Tag Archive | CDT
April 9, 2012  

Drone Reading Roundup (Updated)

Disclaimer: These links were collected and accessed on April 8, 2012. This list is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather is a short bibliography of recent articles on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV/ sUAV) and drones, with a primary focus on the legal and policy issues surrounding their use within the United States.

FAA LEGISLATION AND REGULATION OF DRONES

  • Conference Report on H.R. 658, FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2012, Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 16 (February 1, 2012), House of Representatives, Pages H230 – H304, Posted to FAS Website: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2012/02/faa-uas.html

VIDEOS

REFERENCES

Read More…

June 28, 2011  

Privacy in Europe and the United States: I Know It When I See It | Center for Democracy & Technology

by Omer Tene, Center for Democracy and Technology Website, June 27, 2011

This post is part of “CDT Fellows Focus,” a series that presents the views of notable experts on tech policy issues. This week, CDT Fellow Omer Tene is our guest contributor. Posts featured in “CDT Fellows Focus” don’t necessarily reflect the views of CDT; the goal of the series is to present diverse, well-informed views on significant tech policy issues.

There is a great deal of cross-Atlantic harmony with respect to fundamental legal concepts. A contract is a contract in both the United States and France; it is formed by offer and acceptance, and awards specific performance or damages upon breach. Likewise, a tort is a breach of a civil duty; and a corporation a distinct legal entity. Yet when it comes to privacy, the cross-Atlantic harmony breaks down. While the psychological need for and social value of privacy are universal, legal and societal privacy norms diverge to the extent that we must ask whether we are speaking about the same thing. …

For full text of the article visit Privacy in Europe and the United States: I Know It When I See It | Center for Democracy & Technology.

Related articles
May 9, 2011  

Hearing on Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smarthphones, Tablets, Cellphones and Your Privacy

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, has scheduled a hearing entitled “Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy” :

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 226
10:00 a.m.

Panel I

Jessica Rich
Deputy Director
Bureau of Consumer Protection
Federal Trade Commission
Washington, DC

Jason Weinstein
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Criminal Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Washington, DC

Panel II

Justin Brookman
Director, Project on Consumer Privacy
Center for Democracy and Technology
Washington, DC

Alan Davidson
Director of Public Policy, Americas
Google Inc.
Washington, DC

Ashkan Soltani
Independent Researcher and Consultant
Washington, DC

Guy L. “Bud” Tribble
Vice President of Software Technology
Apple Inc.
Cupertino, CA

Jonathan Zuck
President
Association for Competitive Technology
Washington, DC

Related articles
February 7, 2011  

Recommendations for a Comprehensive Privacy Protection Framework | Center for Democracy & Technology

Recommendations for a Comprehensive Privacy Protection Framework

 

A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties from The Center For Democracy and Technology, February 4, 2011.

 

1) Baseline Privacy Legislation Needed

2) Safe Harbor Coregulatory Approach to Consumer Privacy Legislation

3) Rulemaking Authority for the Federal Trade Commission

4) Contours for Baseline Privacy Legislation

5) Innovation Needed for “Do Not Track,” But Not Complete Solution

The Commerce Department‘s Internet Policy Taskforce released a “Green Paper” outlining a proposal for a new privacy framework and asked the public to comment on the substance of the paper.  CDT believes the paper is an important first toward establishing a long overdue comprehensive privacy protection framework in the United States.  This Policy Post outlines the recommendations CDT submitted in response to the paper.

This Policy Post is online: http://cdt.org/policy/recommendations-comprehensive-privacy-protection-framework

Full text of the article via Recommendations for a Comprehensive Privacy Protection Framework | Center for Democracy & Technology.

Related Articles
October 25, 2010  

Joint Comments on Proposed Smart Grid Privacy Policies and Procedures

Source: Center for Democracy and Technology, October 15, 2010

The Smart Grid promises great benefits to consumers and the environment, including lowered energy costs, increased usage of environmentally friendly power sources, and enhanced security against attack and outage.  At the same time, however, the Smart Grid presents new privacy threats through its enhanced collection and transmission of detailed consumption data – data that can reveal intimate details about activities within the home and that can easily be transmitted from one party to another.

Both the Commission and parties to this proceeding have agreed that a full set of “Fair Information Practice” principles, as previously outlined by CDT and EFF, is the best framework to adopt in order to protect consumers. Adopting rules based on the full set of FIPs is particularly important now, in light of a growing national consensus that consumer privacy is not adequately protected by mere “notice and choice.”

In these comments, we articulate a clear, concise set of policies and procedures that implement or “operationalize” the full set of FIPs for the Smart Grid. We respectfully encourage the Commission to require these policies and procedures of all regulable Smart Grid entities. CDT and EFF are interested in working with all parties on these proposed rules, and we invite other parties to offer suggestions for improvement or to express support for our framework.

See also CDT webpage that links to multiple articles on this topic.

See also related blog postings:

Related Articles

June 18, 2008  

Support for Updating the U.S. Federal Privacy Act

 

In testimony today before the Senate Government Affairs Committee, the Center for Technology and Democracy (CDT) called on Congress and the Executive Branch to work together on closing well-known gaps in the aging Privacy Act. Although the Act provides several privacy benefits, it has not kept pace with technology, CDT said.  In its testimony, CDT made several recommendations consistent with those outlined by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

 

On a side note, Google apparently supports a federal privacy law. As reported by Reuters and published today in eWeek.com,  Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote to Google in May asking for details on the it’s privacy practices after its merger with DoubleClick. Google responded,

“Google supports the adoption of a comprehensive federal privacy law that would accomplish several goals such as building consumer trust and protections; creating a uniform framework for privacy, which would create consistent levels of privacy from one jurisdiction to another; and putting penalties in place to punish and dissuade bad actors,” the letter said. It was signed by Alan Davidson, Google’s chief lobbyist. …

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, was skeptical of Google’s endorsement of a federal privacy law. Rotenberg said that when companies push for a “comprehensive” law, they often want something that would preempt more stringent state laws.

“We do not want the states to have their hands tied,” he said Rotenberg, citing California and New York as examples of states with tough privacy laws.

For more information, see EPIC’s article Privacy? Proposed Google DoubleClick Deal, last updated June 3, 2008.

 

For Bob Schneier’s call for a U.S. comprehensive privacy law, see posting on May 19, 2008.