Saturday, December 10, 2005

Crime Database Often Wrong on Immigration, Study Finds - New York Times More than 8,000 people have been mistakenly tagged for immigration violations as a result of the Bush administration's strategy of entering the names of thousands of immigrants in a national crime database meant to help apprehend terrorism suspects, according to a study released on Thursday. The study, conducted by the Migration Policy Institute, a research group in Washington, relied on statistics released by the Department of Homeland Security that covered 2002 to 2004. The study found that the national crime database was wrong in 42 percent of the cases in which it identified immigrants stopped by the local police as being wanted by domestic security officials. Many immigration violations, like overstaying a visa, are civil infractions, not criminal offenses typically handled by the police. But since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, domestic security officials have worked to encourage states and localities to help enforce immigration laws by adding the names of thousands of violators - like immigrants evading deportation orders - to the F.B.I. crime database. The statistics seem likely to fuel the debate over the program, which has been hailed by some as an important tool in the war on terror and criticized by immigration advocates who fear that it will focus attention on ordinary immigrants suspected of violating civil immigration laws, not terrorists. 12:24:24 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

New Canadian Voice in Digital Rights Issues: Online Rights Canada | Digital Copyright Canada Online Rights Canada Launches with EFF, CIPPIC Support Toronto - Online Rights Canada (ORC) launched in Canada Friday, giving Canadians a new voice in critical technology and information policy issues. The grassroots organization is jointly supported by the Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "Canadians are realizing in ever-greater numbers that the online world offers tremendous opportunities for learning, communicating, and innovating, but that those opportunities are at risk as a result of corporate practices, government policies and legal regimes that hinder online privacy and free speech," said Philippa Lawson, Executive Director and General Counsel of CIPPIC. "Online Rights Canada provides a home on the Internet for grassroots activism on digital issues that are important to ordinary Canadians." "With the Canadian government preparing for a January election, all of last year's legislation is back on the drawing board. Canadians now have another chance to present a public interest perspective on issues like copyright reform and increased government surveillance," said Ren Bucholz, EFF's Policy Coordinator, Americas. "We are happy to be launching ORC at such a critical time." 12:21:48 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Verizon Touts Legal Privacy Victory - 12/9/2005 - Wireless Week Verizon Wireless is claiming another consumer privacy court victory after its request for permanent injunctions were granted against two telemarketing firms that the carrier had charged were contacting its customers illegally. When the suit was filed in September, Verizon alleged Intelligent Alternatives of San Diego, Calif., and Resort Marketing Trends of Coral Springs, Fla., were in violation of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act as well as state laws. Verizon filed the Intelligent Alternatives suit in the Superior Court of Sacramento and the Resort Marketing suit in Superior Court in Somerville, N.J. 12:19:35 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Chicago Tribune | What to do about a digital tattletale? Most Americans carry cellular phones, but many might not know that government agencies can track their movements through signals emanating from the handset. In recent years, law-enforcement officials have turned to cellular technology as a tool for easily and secretly monitoring the movements of suspects. But this kind of surveillance, which investigators have been able to conduct with easily obtained court orders, has come under tougher legal scrutiny. Three federal judges recently have denied prosecutors the right to get cell phone tracking information from wireless companies without first showing "probable cause" to believe a crime has been or is being committed. That is the same standard applied to requests for search warrants. The rulings, issued by magistrate judges in New York, Texas and Maryland, underscore the growing debate over privacy rights and government surveillance in the digital age. With mobile phones becoming as prevalent as conventional phones, law-enforcement agencies want to exploit the phones' tracking capabilities. That means more courts are bound to wrestle with finding a legal standard that applies to tracking. 12:16:58 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Sony Repents Over CD Debacle. Sony Repents Over CD Debacle. schnikies79 writes "Sony BMG is rethinking its anti-piracy policy following weeks of criticism over the copy protection used on CDs. The head of Sony BMG's global digital business, Thomas Hesse, told the BBC that the company was 're-evaluating' its current methods. This follows widespread condemnation of the way anti-piracy software on some Sony CDs installs itself on computers. The admission came as Sony faced more censure over the security failings of one of its copy protection programs." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 12:01:23 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Live Tracking of Mobile Phones Prompts Court Fights on Privacy - New York Times Most Americans carry cellphones, but many may not know that government agencies can track their movements through the signals emanating from the handset. In recent years, law enforcement officials have turned to cellular technology as a tool for easily and secretly monitoring the movements of suspects as they occur. But this kind of surveillance - which investigators have been able to conduct with easily obtained court orders - has now come under tougher legal scrutiny. In the last four months, three federal judges have denied prosecutors the right to get cellphone tracking information from wireless companies without first showing "probable cause" to believe that a crime has been or is being committed. That is the same standard applied to requests for search warrants. The rulings, issued by magistrate judges in New York, Texas and Maryland, underscore the growing debate over privacy rights and government surveillance in the digital age. 11:53:48 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Legal Battles Over Cellphone Tracking. Legal Battles Over Cellphone Tracking. stupefaction writes "The New York Times reports on recent successful court challenges to police use of cellphone tracking information in the course of an investigation. From the article: 'In the last four months, three federal judges have denied prosecutors the right to get cellphone tracking information from wireless companies without first showing "probable cause" to believe that a crime has been or is being committed. That is the same standard applied to requests for search warrants. [...] Cellular operators like Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless know, within about 300 yards, the location of their subscribers whenever a phone is turned on.'"   [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 11:50:58 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Spam Scam Invokes Princess Diana. Spam Scam Invokes Princess Diana. Memorial fund, security firms warn against fraudulent e-mail seeking funds. [PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories] 11:46:37 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

