Sonia Sotomayor said Tuesday that she considers the question of abortion rights is settled precedent and says there is a constitutional right to privacy. The federal appeals court judge was asked at her confirmation hearing Tuesday to state how she felt about the landmark Roe versus Wade ruling legalizing abortion in 1973. Sotomayor told the Senate Judiciary Committee that "there is a right of privacy. The court has found it in various places in the Constitution." She said this right is stated in the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure and in the...

A registered nurse in Durham, N.H., has filed a civil suit against three officials of the Obama Administration alleging the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's health information technology provisions unconstitutionally violate the HIPAA privacy rule, Privacy Act and Federal Common Law.

Sara was late for work. The alarm clock didn't alarm, the kids were unusually slow getting ready for school, and nothing went right. She finally got to her car -- a brand new 2020 Chevy Adventure. She touched the finger-print secured start button. Nothing. It wouldn't start. She touched it again. Nothing. Furious, she banged the steering wheel with her fist. Then she noticed the paper hanging from the receipt printer on the dash. "Your designated visa account rejected your Road Use Tax in the amount of $87.32 for the month of June, 2020. You must insert a valid account...

Still, computer experts say government databases can be hacked. Others worry about a day when hackers might deploy readers at "chokepoints," such as checkout lines, skim RFID numbers from people's driver's licenses, then pair those numbers to personal data skimmed from chipped credit cards (though credit cards are harder to skim). They imagine stalkers skimming RFID tags to track their targets, and fear government agents compiling chip numbers at peace rallies, mosques or gun shows, simply by strolling through a crowd with a reader. Others worry more about the linking of chips with other identification methods, including biometric technologies, such...

A number of credit card companies now issue credit cards with embedded RFIDs (radio frequency ID tags), with promises of enhanced security and speedy transactions. But on today's episode of Boing ...

This is good news:A federal judge in June threw out seizure of three fake passports from a traveler, saying that TSA screeners violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Congress authorizes TSA to search travelers for weapons and explosives; beyond that, the agency is overstepping its bounds, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley said. "The extent of the search went beyond the permissible purpose of detecting weapons and explosives and was instead motivated by a desire to uncover contraband evidencing ordinary criminal wrongdoing," Judge Marbley wrote. In the second case, Steven Bierfeldt, treasurer for the Campaign...

Since Obama's landmark speech on cybersecurity in May, his administration hasn't revealed much about its long-percolating plans to shore up the government's defenses against hackers and cyberspies. But privacy advocates monitoring the initiative are already raising concerns about what they know and what they don't: the details that have trickled out--including the involvement of the National Security Agency--and the veil of classified information that still covers much of the multibillion-dollar project. "It feels like the Bush administration all over again," says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. "Not enough people know the details about these programs to...

from the seems-to-leave-a-lot-of-leeway dept Back in May we wrote about a lawsuit questioning whether or not a blogger could use journalism shield laws to protect a source who sent her info she used for a blog post. The company the info was about is suing her for slander (which is odd, since slander is usually spoken, while libel is written). The woman, Shellee Hale tried to claim that she was protected under New Jersey's shield law, which allows a journalist to protect sources. In writing about this case originally, we pointed out that the judge in question clearly did not...

Researchers have found that it is possible to guess many -- if not all -- of the nine digits in an individual's Social Security number using publicly available information, a finding they say compromises the security of one of the most widely used consumer identifiers in the United States. Many numbers could be guessed at by simply knowing a person's birth data, the researchers from Carnegie Mellon University said.

Using just a person's birth date and birth state, two Carnegie Mellon University researchers say they've found a way to figure out people's Social Security numbers, potentially opening a new front in the battle against identity theft. Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross said they hope their findings, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

The wife of the new head of Britain's spy agency posted pictures of her husband, family and friends on Internet networking site Facebook, prompting astonishment among security experts and calls for an enquiry. Sir John Sawers was appointed last month to take over as head of the Secret Intelligence Service in November. The agency, popularly known as M16, has emerged from the shadows in recent years but its employees are still bound by strict secrecy rules. In what the Mail on Sunday called an "extraordinary lapse", the new spy chief's wife, Lady Shelley Sawers, posted family pictures and details of...

In my last column, "Under Obamacare, where will Canadians go for medical services?," I highlighted Gun Owners of America's (GOA's) opposition on privacy grounds to President Obama's obsession with nationalizing of health services in America. Noting that mainstream privacy experts are also alarmed at the Obama administration's "damn the torpedoes" attitude to impose statist policy mandates at whatever the cost to privacy, I called for an unholy alliance of gun owners and privacy advocates to take action to stop Obamacare now before it becomes a social and economic entanglement that would literally sink America as a great power and eliminate...

Public schools are filled with eager, fresh-faced youngsters, and prisons contain many rough-looking adults with uninviting personalities. But put aside that difference and you find some important similarities between the two places -- government-run facilities where individuals are held for a specific number of years without their consent, at the mercy of their custodians. For years, the Supreme Court has been doing its best to further blur the distinction by giving public-school officials the same powers as the warden of San Quentin. So it was a mild surprise last week to learn there are some abridgments of freedom and invasions...

