French Constitutional Court Bans Law Enforcement Use of National Biometric ID Database
Last week, the Conseil Constitutionnel, the highest authority on the French Constitution, declared the provisions of a law permitting judicial and police use of a centralized national ID database to be unconstitutional. 200 members of the French Parliament referred the law to the Conseil following the law's adoption...
Buy Your HOPE 9 Tickets in April and 10% of Proceeds Go to EFF
French Constitutional Court Bans Law Enforcement Use of National Biometric ID Database
Megaupload User Asks Court to Return His Video Files
Megaupload User Asks Court to Return His Video Files
San Francisco - A small business owner who used Megaupload's cloud-based storage system as part of his daily operations has asked a federal court to establish a process that would allow him and other lawful Megaupload users to get their files back. The procedure would help rectify the collateral damage...
This Week in Censorship: UK, UAE, Pakistan, & Bangladesh
United Kingdom
On Monday, a joint Commons and Lords committee published a report urging Google and other sites to take proactive steps to monitor their search results in order to protect the privacy of certain individuals. As a result, a committee of Parliamentary members has begun pushing for...
Syrian Activists Targeted With Facebook Phishing Attack
“Zero-day” exploit sales should be key point in cybersecurity debate
Last week, Forbes’ Andy Greenberg investigated a dangerous but largely underreported problem in Internet security: the sale of zero-day exploits to customers not intending to fix the flaws. Zero-day exploits are hacking techniques that take advantage of software vulnerabilities that haven’t been disclosed to the developer or the public....
This Week in Transparency: Faulty FOIA
Issa Report Gives Federal Government C-minus on FOIA Processing
The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Darrell Issa (R-CA), released a report (pdf) that graded the federal government and its agencies on their ability to manage FOIA requests. We've documented extensively the lack...
Four Unanswered Questions About the Cybersecurity Bills
The U.S. legislature has cybersecurity on the brain. In the coming months, Congress and the Senate will consider a confusing variety of cybersecurity bills--including H.R. 3523 (Rogers), H.R. 3674 (Lungren), S. 2105 (Lieberman), and S. 215 (McCain)--all of which purport to keep U.S. companies and...
