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Privacy in the News

The views represented in these articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, the Privacy Act Program, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

• Hackers and Spending Sprees
  Newsweek - November 5, 2008
  "The computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were victims of a sophisticated cyberattack by an unknown "foreign entity," prompting a federal investigation, NEWSWEEK reports today."

• Court to review legal docs on NSA wiretapping in secret
  Ars Technica - November 2, 2008
  "A federal district court ordered the Justice Department to turn over 10 documents from the Office of Legal Counsel for in camera review to determine whether they must be released under the Freedom of Information Act."

• When the Police Go Through Your Email: Quirk of Search Law Sets Off Alarm Bells
  Wall Street Journal - October 30, 2008
  "This spring, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in California ruled that "reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage devices at the border," including international airports."

• ICE record systems get Privacy Act exemptions
  Federal Computer Week - October 29, 2008
  "The Homeland Security Department is exempting two systems that hold immigration-related records from portions of the Privacy Act, thus restricting individuals' access to their records."

• Credit Card Companies Accomplices in Millions of Identity Theft Cases Alleges Eric Drew
  MarketWatch - October 22, 2008
  "Every year millions of Americans are the victims of identity theft, and in a lawsuit filed against major credit card companies, identity theft victim Eric Drew claims that the credit industry is facilitating the crimes."

• Economic outlook bright for biometrics, ID card industries
  NextGov - October 22, 2008
  "Companies that produce secure identification documents and use biometrics, such as fingerprints and iris scans, stand to benefit the most as governments award contracts for identity verification solutions, officials said at a conference organized by Imperial Capital LLC, CapitalSource LLC and Civitas Group LLC."

• Locals leave SSNs unprotected
  Government Computer News - October 22, 2008
  "Official records containing Social Security numbers are available online or for bulk sale to private companies from most of the nation's counties, raising the specter of possible misuse and identity theft for millions of Americans, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office."

• Data breaches at state, local agencies expose data about millions
  Government Computer News - October 20, 2008
  "Data breaches at state and local government agencies exposed the personal information of nearly 3.8 million Americans in the first three quarters of this year, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse."

• Researchers log keystrokes from afar
  ComputerWorld - October 20, 2008
  "Computer keystrokes can be snooped from afar by detecting the slight electromagnetic radiation emitted when a key is pressed, according to new research previewed on Monday."

• GAO: Agencies should standardize biometric data
  Federal Computer Week - October 17, 2008
  "The types of biometric data collected by the Defense Department and other agencies should be standardized to make sharing the data easier, the Government Accountability Office has said in a report."

• 10 Simple Tips to Stop Identity Theft
  Times of the Internet - October 15, 2008
  "People who commit identity theft make use of your private information for their own gain, or to sell it to others. Thieves can violate your privacy and make use of important information such as your date of birth, address, bank accounts, your credit card and in some cases, even your name."

• Auditors rap IRS for weak information security
  NextGov - October 9, 2008
  "The Internal Revenue Service has failed to secure sensitive electronic taxpayer information properly, increasing the potential for identity theft, according to an audit report released on Thursday."

• Feds propose consolidation of personal info in databases
  CNET - October 8, 2008
  "The federal government is trying to find better ways to standardize and coordinate personal information about American citizens that is currently spread across thousands of databases, according to a White House official."

• Govt. biometrics use still raises privacy concerns
  CNET - October 8, 2008
  "Is the idea of widespread biometric data collection still too spooky to win over the American public? At some level, it's already becoming commonplace: California and some other states demand fingerprints from driver's license holders. The Verified Identity Pass program includes iris scans, as does the U.K's border control system. And prisoners have their blood forcibly drawn for a DNA sample."

• Data-Mining for Terrorists Not 'Feasible,' DHS-Funded Study Finds
  Wired - October 7, 2008
  "The government should not be building predictive data-mining programs systems that attempt to figure out who among millions is a terrorist, a privacy and terrorism commission funded by Homeland Security reported Tuesday. The commission found that the technology would not work and the inevitable mistakes would be un-American."

