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sfgate.com
AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn't yours
David Lazarus
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The changes are significant because they appear to give the telecom giant more latitude when it comes to sharing customers' personal data with government officials.

The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

The policy also indicates that AT&T will track the viewing habits of customers of its new video service -- something that cable and satellite providers are prohibited from doing.

Moreover, AT&T (formerly known as SBC) is requiring customers to agree to its updated privacy policy as a condition for service -- a new move that legal experts say will reduce customers' recourse for any future data sharing with government authorities or others.

... read on for more joy.

sfgate.com
AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn't yours
David Lazarus
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The changes are significant because they appear to give the telecom giant more latitude when it comes to sharing customers' personal data with government officials.

The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

The policy also indicates that AT&T will track the viewing habits of customers of its new video service -- something that cable and satellite providers are prohibited from doing.

Moreover, AT&T (formerly known as SBC) is requiring customers to agree to its updated privacy policy as a condition for service -- a new move that legal experts say will reduce customers' recourse for any future data sharing with government authorities or others.

... read on for more joy.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006
US government agencies using data brokers to get records without warrants: report
Joe Shaulis at 11:51 AM ET

[JURIST] Law enforcement officials often obtain Americans' phone records without a warrant or subpoena by paying private data brokers, who sometimes get the information through improper or even illegal techniques, AP reports. Federal agencies that hire data brokers include the FBI [official website] and the US Marshals Service [official website], both part of the Justice Department, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [official website] in the Department of Homeland Security. Privacy groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center [advocacy website] consider the government's use of data brokers an "end run" around the Fourth Amendment [text and materials], which requires judicial oversight of most searches and seizures. The National Security Agency [official website] has come under fire recently for its warrantless surveillance programs [JURIST news archive], which are being challenged in a number of lawsuits [JURIST report].

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on investigations [official website] has gathered documents showing that some data brokers trick phone companies into releasing records or hack into customer accounts. The subcommittee is holding hearings on data brokers on Wednesday and Thursday [committee materials]. Several data broker executives scheduled to testify are expected to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights. Last year, executives told a congressional committee [Washington Post report] that they would take measures to protect Social Security numbers and other sensitive information.

AP has more.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006
US government agencies using data brokers to get records without warrants: report
Joe Shaulis at 11:51 AM ET

[JURIST] Law enforcement officials often obtain Americans' phone records without a warrant or subpoena by paying private data brokers, who sometimes get the information through improper or even illegal techniques, AP reports. Federal agencies that hire data brokers include the FBI [official website] and the US Marshals Service [official website], both part of the Justice Department, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [official website] in the Department of Homeland Security. Privacy groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center [advocacy website] consider the government's use of data brokers an "end run" around the Fourth Amendment [text and materials], which requires judicial oversight of most searches and seizures. The National Security Agency [official website] has come under fire recently for its warrantless surveillance programs [JURIST news archive], which are being challenged in a number of lawsuits [JURIST report].

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on investigations [official website] has gathered documents showing that some data brokers trick phone companies into releasing records or hack into customer accounts. The subcommittee is holding hearings on data brokers on Wednesday and Thursday [committee materials]. Several data broker executives scheduled to testify are expected to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights. Last year, executives told a congressional committee [Washington Post report] that they would take measures to protect Social Security numbers and other sensitive information.

AP has more.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Canada privacy commissioner concerned about sharing information with US
Joe Shaulis at 11:05 AM ET

[JURIST] Canada [JURIST news archive] must do more to protect citizens' personal information from foreign governments, the national privacy commissioner [official website] said in a report [text; press release] to Parliament presented Tuesday. Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart [official profile] singled out the Canadian Border Services Agency [official website] for allowing guards and customs agents to give their US counterparts private information over the phone, even though agreements between the two nations require written requests and responses. The report also noted that the USA PATRIOT Act [JURIST news archive], passed by the US Congress [HR 3162 summary] soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and renewed this year [JURIST report], "has become the symbol of the increasing concern of Canadians about the security of their personal information when it leaves Canada."

Stoddart also called on Parliament [official website] to update privacy legislation [official backgrounder] to reflect "the reality of huge government systems that are capable of a surveillance we could not have dreamed of in 1982." Canada's Privacy Act has not been overhauled since its enactment in 1983.

CBC News has more.
The Globe and Mail has additional coverage.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Canada privacy commissioner concerned about sharing information with US
Joe Shaulis at 11:05 AM ET

[JURIST] Canada [JURIST news archive] must do more to protect citizens' personal information from foreign governments, the national privacy commissioner [official website] said in a report [text; press release] to Parliament presented Tuesday. Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart [official profile] singled out the Canadian Border Services Agency [official website] for allowing guards and customs agents to give their US counterparts private information over the phone, even though agreements between the two nations require written requests and responses. The report also noted that the USA PATRIOT Act [JURIST news archive], passed by the US Congress [HR 3162 summary] soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and renewed this year [JURIST report], "has become the symbol of the increasing concern of Canadians about the security of their personal information when it leaves Canada."

Stoddart also called on Parliament [official website] to update privacy legislation [official backgrounder] to reflect "the reality of huge government systems that are capable of a surveillance we could not have dreamed of in 1982." Canada's Privacy Act has not been overhauled since its enactment in 1983.

CBC News has more.
The Globe and Mail has additional coverage.

W|I|R|E|D Issue 14.03 - March 2006
Can Microsoft Save the Net?
By Lawrence Lessig

Posts|lessig

( Read more... )

W|I|R|E|D Issue 14.03 - March 2006
Can Microsoft Save the Net?
By Lawrence Lessig

Posts|lessig

( Read more... )

ID card compromise reached in Parliament

Sylvia Carr
silicon.com
March 30, 2006, 17:30 BST

The Commons and the Lords have both passed an amended form of the government's ID cards bill

( Read more... )

silicon.com had this to say:

New ID cards agency set up after Queen approves bill
Critics of the scheme vow to fight on...

By Andy McCue

Friday 31 March 2006

( Read more... )

guess it won't be long before we're playing good little allies and following suit ...

ID card compromise reached in Parliament

Sylvia Carr
silicon.com
March 30, 2006, 17:30 BST

The Commons and the Lords have both passed an amended form of the government's ID cards bill

( Read more... )

silicon.com had this to say:

New ID cards agency set up after Queen approves bill
Critics of the scheme vow to fight on...

By Andy McCue

Friday 31 March 2006

( Read more... )

guess it won't be long before we're playing good little allies and following suit ...