Friday, December 1, 2006

Data protections are being eroded, says EU watchdog. Data protections are being eroded, says EU watchdog. 'Basic rights need to be guaranteed' in the third pillar The EU's data protection watchdog has warned that European officials are in danger of eroding basic data protection principles and has called on them to reconsider their actions. [The Register - Internet and Law: Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs] 8:29:31 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

American Travelers to Get Secret 'Risk Assessment' Scores. American Travelers to Get Secret 'Risk Assessment' Scores. EFF Fights Huge Data-Mining Program Set for Rollout on U.S. Borders Washington, D.C. - An invasive and unprecedented data-mining system is set to be deployed on U.S. travelers Monday, despite substantial questions about Americans' privacy. In comments sent to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked the agency to delay the program's rollout until it makes more details available to the public and addresses critical privacy and due process concerns. The Automated Targeting System (ATS) will create and assign "risk assessments" to tens of millions of citizens as they enter and leave the country. Individuals will have no way to access information about their "risk assessment" scores or to correct any false information about them. But once the assessment is made, the government will retain the information for 40 years -- as well as make it available to untold numbers of federal, state, local, and foreign agencies in addition to contractors, grantees, consultants, and others. "The government is preparing to give millions of law-abiding citizens 'risk assessment' scores that will follow them throughout their lives," said EFF Senior Counsel David Sobel. "If that wasn't frightening enough, none of us will have the ability to know our own score, or to challenge it. Homeland Security needs to delay the deployment of this system and allow for an informed public debate on this dangerous proposal." Earlier this month, EFF's FLAG Project submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to DHS seeking more details about the ATS data-mining program, but the agency has not yet disclosed the requested information. For EFF's full comments to DHS: http://www.eff.org/Privacy/ats/ats_comments.pdf For the DHS Federal Register notice announcing ATS: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-9026.htm Contact: David Sobel Senior Counsel Electronic Frontier Foundation sobel@eff.org [EFF: Breaking News] 4:20:40 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Stealing Fair Use, Selling It Back to You. Stealing Fair Use, Selling It Back to You. "Apparently, Hollywood believes that you should have to re-purchase all your DVD movies a second time if you want to watch them on your iPod." That's what I said last week, commenting on the Paramount v. Load-N-Go lawsuit, in which Hollywood studios claimed that it is illegal to rip a DVD to put on a personal video player (PVP), even if you own the DVD. Well, this week the other shoe dropped. According to an article in the New York Times: Customers who buy the physical DVD of Warner Brothers[base '] [base "]Superman Returns[per thou] in a Wal-Mart store will have the option of downloading a digital copy of the film to their portable devices for $1.97, personal computer for $2.97, or both for $3.97. So you buy the DVD, and if you want a copy on your PVP or computer, you have to pay a second time. Despite the fact that you bought the DVD, and you have a DVD drive in your computer that is perfectly capable of making a personal-use copy. Imagine if the record labels offered you this "deal" for every CD you bought -- pay us a few dollars extra, and you can have a copy for your iPod. And a few more dollars, if you want a copy on your computer, too! As LA Times reporter Jon Healey puts it in his blog: "So from the perspective of the studios and federal officials, consumers have to pay for the privilege of doing the sorts of things with DVDs that they're accustomed to doing with CDs (and LPs and cassettes)." This latest bitter fruit from Hollywood is brought to you by the DMCA, which treats "protected" content (like the encrypted video on DVDs), differently from "unprotected" content (like every audio and video media format introduced before 1996). Thanks to the DMCA, Hollywood believes fair use personal-use copies simply do not exist when it comes to DVDs. Given that the Copyright Office has refused [PDF, see p. 71-72] to recognize any DMCA exemption for space-shifting, claiming that putting a DVD you own on your iPod "is either infringing, or, even if it were noninfringing, would be merely a convenience," (excuse me, Copyright Office, that's a decision for a court to make) the ball is now in Congress' court. Let's hope Congressman Rick Boucher is listening and will reintroduce his DMCA reform bill first thing next year. [EFF: Deep Links] 4:13:49 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

FOXNews.com - Report Finds Pharmacies Lax With Patient Records, Privacy - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The nation's largest drugstore chains say they are working to better protect patient privacy after an investigative TV report turned up sensitive information about hundreds of customers in trash bins in cities around the country. Indianapolis TV station WTHR inspected nearly 300 trash bins and found nearly 2,400 patient records, including pill bottles, customer refill lists and prescription labels. Most of the bins belonged to Walgreens Co., CVS Corp. or Rite Aid Corp. The inspections were done in more than a dozen cities ranging from Boston to Louisville, Ky., to Phoenix. 4:09:36 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