• DoD biometrics: miles to go
  Federal News Radio - October 3, 2008
  "One of the hot buzzwords in national security circles these days is "biometrics": using fingerprints, or iris scans to verify that you are who you say you are. But a new Government Accountability Office study suggests that the Pentagon still has some work to do when it comes to agency-wide policies pertaining to biometrics."

• Telecommuting Presents Privacy and Security Risks
  Sci-Tech Today - October 1, 2008
  "While many firms allow telecommuters to handle personal information at home, only half of survey respondents said they address this subject with formal policies and training. Indeed, the multidisciplinary nature of the topic -- is it human resources, information technology, security or privacy? -- make it difficult to determine whose responsibility it is.

• Internet service providers want to set industry guidelines for online privacy
  Los Angeles Times - September 26, 2008
  "Verizon, Time Warner Cable and AT & T executives, who testified this week before a Senate committee, say they want 'to go forward with this self-regulatory approach.'"

• Lost in the Fine Print: It Would Take a Week to Read All Your Privacy Policies
  Washington Post - September 26, 2008
  "It would take the average American about 42 hours -- an entire work week -- to read the online privacy policies for the Web-sites they encounter each year, according to new research being presented this weekend."

• Consumer Reports Poll: Americans Extremely Concerned About Internet Privacy
  MarketWatch - September 25, 2008
  "According to the poll, 82 percent of consumers are concerned about their credit card numbers being stolen online, while 72 percent are concerned that their online behaviors were being tracked and profiled by companies."

• Data Privacy Still Compromised Due to Encryption Legacy Perceptions, Lack of Awareness and Understanding
  Market Watch - September 22, 2008
  "The findings indicate that data privacy is still compromised due to encryption legacy perceptions, a lack of awareness regarding the availability of easy to use solutions, as well as a lack of understanding of the type of data that needs to be encrypted."

• GAO says HHS isn't protecting medical data privacy adequately
  FierceHealthIT - September 21, 2008
  "HHS has not done enough to protect electronic medical data, a failure that has undermined consumer confidence in EMRs and possibly undercut vendors as well, according to the Government Accountability Office."

• IRS Taxpayer Privacy Protection a 'Work in Progress'
  Web CPA - September 19, 2008
  "The Internal Revenue Service still has problems with protecting the privacy of taxpayers' personally identifiable information on the printed documents it mails, according to a new report."

• Dealing With I.S.P. Snooping
  New York Times - September 8, 2008
  "Even though Congress has growled loudly enough to get Internet service providers to back off their plans to sell information about their customers' Web surfing to advertising companies, one prominent legal expert argues that the law governing the issue should still be made tougher."

• Bill Targets Laptop, Mobile Device Search and Seizures
  eWeek - September 15, 2008
  "Rep. Loretta Sanchez wants to establish guidelines for border searches and seizures of laptops, smart phones and other electronic devices that store data...The Border Search Accountability Act introduced by Rep. Sanchez would curb some search and seizure procedures."

• Federal Judge Rules Government Can Scour All of Lawyer's Seized Computer Records
  LAW.COM - September 3, 2008
  "A federal judge has given prosecutors the go-ahead to review computer records seized from the office of a criminal defense lawyer, even if it means looking at files of clients who were not targets of the search."

• Slow movement toward online privacy reform
  Miami Herald - September 1, 2008
  "A curious, slow-motion momentum is building for new rules on online privacy. The Federal Trade Commission, after three years of inquiries, sent a report to Congress in June with sobering findings about just how thoroughly Internet companies are tracking their customers' Web use so they can be targeted with advertising. Committees of both the Senate and the House held hearings this summer."

• DNA databases blocked over privacy concerns
  Tacoma News Tribune - August 31, 2008
  "The National Institutes of Health quietly blocked public access to databases of patient DNA profiles after learning of a study that found the genetic information might not be as anonymous as previously believed, the Los Angeles Times has learned."