How you can send me to jail I've made a lot of enemies through the years because of my fight for medical freedom. Unfortunately, my fight for freedom is about to get a lot harder. In fact, if the new universal medicine legislation making its way through Washington becomes law, I could go to jail. Here's why: Imagine coming to me for treatment and you get better. That's great, right? Of course it is. But if you don't tell the government what you saw me for, then I go to jail. It's that simple. And it's coming. The Obama Administration...

It was a recurring theme of Barack Obama's presidential campaign — a call for openness: "Transparency and accountability, getting the American people involved, that's how we're gonna bring about change," candidate Obama said. And the theme continued on Obama's first day as president: "Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known." But for advocates of open government, the new era of openness has yet to dawn. "Once all the pretty speeches were over in the first couple...

~ EXCERPT ~ In front of a run-down shack in north Houston, federal agents step from a government sedan into 102-degree heat and face a critical question: How can the woman living here buy four high-end handguns in one day? The house is worth $35,000. A screen dangles by a wall-unit air conditioner. Porch swing slats are smashed, the smattering of grass is flattened by cars and burned yellow by sun. >>> snip <<< Among other things, the agents are combing neighborhoods and asking people about suspicious purchases as well as seeking explanations as to how their guns ended up...

It works for Fido, so why not you?The same RFID implants used to identify lost pets are now being adapted for use on you and me, and not how one might have originally expected. As with all pioneering technologies, it's leisure pursuits that are getting the first stab at the tech.Specifically: One beach-oriented Barcelona nightclub, the Baja Beach Club, is using the implants to free customers of the burdens of having to carry their purses or wallets. Makes sense: When you're spending the day in a bikini and flip-flops, where do you keep your ID? Instead, the bouncer just scans...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has created a new cyber command in the Pentagon as part of the Obama administration's focus on cyberdefense. The new command will be headed by the director of the secretive National Security Agency. Privacy advocates worry about the role of the NSA and the militarization of the Internet. In a memo this week, Gates said the nation's increasing dependency on cyberspace, alongside a growing array of cyberthreats and vulnerabilities, adds a new element of risk to national security. The memo says a new command is necessary, capable of synchronizing war-fighting effects across the global security environment....

At long last, Teddy Kennedy has partially revealed the health care system he wants to foist on the whole country -- and it isn't pretty. It won't be pretty for your pocket book... OR FOR YOUR GUN RIGHTS! But first, let us explain what TeddyCare is all about. At the center of the plan is what's called a "universal mandate." What this means is that you -- and virtually everyone in the country -- will have to buy as much health insurance as the government demands, and that insurance plan will actually have to be approved by the government. If...

Mrs Ethelston's Church of England Primary School, in Uplyme, Devon, prohibited photos and video filming, claiming it was due to changes in child protection and images legislation. It is the first time the school has taken such measures.Parents criticised the move and said they felt there was no legal reason why they cannot take photos for personal use. Jane Souter, who has a son at the school and is chair of the Parents Teachers and Friends Association, said: "It is a shame but that is the way it is all going now, you are not allowed to do a lot...

Applying for a job with the City of Bozeman? You may be asked to provide more personal information than you expected. That was the case for one person who applied for employment with the City. The anonymous viewer emailed the news station recently to express concern with a component of the city's background check policy, which states that to be considered for a job applicants must provide log-in information and passwords for social network sites in which they participate. The requirement is included on a waiver statement applicants must sign, giving the City permission to conduct an investigation into the...

If you apply for a job with City of Bozeman - a mid-sized burg halfway across these US - you're forced to surrender usernames and passwords for every account you've set up with websites of the "social networking" variety. According to the City, that includes everything from Facebook and MySpace to YouTube to, well, Yahoo! and Google. "Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.," reads a waiver form that allows the City...

The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said. Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times Representative Rush Holt Readers' Comments Readers shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (170) » The agency’s monitoring of domestic e-mail messages, in particular, has posed longstanding legal and logistical difficulties, the officials said. Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications...

TALLAHASSEE — Under a new law signed by Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday, the DNA of any person accused of a felony will be added to a state database. Florida is the 20th state to require police to take a DNA sample, such as a mouth swab, of everyone charged with a felony. The state will hold on to that sample, even if the felony charge is dismissed. Previously, authorities could take a DNA sample only after conviction of a felony or specified misdemeanors. "This is common sense and the right thing to do," Crist said at a bill signing...

WASHINGTON — A plan to create a new Pentagon cybercommand is raising significant privacy and diplomatic concerns, as the Obama administration moves ahead on efforts to protect the nation from cyberattack and to prepare for possible offensive operations against adversaries’ computer networks. President Obama has said that the new cyberdefense strategy he unveiled last month will provide protections for personal privacy and civil liberties. But senior Pentagon and military officials say that Mr. Obama’s assurances may be challenging to guarantee in practice, particularly in trying to monitor the thousands of daily attacks on security systems in the United States that...

Michael Scott points us to the fact that US Attorneys have requested data on anonymous commenters who commented on an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. From the description, it sounds like the feds are fishing for a lot more than they should be allowed to get. The subpoena requested: "full name, date of birth, physical address, gender, ZIP code, password prompts, security questions, telephone numbers and other identifiers ... the IP address," of everyone who commented Seem a bit excessive? It's not entirely clear what the feds are fishing for, but one indicator? Some of the comments were quite...

