CDR: Privacy: Dems criticize GOP, Calif, Australia, and Carnivore
Declan McCullagh
declan at well.com
Wed Oct 25 16:58:02 PDT 2000
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More privacy stuff at: http://www.cluebot.com/search.pl?topic=privacy
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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?
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