• Bank of NY Mellon data breach now affects 12.5 mln
  Reuters - August 28, 2008
  "Bank of New York Mellon Corp...said on Thursday that a security breach involving the loss of personal information, including Social Security numbers, now affects about 12.5 million customers, up from an earlier 4.5 million."

• Citizens' U.S. Border Crossings Tracked
  Washington Post - August 20, 2008
  "The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country by collecting information on all U.S. citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15 years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations."

• DHS seeks Privacy Act exemptions
  FederalComputerWeek - August 20, 2008
  "Department officials are seeking to make Citizenship and Immigration Services' (CIS) new Fraud Detection and National Security Data System (FDNS-DS) exempt from Privacy Act provisions that allow people to access their records and get information about searches and disclosures of those records."

• New Guidelines Would Give F.B.I. Broader Powers
  New York Times - August 20, 2008
  "A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday."

• Analysis tool exempt from some privacy laws
  Federal Computer Week - August 18, 2008
  "People whose biographic or biometric data is being analyzed by a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data system will not automatically be granted access to their records or be able to review them for accuracy as usually permitted by federal privacy protection laws."

• Contractors oppose rule on employee citizenship verification
  Federal Times - August 18, 2008
  "The proposal would affect companies that win new federal contracts — they would be required to verify the immigration status of all employees working on a contract within 30 days of receiving it, including those working abroad."

• Privacy Issues, Government Probe Stir Hard Feelings Between AT&T, Google
  TMCnet - August 15, 2008
  "Turning up the heat in a debate about Internet privacy that’s already seen the federal government put Web giants on the defensive, AT&T (News - Alert) Inc. reportedly is slamming the king of online searching and advertising, Google Inc."

• Homeland Security setting up counterspy unit
  Government Executive - August 13, 2008
  "In his memo, Chertoff instructs that employees must tell a special security officer about any planned foreign travel. When the employee returns, the employee should report "any real or possible contacts with foreign intelligence services, terrorists or foreign criminal enterprises." This reporting, Chertoff says, will protect department employees who travel abroad."

• Some Web Firms Say They Track Behavior Without Explicit Consent
  Washington Post - August 12, 2008
  "Several Internet and broadband companies have acknowledged using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers, according to letters released yesterday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee."

• U.S. Agents Can Seize Traveler's Laptops, Devices
  CIO Insight - August 1, 2008
  "U.S. federal agents have been given new powers to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices at the border and hold them for unspecified periods the Washington Post reported on Friday."

• Google, Microsoft, Others Asked About Data Collection
  PC Magazine - August 4, 2008
  '"Online users have a right to explicitly know when their broadband provider is tracking their activity and collecting potentially sensitive and personal information," Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce's Internet subcommittee, said Friday.'

• Prescription Data Used To Assess Consumers
  Washington Post - August 4, 2008
  "While lawmakers debate how best to oversee the shift to computerized records, some insurers have already begun testing systems that tap into not only prescription drug information, but also data about patients held by clinical and pathological laboratories."

• Senate Approves Cyber-crime Bill
  eWeek - August 4, 2008
  "Identity theft victims can seek restitution in federal courts, thanks to a cyber-crime bill passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate."

• Google Declares: 'Complete Privacy Does Not Exist'
  PC World - July 31, 2008
  "A Pittsburgh couple is suing Google over its Google Maps Street View service. The couple says the online images of their home shown on the site caused them "mental suffering" and dropped their property value."

• Telecommuting Poses Security, Privacy Risks
  PC World - July 31, 2008
  "Allowing employees to work from home and telecommute poses security and privacy risks that are not being addressed adequately by business or government, according to a study released Tuesday by consulting firm Ernst & Young in partnership with the Washington-based advocacy group Center for Democracy and Technology."

