Federal agents at the border do not need any reason to search through travelers' laptops, cell phones or digital cameras for evidence of crimes, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, extending the government's power to look through belongings like suitcases at the border to electronics.
Lets say you are coming back from a vacation in Europe. Well, US border agents without a warrant, and for no reason at all, can take your laptop, camera and cell phone and do with them what they please - read all your emails, go through your writing, even loop through your tax returns without any evidence you committed a crime. We move closer to 1984 everyday.
They actually care about the rule of law, oddly enough. And when I say "old fashioned" I of course mean, pre-Bush.
Internet service providers must not release personal information about users in New Jersey without a valid subpoena, even to police, the state's highest court ruled Monday.
New Jersey's Supreme Court found that the state's constitution gives greater protection against unreasonable searches and seizures than the U.S. Constitution.
The court ruled that Internet providers should not disclose private information to anyone without a subpoena.
The news of Europe allowing mobile phones on flights is painful news for frequent fliers. Cramming so many people into a small space (and giving individuals less and less space) and then throwing phones in to the mix is a recipe for disaster. The trains in France offer phone and phone-free zones and in general it works pretty well. The Eurostar between Paris and London is generally terrible with every bumpkin who gets on finding the need to broadcast "the train is leaving" or their sordid personal escapades at screaming level. We all use our mobile phones from time to time but most of us have the common courtesy to leave others in peace and head to the end of the train or speak quietly. Obviously some can't manage such a difficult task and force the trains (and soon planes) to issue strict guidelines.
Mobile phone rage, coming to the skies soon so the airlines can figure out a way to generate revenue since generating revenue from their core business seems to be asking too much.
A security breach at an East Coast supermarket chain exposed 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers and led to 1,800 cases of fraud, the Hannaford Bros. grocery chain announced Monday.
They are so serious, they're discarding paper files with all of your details into dumpsters. And the FTC, what are they doing about protecting Americans since there are laws against this? Well, they have been busy with one slap-on-the-wrist case. For the rest, tough luck for you. Go find a public dumpster and hope you get lucky.
Just like the FAA. Just like the FDA. Just like the USDA. Just like the EPA. Just like wildlife preservation. Just like the, fill in the next blank. The Republicans have consistently strangled budgets for any and all regulation and then placed their hacks in a position to cozy up to industry. The next step is of course to then scream "see, the government is a failure at everything so let's shut them group down and let business self regulate." Good business, when you can get it.
This time they're really going to get it right and stop spying on Americans. How can we be sure? Because they said so. Don't you have to actually show some results in order to win back trust?
Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mueller raised the issue of the FBI's controversial use of so-called national security letters in reference to an upcoming report on the topic by the Justice Department's inspector general.
An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.
Just a guess, but there might be a security issue at the British Home Office. Just maybe. Fortunately it was encrypted.
The disc was found by technicians when the computer was taken into a small IT repair company for service.
The laptop had been bought on eBay and taken to Leapfrog Computer repairs in Westhoughton, near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on Tuesday morning.
An engineer took the notebook apart and found a disc marked "Home Office Confidential" hidden beneath the keyboard. Lee Bevan, the managing director of LeapFrog Computers, said: "This seemed like just another IT repair ... the customer said he had bought it on eBay and seemed quite innocent. It was just an ordinary laptop and it was only when we opened up the keyboard that we found the disc - it had the words Home Office and Confidential written on it.
"The disc appeared to be hidden deliberately underneath the keyboard. We put the disc in the drive to see what it was, but it was encrypted.
If organizations are unable to protect our personal data, why are they allowed to even have it? If it's that important to them, there ought to be enough protections put in place to protect individuals. Credit monitoring is an OK start, but it's still not addressing the problem. What's so difficult to understand about this never ending loss of data?
That's OK though because Congress doesn't give a damn anyway. Heaven forbid accountability ever means being accountable. Until there are consequences for being so casual with personal data, this is never going to change. Losing over 200 million records in the US still doesn't register as an important issue, amazingly enough.
Did we ever have political leaders that cared or am I just having flashbacks to a time that never existed? Whether we are talking about 79 million records or 162 million, that's a lot of lost records in 2007. I know this isn't easy but it's quite obvious that there are no plans in place to protect data or to protect consumers.
The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers soared to unprecedented levels in 2007, and the trend isn't expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.
And while companies, government agencies, schools and other institutions are spending more to protect ever-increasing volumes of data with more sophisticated firewalls and encryption, the investment often is too little too late.
