Please read Jack Balkin's excellent post on the The Twin Dangers of the National Surveillance State: The twin dangers of national security displacing the criminal justice system and the criminal justice becoming increasingly like the national security system are consequences…
Read More The Twin Dangers of the National Surveillance State
USA Today reports that the NSA has been secretly collecting the phone call records of virtually all American citizens who have recently used a phone, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth: The NSA program reaches into homes and…
Sprint recently launched its Family Locator cellphone tracking program, entering the growing market of GPS-based cellphone surveillance products. Sprint has apparently engaged in value-sensitive design of this service: The child is notified by a text message each time his or…
University of Colorado police have posted online pictures of 150 people (Internet Archive page) smoking pot on the "420" day celebration and are offering a $50 reward for anyone who can identify them. An interesting plea for peer-based surveillance and…
I found this commentary about reports that Microsoft and Yahoo are building massive data storage facilities near a large NSA data-mining facility in rural Washington, and thought I should reproduce it in its entirety. It is simultaneously funny and scary:Microsoft,…
I've stumbled across a few blog posts extolling the virtues of having a GPS-enabled digital camera. For example: My wife doesn't want to have to carry around two bulky devices and greatly extend the already considerable time it takes her…
A partnership between Google and Earthlink beat other bids to provide municipal wi-fi to the citizens of San Francisco. While muni-wi-fi is definitely a step towards lessening the digital divide, this particular plan is not as "free" as Google says…
Read More Google Wins Right to Track Wi-Fi Users in San Francisco
Disney is launching a wireless phone service that allows parents to track their children using global positioning system technology. Robert Iger, Disney president and CEO, notes that "Disney Mobile is perfectly positioned to transform the way families come together and…
Read More Disney Phone Service Features GPS Tracking Of Children
Maryland is continuing its march towards wholesale surveillance of its citizens on the roads by announcing plans to use license plate recognition systems to scan and identify the plates of any vehicle a specially-equipped car happens to drive past. Marc…
Read More Maryland to Engage in Wholesale Scanning of License Plates
Chris Hoofnagle points to a very important article in the Nation by Jeff Chester discussing the privacy costs of many of the proposals for municipal wi-fi, including Google's plan for San Francisco. The benefits of muni-wi-fi are great, but proposals…
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