These news round-ups are created by the ACLU of Northern California's Anna Salem
Congressional Momentum Against NSA Spying Continues to Grow [ACLU – Michelle Richardson]
But most tellingly, legislators are filing legislation left and right to compel more disclosure about these programs and rein them in. The bills are coming from both Democrats and Republicans, including members who voted for the Patriot Act in the past but feel misled about how it's been used. In little less than 3 weeks, six bipartisan pieces of legislation to rollback NSA spying have been introduced.
See also Surveillance 'partnership' between NSA and telcos points to AT&T, Verizon [CNET – Declan McCullagh]
See also The Criminal N.S.A. [New York Times – Jennifer Stisa Granick & Christopher Jon Sprigman]
See also Telecom exec: NSA can't distinguish between Americans and foreigners during data sweeps [The Verge – Joshua Kopstein]
Reclaim Your Name: Keynote Address [FTC – Julie Brill]
I support legislation that would require data brokers to provide notice, access, and correction rights to consumers scaled to the sensitivity and use of the data at issue. For example, Congress should require data brokers to give consumers the ability to access their information and correct it…But we can begin to address consumers’ loss of control over their most private and sensitive information even before legislation is enacted. I would suggest we need acomprehensive initiative – one I am calling “Reclaim Your Name.” Reclaim Your Name would give consumers the knowledge and the technological tools to reassert some control over their personal data[.]
FCC demands carriers protect customer privacy in declaratory ruling [Engadget – Nicole lee]
[T]he FCC voted today for a Declaratory Ruling that all carriers must safeguard the private data in their customers' mobile devices. This data is known as customer proprietary network information (CPNI) and consists of metadata like phone numbers, call duration, call locations and call logs. Providers are supposed to protect such data already, but until today that only applied to the network — now phones are covered under it as well.
Internet Archive Sues to Stop Dangerous New Jersey Law Putting Online Service Providers at Risk [Electronic Frontier Foundation]
The Internet Archive has filed a new legal challenge against a New Jersey state law that aims to make online service providers criminally liable for providing access to third parties' materials, conflicting directly with federal law and threatening the free flow of information on the Internet. A hearing on the Internet Archive's request for a preliminary injunction against the law is set for 10am Friday at the federal courthouse in Newark.
File-Sharers Have Right to Anonymous Speech, Court Hears [TorrentFreak – Ernesto]
Several advocacy groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union is have joined a group of major U.S. Internet providers in their protest against mass BitTorrent lawsuits. They state that these cases are “essentially an extortion scheme,” as many courts have started to realize recently. The groups further argue that the lawsuits violate file-sharers’ right to anonymous speech, which is protected by the First Amendment.
Privacy bill seeks to protect students as data shifts to the cloud [Lowell Sun – Colleen Quinn]
Massachusetts is one of five states willing to participate in the development and pilot testing of inBloom, a Gates Foundation initiative aimed at helping schools simplify computer systems to record student information, administer tests, analyze performance, train teachers and gather data… Lawmakers are considering legislation (H 331) that would prohibit providers who offer cloud computing services to kindergarten through 12th grade schools from processing student data for commercial purposes.
EPIC FOIA Document Reveals CIA Collaboration in Domestic Surveillance [Electronic Privacy Information Center]
According to a Central Intelligence Agency Inspector General's report obtained by EPIC under the Freedom of Information Act, the CIA collaborated with the New York Police Department in domestic surveillance efforts. The CIA is prohibited from participating in domestic surveillance, but the report finds that the agency had embedded four officers within the NYPD over the past decade and that collaboration with the NYPD was fraught with "irregular personnel practices," that it lacked "formal documentation in some important instances," and that "there was inadequate direction and control" by agency supervisors.
George Orwell’s Birthday Party [Front404]
On Tuesday the 25th of June, to celebrate the 110th birthday of George Orwell, surveillance cameras in the center of the city of Utrecht were decorated with colorful party hats!