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Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and the city of Memphis have filed a lawsuit to learn who operates a blog harshly critical of Godwin and his department. The lawsuit asks AOL to produce all information related to the identity of an e-mail address linked to MPD Enforcer 2.0, a blog popular with police officers that has been extremely critical of police leadership at 201 Poplar. "In what could be a landmark case of privacy and the 1st Amendment," the anonymous bloggers write on the site, "Godwin has illegally used his position and the City of Memphis as a ram to...

In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone "It's humiliation," Perry said. Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector. "He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the...

E-Gold, an Internet-based payment service, and three owners have pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to money laundering, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday. E-Gold, based in Nevis, West Indies, and corporate affiliate Gold & Silver Reserve each pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to conspiracy to engage in money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Douglas Jackson, 51, of Melbourne, Florida, the principal director of E-Gold and CEO of Gold & Silver Reserve, pleaded guilty to the charges, the DOJ said in a statement. E-Gold's other two senior directors, Barry...

HOMEOWNERS must let council inspectors in to check for DANCING BEARS after they were handed 1,043 powers to pry. Armies of clipboard-touting officials can demand entry to check on everything from pot plants to fridges. Details of the vast array of laws were quietly slipped out to MPs last Tuesday by the Home Office. The list includes 430 new powers of entry brought in by Labour ministers – a year after a report said there were only 266. The checks include whether POT PLANTS have pests or imported “passport” documents, or if HYPNOTISM is being practised illegally. Inspectors can demand...

A householder who took photographs of hooded teenagers as evidence of their anti-social behaviour says he was told he was breaking the law after they called the police. David Green, 64, and his neighbours had been plagued by the youths from a nearby comprehensive school for months, and was advised by their headmaster to identify them so action could be taken. But when Mr Green left his £1million London flat to take photographs of the gang, who were aged around 17, he said one threatened to kill him while another called the police on his mobile. And he claimed that...

Police need more evidence, state justices saySupporters of marijuana decriminalization celebrated Thursday's decision by the state Supreme Court restricting police from arresting passengers simply for being in a car smelling of pot.

Plans for a massive database snooping on the entire population were condemned yesterday as a ‘step too far for the British way of life’. In an Orwellian move, the Home Office is proposing to detail every phone call, e-mail, text message, internet search and online purchase in the fight against terrorism and other serious crime. But the privacy watchdog, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, warned that the public’s traditional freedoms were under grave threat from creeping state surveillance. Big Brother: Critics warn our surveillance culture is going too farApart from the Government’s inability to hold data securely, he said the proposals...

'Big Brother' warning over Government database that records EVERY phone call and e-mail in Britain Last updated at 16:09pm on 15.07.08    Cautious: Information Commissioner Richard Thomas warns a 'Big Brother' database would threaten the British way of life A 'Big Brother' database recording every single phone call and e-mail made in Britain would threaten the British way of life, the information watchdog has warned.Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said such a Government-run database would have serious data protection implications.Amid speculation a massive database is already being planned, he declared it would be a 'step too far'.May's draft legislative programme...

SAN FRANCISCO, US - DEFENDANTS and plaintiffs in two related copyright infringement lawsuits against YouTube have reached a deal to protect the privacy of millions of YouTube watchers during evidence discovery, a spokesman for Google Inc said on Monday. Earlier in July, a New York federal judge ordered Google to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc and other plaintiffs to help them to prepare a confidential study of what they argue are vast piracy violations on the video-sharing site. Google said it had agreed to provide plaintiffs' attorneys for Viacom and a class action group led by the...

"Former leaders of the Liberal Party have called on the government to back down over the controversial snoop law which was narrowly passed by the Swedish parliament last month. ... "The underlying problem with the FRA law is that even those not suspected of any offence will have their telephone calls, e-mail and text messages analyzed by an authority whose operations are not subject to scrutiny," the seven write. They call attention to the fact that the criteria on which communication is subject to analysis is to be kept confidential "and without public scrutiny.""

