Month: October 2012

I had occasion to visit the NYU law librarian recently. I was looking for information regarding WestLaw’s search strategy for federal cases. In addition to being very helpul, Gretchen also send me this link of privacy resources. The site is really quite impressive, and not something I had seen before. There are links to privacy preserving software (PETs), web and email anonymizers, reserach links and many other resources. Worth checking out.

She also pointed me to this link to an EPIC story regarding FBI collection of individual data:
http://epic.org/2012/10/fbi-exempts-massive-database-f.html

FBI Exempts Massive Database from Privacy Act Protections
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has exempted the FBI Data Warehouse System, from important Privacy Act safeguards. The database ingests troves of personally identifiable information including race, birthdate, biometric information, social security numbers, and financial information from various government agencies. The database contains information on a surprisingly broad category of individuals, including “subjects, suspects, victims, witnesses, complainants, informants, sources, bystanders, law enforcement personnel, intelligence personnel, other responders, administrative personnel, consultants, relatives, and associates who may be relevant to the investigation or intelligence operation; individuals who are identified in open source information or commercial databases, or who are associated, related, or have a nexus to the FBI’s missions; individuals whose information is collected and maintained for information system user auditing and security purposes.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation has exempted these records from the notification, access, and amendment provisions of the Privacy Act. Earlier this year, EPIC opposed the Automated Targeting System, another massive government database that the Department of Homeland Security exempted from Privacy Act provisions.

Scary, indeed.

From SANS Newsbites 14(82):
–Senator Rockefeller Seeks Information About Data Brokers’ Business  Practices  (October 10, 2012)
US Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) has sent letters to nine data brokerage companies, asking them to provide answers to a dozen questions about where and how they gather information, with whom they share the information, and what information is shared. Senator Rockefeller is also asking what level of control individuals have over the information the companies collect. The companies are asked to respond by November 2, 2012. Earlier this year, two US Representatives launched an inquiry into data compilers, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also looking into some data brokers’ practices.
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/261249-rockefeller-pushes-data-brokers-for-answers-on-business-practices-

Text of letter:
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=3bb94703-5ac8-4157-a97b-a658c3c3061c

I received a notice about this journal issue:
http://idpl.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/4.toc?etoc

I’m not sure why I received it, exactly, but it scanning the articles, many of them look quite interesting. It’s particularly nice to hear from Fred Cate again. I’ve always appreciated his views and discussions. No doubt many of you will recognize many of the other authors, too.