Issues

San Mateo County judge hears testimony in cell phone privacy case

February 21, 2010 - 6:54pm

REDWOOD CITY — It's now up to a San Mateo County Superior Court judge to decide whether to set a legal precedent on the powers police have to search a person's cell phone following arrest.

After nearly three and a half hours of testimony and arguments Thursday afternoon on the legality of Daly City police officers' search of an identity theft suspect's iPhone, Judge John Runde said he will consider the case and issue a ruling.

Police want backdoor to Web users' private data

February 4, 2010 - 5:27am

Declan McCullagh has the story on the latest in back-door spyware demanded by US police agencies:

CNET has reviewed a survey scheduled to be released at a federal task force meeting on Thursday, which says that law enforcement agencies are virtually unanimous in calling for such an interface to be created. Eighty-nine percent of police surveyed, it says, want to be able to "exchange legal process requests and responses to legal process" through an encrypted, police-only "nationwide computer network."

Giving The Fingerprint: Home Law Raises Privacy Concern

April 1, 2009 - 11:31am

Real estate certainly has its risks and fraud is a growing problem, but now there's a new law that's supposed to protect buyers. As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports the new law will also place an unusual burden on the seller.

Fingerprinting is something we often associate with crime. So the fact that Cook County home sellers will soon have to provide a thumb print left some people shocked.

Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police

March 1, 2009 - 1:10am

Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations.

The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates.

Napolitano debates Real ID

February 24, 2009 - 2:33pm

Napolitano debates Real ID
Will examine alternatives to driver's licenses

The Washington Times
Audrey Hudson
Friday, February 20, 2009

As governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano was no fan of the Real ID program that sets federal standards for state-issued driver's licenses which will be required in the future to board airplanes.