Obama wants computer privacy ruling overturned

Georgetown SLB reports that the Obama administration is seeking to reverse a federal appeals court decision that dramatically narrowed the government’s search-and-seizure powers in the digital age. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals’ 9-2 decision in August offered Miranda-style guidelines to prosecutors and judges on how to protect Fourth Amendment privacy rights while conducting [...]

TSA behaviour detection officers check for dangerous people

Georgetown SLB reports that to identify dangerous people, the Transportation Security Administration stations behavior-detection officers at 161 US airports, including ones in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles. The officers can be anywhere, from the parking garage to the gate, looking for passengers who seem highly nervous or stressed. They don’t focus on nationality, race, [...]

Canada’s terror financing detection, no-fly list come under commissioner’s scrutiny

Canada’s privacy watchdog will flag potential problems Tuesday with the system for zeroing in on cash linked to terrorism and other crimes. Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart plans to release an audit highlighting her concerns about practices of the little-known Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.
She will also disclose findings of a close look [...]

New ACLU report: Building American Institutions to protect privacy in the face of new technology and government powers

Read it here.
More here.

Four EU countries oppose SWIFT bank data deal with US ahead of Lisbon Treaty

Opposition from four member states to a draft agreement between the EU and US allowing the use of banking data in anti-terrorist investigations is likely to delay a decision until after 1 December, drawing the European Parliament into the decision making process. Citing data privacy concerns, Germany, Austria, France and Finland are opposing the text [...]

UK has no figures on closing extremist websites

The register reports that UK Security Minister Lord West told the Lords on Wednesday that he could not say how many websites have been censored because no records have been kept. The Terrorism Act 2006 granted powers for police to compel web hosts to shut down websites promoting terrorism. But the powers have never been [...]

UK consultation about changing communications environment

The consultation examined how the rapidly changing communications environment means the existing capability of the police, the security and intelligence agencies and other public authorities is declining, and why change is necessary in the UK. It asked for views on options for maintaining vital communications data capabilities. The responses found that the rejection of a [...]

Civil society declaration on global privacy standards

The declaration was presentation at a privacy conference in Madrid and included a call for a moratorium on “the development or implementation of new systems of mass surveillance, including facial recognition, whole body imaging, biometric identifiers, and embedded RFID tags, subject to a full and transparent evaluation by independent authorities and democratic debate.”
More news here.

Campaign against the Belgian transposition of the European directive on the retention of data

By means of a website (www.bewaarjeprivacy.be for the Dutch version or www.preservetavieprivee.be for the French version) and a petition, a wide platform of organisations has launched a campaign against the Belgian transposition of the European data retention directive. These organisations include the Flemish and Walloon League for Human Rights, the Flemish and Walloon Bar, the [...]

New CRS reports and congressional hearings released

Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy (6 Oct. 2009)
Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa (2 Oct 2009)
Removing Aliens from the United States: Judicial Review of Removal Orders (25 September 2009)

The records of several noteworthy congressional hearings that were held in the past two years have been [...]