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Category Archives: E-Records

Justice Department investigating data breach of federal court system

Politico: “House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) told fellow lawmakers that “three hostile foreign actors” attacked the U.S. Courts’ document filing system as part of a breach in early 2020 causing a “system security failure.” The comments — at a committee hearing on oversight of the Justice Department’s National Security Division — were the… Continue Reading

DOJ investigating Trump’s actions in Jan. 6 criminal probe

Washington Post: “The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to four people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors who are questioning witnesses before a grand jury — including two top aides to Vice President Mike Pence — have asked… Continue Reading

FCC Probes Mobile Carriers on Data Privacy Practices

“Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote [July 19, 2022] to the top 15 mobile providers requesting information about their data retention and data privacy policies and general practices. In the letters of inquiry, Chairwoman Rosenworcel asks about their policies around geolocation data, such as how long geolocation data is retained and why and what… Continue Reading

‘A uniquely dangerous tool’: How Google’s data can help states track abortions

Politico: “Many of the states rushing to ban abortion are also the biggest users of a surveillance tool that authorities could use to track women ending their pregnancies — the location data from people’s phones. Supporters of abortion rights are expressing growing alarm about the potential uses that police or prosecutors could find for this… Continue Reading

Deleting a text may not mean it’s gone forever

Mashable: “When you delete a text message, is it truly gone forever? Given America’s willingness to spy on its citizens, simple common sense would suggest that no they’re not gone forever, and law enforcement agencies can use inexpensive consumer-grade software to recover at least some of your deleted text messages if they can get into… Continue Reading

Up to 90% of governmental websites include cookies of third-party tracke

IMDEA Networks: “Researchers Matthias Götze (TU Berlin), Srdjan Matic (IMDEA Software), Costas Iordanou (Cyprus University of Technology), Georgios Smaragdakis (TU Delft), and Nikolaos Laoutaris (IMDEA Networks) have presented at the ‘Web Science Conference’ the paper: “Measuring Web Cookies in Governmental Websites”, in which they investigate governmental websites of G20 countries and evaluate to what extent… Continue Reading

How browser cookies make people more cautious online

Fast Company: “Website cookies are online surveillance tools, and the commercial and government entities that use them would prefer people not read those notifications too closely. People who do read the notifications carefully will find that they have the option to say no to some or all cookies. The problem is, without careful attention those notifications become… Continue Reading

Protecting people’s privacy on health topics

Axios: “Google announced it will soon start deleting the “Location History” entry if a user who is signed in to a Google app — including Gmail or YouTube — visits a “particularly personal” medical facility. That includes counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics and cosmetic surgery… Continue Reading