By Jim Harper
We were all very excited about the Facebook IPO last week (I guess), and Washington, D.C. wants to have its part in the action. This Politico article, “Facebook IPO Pits …
Joe Barton, Meet Alessandro Acquisti is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
The government’s troops are rallying behind the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. “After the House voted this month to defund a major part of the U.S. Census Bureau, the agency …
It’s Illegal to Say ‘None of Your Damn Business’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
The ACLU’s Chris Calabrese notes that nominations to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board were forwarded from the Senate Judiciary Committee to the full Senate this morning. Congress created the Board in August 2007, and we have waited, and waited, and waited while the Bush and Obama administrations neglected to appoint anyone to it. Calabrese [...]
I Second That Skepticism is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
Last week, the Center for Democracy and Technology changed its position on CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, two times in short succession, easing the way for House passage of a bill profoundly threatening to privacy. Declan McCullagh of C|Net wrote a story about it called “Advocacy Group Flip-Flops Twice Over CISPA Surveillance [...]
On Breach of Decorum and Government Growth is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
Prominent academics, experienced engineers, and professionals published an open letter to Congress yesterday, stating their opposition to CISPA and other overly broad cybersecurity bills. Highlight: We take security very seriously, but we fervently believe that strong computer and network security does not require Internet users to sacrifice their privacy and civil liberties. The bills currently [...]
Cybersecurity Bills? No, Thanks is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
In the late stages of a legislative battle, it often comes down to “talking points.” Whoever puts out the message that sticks wins the debate—damn the substance. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) is prioritizing talking points over substance if a CQ report about a speech he gave to the Ripon Society is accurate. (He put it [...]
Cybersecurity: Talking Points vs. Substance is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
Someone finally decided to examine “cybercrime” statistics, and here’s what they found: The cybercrime surveys we have examined exhibit [a] pattern of enormous, unverified outliers dominating the data. In some, 90 percent of the estimate appears to come from the answers of one or two individuals. In a 2006 survey of identity theft by the [...]
From Cybercrime Statistics to Cyberspying is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
When the 1940 census was collected, the public was reassured that the information it gathered would be kept private. “No one has access to your census record except you,” the public was told. President Franklin Roosevelt said: “There need be no fear that any disclosure will be made regarding any individual or his affairs.” Apparently [...]
The Census’ Broken Privacy Promise is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
Back in July of last year, I wrote about a case in the Supreme Court called FAA v. Cooper. In that Privacy Act case, a victim of a government privacy invasion had alleged “actual damages” based on evidence of mental and emotional distress. Cooper, a recreational pilot who was HIV-positive, had chosen to conceal his [...]
Supreme Court: No Privacy Act Liability for Mental and Emotional Distress is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Jim Harper
The Federal Trade Commission issued a report today calling on companies “to adopt best privacy practices.” In related news, most people support airline safety… The report also “recommends that Congress consider enacting general privacy legislation, data security and breach notification legislation, and data broker legislation.” This is regulatory cheerleading of the same kind our government’s [...]
FTC Issues Groundhog Report on Privacy is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
