Hearsay: Social media remorse

Oct 1, 2013 9:00 AM CDT

Spies’ love interests have been snooped on for non-security reasons, NSA inspector general admits

In the past decade, there have been 12 proven instances of National Security Agency representatives intentionally misusing surveillance tools for personal reasons, the agency admitted this month. The conduct involves snooping on girlfriends, husbands and first dates, Slate reports. NSA Inspector Gen. George Ellard released the information in a Sept.…

Sep 27, 2013 6:30 PM CDT

Scalia: Courts will decide legitimacy of NSA surveillance programs, but may be least equipped

Courts will determine the legality of National Security Agency surveillance programs, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Wednesday. And in his opinion, that may not be a good thing. Speaking before the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Associated Press reports, Scalia mentioned the Supreme Court expanding privacy rights in the…

Sep 26, 2013 6:42 PM CDT

Suit seeks secret indictment in JonBenet Ramsey case

A newspaper reporter and a press advocacy group have filed suit seeking release of a secret grand jury indictment in the JonBenet Ramsey case. The suit was filed on Wednesday by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and by Charlie Brennan, a reporter for the Boulder Daily Camera,…

Sep 20, 2013 3:08 PM CDT

Surveillance court releases new opinion upholding NSA collection of phone data

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has released an opinion upholding the constitutionality of the phone data collection program by the National Security Agency. The opinion, dated Aug. 29 and written by U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan of the Northern District of Oklahoma, said metadata that includes phone numbers, time and…

Sep 18, 2013 3:04 PM CDT

FBI has become a ‘secret domestic intelligence agency,’ ACLU report says

FBI powers have increased so much over the past 12 years that the bureau has become a “secret domestic intelligence agency,” according to a report to be released on Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union. Changes in law and policy since the Sept. 11 attacks have “unleashed the FBI…

Sep 17, 2013 11:56 AM CDT

Lawyer who used shoe-mounted video camera to film up women’s skirts gets 6-month suspension

A Pennsylvania lawyer who used a shoe-mounted video camera to film up women’s skirts has been suspended for six months, followed by three years of probation. Clayton William Boulware of Lafayette Hill had already pleaded guilty to two counts of invasion of privacy, for which he had been placed on…

Sep 12, 2013 6:21 PM CDT

FTC examines Facebook’s facial-recognition feature as a privacy violation

Facebook’s “Tag Suggest,” which uses facial-recognition technology to match faces in photos with users’ names, is being examined by the Federal Trade Commission to determine whether it violates the site’s privacy policy. Tag Suggest drew criticism from privacy advocates, Reuters reports. In 2011, Facebook entered into an agreement with the…

Sep 12, 2013 5:01 PM CDT

Horn-honking is ‘small town terrorism,’ says man in suit against 40 neighbors

An Ohio man is suing 40 of his neighbors for allegedly honking their car horns near his home. Garrick Krlich of Hubbard contends that the horn-honking constitutes harassment, WKBN.com reports. Krlich has a website where he posts police reports and civil protection orders he’s filed, along with a dramatic retelling…

Sep 11, 2013 6:12 PM CDT

Which companies are best at keeping your personal info private?

What are the United States’ most privacy friendly businesses, Forbes asks? That’s difficult to define, according to the piece, but Twitter, Salesforce and AmEx get high marks. Criteria considered included whether the companies are transparent about how they use personal data they’ve collected; if they’ve suffered data breaches; and whether…

Sep 11, 2013 4:30 PM CDT

‘Disturbing’ smiley face email request by Dickstein Shapiro lobbyist is revealed by Darrell Issa

Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, released an email by a Dickstein Shapiro lobbyist on Tuesday and proclaimed it “disturbing.” The email, sent to a congressional staffer, ended with a smiley face emoticon, but that wasn’t the reason for Issa’s ire. It had a request…

Sep 11, 2013 1:28 PM CDT

NSA ‘systematically violated’ safeguards for phone surveillance program, declassified opinion says

The National Security Agency “systematically violated” a surveillance court’s privacy safeguards for almost three years in searches of phone records, according to a declassified 2009 opinion released on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, now presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, set limits on the program in the…

Sep 11, 2013 12:16 PM CDT

Privacy class action regarding Google Street View can go forward, 9th Circuit says

A privacy class-action lawsuit, which argues that Google Street View violated the Wiretap Act because it collected data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, can go forward, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The opinion affirms a U.S. district court ruling denying a motion to dismiss the…

Sep 10, 2013 9:21 PM CDT

Lawyer wins court order for confidential Boy Scout files that may reveal extent of sexual abuse

Confidential files produced in connection with a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America may shed new light on the extent of the organization’s sexual abuse problem. The files have been turned over to lawyers for a former Scout who is suing the organization and a former scoutmaster who is…

Sep 10, 2013 8:06 PM CDT

NRA brief supports ACLU suit challenging dragnet surveillance

The National Rifle Association has filed an amicus brief supporting a legal challenge to government collection of phone call records. The NRA brief (PDF) supports the suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, citing fears that the data collected could be used to create an illegal registry of gun…

Sep 5, 2013 3:57 PM CDT