Documents obtained by the Maryland chapter of the ACLU disclosed that in 2005 and 2006 undercover Maryland Police officers repeatedly spied on peace activists and anti-death penalty groups. The documents also revealed that police logged some of the names of members of these groups into suspected terrorists databases. However, none of the 43 pages of summaries nor computer logs obtained by the ACLU indicated any criminal or threatening conduct by the groups spied upon by undercover state police.
The city of Memphis, Tennessee sued AOL for the names of people contributing to the web blog MPD Enforcer 2.0. The blog is critical of law enforcement leadership and is very popular with Memphis police. The blog is credited with raising public discussion about the use of law enforcement resources.
Gmail privacy flaw reveals user name provided when the e-mail account was established. When Gmail users share Google Calendar items with each other the first and last name registered by the sender can be viewed by the recipient. This flaw can effect the privacy of Gmail users who use e-mail pseudonyms instead of their actual name.
An employee of a McLean Virginia investment firm exposed client data to the Internet when attempting to remotely access music files on a peer-to-peer network. Justice Breyer's name, social security number, and date of birth was among nearly 2000 clients effected by the data breach. To participate on a peer-to-peer file sharing service requires the installation of software and the sharing of files. When installing software or opening files a firewall on personal, office, or networked computer systems may detect activity that is unwanted by the user.
Color printers are growing in popularity as the price declines. Most consumers do not know that when they print documents using color printers that a pattern of yellow dots invisible to the eye reveals the device's serial number. A serial number may be used to trace printed documents back to the printer used. If the printer was purchase using a credit card instead of cash then the document may be attributed rightly or wrongly to a particular person or entity.
The first ever European Privacy Seal for ICT products or IT-based services was awarded to ixquick.com. The seal guarantees that the company is in compliance with European privacy laws and data protection regimes. The announcement cited a lack of trust on the part of Internet users due to the potential for surveillance as a factor in the award.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a State Department Inspector General report that investigated the abuse of access, by employees and contractors, to passport records of US citizens. The publicly released report was heavily redacted. The Electronic Privacy Information Center is seeking release of the complete report.
On July 10, 2008, the President signed the FISA reform bill into law. On the same day the ACLU filed a law suit challenging government surveillance conducted under the new law.
The FBI is investing in increasing the capacity of its Criminal Justice Information Services division to manage growing demand for biometric services. The agency's facility near Clarksburg West Virginia acts as a background check resource for private, education, and law enforcement entities. The number of laws mandating background checks for teachers, bank employees, and other workers has increased demand for fingerprint checks. The agency is also working to incorporate the Department of Homeland Security's Automated Biometric Identification System of records into its fingerprint database.
The Senate voted 69-28 to support changes in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. There were several attempts to remove language in the bill that protects telecommunication companies from criminal and civil suits for their support of a disclosed illegal domestic spying program.
On the 30th Day following a letter by privacy advocates to Google about the missing link to its privacy policy the company changed the homepage to include the information. A California law requires that operators of commercial web sites must post a link to a privacy policy.
Judge Louis Stanton of the US District Court of New York ruled in Viacom's favor and against online privacy. Viacom will obtain the logon names and Internet addresses of every person who viewed material on YouTube. The video service is owned by Google who argued against releasing the information to Viacom. Privacy advocates have challenged Google's collection and retention of user information as anti-privacy. The number of YouTube users, who will have their logon and Internet addresses shared, is expected to be in the tens of millions.
An editorial letter from Senator Russ Feingold expresses his opposition to a compromise bill on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The compromise could threaten federal cases filed against telecommunication companies based on disclosures that they aided the National Security Agency in spying on the telephone calls of Americans. The legal challenges if successful would expose major US telephone service providers to damage claims that could mean that they owe each person affected $1,000 per violation.
Forty-two states now have data breach notification statutes enacted into law. Data breach notification makes it unlawful for government agencies or businesses to keep secret unauthorized access to, or loss of, data records. This is a key objective of fair information practices, the foundational principles for privacy protection.
A Congressional subcommittee voted to move a bill forward to create a national electronic health information exchange system. The bill titled the PRO(TECH) Act must still gain the approval of the full House, Senate, and the President's signature before it would become law. The bill as written would require all US citizens to have electronic health records by the year 2014. Medical records privacy in a digital sharing environment poses privacy risks especially when patients are not given control over who may access their health information.