Schools may not strip-search students for drugs based on an unverified tip, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Overturning two other rulings, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said an assistant principal at an Arizona middle school violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old by ordering her to be strip-searched. He thought the honor student had prescription-strength ibuprofen; she did not. The 6-5 ruling by the San Francisco-based court reinstated a lawsuit that a divided three-judge circuit panel threw out last year. The lawsuit was brought by the parents of Savana Redding, who was an eighth-grader at Safford Middle...

Is there a place to write or call to remove one's address and satelite photo from Google Maps. I do not wish my satelite pictures nor my address to be listed. I find it to be an invasion of privacy of the first degree.

Plans by Google to photograph millions of British homes and publish them online have been condemned as a 'gross invasion of privacy'. The internet giant's StreetView website will allow anyone in the world to type in a UK address or postcode and instantly see a 360-degree picture of the street. It will include close-ups of buildings, cars and people. Critics say the site is a 'burglar's charter' that makes it easy for criminals to check out potential victims. The Google Earth spy car takes images of individual streets for inclusion on the StreetView website The pictures also show people leaving...

New Haven (WTNH) _ It seems the controversy surrounding the New Haven ID cards is far from over. But after 30 hours of testimony, ID card holders information, for now, remains secret. Thanks to a three-to-one vote by state Freedom of Information Commissioners, thousands of names registered under New Haven's resident identification cards will be kept secret for now. Advocates of the program call this a major victory for illegal immigrants who worry about becoming targets. "The Freedom of Information Commission recognized what we've been saying all along," Kica Matos, the Community Service Administrator, said. "Releasing the records of the...

WASHINGTON — More than two and a half years after the disclosure of President’s Bush’s domestic eavesdropping program set off a furious national debate, the Senate gave final approval on Wednesday afternoon to broadening the government’s spy powers and providing legal immunity for the phone companies that took part in the wiretapping program. The plan, approved by a vote of 69 to 28, marked one of Mr. Bush’s most hard-won legislative victories in a Democratic-led Congress where he has had little success of late. And it represented a stinging defeat for opponents on the left who had urged Democratic leaders...

Amanda Simon explains the disappointment at the ACLU Blog. After the amendments were effectively killed – along with any possible hope of court review of the president’s illegal and unconstitutional domestic spying program (can’t say that enough) – the votes for final passage were counted. The votes were cast and so was the dye. Final count: 69 to 28. I can only say it’s been emotional. This isn’t the last you’ll be hearing from the ACLU on this subject — in fact, far from it. Keep an eye on this space for our continued and tireless work protecting the Fourth...

So who cares if my Internet service provider tracks my Web surfing behavior or e-mailing to better target advertising? After all, won't that result in a more relevant user experience? Well, not exactly and here's why. The lines between content, context and advertising are becoming increasingly blurred, and as a result the consumer is caught dead in the middle with increasingly less and less control over the Internet's most prized commodity: his own information. I'm referring to the growing reality that a process called deep packet inspection (DPI) is being used to build revenue streams based on your discreet —...

"Rep. Barr and the ACLU disagree on many other issues, but we have no doubt that a strange bedfellows collaboration between us will yield great things for informational and data privacy rights," said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said that Barr's agreement to work with the ACLU "demonstrates how deeply concerns about personal privacy cut across partisan lines." He noted that the ACLU has "no permanent friendsand no permanent enemies, just permanent values." "We look forward to working with Congressman Barr in our fight to protect data and information privacy,"...

Recently a user, Lori Drew, was charged with a felony for the heinous crime of pretending to be someone else on the Internet. Using the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Lori was charged for signing up for MySpace using a fake name. "The access to MySpace was unauthorized because using a fake name violated the terms of service. The information from a "protected computer" was the profiles of other MySpace users. If this is found to be a valid interpretation of the law, it's really quite frightening. If you violate the Terms of Service of a website, you can...

The cost of Britain’s "surveillance society" measures is now running at £20 billion, a new report reveals today. The amount is equivalent to £800 per household and includes £19 billion for the planned ID card system and £500 million for CCTV cameras.

If you’re not a convicted drunk driver, should you still be required to have an in-car breathalyzer fitted (at your expense, ‘natch) to your next new vehicle? Apparently, some automakers — including GM and Toyota — think so. They and a few others are working together under the auspices of something called the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, which is a $10 million federal “research program” that is trying to develop just such technology for mass introduction a few years from now. At the moment, the only people who have to deal with (and pay for) in-car Breathalyzers are...