Globalization at its finest. Three million records were lost back in May though the Iowa company did not think it was necessary to mention that fact.
The government yesterday revealed another disturbing loss of citizens' data when the transport secretary disclosed that a computer disc had gone missing that contained the records of more than 3 million driving test applicants, including their names, home addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers.
The disc was lost from a "secure store" in Iowa in the US midwest by private firm Pearson Driving Assessments in May, but this was not relayed either to Westminster or to the police.
(More after the jump.) Luckily enough for business in America (and elsewhere) there are hardly any repercussions for losing data by the truckload, so why even bother? When political leaders in Congress don't show any interest, including those running for President, why should they care?
While in the US visiting family recently, I was shocked to hear that both my mother as well as my sister had experienced credit card fraud in the last few years. (It happened to me more than 15 years ago, none since.) There was only one other adult at the table and so far he was OK but to find three out of the four at the table was amazing, though pretty much aligned with the statistics. NOTE FROM JOHN: My credit card number was stolen a month ago too.
In light of the massive personal data loss by the British government, plans for a national ID card are obviously now in question. Remember when ID cards were the answer to our 9/11 problems? Yikes.
Of course, just think about the current situation where Condi's State Department bungled the US passport processing program with outrageous delays. Who knows what happened with standard procedures during that time when the backlog became months of waiting? Even when there's no backlog, just look at what has happened at the federal level not to mention countless states. We don't even need to talk about the corporate losses either, which are even worse.
A year ago, Hillary talked about a privacy bill of rights and as quickly as it emerged, it disappeared again. I don't know if the quietness on the Democratic side has anything to do with ties to the likes of Acxiom or other businesses that manage, manipulate and lose data on millions of people, but it's worrying that none of the major candidates have announced serious plans.
If there have already been data losses of 219 million individual records (again, could be some overlap) in the US, that means the majority of Americans have been negatively impacted. What is it going to take to hear the Democrats discuss the issues? Today, Americans don't trust the GOP on the issue and believe they will not do anything. Instead of stupid discussions about where someone lived until age 10, how about some substance?
In a country of 59 million, this is an amazing event. The data loses in the US have added up to around 219 million (which may have some overlap) out of a population of 303 million but it's been more of a bleed.
Two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 have gone missing.
The Child Benefit data on them includes name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25m people.
In a true sign of bravery, the loss has been blamed on a "junior official" by Britain's Chancellor Alistair Darling. The Tories may be wrong about a lot of things but they are spot on with their criticism and people ought to be furious.
Moving forward, is there anyone in office who is taking action to prevent the next big loss either by government or private industry? There's plenty of talk, but this is an obvious problem and concern waiting for a resolution. (h/t to reader NP)
That's what Americans think in this new study. Maybe the candidates can start discussing this issue so we can really understand who supports privacy and what privacy means to each of them.
Asked to select both the Democratic and Republican candidate they believe is most likely to "advance your privacy rights," respondents preferred Obama over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio, with 43 percent naming Obama compared to 25 percent for Edwards and 23 percent for Clinton.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.
On the Republican side, John McCain was the top choice, named by 39 percent of respondents, but Mitt Romney's 35 percent was within the poll's margin of error. Rudy Giuliani was picked by 15 percent of those polled, with Ron Paul and Fred Thompson each named by less than 5 percent.
Since the Democratic candidates all said last night that "the right to privacy" is a paramount concern of each and every one of them, I'm sure we'll see those same candidates all over this story. Ha! Made myself laugh.
Anyway, the Seattle PI has done some great reports on Boeing including whistle-blowers who have felt the full wrath of Boeing. The latest is a report on spying efforts on employees including reading personal emails and videotaping employees outside of the office. Part of the problem in Washington is that there are few laws available that protect employees and whistle-blowers.
Within its bowels, The Boeing Co. holds volumes of proprietary information deemed so valuable that the company has entire teams dedicated to making sure that private information stays private.
One such team, dubbed "enterprise" investigators, has permission to read the private e-mails of employees, follow them and collect video footage or photos of them. Investigators can also secretly watch employee computer screens in real time and reproduce every keystroke a worker makes, the Seattle P-I has learned.
Companies have a full right to protect corporate information though this is going much too far.
