personal privacy

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US Senate OKs Spying Bill, Despite Privacy Worries

Bipartisan vote gives thumbs-up to reauthorization of FISA surveillance program

(Newser) - Barely missing its midnight deadline, the Senate voted early Saturday to reauthorize a key US surveillance law after divisions over whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans' data nearly forced the statute to lapse. The legislation approved 60-34 with bipartisan support would extend...

States, Sick of Waiting for Congress, Take on Privacy

Companies worry about patchwork regulations

(Newser) - It's been more than a year since the White House proposed a sweeping new set of consumer privacy regulations, and in that time Congress has done exactly nothing with it. So frustrated state legislatures are taking up the issue instead, the New York Times reports today, highlighting the efforts...

Judge: School Can Make Students Wear Tracking Device
 Judge: School 
 Can Make Students  
 Wear Tracking Device 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 13, 2013 7:00 PM CST

Judge: School Can Make Students Wear Tracking Device

Teen sued after being expelled for refusing

(Newser) - Pencils? Check. Textbooks? Check. Tracking devices? Check. A judge in Texas has ruled against a student who was expelled after she refused to wear a tracking device mandatory for all students at her high school. The case is making its way toward federal courts, but come spring semester Andrea Hernandez,...

FBI Has New Manual—and It Gives Agents More Power

Agency now has more freedom to search trash

(Newser) - A new FBI manual makes it easier for agents to check databases, send out surveillance teams, and rifle through people's trash—often as part of a kind of investigation that gives agents the OK to look into people without having solid evidence that they are involved in terrorist or...

Man Slams Ex for Aborting His Baby—Via Billboard

After his ex-girlfriend allegedly aborted their child, Greg Fultz got drastic

(Newser) - Hell hath no fury like this guy: Greg Fultz lashed out at his ex-girlfriend with a billboard featuring a picture of him holding the outline of an infant reading, "This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our...

Beware: Your Cell Phone Is Watching You

Wireless firms track users' every move

(Newser) - Your cell phone knows when you're sleeping, when you're awake, and whether you prefer air or land travel. German politician Malte Spitz recently took Deutsche Telekom to court to determine exactly how much it knows about his whereabouts, the New York Times reports. Data in hand, he saw that Deutsche...

Your Online Privacy Is Shot —but Don't Sweat It

Time's Joel Stein thinks the benefits of data mining outweigh the costs

(Newser) - It's a fact of modern life: If you go online, know that you're being tracked and that data mining companies are selling bits of information about you—websites you visit, the apps you use, etc.—to any willing buyer. With Congress ready to start hearings next week on ways...

Al-Qaeda Is Punking Us
 Al-Qaeda Is Punking Us 
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
Nov 29, 2010 5:12 PM CST

Al-Qaeda Is Punking Us

US can't handle AQAP's tactics

(Newser) - Can it be that the United States has met its match in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula? The group's lack of a direct hit thus far seems more bad luck than effective counter-terrorism, writes Christopher Hitchens for Slate . In the meantime, AQAP has used our own desire to protect ourselves...

Nov. 24: The Day to Say 'Hell No' to Body Scans

Protest could clog airports on busiest travel day

(Newser) - A group of organizers angry about full-body scans is sticking with its plan to snarl airport congestion on one of the busiest travel days of the year—the day before Thanksgiving. National Opt-Out Day encourages passengers to opt out of the scans and choose the more time-consuming pat-downs instead. The...

What Happens in College Stays in College
 What Happens in 
 College Stays in College 
GAIL COLLINS
Oct 16, 2010 9:25 AM CDT

What Happens in College Stays in College

But not if you're in college at age 40, Christine O'Donnell

(Newser) - Ah, college: That time of experimentation and rebellion—and especially youthful indiscretions, most of which oughtn't be fodder for debate when indiscreet youths grow up and run for political office, writes Gail Collins in the New York Times. "Nothing anyone did in college short of a felony should count...

