by Jonathan Mayer, a grad student at Stanford – Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler – via the Web Policy Blog “MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata. If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating. In earlier posts, we reported how automated analysis of call and text activity can reveal private relationships, as well as how phone subscribers are closely… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Free Speech
Google Transparency Report: Government removal requests continue to rise
“We launched the Transparency Report in 2010 to provide hard evidence of how laws and policies affect access to information online. Today, for the eighth time, we’re releasing new numbers showing requests from governments to remove content from our services. From January to June 2013, we received 3,846 government requests to remove 24,737 pieces of content—a 68 percent increase over the… Continue Reading
Gallup – Record High in U.S. Say Big Government Greatest Threat
Now 72% say it is greater threat than big business or big labor, by Jeffrey M. Jones: “Seventy-two percent of Americans say big government is a greater threat to the U.S. in the future than is big business or big labor, a record high in the nearly 50-year history of this question. The prior high for… Continue Reading
Trends in Insurance Coverage and Source of Private Coverage Among Young Adults Aged 19–25
Trends in Insurance Coverage and Source of Private Coverage Among Young Adults Aged 19–25: United States, 2008–2012. Whitney K. Kirzinger, M.P.H.; Robin A. Cohen, Ph.D.; and Renee M. Gindi, Ph.D. Data from the National Health Interview Survey, 2008–2012: The percentage of young adults with private health insurance coverage increased from the last 6 months of 2010 through… Continue Reading
Investigation Reveals More Than One Million Requests By Law Enforcement for Americans’ Mobile Phone Data
“As part of his ongoing investigation into wireless surveillance of Americans by law enforcement, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today released responses from eight major wireless carriers that reveals expanded use of wireless surveillance of Americans, including more than one million requests for the personal mobile phone data of Americans in 2012 by law enforcement. This… Continue Reading
Tech Giants Call for Global Government Surveillance Reform
“The undersigned companies believe that it is time for the world’s governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information. While the undersigned companies understand that governments need to take action to protect their citizens’ safety and security, we strongly believe that current laws and practices need to… Continue Reading
American Library Association gathering support to protect user metadata and privacy
The Hill, Kate Tummarello: “…You need to have some freedom to learn about what you think is important without worrying about whether it ends up in some FBI file,” said Alan Inouye, director of the Office for Information Technology Policy at the American Library Association (ALA). Government snooping of libraries has a long history. Under the Patriot… Continue Reading
WordPress – Striking Back Against Censorship
“The mission of WordPress.com is to democratize publishing. We’re inspired every day by the ways creators use our platform to bring their voices to the world. Unfortunately, we also see many cases of censorship aimed at WordPress.com authors and users. One area where we’ve seen a number of problems is the censoring of criticism through abuse… Continue Reading
Mass Surveillance of Personal Data by EU Member States and Its Compatibility with EU Law
Bigo, Didier and Carrera, Sergio and Hernanz, Nicholas and Jeandesboz, Julien and Parkin, Joanna and Ragazzi, Francesco Rossi and Scherrer, Amandine, Mass Surveillance of Personal Data by EU Member States and Its Compatibility with EU Law (November 6, 2013). Liberty and Security in Europe Papers No. 61. Available at SSRN. “In the wake of the… Continue Reading
UN General Assembly Third Committee Approves Text Titled ‘Right to Privacy in the Digital Age’
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved 18 draft resolutions today, including one on “The right to privacy in the digital age”. “Through this resolution, the General Assembly establishes, for the first time, that human rights should prevail irrespective of the medium and therefore need to be protected both offline and online,” Brazil’s representative… Continue Reading
Civil Society Groups Demand Transparency and User Protections in Trans-Pacific Partnership
EFF news release: “Civil society groups are coming out in force against the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, following Wikileaks’ publication of the “Intellectual Property” chapter. The leaked chapter confirmed our worst fears that TPP carries Hollywood’s wishlist of policies, including provisions to encourage ISPs to police user activities and liability for users for simply bypassing digital locks on content and devices for… Continue Reading
NYT – N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power
N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power By JAMES RISEN and LAURA POITRAS “Officials at the National Security Agency, intent on maintaining its dominance in intelligence collection, pledged last year to push to expand its surveillance powers, according to a top-secret strategy document. In a February 2012 paper laying out the four-year strategy for the N.S.A.’s… Continue Reading
