PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

high-tech technology background with eyes on computer display

Libraries, Privacy, and Law Enforcement

Library

According to an NYT article: Law enforcement officials have made at least 200 formal and informal inquiries to libraries for information on reading material and other internal matters since October 2001, according to a new study that adds grist to the growing debate in Congress over the government’s counterterrorism powers. In some cases, agents used subpoenas […]

TSA’s Broken Promise About Secure Flight

TSA

Remember CAPPS II, the program for screening airline passengers by using databases of personal information?  This program was scrapped because the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was concerned that it posed an increasing threat to privacy and civil liberties.  Replacing CAPPS II was the nicely-monikered “Secure Flight.”  (EPIC’s website has a good […]

Security, Privacy, and Shark Bites

Security, Privacy, and Shark Bites

Recent discussions regarding the Real ID Act follow the same general path as many discussions about the trade-offs between security and privacy.  These discussions typically begin with taking a security proposal and then weighing it against its costs to privacy and civil liberties.  What is often not done, however, is to put the security proposal through meaningful […]