ERMA — Lower Township Police Chief Edward Donohue announced that the Department of Homeland Security will provide the Lower Township police with a Real Time Video Surveillance System through the U.S. Army’s Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program, or CEDAP. Donohue stated that the police department applied to the Army’s CEDAP Program last year for the system. The system consists of several cameras that can feedback live video to police headquarters or vehicles from several miles away. Donohue states the system will be utilized for police surveillance operations, tactical operations, and to monitor critical infrastructure as needed. For security reasons, Donohue...

A U.S. judge's order to Google Inc to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc sparked an outcry on Thursday from privacy advocates in the midst of a legal showdown over video piracy. Viacom, owner of movie studio Paramount and MTV Networks, requested the information as part of its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the popular online video service and its deep-pocketed parent, Google. Judge Louis Stanton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google on Tuesday to turn over as evidence a database with usernames of YouTube viewers, what videos they...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in New York has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom a database linking users of YouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far, with every clip they have watched there. The order raised concerns among users and privacy advocates that the online video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed. But Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of YouTube viewers. Viacom said that the information would be safeguarded by a protective order restricting access to the data to...

Holiday DUI suspects risk forced blood test Court's OK likely if breath exam is refused Wednesday, July 2, 2008 9:35 PM By Kathy Lynn Gray THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Suspected drunken drivers won't be able to "just say no" to blood-alcohol tests in Columbus over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Police have set up a "no-refusal weekend," meaning that anyone who refuses to take a breath-analysis test will face a blood test instead, courtesy of two local judges on call to sign warrants. Officers will take suspects to a local hospital to await the warrant and the blood draw. Ohio...

The U.S. military is looking for a contractor to patrol cyberspace, watching for warning signs of forthcoming terrorist attacks or other hostile activity on the Web. "If someone wants to blow us up, we want to know about it," Robert Hembrook, the deputy intelligence chief of the U.S. Army's Fifth Signal Command in Mannheim, Germany, told United Press International. In a solicitation posted on the Web last week, the command said it was looking for a contractor to provide "Internet awareness services" to support "force protection" -- the term of art for the security of U.S. military installations and personnel....

July 1, 2008: The U.S. Congress has refused to give the FBI $11 million to expand the use of data mining in counter-terrorism efforts. American politicians are generally hostile to government use of data mining, a technique widely used, for decades, in business (marketing), law enforcement (catching criminals) and the military (finding the enemy). This last use has become much more sophisticated since the U.S. Department of Defense began pouring billions of dollars a year into finding ways to defeat IEDs (improvised explosive devices, usually roadside bombs). The effort to lower IED casualties has opened up all sorts of opportunities...

Oppression At the Airport Still Think You Are Free? The first thing you lose when you walk into an airport is freedom of speech, according to Walter Williams article "Airport tyranny". You do not even have to say any particular thing to find yourself arrested. Even if you say something totally innocent (in a country with free speech everything is innocent), if some TSA thug claims it distracted him or her. Quoting James Bovard, Williams wrote: "According to the February 2002 Federal Register, people can be arrested if they act in a way that 'might distract or inhibit a screener...

Florida banks say they are tired of playing cops, and some congressional leaders agree. The Florida Bankers Association (FBA) issued a statement Thursday in support of 18 members of Congress who signed a letter asking bank regulatory agencies to ease off on their enforcement of bank-related provisions of the Patriot Act and the Bank Secrecy Act. Parts of the two laws require banks to report the suspicious activity of their customers, especially when conducting international business. The FBA's letter said it has seen very little evidence that banks' reports on potential criminal behavior have deterred such activity or led to...

Lockheed Martin is building a massive digital warehouse of criminal information, set to bring facial recognition and eye scans to local law enforcement within 10 years. The FBI may use biometric technology to bolster mug shots, fingerprints and DNA to catch crooks—but privacy advocates say there's reason for law-abiding citizens to worry. Ten years ago, if a police department wanted to run a check on a suspect's fingerprints, someone had to mail an ink-splotched card to the FBI. The agency would then check it by hand against millions of other index cards, and it could take as long as two...