It also raises the interesting dynamics of the so-called "Millennials" as 60 Minutes are others are calling them. Considering what the incoming generation has witnessed in their own households, is it any wonder they are telling the corporate world that the old rules simply don't work for them? The Baby Boomers are so full of sour grapes with the young crowd who are demanding balance between work and their personal life and why not? If this is the best the corporate world can deliver, why should this new generation knock themselves out? Hats off to the Millennials and their attitudes and more power to them.
Uh huh, this sounds like a great idea. The corporate world has done such a fantastic job of protecting consumer personal privacy, so now they want to take it to the next level. Whether it's losing data due to incompetence or handing over data to the government without following proper legal methods, this is such a terrible idea in every way. Add "Big Oil" to the mix and you have an even worse situation.
Ten Shell gas stations in the Windy City are testing biometric systems that let consumers walk up to the pump, scan their fingertips on a device and fill up their vehicles. The systems, also installed at Shell convenience stores, are directly linked to customers' checking or credit-card accounts for payment.
"When we talk to customers, they're always looking for ways to make buying gasoline quicker and easier, and always looking for ways to make their transactions faster and more secure," said Chris Susse, Shell's manager of global refueling innovations.
It's nice to see that TJX (TJ Maxx, Marshalls) is so upfront about the problem. With a down year in Christmas shopping expected, they help make the choice of where to spend your money a lot easier. How can a company like this be trusted with personal data? Maybe they can put signs on their windows saying "shop at your own risk."
The filings in a bank case against TJX indicated that fraud-related losses involving Visa cards alone range from $68 million to $83 million and are spread across 13 countries. One filing warned that the total will rise as thieves continue to use data from compromised cards.
"These are going to be sold off for a period of time in the future, so it's going to continue for some time out there," Joseph Majka, Visa USA's vice president of investigations and fraud management, said in court documents unsealed late Tuesday.
Depositions of security officials at Visa and MasterCard suggest the breach was far bigger than TJX has indicated. Even before the latest numbers, independent organizations that track data breaches had called the case the largest ever.
And the delightful folks at the Gap don't even think that it's important enough to provide any details. Sure, what could really happen with Social Security numbers and contact details? Sheesh, some people need to learn how to relax and put blind faith in a company that is too stupid to protect personal data because they've already proven themselves to be so competent with safeguarding information but are happy to pass the buck to a subcontractor which they are responsible for regardless of the buck passing.
Our government sure doesn't. Any normal person would think that the theft of 45 million credit and debit cards might warrant a serious investigation, with the public deserving a clear answer but how silly that normal person would be. No, these are different times and nobody really gives a damn any more. Thanks to the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, we now have some answers on the TJX (owners of TJ Maxx, Marshalls) on this incredible loss of personal data.
TJX disclosed the breach in January, but the company and U.S. government investigators have yet to publicly disclose how they believe intruders initially broke into TJX's systems in a theft that exposed at least 45 million credit and debit cards to potential fraud.
"The company collected too much personal information, kept it too long and relied on weak encryption technology to protect it -- putting the privacy of millions of its customers at risk," said Stoddart, who announced the findings at an information security conference in Montreal on Tuesday.
Why did the US government feel it had to side with TJX instead of siding with the 45 million who were victim to corporate incompetence? This tired routine of always protecting business instead of consumers is really getting old. If the corporate world wants to be casual with the personal data of 45 million people, the public has a right to know about it and we shouldn't have to find out from another country what is going on in our own. What ever happened to Hillary's initiative on personal privacy? It seemed to die on the vine ages ago.
Could it be that Americans still have constitutional protections despite everything George Bush has done to destroy and limit our rights? A federal judge in New York seems to think so. He ruled a key, nefarious part of the Patriot Act is unconstitutional:
A federal judge today struck down portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional, ordering the FBI to stop issuing "national security letters" that secretly demand customer information from Internet service providers and other businesses.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York ruled that the landmark anti-terrorism law violates the First Amendment and the Constitution's separation of powers provisions because it effectively prohibits recipients of the FBI letters (NSLs) from revealing their existence and does not provide adequate judicial oversight of the process.
Marrero wrote in his 106-page ruling that Patriot Act provisions related to NSLs are "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values."
The decision has the potential to eliminate one of the FBI's most widely used investigative tactics. It comes amid widespread concern on Capitol Hill over reported abuses in the way the FBI has used its NSL powers.
Don't get too excited yet. The Bush administration will undoubtedly appeal. And, you know how it goes, if the Bush administration starts screaming about terror, Congress will probably pass a new law. But this is a big development. Hat tip to the ACLU for bringing the case. Civil liberties do still matter.
