A Department of Justice report states that although identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States it is not an agency priority. The DOJ uses its limited resources to identity links to identity theft when investigating other crimes. The chief enablers of identity theft is the reliance on the Social Security Number for granting new credit, abuse of credit card information that may be shared during legitimate transactions, or theft of credit cards from victims. In 2009, it is estimated that 10 million Americans fell victim to identity theft crimes. Domestic abuse victims face a particular threat from abuser who may use identity theft to damage the credit of abuse victims, which may limit their options for leaving abusive relationships
Much confusion has emerged around consumers' rights to a free annual credit report. There is only one Website that will provide a free annual credit report at absolutely no cost. An update of the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives everyone access to a free annual credit report once each year from the three major credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian). You may request the free annual credit report online by phone or by mail The chief way that consumers can protect themselves from identity theft is to know what is on their credit report. Thieves acquire credit in the name of victims and steal from businesses. These thefts are blamed on victims often going without notice on their credit reports for months and sometimes years. Not all information is reported to all credit reporting agencies nor will correcting information on one credit reporting agency's records fix the information held by the other two. You can challenge incorrect or false information is found on a credit report to have it corrected or removed.
The New Jersey Supreme court upheld an appellate court ruling that the company Loving Care violated the privacy rights of an employee by accessing her person email records. The court found that, although the employee was at work while using her personal email account, the company did not have the right to access, read, and use the employee's e-mail in its defense against charges of employment discrimination. A lower trail court decision sided with the company, but that decision was over turned by the appeals court and affirmed by the state's Supreme Court.
Immigration reform measures being considered by Congress include an enhanced Social Security Card with biometric (possibly fingerprint) information on users. Employers would have to purchase card readers and check the Social Security Biometric information which would have to match the applicant before they could be hired. The proposals so far are on the drawing board, but working out the details and the cost is proving to be a challenge. Several national ID and employment verification programs have be proposed post 9/11, without much success. The most prominent National ID was REAL ID, Enhanced Drivers Licenses, and E-verify.
Facebook and the definition of privacy is still searching for a connection. Facebook once again changed its privacy policy to disadvantage users by sharing more of once private data with third party sites. This time the announcement came on Friday afternoon where it would more than likely not get much notice. Thanks to the vigilance of tech writers this did not go as quietly as planned. It is reported that Facebook's announced change strips away more user privacy rights. Users can no longer opt-out of sharing information about themselves with third-party web sites when using applications and connecting to links that take them to other sites. You must visit your "privacy settings" to change settings from "everyone" if you intend to limit access to your Facebook information.
Ten House Members sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission requesting that they pursue an investigation into the Google social networking service Buzz, given "Google's practice of automatically using consumers' e-mail address books to create contact lists for Buzz and then publicly disclosing the names of those private contacts" online. The lawmakers also asked the Commission to consider the privacy implications of Google's proposed acquisition of AdMob, the mobile phone advertising company. EPIC has filed a complaint and supplement with the FTC, asking the Commission to investigate Google Buzz. The privacy implications of the Google Buzz out may continue to play out for people who used the service for professional purposes such as: undercover law-enforcement officers, lawyers, doctors, contractors, which have not been fully explored.
The allusion of privacy protection around the use of Whole Body Scanners is fading fast. An airport worker at the Heathrow International airport is cited by police for harassment after being accused by a female colleague of having taken a nude photo of her while she was undergoing a body scan. It was reported that he showed her the photo and she reported him to authorities who issued the 25-year-old male a harassment warning. The airport operated in the United Kingdom claimed to have taken many of the same steps outlined by the Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration to protect the privacy of travelers being subjected to digital strip searches.
