New York newspaper defends identifying and mapping gun owners

By Katie Glueck, Politico, December 26, 2012

A suburban New York newspaper on Wednesday defended a decision to publish online maps that reveal names and addresses of people with gun licenses in several counties near New York City. … Over the weekend, the White Plains-based Journal News offered interactive maps of Westchester and Rockland counties which gave names and locations of people with pistol permits that the paper had obtained through the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The piece sparked uproar on the right and among some readers this week.

For full text of the article, please visit: New York newspaper defends identifying gun owners – Katie Glueck – POLITICO.com. Click here to see the interactive Map of the gun permits in Westchester county, NY.

Related Articles:

•  See also the Atlantic Op-ed “How Big Data Can Solve America’s Gun Problem” (Marc Parish, December 27, 2012).

• Newspaper to Identify Even More Gun Owners (fox8.com)
• Blogger Turns Tables on Newspaper that Published Map of Gun Owners (economicpolicyjournal.com)
• Newspaper’s Advertisers Face Huge Backlash Over Gun Map (huffingtonpost.com)

How Technology Is Testing the Fourth Amendment

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Digits, Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2011

The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures” – but what does that mean when it comes to techniques that use technology rather than a physical search that is easy to see? In many ways, it remains unclear. But there a few key issues that courts have been considering lately when it comes to this question. First up: whether the activity being observed by the technology is outside or inside a person’s house. …

For full text of the article, visit: How Technology Is Testing the Fourth Amendment – Digits – WSJ.

Related articles

• How Technology Is Testing the Fourth Amendment (blogs.wsj.com)
• Second Circuit Divides 6 – 6 on Rehearing Standing Case to Challenge FISA Amendments Act (volokh.com)
• No Right to Anonymity (nytimes.com)

Federal Legislation Introduced Regarding Geolocation Information

Daren M. Orzechowski, Allison M. Dodd, Imtiaz Yakub, White & Case, LLC, September 2011

The collection, use and disclosure of geolocation information [(i.e., geographic location)] obtained from customers’ mobile devices has become commonplace among mobile phone providers and third party application developers. … Current federal law allows companies to collect and share this information with third parties without the need to obtain consent from their customers. … In response to these privacy concerns, two federal bills, the Location Privacy Protection Act (“LPPA”) and the Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act (“GPS Act”), were recently introduced. If enacted, this legislation would restrict the collection and use by non-governmental entities (and, in the case of the LPPA only, governmental entities including law enforcement agencies) of geolocation information collected by mobile devices without consumer consent. …

For full text of the article, visit White & Case LLP – Publications – Federal Legislation Introduced Regarding Geolocation Information.

Related articles

• Federal Geolocation Bills Differ on Scope and Damages (Guest Blog Post) (ericgoldman.org)
• Geolocation explained – a quick screencast (hacks.mozilla.org)
• One Little Foursquare Privacy Change Now Makes a Big Difference (readwriteweb.com)

FBI’s ‘Stingray’ Cellphone Tracker Stirs a Fight Over Search Warrants, Fourth Amendment – WSJ.com

By JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES, Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2011

For more than a year, federal authorities pursued a man they called simply “the Hacker.” Only after using a little known cellphone-tracking device—a stingray—were they able to zero in on a California home and make the arrest. Stingrays are designed to locate a mobile phone even when it’s not being used to make a call. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the devices to be so critical that it has a policy of deleting the data gathered in their use, mainly to keep suspects in the dark about their capabilities, an FBI official told The Wall Street Journal in response to inquiries.

For full text, visit FBI’s ‘Stingray’ Cellphone Tracker Stirs a Fight Over Search Warrants, Fourth Amendment – WSJ.com.

Related articles

• ‘Stingray’ Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash (online.wsj.com)
• Tech Today: Phone Tracker Tests Fourth Amendment (blogs.wsj.com)
• Keeping ‘Stingrays’ Secret Makes Case Tougher for Prosecutors (blogs.wsj.com)
• How Technology Is Testing the Fourth Amendment (blogs.wsj.com)
• The StingRay Is The Virtually Unknown Device the Government Uses to Track You Through Your Phone [Privacy] (gizmodo.com)

Another Court Dismisses for Lack of Standing in iPhone Application and Privacy Litigation

by Bret Cohen, HL Chronicle of Data Protection, September 23, 2011

Summary: The trend towards dismissal for lack of standing in privacy cases where no concrete harm is alleged continues.  On a motion to dismiss, a group of consolidated privacy lawsuits against Apple and others in the Northern District of California have been dismissed for lack of standing due to the absence of any allegation of concrete injury.  The court rejected attempts to invent new damage theories and while leave to re-file was granted, the court made clear the high standards of pleading required for standing and also highlighted the other pleading defects in the case that would be disabling were the plaintiffs to try again. For full text of article, visit:

Another Court Dismisses for Lack of Standing a Group of Privacy Cases Where Plaintiffs Failed to Allege Concrete Harm; Other Defects Noted : HL Chronicle of Data Protection.

