PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

high-tech technology background with eyes on computer display

NASA v. Nelson

NASA v Nelson

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided NASA v. Nelson, reversing the 9th Circuit 8-0.  My thoughts about the case are here and here [links no longer available], and as I predicted, the Court rejected the 9th Circuit holding that the government employment background check questionnaires violated the constitutional right to information privacy.  Fortunately, the Court […]

The SeaWorld Killer Whale Death Video and the Right to Privacy

Orca Sea World

Jessica Bennett at Newsweek brought my attention to a story about the family of the killer whale trainer (Dawn Brancheau) who was killed while training the whale at SeaWorld: Brancheau’s family announced this week that they would seek an injunction to protect the release of the death imagery, captured by SeaWorld’s surveillance cameras on Feb. […]

Family Privacy Rights in Death-Scene Images of the Deceased

Death Scene Photos and Privacy

In Newsweek, Jessica Bennett tells the tragic story about a family being harassed by the spread of death-scene images of their daughter, who was killed in an automobile accident. The photos of Nikki Catsouras were particularly gruesome — Nikki was decapitated in the crash. According to the article, soon after the crash, photos taken by […]

Can the TB Patient Sue the CDC?

Lungs

The WSJ blog points to this interesting update [link no longer available] about the TB patient who was quarantined for having a highly-resistant strain of TB. I blogged about the case here and here. According to the news story, times aren’t very good from Andrew Speaker, the TB patient:

Identifying the TB Patient

X-ray

The other day, I blogged about the TB patient who flew to Europe and back with the knowledge that he had a rare form of TB. The media had been reporting on the case for a while, and the man’s name was not identified until a day or two ago, when a number of stories began including […]

Victim Privacy and Police Disclosures

Police

In Anderson v. Blake (10th Cir. Nov. 14, 2006), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit decided a case involving a rather egregious violation of a person’s constitutional right to information privacy. A victim was raped while unconscious, and she subsequently found a video of her rape. She reported the rape to the police and […]