One of the Obama Administration's top priorities for its first year in office has been achieved, Public Law No: 111-148 the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act will provide access to health care for over 30 million uninsured Americans. Part of the implementation of health care reform was the establishment of a national network for health information exchange. The design of the exchange and the rules governing who may have access to health information is closely debated in the patient privacy advocacy community. The American Recovery and Investment Act past early in 2009 provided extensive language regarding health information privacy, while the health insurance plan passed over the weekend allows access to medical information for research purposes without the patient's consent. Privacy equals control over who, when, why, and how another may access information about the data subject. There are not exceptions regarding control over access to data if there is to be privacy protection.
House and Senate members sent a joint letter to President Obama opposing the White House policy statement expressing "strong objection to provisions" in the House and Senate Intelligence Authorization Act that would direct National Intelligence Agencies to cooperate with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) when it is conducting investigation at the request of Congress. The post 9-11 roles and responsibilities of once foreign intelligence agencies have changed, with some agencies now conducting activities within the United States. This has raised questions regarding transparency, accountability, and oversight to Congressional committees charged with domestic law-enforcement and national security oversight. The GAO is the investigative arm of the United States Congress and has routinely conducted investigations into matters regarding the conduct of agencies and private sector entities that impact government policy.
The Idaho legislature passed House Bill 573 58-9 in favor of stopping the use of full-body imaging systems from being used in state airports. Representative Phil Hart (R-Athol) introduced the bill by raising questions about the safety of the technology and what health impacts may result from its use. The backers of the bill said that Americans should not sacrifice freedoms for security.
Purdue University researchers conducted a test with the cooperation of the Indianapolis Airport Authority security. The project tested technology that monitors Bluetooth emitting devices to time air travelers' progress through security checkpoints. The test was conducted at the Indianapolis Airport between May 8 and June 2, 2009. The technology used to snoop on Bluetooth enabled cellphones and personal digital devices was stationed at the entrance and exit from security screening points. Although the report states that the test read the unique Media Access Control (MAC) address of Bluetooth devices at 10 meters, the actual range of the technology is 100 meters. The MAC addresses were truncated to prevent re-identification with passengers' unique devices out of concern for the privacy. The Transportation Security Administration has shown interest in surveillance technology and deployed systems that are highly invasive such as whole body scanning systems. The agency has heavily invested in surveillance systems and is influencing the research interest of academic projects around the nation.
Over a 100,000 people between 1999 to 2007, many of whom were accused of shoplifting, jumping turnstiles, trespassing, or failing to pay child support were arrested New York Police and illegally subjected to strip searches. The City settled two class action lawsuits resulting from the abuse for $73 million. Prisoners report that they were often forced to undress before other prisoners and guards. Two women who received part of the settlement report being forced to submit to gynecological exams.
Andy Oram editor at O'Reilly Media spent a morning at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) last week and got a rare peek into how the organization does its work. After 15 years, EPIC remains one of the most influential privacy research centers in the nation. Further it is well respected by Data Privacy Commissioners and advocates outside of the United States. EPIC is extremely effective with a win record most policy makers envy. Online Privacy, Travel Privacy, Smart Grid Privacy, and Voter Privacy, and much more. A good organization fighting the right fight for the right reasons, without the big bucks and holding an impressive win record--something very rare in Washington DC politics.
PRIVACY.ORG, the first web site devoted exclusively to privacy issues, has a new look and new tools. PRIVACY.ORG provides daily updates on privacy stories in the news. PRIVACY.ORG features a Twitter news feed with all #privacy tweets. And PRIVACY.ORG highlights important campaigns, such as the current effort to suspend the deployment of airport body scanners. Twitter, Facebook, digg, Technorati, del.icio.us, and Linked In users can tag items to share with others. Researchers, reporters, policy makers, and consumers have helped make PRIVACY.ORG the top-ranked privacy site online today. Privacy.org is a joint project of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Privacy International.
