Requests for health data by insurer raise questions

In a story reported by the Hartford Courant, a series of requests for health records sent to Connecticut doctors by Ingenix have garnered attention both for the nature of the requests and the manner in which…

Latest US-EU privacy divergence: pictures of your house

The “street view” feature of Google maps is proving to be yet another example of innovative uses of new technology raising legal and ethical questions about personal privacy, and of differing perspectives on just what is…

European Commission focuses attention on Facebook privacy practices

In a public expression of concern (or actually as reported, astonishment) over Facebook’s December changes in privacy policy, default user privacy settings, and the set of user information always made public, European Commissioner for Information Society…

FBI seeking Web browsing records for criminal investigations

At a public meeting of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Online Safety and Technology Working Group last week, representatives from the FBI argued that in order to facilitate potential criminal investigations such as child pornography,…

There’s a lot to think about from FTC privacy roundtables

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now completed two of its three scheduled roundtable discussions as part of the “Exploring Privacy” series. The focus of these sessions is to raise and discuss issues, not to try…

House passes new cybersecurity legislation

Today the U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously (422-5) to pass the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009, which becomes the first and only bill actually passed among the many security-related bills under consideration in both…

Federal courts again dismiss claims related to NSA warrantless wiretapping

In the latest setback for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and its efforts to hold the National Security Agency accountable for its mass surveillance of phone calls and emails, a federal district court dismissed with prejudice two…