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No-go on GOFA - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Today, CDT posted an updated memorandum on the most recent version of the Global Online Freedom Act (”GOFA”). GOFA was first introduced by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) several years ago in response to troubling reports of company complicity in Internet censorship and cooperation in prosecutions of dissidents who posted political material online. The late Rep. Tom P. Lantos, (D-Ca) took up the cause last year and the bill was reported out of the Committee on Foreign Affairs late last year. Industry opposition to the bill has been fierce and efforts to bring the bill to the floor on suspension have thus far been thwarted.
CDT strongly believes that technology companies doing business in countries that broadly surveil and censor the Internet must take serious steps to identify and minimize the human rights risks associated with providing services and technology solutions in those countries. For several years, we have been co-facilitating a multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at developing global principles to guide ICT companies facing free expression and privacy challenges. We remain hopefully that these principles will grow into a global industry standard that will give the industry a road map for collective action in this area.
We also believe that companies must not hide from these challenges. They should advocate for changes in public policy that protect the rights of their users, challenge laws where possible and collaborate with human rights groups and other stakeholders to build support for an open Internet that supports human rights. read more »
CDT Testimony: DHS, State Using Insecure RFID Technology - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
The long-range or "vicinity" Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology chosen by the Departments of Homeland Security and State for government-issued ID documents poses serious risks to personal privacy and security, CDT testified today before a Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee. CDT recommended that DHS and State abandon the technology, which was originally developed to track things, not people, and that encryption be used to protect a citizen's unique ID number. CDT also urged Congress to support legislation or regulations banning unauthorized "skimming" of RFID chips and prohibiting use of the passport card and Enhanced Driver's License beyond border security.
# CDT Prepared Statement [PDF] April 29, 2008
# CDT Written Testimony [PDF] April 29, 2008
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
Senate Approves Vital Health Privacy Bill - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
CDT applauds the Senate's passage of HR 293, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (GINA) by unanimous consent. The House is expected to quickly pass the measure. The bill represents a significant step forward in protecting health privacy because it prohibits the use of genetic information by employers when making hiring decisions or by health insurers when making coverage decisions or adjusting premiums. Under GINA, employers and insurers also would not be allowed to impose genetic testing requirements. CDT is urging the President to quickly sign the bill into law.
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
ASC Behavioral Targeting Working Group Launched - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
The Anti-Spyware Coalition has created a new internal working group to review privacy concerns raised by partnerships between behavioral targeting advertising companies and ISPs. The concerns stem from instances in which these business relationships result in all, or substantially all, user Web traffic being passed to advertisers with little or no notice. In many instances the activities raising privacy concerns are taking place by exploiting "borderline" acceptable practices in order to skirt anti-spyware products. The new working group will convene to specifically review current guidelines and recommend changes if needed.
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
Chertoff Disagrees with the Rest of His Agency, Again - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Nine days ago, Sophia Cope blogged about how Homeland Secretary Secretary Michael Chertoff suggested that REAL IDs cannot be skimmed, in sharp contrast to DHS REAL ID Regs, which clearly say that the REAL ID is at risk of skimming. Today, CDT Fellow Peter Swire blogged on the Center for American Progress Web site about a new Chertoff statement where he said that “fingerprints aren’t ‘Personal Data.’” Swire shows that this comment lies in sharp contrast to DHS’ stated policy that fingerprints are “personally identifiable information.”
It is now time for DHS to make clear, is Chertoff purposely suggesting changes to existing policy or are these both misstatements?
(Read Original Article - Via CDT - PolicyBeta.)
Chertoff’s Defense of REAL ID is “Dead Wrong” - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has a hard job. Among other things, it’s his responsibility to make sure that our country isn’t attacked by terrorists and that undocumented immigrants don’t cross our borders. So it’s understandable when he vociferously defends his Department’s efforts at “protecting the homeland.” But it’s inexcusable when the guy is simply factually (and vociferously) wrong on an important policy issue.
On April 2, Chertoff, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on DHS oversight, had the gall to say that public interests groups have been putting out “misinformation” and are “dead wrong” about the privacy and civil liberties risks of REAL ID. Yet it was the Secretary who put out misinformation and was dead wrong about the risk of the wrong people gaining access to personal information stored in the REAL ID card’s “machine-readable zone” (MRZ). read more »
FTC Should Strengthen Behavioral Advertising Principles - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
The Federal Trade Commission's proposed behavioral advertising principles aren't strong enough on their own to adequately protect consumers, according to comments filed jointly today by CDT, Consumer Action and Privacy Activism. Although the principles represent a solid first step in the process, protecting consumer privacy interests in this space will require a rigorous mix of self-regulation, enforcement of existing law, and the passage of new general privacy law. The comments include CDT's finding that there are several practices of concern occurring on the Internet today that remain unaddressed by current self-regulation. Based on this research and other industry developments, CDT, Consumer Action, and Privacy Activism recommend ways for the FTC to bolster several of its proposed principles. The groups also urge the Commission to explain how it will ensure industry compliance with the principles.
