********* More privacy stuff at: http://www.cluebot.com/search.pl?topic=privacy ********* http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/25/2351218&mode=nested Democrats Criticize Census Data Sharing posted by cicero on Wednesday October 25, @06:49PM from the hypocritcal-congresscritters-so-what-else-is-new dept. David Sobel of EPIC just sent us a letter that a pair of Democratic legislators are circulating on Capitol Hill. Turns out they want to stop a Republican plan to share some Census data with other government agencies. The opposition from Carolyn Maloney and John Dingell is certainly welcome, but it's important to realize that this is a simple partisan manuevering. While they piously bleat that "Congress should be protecting personal privacy," neither voted for privacy-protective measures when they had the chance, according to a Wired News scorecard. The letter, dated October 25: http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/25/2351218&mode=nested http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/24/226242&mode=nested CIX: E-mail Headers Aren't Legal Carnivore Fodder posted by protozoa on Tuesday October 24, @04:38PM from the slippery-slope-vs-vertical-slope dept. The Commercial Internet Exchange Association has published this white paper (PDF format) arguing that e-mail headers shouldn't legally be considered the same thing as telephone numbers dialed. Why is that important? Because according to the paper's introduction,"[t]hrough programs like "Carnivore," the government seeks real-time access to the e-mail addresses and other transactional elements of e-mail communications under the low "pen register" standard used to trace the digits dialed on a telephone,". It's a tricky legal distinction, but a very important one -- such a finding in court could cut the FBI's net surveillance plans off at the knees. I've included the paper's introduction below. The CIX introduction (in HTML): http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/24/226242&mode=nested http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/21/1517258&mode=nested California Creates State Privacy Office posted by protozoa on Saturday October 21, @09:58AM from the you-said-what-to-who? dept. According to this press release, California Governor Gray Davis signed twenty bills yesterday tailored to protect privacy and other consumer interests for state residents. Most noteworthy of these bills is SB 129, which creates the first-ever statewide Office of Privacy Protection under California's Department of Consumer Affairs. Other new laws include and procedural assistance for identity theft victims and new consumer "opt-out" reqirements for credit bureaus. Dan Gillmor wrote a column about identity theft and privacy protection in California back in March, expressing his support for two stronger and more far-reaching bills in this arena. Neither of them were among those passed. http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/21/1421235&mode=nested Australian Privacy Legislation Inches Forward posted by protozoa on Saturday October 21, @09:07AM from the privacy-privacy-oi-oi-oi dept. An Australian Senate committee has produced a set of recommendations (in PDF form) governing private corporations' data collection practices. The bill is scheduled to be considered during the coming session. The Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Bill 2000 aims to update regulations in light of the "dramatic developments in information technology and data communication practices" since the passage of the Privacy Act in 1988. The recommendations include an exemption for small businesses (except in instances where medical information is involved) and a strategy for accordance with the European Data Directive. Electronic Frontiers Australia called the bill "complex, unwieldy, ineffective and an insult to the citizens of Australia" in its testimony in May, citing numerous loopholes and inadequate enforcement provisions. Many of their concerns appear to have been ignored. ABC (that's A for Australian) ran a brief piece on Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams' support of the bill. As it says at the bottom of the box: Post your comments below. Can any privacy legislation better than none? Is ineffectual privacy legislation worse than none?