• Master Data Management and Customer Analytics
  Business Intelligence Network - July 24, 2008
  "The availability of universal access to a unified view of each customer in an organization is intended to enable the "360-degree view," believed to be the key to unlocking the potential value stored across the numerous data sets and reports floating around the organization."

• ACLU urges Congress to define medical privacy as patient control of electronic health records
  News-Medical - July 23, 2008
  "The American Civil Liberties Union today urges the House Energy and Commerce Committee to require patient control of medical records and compensation for privacy breaches to be a part of the standards set for converting to electronic patient records."

• Momentum Building for US Privacy Policy
  PC World - July 22, 2008
  "Groups such as the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) have sounded alarms on several privacy-related issues before the U.S. Congress and federal agencies."

• Gmail Privacy Hole Shows User Names
  InformationWeek - July 16, 2008
  "Sharing a Google Calendar with another Gmail user can expose the first name and last name that the recipient of the shared calendar supplied to set up a Gmail account."

• Government, health care Web sites attacked
  Government Computer News - July 16, 2008
  "A scan of Web servers by Internet security company Finjan Inc. has found more than 1,000 legitimate Web sites that had been compromised by a new wave of attacks in recent weeks."

• Printer dots raise privacy concerns
  USA Today - July 14, 2008
  "The affordability and growing popularity of color laser printers is raising concerns among civil liberties advocates that your privacy may not be worth the paper you're printing on. More manufacturers are outfitting greater numbers of laser printers with technology that leaves microscopic yellow dots on each printed page to identify the printer's serial number — and ultimately, you..."

• Google, Viacom now clashing over YouTube employee records
  CNET News - July 12, 2008
  "Viacom wants to know which videos YouTube employees have watched and uploaded to the site, and Google is refusing to provide that information, CNET News has learned."

• Electronic Records Bill To Include Strong Privacy Protections
  Smart Money - July 10, 2008
  "Lawmakers crafting a bill to put peoples' health records in an electronic format will include privacy protections that they hope will be a model for a general privacy standard, a senior House Republican said Thursday."

• Privacy: Agencies Struggle to Redact Personal Data from Online Public Documents
  Government Technology - July 9, 2008
  "Numerous states offer Web access to public records... [which] frequently contain Social Security numbers (SSNs), mothers' maiden names, signatures, minors' names and other red meat for identity thieves and stalkers."

• Businesses Falling Short of Privacy Laws
  Inc.com - July 7, 2008
  "A growing number of businesses are struggling with increasingly complex privacy laws and often falling short of compliance when it comes to safeguarding consumer data, a new survey finds."

• Domestic spying quietly goes on
  Baltimore Sun - July 7, 2008
  "With Congress on the verge of outlining new parameters for National Security Agency eavesdropping between suspicious foreigners and Americans, lawmakers are leaving largely untouched a host of government programs that critics say involves far more domestic surveillance than the wiretaps they sought to remedy."

• Don't give Google a free pass on data collection, privacy advocates say after YouTube ruling
  ComputerWorld - July 7, 2008
  "A federal judge's order that Google Inc. turn over 12TB of data on YouTube users and their video-viewing histories to Viacom International Inc. has sparked concerns about potential privacy violations. But according to some privacy advocates, the concerns voiced about the ruling ignore an important point -- namely, what is Google doing collecting and retaining all that data in the first place?"

• IG: State Department passport system wide open
  NextGov - July 3, 2008
  "The State Department has failed to provide adequate controls to prevent unauthorized access to individuals' passport files, according to an inspector general's report released on Thursday."

• Groups Sue U.S. for Data On Tracking By Cellphone
  Washington Post - July 2, 2008
  "The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the government in federal court in Washington under the Freedom of Information Act. Last November, the ACLU had filed a FOIA request with the Justice Department for documents, memos and guides regarding the policies for tracking people through the use of their cellphones."

