Privacy

By Joel A. Harrison, PhD, MPH

Identity theft, a growing problem, is regularly in the news. We are warned to keep our Social Security numbers safe, to not carry our SSN cards with us. But recently, I joined the ranks of Medicare recipients and, to my surprise, found that my Medicare number is my SSN number--and we are instructed to carry it with us at all times.

I’ve done everything possible to minimize my exposure. I purchased a cross-cutter, better than a shredder, and use it for all papers with personal information. I purchased a sturdy lock mailbox. I keep no passwords or personal details on my computer, keep my firewall and virus programs up-to-date, and obtained a second credit card with a low maximum for online purchases. I never give out information on the phone and I placed a security freeze on all three credit reporting agencies.

By Amber Yoo
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

There are hundreds of ways that a consumer's personal information may be lost, stolen or exposed.  An employee may lose a laptop, hackers may download credit card numbers or sensitive personal data may be accidentally exposed online.

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has been tracking breaches since 2005 and publishes a Chronology of Data Breaches. The Chronology counts the number of records leaked that contain information useful to identity thieves, such as Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, driver's license numbers – and in some states, medical information.

By Paul Stephens
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

The phrase "Cyber Monday" was coined several years ago to describe the phenomenon of millions of workers returning to their offices on the Monday after Thanksgiving and spending a good part of the day doing their holiday shopping online. By November 2010, Cyber Monday had become the biggest online shopping day in history and the first to surpass the billion-dollar threshold.

By Nancy Murray and Kade Crockford
TruthOut and ACLU Massachusets

Surveillance now is everyone's business, as the line between intelligence-gathering and crimefighting rapidly fades and the public is conditioned to play its part. The work of Deputy Police Chief Michael Downing of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) exemplifies the new surveillance paradigm. The head of the 750-strong counterterrorism force within the LAPD, he is on the hunt for "people who follow al-Qaeda's goals and objectives and mission and ideology." He says his officers collect intelligence and practice the "essence of community policing" by reaching out to Muslims and asking them to "weed out" the "hard-core radicals."

By Richard Holober
Consumer Federation of California

Persistence paid off for Senator Joe Simitian. Governor Jerry Brown just signed Simitian’s Senate Bill 24, which will arm consumers with information to help prevent identity theft. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Senator Simitian placed three previous versions of his security breach notification bill on the desk of former Governor Schwarzenegger, only to encounter vetoes.

If you are one of the many Californians who had your confidential information compromised in a security breach, you most likely found out by receiving a letter in the mail. After reading it, you were probably quite upset, but confused about what you should do about it. SB 24 will help consumers make sense of these notices, and help arm us to stop identity theft.

By Amber Yoo
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Facial recognition technology – especially as the technology becomes more sophisticated – may be one of the gravest privacy threats of our time. It has the potential to remove the anonymity Americans expect in crowds and most public places. There are the obvious “chilling effects” it could have on political demonstrations and speech, concerns being monitored by civil liberties advocates like the ACLU, EPIC, and EFF. However, this technology will also very likely be used in greater capacity in the commercial sector to further target consumers for advertising and discriminatory pricing purposes.

By Eric Lee

BART actions to inhibit free speech activity isn't new to University of California students who earlier this year uncovered internal documents showing officials has conspired to monitor and control constitutionally-protected fee hike protests at UC Davis.

High-ranking University of California, Davis administrators including Chancellor Linda Katehi, several vice chancellors, more than 30 staff members, and campus police were involved, according to internal documents uncovered by students involved in the demonstrations.

Students and community members are particularly disturbed in light of similar Bay Area Rapid Transit police transgressions on the freedom to communicate.

By Caitlin Fuller
New America Media

Last month, Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the Legal Workforce Act, which would require employers to verify their employees’ legal immigration status using the online program E-Verify. While proponents of the program believe the resulting loss of jobs will compel undocumented workers to return to their home countries, not all policy experts agree.

“The law would just drive eight million unauthorized workers even deeper into the shadows,” said Angela Kelly, an analyst at the Center for American Progress (CAP).

By Beth Givens
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

In the past few months, corporate giants like Sony, Epsilon, Citigroup, and Lockheed Martin have made headlines for a string of sensational data breaches that compromised the personal information of hundreds of millions of consumers. As consumers try to grapple with the resulting myriad of data breach notifications, it’s become clear that California needs to centralize the reporting process and standardize security breach notifications.

By Mark Leno

If you like to attend political rallies, parades, protests or sit-ins, you might consider leaving your cell phone at home in the unlikely event arrests are made. A recent California Supreme Court decision allows police to rummage through all of the private information on your smart phone as part of an arrest, including your text messages and e-mails. This warrantless search is now legal in California, regardless of whether the information on the phone is relevant to the arrest or if criminal charges are ever filed.

Law enforcement has long had the right to search an arrestee in order to maintain officer safety and avoid destruction of evidence. Generally this included searching their clothing and other incidental items, such as a pack of cigarettes, where weapons or drugs could be hiding. Until now, smart phones were not included in this search.