Every ten years the United States performs an enumeration of the population for the purpose of apportionment of the Congress. The Census has grown in scope and sophistication to support the apportionment of federal funds among the states and jurisdictions served for benefits ranging from highway funds, to school lunch programs. There are increased concerns about how census data will be used in a post 9-11 world where the government wants greater unfettered access to data on citizens for profiling, and investigative purposes, without providing much transparency to the public on government activities. Illegal access to telephone records, secret watch list, and invasive surveillance technology places this year's census in a new context far different than at the time the Constitution was written. Promises and assurances by the federal government that privacy of census takers will not be abused nor threats of prosecution for those who do not want to participate is not the best way to increase public trust in the process. The census is fundamentally a count of how many men, women, and children live in a particular area and should be nothing more.
The Smart Grid is coming. Its first steps are in the form of smart meters being installed in homes around the nation. Some of the installations come with extensive energy use surveys that collect information on what time do you go to work, what time do you come home, what day to do you do laundry, How often do you microwave your dinner, etc. The smart meter records and transmits electricity usage from the home every 15 minutes and coupled with the answers provided by home owners a lot of intimate details about home life is being shared with utility companies for the first time. Arriving in the energy usage information arena are companies who would like to know about your energy use for what they say is to "help" you better manage your electricity consumption. Watch out for the fine print regarding what else they might want to use your home energy consumption information for such as sharing it or selling it to advertisers who will want to selling you everything from takeout food, to home appliances. When you turn on an appliance and how long it stays on communicates something about you and your lifestyle that others might find very valuable. Privacy, consumer, and civil liberties organizations are working hard to protect the rights of consumers. The struggle is to establish fair information practices for all smart grid personally identifiable information that does not rely extensively on the failed "notice and choice" model favored by businesses.
The idea of a national ID card keeps coming back-- first is was REAL ID, now its a Social Security Card with a biometric component. The biggest contributor to identity theft in the United States is the abuse of Social Security Numbers for everything related to credit, employment, and education. This time language around this new proposal for national ID sounds like it is about illegal immigration, but the impact will be on anyone who is working or would like to work regardless of your legal status. Some of the same issues related to REAL ID may arise along with some new ones. Collection of certain biometrics like fingerprints that have secondary government uses should raise civil liberties as well as privacy flags. In addition, the numbers of persons required to use this single document will outstrip any identification system ever created in this country. There will be problems with accuracy, reliability, transparency, and oversight. Workers will not care about this document when it works, but what they do need to know before enrolling is what will happen when the system fails. For example, failures by the Social Security Administration to collect and record data accurately, failures by technology used by employers to read the biometrics of employees, or failures in verification of biometric information when checked with government records are only a few of ways things could go wrong and leave people unemployable for a reason other than whether they are or are not U.S. citizens. What will happen when people misplace Social Security Cards and need replacements? What happens if identity thieves break the security of the document? Will there by INS raids where every employee needs to show their papers or get taken away? Could employers confiscate cards and hold their workforce hostage?
Facebook offered to settle all lawsuits that resulted from its failed Beacon application, which violated users' privacy. The Beacon application without user prior agreement reported online purchases to social contacts of users, which broke federal privacy laws and resulted in several lawsuits by unhappy customers. Facebook offered to settle one case in a bold move to dismiss all other cases around the country for 9M. About 6 million would be left after attorney fees to fund a foundation. The members of the 3 person foundation board were named in the settlement agreement. The board was established with 2 people, which included a Facebook executive. They had to agree on the naming of a third person who would help decide how to spend the 6M set aside for online privacy research.
Something that you learned as a child is soon forgotten by adults living and working online. "Don't talk to strangers!" The same users if approached on the street and asked for their name, birth date, and social security number would not react well to the request. However, when online many users give up this information without thinking twice about who they are sharing the information with and how it might to used. Alessandro Acquisti an academic researcher at Carnegie Mellon University discovered how easy it is to guess social security numbers using identifying information provided by users of social networking services.