• US contradicts itself over its own ID theft advice
  San Francisco Chronicle - July 2, 2008
  "The government doesn't have to look very far to see who's ignoring its advice on preventing identity theft. It's the government itself. The nation's Medicare agency and the Pentagon want at least 52 million Americans to carry their Social Security numbers in their wallets, contrary to warnings by the Federal Trade Commission that people should avoid doing so."

• Data breaches up, but not in government sector
  Government Computer News - July 1, 2008
  "Reported data breaches increased sharply in the first six months of 2008, jumping 69 percent compared to the same period last year, according to a study by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). But the percentage of breaches occurring in the government sector has dropped steadily in the past three years."

• European Lawmaker To Sue U.S. Over Data
  Washington Post - July 1, 2008
  "A European Union lawmaker who frequently travels to the United States is suing the U.S. government for access to her personal records, such as credit card information and travel history, that the Department of Homeland Security and other security agencies may have gathered."

• How to Prevent Identity Theft
  Identity Theft Daily - June 30, 2008
  "Identity Theft poses a very serious issue to everyone today. If you have a driver's license, a bank account, a computer, or simply a social security number you are more than at risk, you are a target. Whether you are new to the idea of ID Theft, or you have some unanswered questions, we've compiled a quick refresher list below that should bring you up to speed."

• LifeLock Sued for Corporate Identity Theft
  Wired - June 30, 2008
  "The identity theft protection firm whose CEO lists his Social Security number in ads for the company is being sued by Namesafe, a competitor in the identity theft protection market, for allegedly stealing the company's corporate identity and deceptive trade practices."

• U.S. and Europe Near Agreement on Private Data
  New York Times - June 28, 2008
  "The United States and the European Union are nearing completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security agencies to obtain private information — like credit card transactions, travel histories and Internet browsing habits — about people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean."

• SSA lists thousands of live persons as dead
  Federal Computer Week - June 26, 2008
  "The Social Security Administration inadvertently compromised the personal information of more than 20,000 people by listing them in the Death Master File (DMF) while they were still alive, the agency's inspector general has determined."

• Charter Scraps User-Tracking Plan After Privacy Flap
  E-Commerce Times - June 25, 2008
  "Caving to pressure from privacy groups and members of Congress, Charter Communications will not launch a pilot program with partner NebuAd that tracks the online activity of users to serve ads that match their specific interests."

• Feds sued over alleged mining of immigrants' data
  WTOP News - June 24, 2008
  "The U.S. government secretly gathered personal data on more than 130,000 immigrants in the run-up to the war in Iraq, according to a purported FBI document attached to a lawsuit filed Tuesday demanding more detail about how the information was gathered and used."

• House Subcommittee Approves Measure Promoting Electronic Health Records
  CQ Politics - June 25, 2008
  "A House panel Wednesday approved bipartisan legislation intended to encourage the widespread adoption of electronic records in the health industry, though some Republicans said they hope to weaken privacy protections in the bill before it passes."

• Microsoft, Google, Consumers Endorse Health Privacy Standards
  Bloomberg - June 25, 2008
  "Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., and dozens of organizations promoting consumer adoption of electronic personal health records agreed for the first time on a comprehensive set of privacy protections."

• Appeals court limits release of text messages
  San Francisco Chronicle - June 19, 2008
  "A federal appeals court strengthened privacy rights Wednesday for workers who send text messages from devices supplied by their employer, ruling that the companies transmitting those messages can't disclose their contents without the recipient's consent."

• Protect yourself from identity theft on vacation
  Market Watch - June 19, 2008
  "Identity theft can happen anywhere, but when you're far from home, you can be particularly vulnerable to someone stealing your information. It's important to stay aware of your surroundings, said Adam Levin, chairman of Identity Theft 911, which makes products to help protect against identity theft."

