A worm virus designed to detect child pornography and alert authorities has been circulating on the Internet. The virus scans hard drives, looking for image files with names that suggest pornographic content involving children. Upon identifying the files, the virus sends user information to police.
An agreement among BayTSP, Media Enforcer, and Copyright.net is enabling the companies to engage in broader tracking of users for copyright enforcement.
Identity thieves typically obtain personal information about individuals by sifting though credit card solicitations in the mail or by stealing wallets and purses. Increasingly, identity thieves have employed commercial information brokers to obtain this information. By using the information brokers, they are able to obtain Social Security numbers, employment information, driving records, and other personal information.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has determined that Amazon�s Alexa service made deceptive statements about its privacy practices. The Alexa service tracked users� movements on the web and collected personal information, contrary to privacy guarantees. However, the FTC decided not to sanction the company because Amazon has revised its privacy policy to more accurately reflect the Alexa service data collection techniques.
EPIC has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and to the National Association of Attorneys General alleging that eTour.com sold personal information to a third party in violation of its privacy policy.
The Federal Trade Commission has rejected the requests of EPIC and Junkbusters Corp to investigate Amazon.com, a leading online bookseller. EPIC and Junkbusters Corp alleged that Amazon engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices in December 2000 after the company changed its privacy policy. Under the old privacy policy, Amazon promised never to sell customers� data. In the revised privacy policy, Amazon reserves the right to sell customer data in the future. The FTC found that the company did not materially violate its privacy policy.
A delegation of European Parliament (EP) has written a report on the Echelon system, a surveillance program that can intercept electronic communications globally. The report asserts that the Echelon system does exist, but that media accounts of the system�s capabilities are overblown. Echelon is operated by the US, Canada, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Media reports alleged that Echelon was employed to steal trade secrets from European businesses, however, the report concludes that no substantiated evidence points to the use of the system for industrial espionage.
The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) has created web sites that enable Internet users to opt-out from online profiling from participating businesses. However, the site requires users to plant a cookie on their browser that will identify the computer as having opted-out.
In a speech delivered at the Computer Privacy, Policy, and Security Institute, Attorney General John Ashcroft said that anonymity impedes law enforcement efforts. To aid police investigations, Ashcroft urged business executives to report security violations and attempts of cyber vandals to access commercial information.
The Supreme Court will review a lower court decision to enjoin enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). COPA prohibited the publication of objectionable material on the Internet that is accessible to minors. EPIC and ACLU successfully blocked COPA in the federal courts, asserting that the law impinged on First Amendment rights.
In a 6-3 decision, the US Supreme Court held that the publication of an illegally-intercepted phone conversation is protected under the First Amendment. In this narrow decision, the Court held that the First Amendment protects publishers of information of legitimate public concern. However, the publisher can play no part in the interception of the communication.
School systems attempting to prevent students from viewing certain content may implement new packet sniffing software to monitor students. The new programs apparently can detect proscribed activities, including viewing pornographic and violent content or downloading copyright-protected music.
An Amendment to an education bill proposed by Senators Dodd (D-CT) and Shelby (R-AL) would require schools to give notice and obtain parental consent before allowing commercial interests to collection information on schoolchildren.
FTC Chair nominee Timothy Muris said during a Congressional hearing that he would investigate privacy issues. However, he would not commit to advocating legislation to protect individuals� privacy.
According to a settlement agreement between ACLU, EPIC, ALA, and government attorneys, librarians will have until July 2002 to certify compliance with federal Internet filtering requirements.
The St. Petersburg Times has published a series of articles titled "Fading Privacy." The series includes articles on the future of privacy, financial privacy, medical privacy, and privacy resources.
AT&T has been added to the Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) anti-spam blackhole list. As a result, any e-mail sent from AT&T IP addresses will be blocked by ISPs that subscribe to the MAPS service.
Richard Smith, the Chief Technology Officer of the Privacy Foundation, requested and received his own profile from ChoicePoint. ChoicePoint sells profiles to private investigators, attorneys, and federal law enforcement agencies. A review of the profile led Smith to conclude that it contain more misinformation than truthful information. And, Smith learned, he cannot opt-out from the ChoicePoint�s collection of personal data.