U.S. could spend $3 billion to place whole body scanners in airports around the world. A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report states that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says each whole body image machine would cost $170,000 and requires 3 people to operate. The cost of covering 60 percent of all security checkpoints at the busiest commercial airports is about $300 million with an addition 3,550 TSA personnel. Privacy groups have raised questions about passenger privacy and challenged the agency's assertions regarding safeguards against abuse or misuse of nude images of passengers. The GAO report also raised questions regarding the effectiveness of whole body imaging technology in detecting low density materials such as powder or gel explosives as well as items that may be designed to allude detection. Former Administration Department of Homeland Security senior officials have gone to work of companies selling the whole body scanners to TSA.
The Federal Communications Commission released its plan for broadband deployment within the United States. Broadband is all about high-speed two-way Internet connectivity.The US lags behind many European nations, Japan, and South Korea in national broadband deployment. The FCC document advocates increased competition, support universal availability, and an update in government laws/regulations to support expansion of broadband use. The report cites everything from e-health records, to the development of the Smart Grid as being relevant to the topic of national broadband deployment. Faster broadband transmission rates are correlated to time spent online for work and leisure. There are stubborn gaps in broadband deployment to rural and inner city areas that may respond to an organized national effort. The US solved problems with access to basic services such as railroads, highways, electricity, and telephones through federal programs like the transcontinental railroad, rural electrification program, national highway system, and national telephone service efforts.
The Department of Homeland Security Department has funded 72 state and local Fusion Centers, which establish data mining relationships with public and private data warehouses. Local and state law-enforcement agencies that operate Fusion Centers depend on funding from Federal government agencies to open centers, train staff, and develop intelligence expertise. It has long been understood that local and state law-enforcement did not want to limit the work of Fusion Centers solely to terrorism related investigations. The relationships between state/local Fusion Centers and Federal government agencies is not transparent.
A room in a shelter where a juvenile and his mother lived was unlawfully searched by police after the door was unlocked by the Shelter Director. The High Court ruled that the room's occupants had a reasonable expectation of privacy and that police needed the okay of one of the room's occupants before entering. Persons seeking shelter need not have diminished rights, which could have consequences in the event of emergency shelter situations such as those provided by domestic violence or disaster assistance programs.
Martin Scheinin, a UN expert on human rights said that body scanners' use in the war on terror were both ineffective and an intrusion on individual privacy. He went on to say that it would be a violation to everyone, but more so to women, certain religions, and certain cultural backgrounds. He has previously reported on different types of detection technologies could better for human rights.
Facebook is reported to be ready to release a new application that would share location information on its 400 million users. The application will premier in late April 2010 and is called f8. Facebook updated its privacy policy to reflect the location sharing feature. Initial reports are that the location information sharing feature will follow the privacy settings of users.
In formal comments, EPIC urged the California Public Utility Commission to adopt privacy safeguards for Smart Grid systems to protect consumer electricity usage information from unauthorized collection, use, and disclosure. Smart Grid networks uniquely identify individual electrical appliances, and create new privacy risks. EPIC recommended that policies be established to protect consumer data, including limitations on data collection, new security standards, and independent oversight.
A Mille Lacs County Minnesota District Court sustained the conviction of Richard Allen Perez who admitted secretly videotaping his wife at their home. The couple were in the process of getting a divorce when Perez installed a video camera in the bathroom of their home. Perez was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to jail. The case is expected to be appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Court: Spouse Should Expect Bathroom Privacy, St. Paul (AP), March 10, 2010
The Department of Homeland Security has launched a Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign to raise public engagement on the issue. They have announced a competition seeking ideas from industry and individuals on how to best tackle the problem of engaging the general public in understanding the importance of securing digital devices from threats. A public education campaign for a Web 2.0 world seems to the goal. Deadline for submitting ideas is April 30, 2010, submit proposals to cyberchallenge@dhs.gov. If you have questions they should go to challengequestions@dhs.gov
The Electronic Privacy information Center has obtained documents, from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) under a Freedom of Information Act request, disclosing that passengers were not informed prior to being subjected to whole body scanning. The TSA has claimed that air travelers when given a choice prefer the experience of the digital strip search of whole body scanning machines to medal detectors and the pat down option. The TSA claimed that where the machines were in use passengers were fully informed about the technology before undergoing screening. There are ongoing challenges from consumer rights, privacy, and civil liberties organizations over the use of the controversial devices on persons because of health, privacy, and civil liberties questions yet to be answered by an independent evaluation of the technology.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined LifeLock, a prominent ID theft protection company, $12 million for deceiving customers regarding the effectiveness of its service. The FTC fined the company $11 million and an additional $1 million for state cost of investigating the company. The $11 million will go to customers who file reimbursement claims against the settlement. Last year the Consumer Federation of American published a report on identity theft prevention services, which raised questions about their effectiveness.
