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The Electronic Frontier Foundation Files Suit to Find That Out, and More

Posted by Joe Addiego

On December 19, 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act complaint against the Department of Homeland Security concerning the Automated Targeting System, public notice of which was recently given by DHS in the Federal Register. ATS is a computerized system that collects personal data and uses it to assign “risk assessments” to all travelers who cross U.S. borders.

EFF has several concerns about ATS and its uses and potential abuses by DHS. For example, EFF alleges in its complaint that individuals are not allowed to access or review the information in ATS pertaining to them, yet that information is “made readily available to an untold numbers of federal, state, local and foreign agencies, as well as a wide variety of ‘third parties.’” EFF also complains that the information will be stored by the government for 40 years, and that DHS “has failed to describe the consequences that might result from a ‘risk assessment’ score (possibly derived from inaccurate or incomplete information) indicating that an individual poses a ‘threat or potential threat to national or international security.’” 

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Posted by Peter Mucklestone and Kevin Tu

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently published the seventh issue of the SAR Activity Review – By the Numbers. The publication compiles and updates numerical data gathered from all suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with FinCEN. The most recent compilation covers the over 3.6 million SARs filed with FinCEN on or before June 30, 2006. Depository institutions, certain money services businesses, casinos and card clubs, and certain segments of the securities and futures industries must file SARs with FinCEN.   A review of the compiled data highlights certain statistics and general observations with respect to each type of SARs filing, as follows:

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Posted by DWT

Are you flying for the holidays this year? Are you bringing id with you? What happens if you don't? NPR reporter Martin Kaste reports on the practical implications of TSA's secret law which affects millions of travelers every day. The text of the federal law that requires travelers to show identification is a secret -- you cannot read it because the federal government insists the law itself is "Sensitive Security Information." TSA's spokesperson refused to even be interviewed on tape discussing this point with NPR. John Gilmore and others are asking the United States Supreme Court to hear his legal challenge to the secrecy aspect of this law.

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Personal data security breaches hit 100 million milestone in US (12/19/2006 - FineExtra.com)
Over 100 million data records of US residents have been exposed due to security breaches since February 2005, according to records maintained by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Privacy Watch: Phishers reach cell phones  (12/19/2006 – Techworld)
Have you ever been SMiShed? That's not as personal a question as it may sound to the uninitiated, but it does relate to protecting your personal data.

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Posted by Charlene Brownlee

Congress approved S. 1608, the “Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement with Enforcers beyond Borders Act of 2006,” (the US SAFE WEB Act of 2006) on December 9, 2006. The US Safe Web Act amends the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) and improves the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s ability to protect consumers from international fraud by: (1) improving the FTC’s ability to gather information and coordinate investigation efforts with foreign counterparts; and (2) enhance the FTC’s ability to obtain monetary consumer redress in cases involving spam, spyware, and Internet fraud and deception.

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Posted by Randy Gainer

Speakers at the 16th annual review of National Security Law, held November 30-December 1, 2006, in Washington, D.C., addressed topics ranging from accountability for actions by private security contractors on the battlefield to civil litigation against terrorists and their bankers.  Approximately 440 lawyers attended the conference, which was sponsored by the ABA Committee on Law and National Security, by the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, and by the Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security at Duke University School of Law.  Conference materials, which include several insightful papers, are available online.

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