Zuckerberg Hates Privacy, So Gawker Invades His
 Zuckerberg 
 Hates Privacy, 
 So Gawker 
 Invades His 
in case you missed it
Aug 1, 2010 3:35 PM CDT

Zuckerberg Hates Privacy, So Gawker Invades His

Young billionaire gets the 'paparazzi treatment'

(Newser) - Because Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg isn't a huge fan of others' privacy , Gawker is testing how he feels about his own. A photographer followed him around Silicon Valley for a week to give him the "paparazzi treatment," snapping photos of him hanging out with friends and family and, all...

Germany Goes After Facebook Over Privacy Law

'Friend Finder' could get the social networking site a hefty fine

(Newser) - Facebook faces legal action in Germany over the nation's strict privacy laws, Monsters and Critics reports. A privacy commissioner has charged that the site's "Friend Finder" breaks German law. The software looks at the address books of users and sends emails to friends asking them to join Facebook. That...

TSA Body Scan Quick, Modest, Easy
 TSA Body Scan 
 Quick, Modest, Easy 
FIRST PERSON
Mar 15, 2010 1:45 PM CDT

TSA Body Scan Quick, Modest, Easy

Writer would take scan over pat-down, rubber gloves any day

(Newser) - Going through security at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, passengers have the choice of a pat-down or a walk through a full body scanner, and Jon Hilkevitch is going “with the touch-less scan every time.” He took a spin through a checkpoint equipped with the newly installed machines,...

Virginia Debates: Are Human Microchips Sign of Antichrist?

Virginia bill would ban involuntary use for privacy, fate of world

(Newser) - These aren't the best of times, but the state legislature in Virginia is debating whether they might be end times. The involuntary implantation of microchips in people might be the biblical “mark of the beast,” a Virginia state legislator contends, and should be outlawed. Now, “I’m...

Facebook Beefs Up Privacy Protection

Canadian concerns prompt changes in how apps get info

(Newser) - In response to criticism by the Canadian government, Facebook is enacting far-reaching changes in how third-party applications gain access to personal data, TechCrunch reports. Currently, Facebook applications ask users once, upon installation, for approval to access personal information. Under the new rules, the apps will have to ask repeatedly as...

Google Will Censor Street View in Germany

People's personal data will be blocked by request

(Newser) - Google has bowed to German privacy concerns and will censor its Street View program to block out faces, house numbers, and license plates of people opting out of the service. The company’s panoramic mapping service has faced opposition as it expands worldwide, the AP reports. When it launches in...

Google Removes Naked Kids From London Street View

Toddlers identifiable in controversial Street View map feature

(Newser) - As mounting privacy concerns hit Google's new Street View service in the UK, the company has removed pictures of naked children playing outdoors in London. The British government is considering launching an investigation if officials determine that Google has made other images of naked children available to internet users, reports...

Court: UK's DNA Database Violates Privacy Rights

(Newser) - A European human-rights court has ruled that Britain has gotten a little too Big Brotherish in its effort to build a DNA database of its citizens. The court ruled that the UK has no right to keep DNA evidence from criminal suspects who are later cleared, the Guardian reports. The...

Brits Say Errant Flash Drive Jeopardized Data of 12M

Gov't system shut after find in parking garage

(Newser) - UK ministers shut down a government computer system after a memory stick containing sensitive personal data was found in a parking garage, reports the Daily Mail. The government insists the system hasn’t been breached, but an expert says the blunder jeopardizes the security of 12 million people. “The...

Hey Dummy, Think Before You Post That Pic

From work dodging firemen to jail happy juniors, some things should not be shared

(Newser) - A picture may have been worth a thousand words before Facebook and YouTube came along, but in the Internet age the price can be much steeper for going public with one’s—er—privates. PC World presents 12 online photos that cost their owners dearly:
  • “A defense attorney’s
...

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