Kozinski: The Fourth Amendment Is Dying, and We Are the Killers

The Fourth Amendment is “all but obsolete” in a world where corporations track our store purchases, online companies save our account information, and smartphones reveal our geographic location. That’s the conclusion of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He and his law…

Jul 1, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

Debt Be Not Proud: Unpunctual Payors Bristle at Collectors’ Tacky Tactics

Jul 1, 2011 5:20 AM CDT

Supreme Court to Decide Right to Damages for HIV-Positive Pilot Who Sued for Privacy Violation

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a person who suffers no financial losses can recover damages under a Watergate-era privacy law. The case could determine the scope of the 1974 Privacy Act, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. James Wood, the lawyer for plaintiff Stanmore Cooper, told the…

Jun 21, 2011 2:55 PM CDT

Conn. AG Raises Concerns Over Facebook’s Face Recognition

Amid growing concern by advocacy groups that Facebook’s “tag suggestions” face-recognition feature may compromise consumer privacy, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen has requested a meeting with officials at the social media giant. Although billed as a device to promote photo sharing and tagging among its users, the feature may have…

Jun 17, 2011 7:05 PM CDT

New FBI Manual Gives Agents More Leeway for Database and Trash Searches

The FBI is set to release its new domestic investigations manual with revisions that give agents greater powers, including greater leeway to search databases. Former FBI agent Michael German, now a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the New York Times he feared the revisions raise the potential…

Jun 13, 2011 12:17 PM CDT

Media Frenzy Over 24,000 Palin Emails Released Today

Dozens of reporters flooded a state office building in Juneau today to cart away banker’s boxes stuffed with nearly 24,000 pages of emails released by Alaska state officials from former Gov. Sarah Palin’s administration. In a highly anticipated move—and now a top trend on Twitter—the release follows Freedom of Information…

Jun 10, 2011 8:51 PM CDT

EU Regulators Cast Wary Eye on New Facebook ‘Tag Suggestions’ Photo Facial Recognition Feature

A new Facebook feature that automatically offers “Tag Suggestions” about identifying individuals in photos is being scrutinized by European Union data-protection regulators concerned that it could violate privacy rules, reports Bloomberg. “Tags of people on pictures should only happen based on people’s prior consent and it can’t be activated by…

Jun 8, 2011 4:30 PM CDT

Google Warns Gmail Users, Says China-Based Hackers are Reading High-Profile Content

Likely due to their falling for phishing schemes, a number of Gmail users are subject to having their email read by China-based hackers, Google Inc. is warning. In an Official Google Blog post today alerting Gmail users to be careful about security, the company says it has detected such schemes…

Jun 1, 2011 11:05 PM CDT

Tens of Thousands of Pacer Documents Could Have Failed Redactions, Study Suggests

Those black boxes used to hide redacted information in court documents filed with Pacer don’t always work, according to a study that suggests tens of thousands of the online filings may have failed redactions. Timothy Lee, a PhD candidate in computer science at Princeton, conducted the study. He found 194…

May 31, 2011 10:10 AM CDT

Lawsuit: Aaron’s Rental Co. Laptops Can Track Users’ Keystrokes and Screenshots, Take Webcam Photos

Updated: A couple who purchased a laptop computer from an Aaron’s Rental Co. store in Casper, Wyo., has filed a federal lawsuit seeking class action status against the 1,500-outlet North American chain. It contends that Aaron’s equipped all of the computers it rented, and sometimes sold, to customers with a…

May 3, 2011 8:34 PM CDT

Suit Says Facebook Violates NY Law When Minors ‘Like’ Products Without Parents’ OK

A federal lawsuit filed today in Brooklyn, N.Y., contends Facebook Inc. is violating state advertising law by allowing minors to “like” products on the social networking site without getting parental permission. The action seeks damages under a state civil rights law that bans using an individual’s likeness for advertising purposes…

May 2, 2011 10:45 PM CDT

Emerging Technologies at Odds with Long-Held Privacy Tenets

May 1, 2011 9:09 AM CDT

‘Sext’ Education: States Look for Ways to Chastise Teens for Bawdy Cellphone Shots

May 1, 2011 7:50 AM CDT

Apple Customers Sue over Location Data; Illinois AG Seeks More Information

Two Apple customers have sued the technology giant over its recording of location data on iPhones and iPads. The suit filed in federal court in Tampa on Friday claims the data violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, according to the Wired blog Gadget Lab. The suit claims the mobile…

Apr 26, 2011 12:04 PM CDT

Justices to Consider if Ban on Sale of Computerized Prescription Records Violates First Amendment

Does a law that bars pharmacies from selling prescription information to drug marketers violate a right to free speech? The U.S. Supreme Court will consider that question in oral arguments Tuesday. Drugmakers use the information, which includes the patients’ age and sex but not their names, when their sales representatives…

Apr 26, 2011 10:30 AM CDT