DfES to build index of the UK's kids - all 11 million of them. DfES to build index of the UK's kids - all 11 million of them. How do you secure a multi-disciplinary information exchange system? Government plans for an "Information Sharing Index" identifying every child in England will be subject to trials early next year, with a full scale system intended to be live by the end of 2008. The Index, which is intended to help a wide range of workers in education, health, social services and youth offending exchange information about children, was first mooted in 2003 via the Every Child Matters Green paper, in the wake of the death of Victoria Climbié. [The Register - Internet and Law: Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs] 11:45:11 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Fake CIA, FBI E-Mails Power Sober Worm. Fake CIA, FBI E-Mails Power Sober Worm. Several new versions of the Sober e-mail worm have been mass-spammed to millions of e-mail boxes of the last 72 hours, posing as messages from the FBI and the CIA warning recipients that their Internet address has been implicated in illegal activity online. The messages obviously were not sent by either agency,[...] [Security Fix] 11:42:37 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Symantec to Ditch Sygate Firewall. Symantec to Ditch Sygate Firewall. Another free Windows firewall bites the dust. Symantec Corp. has announced rather abruptly that as of next week it will no longer support or offer its Sygate line of firewall products. The move comes little more than three months after Symantec bought Sygate Technologies along with its Sygate Pro and Sygate Free personal firewall products.  [Security Fix] 11:40:54 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Brokerage Hack Endangers Investors. Brokerage Hack Endangers Investors. St. Louis-based Scottrade, one of the nation's largest private online stock brokerage houses, has alerted its customers that a hacker break-in may have compromised the security of an untold number of accounts. The company did not disclose how many of its 1.3 million customers may have been affected, [...] [Security Fix] 11:39:19 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Sony BMG Takes One Step - Let's Hope for More. Sony BMG Takes One Step - Let's Hope for More. EFF was sad but not surprised to discover that the security holes in the software Sony BMG has placed on its CDs did not end with the XCP rootkit. As reported on EFF's site Tuesday equally troubling risks are built into CDs loaded with another type of software, MediaMax version 5. Given the nature of the software being forced on consumers along with their music, we fully expect that more problems will be uncovered. But EFF is pleased to see that Sony BMG has begun to learn from experience in at least one way. In responding to the newly discovered problems with MediaMax version 5, Sony BMG has at last taken the obvious step we suggested last month--using its artists' websites to notify consumers of the security risks. We challenged Sony on its failure to use those sites to publicize Sony's recall/replacement program for XCP-infected discs. To state the obvious: Consumers are a good deal more likely to stop by Celine Dion's official website than Sony BMG's stuffy corporate site. Sony BMG still hasn't taken up that challenge with respect to XCP, and we still urge them to do so. Consumers unfortunate enough to have purchased one of the 52 CD titles loaded with XCP software still have to somehow find their way to the Sony BMG website for information about the rootkit. But in a step we applaud, Sony BMG is taking EFF up on at least part of its challenge and is using some artist sites to get the word out about the security vulnerability on MediaMax-infected discs. The websites of several affected artists--Alicia Keys, BabyFace and Carlos Santana among them--already direct music fans who have bought Sony BMG MediaMax CDs to a Sony BMG consumer advisory about the MediaMax security hole. Sony BMG needs to do much more, but the company is moving in the right direction. Now, Sony should take the next step and post similar advisories on the sites of every artist whose name is attached to an XCP or MediaMax infected CD, and should offer an exchange program to purchasers of MediaMax version 5 CDs that matches the program offered to the XCP-infected group. Sony BMG also needs to update its somewhat confusing Sony BMG website (including the advisory) to better help music fans sort all this out. It's easy, Sony BMG--just put one foot in front of the other. [EFF: Deep Links] 11:37:27 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Is Novell Identity Manager too pricey? Is Novell Identity Manager too pricey? Last issue I had some nice things to say about the new Identity Manager 3.0 product from Novell. It is an exciting product (well, if you're easily excited or if you care a lot about identity services!) and as I talked to Novell's Tyler Crowder and Alan Murray about it, I could envision it as a real moneymaker for the company. [Identity mangement news] 11:35:37 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []