Privacy Blog

"Friends don’t let friends get spied on.' – Richard Stallman, President of the Free Software Foundation and longtime advocate of privacy in technology.

Legal Affairs

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Use of Genealogy DNA in an Iowa Cold Case Conviction Was Unconstitutional, According to the Defense Attorney’s Claims

The state’s use of genetic testing to convict an Iowa man in a 40-year-old cold case was unconstitutional, according to a motion filed in Linn County court. Jerry Lynn Burns, 66, was found guilty in February of first-degree murder in the 1979 stabbing death of 18-year-old Michelle Martinko in Cedar Rapids. While waiting to receive the mandatory life sentence that comes with a conviction on that charge, Burns’ attorney has […]

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Canada Fines Facebook Almost $6.5 Million Over ‘False’ Data Privacy Claims

Here is still another article about Facebook claiming to offer privacy when, in fact, the company steals, saves, and resells the private information of all its users. According to Canada’s independent Competition Bureau, Facebook “made false or misleading claims about the privacy of Canadians’ personal information on Facebook and Messenger” and improperly shared data with third-party developers. According to the article, Facebook said it “did not agree” with the finding, […]

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California Needlessly Reduces Privacy During COVID-19 Pandemic

On March 17, 2020, the federal government relaxed a number of telehealth-related regulatory requirements due to COVID-19. On April 3, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-43-20 (the Order), which relaxes various telehealth reporting requirements, penalties, and enforcements otherwise imposed under state laws, including those associated with unauthorized access and disclosure of personal information through telehealth mediums.

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Senate and House Democrats Introduce COVID-19 Privacy Bill Targeting Contact Tracing Apps

As privacy concerns grow about the data collected through contact tracing apps to monitor the spread of the coronavirus, a group of Democratic lawmakers is introducing a bill Thursday that aims to ensure that the data collected is protected from over-surveillance and abuse, according to a copy of the legislation seen by Morning Consult. The Public Health Emergency Privacy Act — which is being introduced by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and […]

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New Warning Issued For All WhatsApp And iMessage Users: ‘Major Threat’ To Encryption

Big Brother wants to spy on you everywhere, all of the time. The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns “imagine an internet where the law requires every message sent to be read by government-approved scanning software. The privacy and security of all users will suffer if U.S. law enforcement achieves its dream of breaking encryption.” The fight between the providers of encrypted messaging platforms and lawmakers has entered a serious new phase. […]

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Hey! I Received My 2020 U.S. Census Form Today!

<div><img class=”alignright size-full wp-image-11030″ src=”https://eogn.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/census2020-1.jpg&#8221; alt=”” width=”340″ height=”220″ />Of course, I am sure that several hundred million other households are also receiving their census forms this week. If you haven’t received yours just yet, I’d suggest you be patient and wait for a bit. The U.S. Postal Service probably cannot deliver several hundred million pieces of mail on the same exact day.</div> <div></div> <div>And, yes, I have already gone online […]

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N.J. Lawmaker Wants to Make DNA Test Results Your Personal Property

A proposed law in New Jersey would make the results of a DNA test the sole property of the person tested, a bid to give consumers who use popular genetic testing services more control over their personal data and their privacy. Assemblyman Roy Freiman, D-Somerset, said that people have a right to know where their personal genetic data is going, even if it is used for good causes. “We don’t […]

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For $3, a ‘Robot Lawyer’ Will Sue Data Brokers That Don’t Delete Your Personal and Location Info

A startup called DoNotPay unveiled a service it calls Digital Health that automates the data-deletion process. Priced at $3 a month, the service will contact more than 100 data brokers on your behalf and demand they delete your and your family’s personal information. It will also show you the types of data the brokers have collected — such as phone number or location info — and even initiate legal proceedings […]

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ISPs Sue Maine Claiming a New Web-Privacy Law Violates Their Free-Speech Rights

It seems that Internet Service Providers are now claiming they have a right to spy on their customers’ web usage and to sell the private information they found to the highest bidder. Someone has a RIGHT to steal your personal information and resell it, claiming it is freedom of speech? I seems ludicrous but the article by Jon Brodkin the the Ars Technica web site at http://bit.ly/39Onkce explains the latest […]

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FCC Confirms Wireless Carriers Broke Federal Law by Selling Location Data

At the center of the investigation are all four major U.S. carriers: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. It is unclear at this time which groups will be penalized, and what that penalty will look like. Further documentation on the specifics of the violation is forthcoming. Details may be found in an article by Alison Foreman on the Mashable web site at: https://mashable.com/article/fcc-concludes-location-data-investigation/.

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