Washington - Sen. Russ Feingold knows he's eventually going to lose the fight against wiretapping legislation he says does little to protect Americans' privacy rights. But he’s planning to use every legislative tactic at his disposal to try to block the bill from moving forward.It’s a quixotic strategy that, he said, has already had a degree of success. By joining forces with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to filibuster the legislation this week, the two postponed a final vote on the bill until after senators return from a weeklong break July 7. The delay, Feingold said, will help the bill’s critics...

Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Agents searched Hogan's luggage and then popped an unexpected question: Was he carrying any digital media cards or drives in his pockets? "Then they told me that they were impounding my laptop," says Hogan, a freelance investigative reporter whose recent stories have ranged from the origins of the Iraq war to the impact of money in presidential politics. Shaken by the encounter, Hogan says he left the airport and examined his bags, finding that...

WASHINGTON — The United States and the European Union are nearing completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security agencies to obtain private information — like credit card transactions, travel histories and Internet browsing habits — about people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The potential agreement, as outlined in an internal report obtained by The New York Times, would represent a diplomatic breakthrough for American counterterrorism officials, who have clashed with the European Union over demands for personal data. Europe generally has more stringent laws restricting how governments and businesses can collect and transfer such information....

It's official: Thanks to overwhelming grassroots action, and the heroic efforts of Senators Dodd and Feingold, the Senate's vote on whether to grant phone companies immunity from the law for assisting in the President's illegal wiretapping program has been delayed until after July 4th Recess! This is an unexpected reprieve for civil liberties and the rule of law. As recently as last night, the mainstream press was reporting that the immunity bill would see swift and uncontested approval. Senate Leaders emphasized that passing an immunity bill this week was one of their highest priorities. And yet, in the end, the...

Italy to fingerprint all Roma gipsy children By Malcolm Moore in Rome Last Updated: 9:20PM BST 26/06/2008 Around 80,000 gipsy children are to be fingerprinted by the Italian authorities under a new scheme that has drawn comparisons to the policies of Benito Mussolini. Unicef said it was 'shocked and deeply worried' by Italy's plans to fingerprint all Roma children The Italian government has blamed immigrants, and particularly Roma gipsies, for the country's crime problems. Since Silvio Berlusconi became prime minister in April, gypsy camps in the south and north of the country have been burned by vigilante mobs. The home...

"The removal of anonymity from sperm and egg donors has provoked a crisis in fertility treatment that is denying couples the chance to try for a baby. Infertility therapy with donated sperm has collapsed to the lowest levels since records began, according to the first official figures, seen by The Times, since the Government banned anonymous donation in 2005. The number of women treated with donated sperm fell by about 20 per cent, from 2,727 in 2005 to 2,107 in 2006, the first full year after the change. The number of donor insemination treatment cycles fell by 30 per cent...

Two U.S. senators called on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to back off its assertion that it can search laptops and other electronic devices owned by U.S. citizens returning to the country without the need for reasonable suspicion of a crime or probable cause. Senators Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, and Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, both urged CBP to reconsider its policy that apparently has lead to frequent searches of laptops, digital cameras and handheld devices at borders. "If you asked [U.S. residents] whether the government has a right to open their laptops, read their documents and e-mails,...

suitablegirl writes "As we have discussed, Customs and Border Patrol is allowed to seize and download data from laptops or electronic devices of Americans returning from abroad. At a Senate hearing tomorrow, privacy advocates and industry groups will urge the lawmakers to take action to protect the data and privacy of Americans not guilty of anything besides wanting to go home."

Public surveillance video mushrooms despite lack of evidence it works After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, local governments across the country set aside concerns over privacy and installed surveillance cameras in public streets and plazas. Now — even after a damning report by the head of London’s extensive surveillance network and with little evidence that the systems work — police in many cities are trying to add thousands more cameras to their networks. “‘Cameras Everywhere’ continues to be the best description of the trend in the video surveillance market,” security market analysts J.P. Freeman Co. said in a...

Madison, WI - If you're irked by long waits at the Division of Motor Vehicles, brace yourself. Things could get worse.The state Department of Transportation is asking legislators to approve a funding package today that includes $3.7 million to remodel DMV service centers — much of it to go toward expanding the waiting areas of four centers. Also included in the package is $1.4 million to install or upgrade take-a-number systems at 33 centers because drivers will soon have to make two trips from the waiting area to the service counter. In all, the department is asking lawmakers to release...