• Hill told privacy laws must be updated to protect the public
  NextGov - June 18, 2008
  "The federal government needs to update laws and technologies to better protect the public's privacy and to avoid new forms of identity theft...Among the actions recommended was amending the 1974 Privacy Act to limit agencies' use of the public's personal information stored in databases."

• The Next Big Data Breach
  NextGov - June 18, 2008
  "Peter Swire, who served as the Clinton administration's chief counselor for privacy in the Office of Management and Budget for two years, had a dire warning today for the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: Biometric data, namely fingerprints, is the next security breach waiting to happen."

• U.S. Privacy Act outdated, hasn't kept up with technology, experts say
  ComputerWorld - June 18, 2008
  "Updates to a 34-year-old privacy law are needed to better protect personal information held by the U.S. government, privacy experts told a Senate panel today."

• Most ID theft still occurs the old-fashioned way
  Government Computer News - June 13, 2008
  "The theft or exposure of personally identifiable information through hacking of IT systems receives a lot of attention, but a recent study of identity theft victims showed that, in 2007, most identity thieves still relied on the tried-and-true methods of stealing data."

• Health IT office awards contract to fight medical identity theft
  NextGov - June 12, 2008
  "The federal office overseeing the development of a national system of electronic medical records awarded a $450,000 contract on Wednesday to Booz Allen Hamilton to evaluate the scope of medical identity theft in the United States."

• Online medical records offer convenience, may limit privacy
  USA Today - June 11, 2008
  "A variety of companies -- from private health-care providers and insurance companies to big technology firms such as Microsoft and Google -- are developing and launching sites, most of them free, that allow patients to keep personal health records."

• How safe is instant messaging? A security and privacy survey
  CNET News - June 9, 2008
  "The number of interested parties eager to listen in on your online conversations, including what you type through instant messaging, has never been higher...The need, in other words, for secure IM communication has never been greater."

• Stolen laptop teaches Stanford a lesson on need for encryption
  Computerworld - June 9, 2008
  "From the 'Why aren't these systems encrypted already?' department comes yet another story of a laptop theft resulting in the potential compromise of personal data belonging to a large number of people. This time, the victim is Stanford University..."

• Report: Data Breach Disclosure Laws Don't Slow Down Identity Theft
  Consumer Affairs - June 8, 2008
  "... a new research report claims that data breach disclosure laws have no measurable effect on cases of identity theft, due to the many factors that hinder accurate reporting of cases of identity theft and connecting them to known breaches."

• Opinion: Top 5 mistakes of privacy awareness programs
  Computerworld - June 6, 2008
  "HIPAA requires it. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard requires it. The ISO 27001 standard requires it. In fact, every regulation that mandates that reasonable measures be taken to protect information implicitly requires that companies maintain a program to regularly inform employees on what those measures are."

• What ever happened to our privacy?
  CNET News - June 5, 2008
  "A new study from Northeastern University secretly tracked the locations of 100,000 people outside the United States by monitoring their cell phone use and found that most people rarely travel more than a few miles from their home."

• Data breaches found to worry managers
  Federal Computer Week - June 4, 2008
  "Data breaches are the primary concern of information technology managers at the federal, state and local government levels and in the private sector, according to a recent survey of 600 IT executives."

• Smart phones 'bigger security risk' than laptops
  Computerworld - June 2, 2008
  "Some 94% of senior IT staff fear PDAs present a security risk, just above the 88% who highlighted mobile storage devices as a worry...The results come from a survey of 300 senior IT staff..."

• Update: Lost backup tapes prompt IT changes at NY bank
  Computerworld - June 2, 2008
  "Bank of New York Mellon Corp. late last week said it has launched a new policy to encrypt data held on storage devices and to limit the amount of confidential client data stored on tape drives. The policy was launched after unencrypted data tapes were lost twice by third-party couriers this year."

• Walter Reed says patient data may be compromised
  Government Executive - June 2, 2008
  "Sensitive information on about 1,000 patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals was exposed in a security breach, sparking identity theft concerns and an investigation by the Army."

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