Court: Some data on government cell phone tracking should be public – CNN.com

By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer, September, 2011

Washington (CNN) — Information about how and when the government gathers and uses cell phone location data to track certain criminal suspects should be made available to the public, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. At issue was whether the Justice Department could be forced to release once-sensitive records from past cases, following a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the public’s interest outweighed any privacy concerns raised by the government over their warrantless wiretapping.

For full text of article, visit: Court: Some data on government cell phone tracking should be public – CNN.com.

Related articles

• Court: Make some phone tracking data public (cnn.com)
• FOIA Victory Will Shed More Light on Warrantless Tracking of Cell Phones (eff.org)
• Silicon Alley Insider: The Government Just Admitted For The First Time It Is Using Cell Phone Data To Track Your Location (businessinsider.com)
• Government Must Reveal Cellphone Tracking, Court Rules (techdailydose.nationaljournal.com)

Political Repression 2.0 – NYTimes.com

by Evgeny Morozov, NYT, September 1, 2011

AGENTS of the East German Stasi could only have dreamed of the sophisticated electronic equipment that powered Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s extensive spying apparatus, which the Libyan transitional government uncovered earlier this week. The monitoring of text messages, e-mails and online chats — no communications seemed beyond the reach of the eccentric colonel. What is even more surprising is where Colonel Qaddafi got his spying gear: software and technology companies from France, South Africa and other countries. … Amid the cheerleading over recent events in the Middle East, it’s easy to forget the more repressive uses of technology. …

For full text of the op-ed, visit Political Repression 2.0 – NYTimes.com.

Related articles

• Op-Ed Contributor: Political Repression 2.0 (nytimes.com)

Five Location-Tracking Rights You Should Demand – Informationweek

Thanks to Kevin Pomfret for passing this one along:

By Robert Strohmeyer, InformationWeek, September 02, 2011 09:15 AM

… Location data ranks among the most personal types of information our devices can reveal about us, with the potential to expose where we work, where live, where we drop our kids off for school. As users, we have a right to protect that data from interlopers, including the companies that supply our mobile devices and services. Here are five basic rights that all users should demand from manufacturers and carriers that offer location-aware devices. …

For full text of the article and the five rights, visit 5 Location-Tracking Rights You Should Demand – Mobility – Smartphones – Informationweek.

Related articles

• 5 Location-Tracking Rights You Should Demand (informationweek.com)

Congressional Hearing: “Internet Privacy: The Impact and Burden of EU Regulation”

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Internet Privacy: The Impact and Burden of EU Regulation

Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade
House Commerce Committee

Date: September 15, 2011
Time: 9:30 a.m – 1:00 pm

 

Location: Room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, 45 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC, 20515, United States

Webinar on Geospatial Privacy

Webinar
Geospatial Privacy: Why You Should Know About it and How it Can be Handled

• English Webinar: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 – 1:30 PM (Eastern Daylight Time)
• French Webinar: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 – 1:30 PM (Eastern Daylight Time)

Webinar Overview
The GeoConnections Program invites you to learn about and discuss emerging issues in geospatial privacy and how these issues can be handled. GeoConnections has conducted a number of studies and supported the development of guidelines related to geospatial privacy. This webinar session will introduce Geospatial Privacy Awareness and Risk Management – Guide for Federal Agencies, a March 2010 guideline that was created to be widely applicable to not only the federal public sector but other levels of government, the private sector, the academic sector, non-governmental organizations, and the general public. In addition, you will learn about other recent GeoConnections work on this topic, including:

• International Comparative Analysis of Geospatial Information Privacy, March 2010 – an overview of how other leading nations in the implementation of spatial data infrastructure are dealing with geospatial privacy issues
• Research Related to Privacy and the Use of Geospatial Information, November 2009 – the results of public opinion research in Canada related to the implications of geospatial privacy
• A Manager’s Guide to Public Health Geomatics , February 2010 – overview of privacy issues in public health geomatics
• Anonymizing Geospatial Data, 2010 – introduction to web-based tools for anonymizing geospatial data (i.e., preventing the identification of individuals)
• Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure Operational Policies Needs Analysis – Privacy, March 2011 – results of the recent analysis of the need for operational policy instruments in this area

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) will also speak about their work related to geospatial privacy…. If you would like to participate, please click here to register for this webinar. If you would like more information, please contact Kim Stephens by e-mail at kims [at] hickling [dot] ca, or by telephone at 613-237-2220, ext. 205.