Last week, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an employer does not have the right to view employees' text messages without a warrant. The ruling is based primarily on who pays for the storage of the content. For e-mail stored on company's servers, U.S. law is quite clear that employers own the content because they pay for the storage. The Court, however, does not view text messaging in the same way: because employers do not pay for the storage, but instead pay only for the service itself, employers do not have the same legal access to this...

Councils have been urged to stop using controversial surveillance powers for "trivial" offences.CCTV not being used properly Bosses have been warned by the head of the Local Government Association (LGA) that they risk alienating the public for so-called snooping. They may also be stripped of the right to use spying methods. But Sir Simon Milton defended councils that used surveillance to tackle fly tippers, rogue traders and tax and benefit fraudsters. There has been growing anger about the methods used by councils to probe minor crimes, such as dog fouling. The powers were introduced under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers...

Broad, invasive provision touches nearly every aspect of American commerce. ~~~ Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government. *** Call Congress and Tell Them to Oppose The eBay Reporting Provision in the Housing Bill: 1-866-928-3035 *** FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: "This is a provision with...

The airline industry and embassies of 34 countries, including the members of the European Union, are urging the U.S. government to withdraw a plan that would require airlines and cruise lines to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the United States, starting in August 2009. Their opposition could trigger a battle with Congress and the Bush administration, which want the new plan established quickly. Airlines said the change would cost the industry $12.3 billion over 10 years, not $3.5 billion as the Department of Homeland Security estimated in unveiling the proposal in April. Representatives of the nations...

There is a considerable demand for a feature on cell phones that would record conversations. Given today's technology and cheap memory, it would be very easy. Moreover, It would be legal in the approximately 37 states and the Federal government that allow recording of conversations when a person involved in the conversation approves of it. It would be an excellent tool for recording conversations with "customer service" who record us all the time, and for any official or contractual conversations where matters of law might be involved. Manufacturers of cell phones seem to have gone to considerable lengths to insure...

U.S. District Judge F. Bradford Stillman this morning ruled that the College must turn over the names of 20 students suspected of downloading music illegally to the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA plans to sue the students for copyright infringement after they allegedly downloaded music on peer-to-peer music sharing programs such as Limewire. 7 students have already settled independently, paying between $3,000 and $5,000 each. The suit had previously been denied by U.S. District Judge Walter D. Kelley Jr. Kelley recently retired, and the RIAA asked Stillman to overturn his ruling. According to RIAA lawyer Katheryn Coggon, the...

Troy Molde awoke at 3 a.m. Thursday to police flashlights shining in his face. Two uniformed Lakeville officers were in his bedroom, knocking on the wall to wake him up. They were there, they said, to warn him to keep his doors closed and locked. Their surprise visit was part of a public service campaign. Officers had fanned out across the city, leaving notices on doors to remind residents how to prevent thefts by keeping garage doors closed, not leaving valuables in cars and locking windows or doors. But at Molde's house, they went further. His two sons, ages 5...

Senate Housing Bill Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to Report Transactions to the Government Broad, invasive provision touches nearly every aspect of American commerce.Contact:  Adam Brandon Phone:   202-942-7612 Email: abrandon@freedomworks.org Washington, DC -  Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government. Call Congress...

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - One in three information technology professionals abuses administrative passwords to access confidential data such as colleagues' salary details, personal emails or board-meeting minutes, according to a survey. U.S. information security company Cyber-Ark surveyed 300 senior IT professionals, and found that one-third admitted to secretly snooping, while 47 percent said they had accessed information that was not relevant to their role. "All you need is access to the right passwords or privileged accounts and you're privy to everything that's going on within your company," Mark Fullbrook, Cyber-Ark's UK director, said in a statement released along with the survey...

June 19, 2008 Senate Housing Bill Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to Report Transactions to the Government Broad, invasive provision touches nearly every aspect of American commerce. Contact:  Adam Brandon Phone:   (202) 942-7698 Email: abrandon@freedomworks.org Washington, D.C. -  Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to...