e-ignite

An incredible news story was recently published by the Telegraph that shows details of just how much information about you is given to the US authorities if you fly from Europe to America.? A recent Freedom of Information request showed that when you book your flights to the USA electronically (using a Credit Card, giving an email address etc), the US authorities have the right to examine past purchases on your credit card, and even to gain access to your past emails. The news article goes into detail about the previous fight between the EU and US over illegal passenger data transfer, but shows that the US has demanded access to far more data than they did originally.? What is most worrying is the fact the the European Union seems to have simply rolled over and given the US whatever they wanted!

Read the rest of this entry »

Star Tribune reports on a new lawsuit that’s making its way to court in the US that challenges the government’s right to read your email.? Under current law, the US authorities require a search warrant to read your postal mail, however they don’t need one if your email is stored on someone else’s computer.? Bear in mind that “Someone Else” could be Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail etc etc etc.? This lawsuit is being closely watched by several privacy groups who argue that email should be protected in the same way that snail mail is - a stance that I wholeheartedly agree with.? Email is increasing in use day by day, and with online shopping and banking becoming more and more commonplace, private data and personal details are being sent by email at an increasing rate.? There is therefore absolutely no reason for email not to be protected in law.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to a recent BBC News Report, the UK Government’s Information Commissioner has expressed concerns that Britain has become a country where personal monitoring is now far too commonplace. There are currently 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK - this is roughly one camera per 14 people living in the country. However, the monitoring goes much further than security cameras. Many companies now use GPS technology to monitor the progress and location of its staff. Other companies use keystroke logging to monitor productivity. However, one of the most widespread monitoring techniques is one of the most popular that most users happily sign up for: Loyalty Cards. Supermarket loyalty cards can be (and are frequently) used to track what individual products a person buys regularly. This data may then be used to offer direct marketing for things the shopper may be interested in, or just to create a shopper profile. Despite this potential breach of security, shoppers line up for their loyalty cards in an effort to save money. However, recent figures published by Privacy International show Britain in a much worse light.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are taking the US Government to court over claims of domestic spying. It alleges that the Government’s new DCS-3000 system is an automated system designed to intercept and read emails (basically a new generation of the previous Carnivore system that performed the same task). The US Government declined to respond to a Freedom Of Information Request by the EFF, so it is being taken to court. You can read the full story here but the likelihood of success is fairly slim based on the EFF’s poor record of winning cases it takes to court. We can always live in hope, but it seems that personal privacy and the US Government are not currently compatible.

To make you feel even worse, the US Government have another system called RedHook that automatically intercepts voice phone callse and performs the same operations as Carnivore does with email. Are you sure you don’t need encryption!?!?

Further to an earlier post I made, it turns out that the US government has reached an agreement with the EU over the data it collects from passengers travelling to the US. According to BetaNews, the data sharing is to continue with one difference from before: The US government have to request the data before they get it, where previously it was automatically forwarded. Wow. Our rights are protected again. Sorry… I’ll stop the sarcasm.

I’ll leave you to decide whether this is right or wrong, but here’s something to consider - the data that is given to the US every time you travel there: Read the rest of this entry »

The BBC has reported that a US Court has ruled in favour of privacy and has claimed that Wire-Tapping of millions of US citizens without a warrant is illegal. This is a blow to the Bush Administration’s so called “Anti-Terror Agenda” because it will force a rethink… or maybe an “update” to the law. Forgive me for being cynical, but the news story is very concice - have a read yourself and make up your own mind.

However, it is not the main story that is of most interest - a Q&A section provided by the BBC shows what the procedure is for wire-tapping in several different countries. For example, in the US it is a court that decides if a wire tap is allowed, where in the UK, it’s the Government’s decision who to monitor and when. Read the rest of this entry »

Guardian Unlimited recently reported that the FBI have prevented yet another terrorist attack by monitoring communications - this time, it was a chat room. The exact quote was that FBI agents have been monitoring a chatroom “frequented by terrorists”… but how do they know that?

Part of me suspects that this is all propaganda. How can you prove that any terrorist plot was actually uncovered? The FBI aren’t renound for giving out fully accurate information. Was there actually an arrest made? These are questions that you need to ask yourself. Read the rest of this entry »

I discussed in a recent post about the US and its “Privacy Sledgehammer” where all ISPs have been forced to record web traffic and email data for a long period of time. This was recently appealed by a group of universities and libraries in the US. The US appeals court upheld the law, stating that the requirement was a “reasonable policy choice” - however it should be noted that the decision was not unanimous. One of the appeal judges claimed that the ruling was “convoluted” but did not voice privacy concerns.
Read the rest of this entry »

A recent Slashdot article discusses the abysmal US response to privacy concerns - this time over medical records. The US recently covered medical records by Statutory Privacy, allowing citizens to think their private health data was safe. However, since its introduction, the Bush administration have had thousands of complaints made regarding the privacy of these records. This is supposed to be protected by law!

Read the rest of this entry »

The US Government seem to be following in the footsteps of the EU and are planning on making ISPs retain all internet and email traffic of its users. The US claims that this data will not be actively monitored (my guess is they’re already actively monitoring you anyway!) but the information can be subpoenaed at a later date if required. This issue has been discussed in detail before with regard to the recently introduced EU law that means European ISPs have to do this. However, there seems to be a bit of a difference to the approach to the issue by the US. Read the rest of this entry »