Comments of CDT, Consumer Action, and Privacy Activism [PDF] April 11, 2008
FTC Proposed Principles [PDF] April 11, 2008 [off-site]
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
Wiretapping Powers Debate Still Unsettled - Via Threat Level:
In a interconnected, packet-based global telecommunications world, just how far should the nation's spooks be allowed to live inside the nation's communication tubes in order to root out communications of spies and terrorists and how much should they be supervised by courts?
Those were the questions tackled by a keynote panel at the RSA 2008 conference Wednesday that moderated by New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau, who shared the Pulitizer Prize for disclosing the existence of part of the government's warrantless wiretapping program in 2005.
Predicatably, the panel was just as dividede as Congress, which is still deadlocked over immunity for the telecoms that helped wiretap Americans without warrants, read more »
CDT Corrects the Record About Security of Personal Data on REAL ID Cards - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
Today CDT sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee highlighting Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff’s recent testimony in which he wrongly asserted that the personal information stored on REAL ID cards will be safe from unauthorized access, and accused privacy advocates of spreading “misinformation.” In fact, the REAL ID Act and regulations mandate that Americans’ personal data be stored in an unsecured barcode, which can be easily scanned with widely available readers.
# CDT REAL ID Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee [PDF] April 08, 2008
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
Compendium of Behavioral Targeting 'Sensitive' Definitions - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
CDT today released a compendium of definitions for those grappling with the question of what information should be considered "sensitive" in the online behavioral targeting context. Culled from an array of statutes, self-regulatory guidelines and policy proposals, the definitions address information about individuals that has been granted some measure of special treatment. Use of sensitive data is a key issue in the FTC's proposed self-regulatory principles released in December 2007. The compendium was developed in consultation with CDT's Internet Privacy Working Group.
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
Craigslist Win Good for Free Speech, But Court Creates Murky “Section 230” Precedent - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Last December CDT and several other organizations submitted a friend-of-the-court (“amicus”) brief urging the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court decision in favor of Craigslist.org. We are happy to report that on March 14 the federal appeals court did just that: it ruled that Craigslist can’t be held liable for discriminatory housing ads posted by the site’s users in violation of the Fair Housing Act. (Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law v. Craigslist, No. 07-1101). The court held that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230) granted Craigslist immunity from FHA claims.
While the result of the case is precisely what we advocated– that Craigslist should not be held responsible for arguably illegal online content posted by others – the court’s opinion is a bit murky and has language that might prove to be unhelpful in future Section 230 cases. read more »
Easy, Timely, Public Access to CRS Reports Urged - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
Efforts to make Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports more accessible to the public received another boost today from Sen. Joe Lieberman, (ID-Conn.), who asked that a complete system be crafted that is readily accessible to the public. Currently, making the reports public is a time intensive task handled by congressional staff. read more »
Supreme Court to Decide If FCC Can Regulate 'Fleeting Expletive' of Profanity - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
The ability of the FCC to punish broadcast stations for airing "fleeting expletives" -- the one-time blurting out of profanity on broadcast programming -- is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court announced this week that it will hear a case in which a lower court ruled that the FCC's new policy of penalizing one-time utterances of profanity was illegal under federal administrative law. CDT is concerned that the Supreme Court will reverse the trend of modern free speech precedent by increasing the Commission's power to censor broadcast speech, rather than focus on federal administrative law, as the lower court largely did.
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
Happy Sunshine Week! - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Sunshine week, celebrated nationwide, is dedicated to open government, with events surrounding Freedom of Information and government transparency. Sunshine Week 2008 this year includes some great talks happening in Washington, D.C. and around the country, all focused on the concept of government openness. Yesterday was the National Freedom of Information Day, held on James Madison’s birthday; Madison was a supporter of government openness. read more »
CDT Weighs In On Mayfield Case - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
In a brief filed today with the Ninth Circuit of Appeals, the Center for Democracy & Technology asked the court to strike down a provision of the Patriot Act as unconstitutional. That provision allows the government to use intelligence authorities to conduct searches for criminal purposes without first having probable cause of a crime. CDT and three other civil liberties groups, in the case of Portland, Ore.-based attorney Brandon Mayfield, filed the amicus brief. The government wrongly suspected Mayfield of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
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