In Memoriam: Peter Junger, Digital Freedom Fighter. In Memoriam: Peter Junger, Digital Freedom Fighter. Last week, digital freedom fighter Peter Junger passed away. Peter was a truly pioneering legal thinker on digital issues, and his impact was felt far outside the walls of academia. In particular, we all owe him a debt of gratitude for challenging the government's draconian restrictions on encryption and helping to establish that code is speech protected by the First Amendment. Today, strong encryption is taken for granted, whether it's keeping snoops out of your Internet communications, protecting your credit card number when you shop online, or otherwise securing your privacy. But when Peter filed his lawsuit a decade ago, export controls treated encryption as a dangerous weapon; in turn, Peter and other researchers who wanted to publish encryption code were akin to arms dealers. In 2000, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that these restrictions demanded scrutiny under the First Amendment. At the time, EFF was challenging the export controls in Bernstein v. US, and we also supported Peter in his efforts. In Junger v. Daley and beyond, Peter was fearless. His contributions to the fight for digital freedom will be sorely missed and forever celebrated. News.com writer Declan McCullagh posted some of his own memories here. [EFF: Deep Links] 3:57:13 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Major Ohio County Reconsiders E-Voting. Major Ohio County Reconsiders E-Voting. After another election with flawed touch-screen electronic voting machines, Cuyahoga County, Ohio may say enough is enough. The AP reports: "The commissioners of the state's most populous county are considering getting rid of touch-screen voting machines and putting in a new system for the presidential election in 2008. "Cuyahoga County spent $14 million on the Nov. 7 election and cannot afford to spend that much every time voters go to the polls, especially the high volume that a presidential race generates, commissioners Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora said." More and more, election officials and voters are starting to see the pitfalls of e-voting and pursue real reform. Recently, EFF and a coalition of voting integrity groups, representing Sarasota County voters, filed suit in state court in Tallahassee asking for a re-vote in Florida's 13th congressional district. Learn more about the suit here. [EFF: Deep Links] 3:53:28 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

New Version of Microsoft's Windows XP Antipiracy Tool Coming Soon. New Version of Microsoft's Windows XP Antipiracy Tool Coming Soon. User criticism sparks new tweaks to Windows Genuine Advantage checks. [PC World: Latest Technology News] 3:51:26 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Could Existing Malware Infect Vista? Could Existing Malware Infect Vista?  One security firm says Vista is vulnerable to current threats; another isn't so sure. [PC World: Latest Technology News] 3:49:36 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

HP Faces Expanded Civil Lawsuit In Spying Case. HP Faces Expanded Civil Lawsuit In Spying Case. Eight Hewlett-Packard executives alleged to have been involved with insider trading. [PC World: Latest Technology News] 3:47:21 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Groups Urge Courts To Limit FCC's Authority to Regulate Speech. Groups Urge Courts To Limit FCC's Authority to Regulate Speech. As communications technologies converge, courts must rein in the Federal Communications Commission's continued efforts to expand its authority to regulate speech over broadcast media. That is the key message of two friend-of-the-court briefs CDT filed this week in conjunction with Adam Thierer of the Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF) in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2nd and 3rd Circuits. As an organization focused on the Internet and emerging digital technology, CDT has not typically involved itself in the broadcast indecency debate. But the FCC's increased indecency enforcement is likely in this age of convergence to threaten the underlying freedom of other digital communications. [Center for Democracy and Technology] 3:45:04 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

DNS Security and Threat Mitigation: An Overview of Domain Name System Threats and Strategies for Securing a BIND Name Server. DNS Security and Threat Mitigation: An Overview of Domain Name System Threats and Strategies for Securing a BIND Name Server. This document, written by Jeff Drake, will first present an overview of the DNS architecture and name resolution process as well as describe common threats to DNS. when we will outline some of the defensive configurations that can be implemented in BIND to help protect against some of these common threats. By Jeff S. Drake. [Infosec Writers Latest Security Papers] 3:42:40 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Information Security - Tools of the Trade. Information Security - Tools of the Trade. Sajeev Nail submits this paper that lists tools and their various purposes to security professionals. By Sajeev Nair. [Infosec Writers Latest Security Papers] 3:40:13 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []