Sue Reisinger writes: Earlier this month the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed— and quickly settled—its first lawsuit accusing an employer of gathering illegal genetic information during a job applicant’s medical exam. The agency followed it up last Thursday by filing its first class action suit against another employer on similar grounds. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act went into effect [...]
Travelers visiting the US may have to prepare for more hassles at customs: All foreign nationals leaving the country at 30 airports must have their fingerprints taken, according to a new amendment to a planned immigration reform bill. The amendment, which was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in a 13-5 vote, will see departure [...]
Since September 2010, I’ve been following a case involving a man who sued the village of Palatine, Illinois in federal court for disclosing too much personal information on a summons left on his windshield. His complaint was based on the Driver Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). In August 2011, a federal court upheld the village’s actions. [...]
Dutch rules requiring all websites to get express permission from visitors to use software known as cookies is to be watered down, economic affairs minister Henk Kamp has told parliament. MPs had urged the minister to take steps to stop the constant appearance of irritating popups on websites since the legislation came into effect last [...]
Jaikumar Vijayan reports: The battle to find a balance between privacy concerns and the beneficial use of drones for commercial and law enforcement purposes is in sharp focus in a bill that’s winding its way through the Texas legislature. The Texas Privacy Act (HB 912), sponsored by Rep. Lance Gooden (R-District 4), would make it [...]
Tony Romm writes: Federal law enforcers say they have their hands full with criminals who skirt legal surveillance by using hard-to-wiretap services like Google and Facebook. Now they’re about to inherit a new foe in the fight: Capitol Hill. Some of the top lawmakers closely aligned with civil liberties and Silicon Valley interests are expressing [...]
Justin Green disputes statements in a recent Wired story by David Kravets. You can read his reply on The Daily Beast.