A state court in Washington has ordered a web site operator to remove Social Security numbers of police officers from Justicefiles.org. The city of Kirkland had brought suit against the web site operator, alleging that the posting of personal information about the officers would result in harassment and identity theft.
Members of an European Parliament (EP) delegation commissioned to investigate Echelon have left the United States early because government officials refused to meet with the delegation. The Echelon surveillance system captures commercial communications, and EP members suspect the system has been used for industrial espionage.
Senators Feinstein (D-CA) and Gregg (R-NH) have introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale or public display of a Social Security number without individual express consent.
A recently released industry-funded study estimates that the cost of complying with privacy legislation will be in the billions. Professor Peter Swire and others have analyzed this study, and set forth arguments to refute its claims.
Computer Economics, a technology research firm, has found that only one in three businesses has implemented a formal privacy plan. The study covered 518 U.S. businesses in a variety of sectors including the insurance industry, professional service firms, the banking industry, and retail organizations.
A federal district court judge has upheld FTC-imposed restrictions on the sale of personal financial information. The court held that credit bureaus and data brokers must gain individuals� express consent before selling names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and other information from credit records.
Majority Leader Armey (R-TX) has asked Interior Secretary Norton to halt plans to implement photo radar systems on park property. Armey argued that using photo radar systems may lead to a surveillance state where the cameras could be used to monitor the travels of citizens.
The European Union has denied the request of US officials to delay the implementation of model contract terms designed to protect EU citizens� data. In April, Treasury and Commerce Department officials asked for delay in the implementation.
Consumers are reporting that privacy policies issued by financial and insurance institutions under the Financial Services Modernization Act of 2000 (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) are too complex.
Increasingly, merchants are using opt-out marketing techniques to sell products. Opt-out marketing shifts the burden of stopping service and charges to the consumer.
Without federal laws to protect online privacy, plaintiff attorneys have had to rely on common law, state law, and creative legal arguments to bring cases against companies that invade individuals� privacy. In addition, many companies have employed arbitration clauses and other tactics to shield their legal liability from privacy litigation. As a result, privacy litigation has yielded a mix of both successful and failed attempts to protect individuals.
The Surveillance Camera Players engage in various forms of performance art to protest the use of security cameras in New York. Some pray to the cameras in public, many perform short plays for the police monitoring the cameras, and others hold up signs to the cameras with messages such as "We Know You Are Watching."
Reacting to negative public opinion to the use of facial recognition technology at the Super Bowl, officials have decided not to use photo surveillance at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
A coalition of advocacy groups sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft on Carnivore, government surveillance, and medical records. The groups urged the Attorney General to give ISPs more control over the Carnivore monitoring system, and to ensure that adequate audit trails are in place. The groups also advocated an update of privacy laws to account for recent advances in surveillance technology. Finally, the groups requested changes to the portions of the HIPAA privacy regulations that allow law enforcement access to patient records without court review.
Majority Leader Armey (R-TX) recommended in a letter that Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson amend the HIPAA medical privacy regulations. Armey requested that Thompson impose a warrant requirement before Health and Human Services (HHS) officials can obtain patients� records. Currently, the rules allow HHS officials access to patient records without notice or court review.
Jason Catlett, President of Junkbusters corp., says that unsolicited commercial e-mail now accounts for more than 10 percent of all e-mail sent. The pervasiveness of spam is causing individuals to avoid e-commerce.
Senators Lieberman (D-CT) and Burns (R-MT) introduced S. 803, the E-Government Act of 2001. The bill would create a white house appointed Chief Information Officer to ensure that data systems are secure, private, and accessible.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts released an annual report on government wiretapping. The report shows that police made 1,190 applications for wiretaps in 2000. None of the applications were denied. In 22 cases, police encountered subjects who were using encryption to protect communications. In all 22 cases, police were able to obtain the plain text of the communication despite the encryption measures.
EPIC has sent a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to executive branch agencies to determine the Bush administration�s commitment to privacy issues. One group of requests focuses on scheduling calendars of senior agency officials to determine the frequency with which they met with lobbyists and other interests. The other group of requests seek transition team memoranda, documents that direct agencies on policy decisions when a new administration takes office.