There comes a time when despite the allure of the market, Western industry should band together and turn its back on China. A time when the computer and Internet industry realizes that the censorship-and-repression tax the government is intent on levying is too high a price to pay.Is this, at long last, that moment? Well, it’s doubtful. But it should be.Starting July 1, computers sold in China must include government-provided spyware that blocks pornography and political dissent from Chinese citizens’ view, The New York Times reports, following up a Wall Street Journal report. Called “Green Dam” — green being a...

Another major U.S. military base is requiring soldiers who live off the premises to provide descriptions, serial numbers, calibers, makes and models of any of the guns they own privately, and do not take onto the premises of the installation. According to a copy of a "Weapons Registration Form" submitted to WND by a soldier from Fort Bliss in Texas, the soldiers have to provide their own information including Social Security number, a physical description and addresses and telephone numbers, along with the serial number, type, action, make, caliber, finish, location stored, model, overall length and barrel description of each...

LOCKPORT, N.Y., June 4 (UPI) -- Police may zap a suspect with a stun gun to get a DNA sample as long as it's not done cruelly, excessively or with resulting injury, a New York judge ruled. Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza ruled a DNA sample obtained Sept. 29 from Ryan Smith of Niagara Falls, N.Y. -- which ties him to a shooting and a gas station robbery -- is legally valid and can be used at his trial. The ruling is believed to be the nation's first permitting stun-gun use to obtain DNA evidence

Is this subject to abuse? Someone sent me this video so I don't know the details. I expect we will hear a lot more about it soon.

With a faltering economy, and skyrocketing costs, healthcare continues to be a critical issue for all Americans. Unfortunately government encroachment into the doctor/patient relationship is poised to exacerbate our problems with healthcare. As an OB/GYN with over 30 years of experience in private practice, I understand that one of the foundations of quality healthcare is the patient's confidence that all information shared with his or her healthcare provider will remain private. And yet, the Federal Government plans to undermine this trust with establishment of mandatory electronic medical records collections and “unique health identifier” numbers assigned to all Americans. Funding for...

Some Worry That Seeing Beneath Clothing, Even Though Faces Are Obscured, Violates Privacy The latest technology for screening passengers at U.S. airports gets a closer look at you than anything that's been used before. It's called a "whole body imager," and it can indeed see your whole body underneath your clothing, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes. San Francisco is one of 19 domestic airports where the scanners are deployed. Forty machines so far across the country, with 250 planned for next year, at $170,000 apiece. Passengers get to choose whether to pass through the body imager or a traditional...

According to examiner.com and the Bandera County Courier, the United States Census Bureau is planning to enter up to 140 million addresses into a giant, government-run GPS database.

MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody's movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday. However, the District 4 Court of Appeals said it was "more than a little troubled" by that conclusion and asked Wisconsin lawmakers to regulate GPS use to protect against abuse by police and private individuals. As the law currently stands, the court said police can mount GPS on cars to track people without violating their constitutional rights -- even if the drivers aren't suspects. Officers do not need to get warrants beforehand because GPS tracking does...

Online Photos Of Teen's Fatal Crash Spark Controversy Over Privacy, 1st Amendment Rights:A battle between a California family and the state’s legal system could see a resolution in the coming days, more than two years after controversial photos from a teenage girl’s fatal car accident landed on the Internet and sparked a heated debate over the right to privacy for someone who has died. CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports a court ruling is expected soon in the case that’s exposed the dark side of the Internet and uncovered the pain of the Catsouras family, who say they’ve been forced...

From the IxQuick website: Ixquick is a metasearch engine. It is being recommended by Katherine Albrecht, a leading privacy advocate who is now their US spokesperson. It is located in the Netherlands and NY. Most important feature it offers is Privacy. With personal privacy being under attack on the internet, In June 2006 Ixquick started to delete its users' privacy data within 48 hrs. As of January 2009 they do not record IP addresses at all anymore thereby offering our users full Privacy. Furthermore they abolished the use of Unique ID cookies. To date they still have the industry’s leading...

Most of us are aware that our governments monitor nearly every form of electronic communication. We are also aware of private companies doing the same. This strikes most of us as slightly troubling, but very few of us say or do much about it. There are two primary reasons for this: 1. We really don’t see how it is going to hurt us. Mass surveillance is certainly a new, odd, and perhaps an ominous thing, but we just don’t see a complete picture or a smoking gun. 2. We are constantly surrounded with messages that say, “Only crazy people complain...

With the ever encroaching Fedgov looking in and trying to control our personal lives, I'm looking for way that Americans can still communicate privately. I understand that any answers given on this public forum, may alert the various gov agencies to a new work-around. I'm hoping someone can provide a fool proof answer even on this public board. Internet e-mail and forums are easily compromised (ISP's easliy traceable); phone conversations, well, we all know about taps; Ham radio can be intercepted; CB radio the same. And no, face to face comms and devised codes are not the answer I'm looking...