Employees at the Jet Propulsion Lab run by NASA are seeking help from the Supreme Court in a case about long-time employees being subjected to invasive background checks to continue to be employed at the agency. The case began in California, but has been approved for a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case can have consequences for private sector employees due to the push for mandatory use of E-verify an employment verification system to be run by the Department of Homeland Security.
Robert A. Harding, a retired major general of the U.S. Army was named by the President to be the next head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Harding has 33 years of experience with the Army and if confirmed will take over one of the more prominent sub-agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Transportation Security Administration was created post-September 11, 2001, and assigned to the Federal Transportation Administration, but later moved to DHS when it was formed. The TSA has been very high profile because of its policies related to Secure Flight, Whole Body Scanning, and laptop searches.
Two vacancies on the Federal Trade Commission were filled when the Senate confirmed President Obama's appoints to the agency. Julie Brill, former Vermont Assistant Attorney General, to fill a vacancy for FTC Commissioner. Brill served for over 20 years as Vermont's Assistant Attorney General for Consumer Protection and Antitrust, and currently serves as Senior Deputy Attorney General and Chief of Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice. Brill has had experience with several important consumer protection issues, including tobacco, food and drug, antitrust, and privacy and identity theft. Brill will help revitalize an FTC that has languished while consumers' interests have given way to special interests."
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a "friend of the court" brief in the United States Supreme Court, urging the Justices to protect the privacy of those who sign petitions. In Doe v. Reed, the Court has been asked to determine whether the state of Washington may force disclosure of the names of citizens who have signed petitions for ballot initiatives. EPIC's brief argues that revealing the names would subject signatories to the risk of retribution, that signing petitions constitutes anonymous speech, and that signing petitions is similar to casting a vote and should be protected accordingly.
Department of Justice letters sent to leaders of the Black, Asian American, and Hispanic Congressional Caucuses sought to assure members of Congress that the confidentiality protections related to census data collection were not superseded by Patriot Act data sharing provisions. In 2004, the Electronic Privacy Information Center received documents revealing that the Department of Homeland Security had received assistance from the Census Bureau in developing a special tabulation by zip code on persons of Arab Ancestry living in the United States.
Religious reasons were given for why a woman refused to undergo whole body scanning at a Manchester airport. The woman was "selected at random" to undergo the screening prior to boarding a flight to Pakistan. Her female traveling companion also female declined undergo the screening citing 'medical reasons' and also did not board the flight.
The Obama Administration released an outline of the federal government's policy regarding its cyber-security strategy. The strategy was geared around protecting federal and privacy computer networks from cyber attacks. The details related to the outline would allow an evaluation of what the federal government would consider important, and what actions are approved for protecting the covered networks. The Electronic Privacy Information Center is pursuing the release of National Security Presidential Directive 54, in an effort to assure the public better understands the goals and objectives of U.S. cyber-security strategies. The details of the Direction would put into perspective whether the content of individual e-mail or only e-mail routers or servers would potentially be involved. Further, questions regarding circumstances such as 24 hours a day or under special circumstances might be determined by release of the document.
The New York Police Department between 2004 and 2009 have stopped over 1 million persons on the street for questioning without probably cause. There is a proposal to formalize the practice by logging persons stopped into a database. Over 90% of the people stopped are innocent, but the practice continues. The majority of those involved are poor Latino or African American males. The practice has increased while crime in the city has declined.
