privacy – Page 3 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Court backs disclosure of public retiree names

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New York's highest court Tuesday ordered that the names of retired teachers, police officers and other government workers be released publicly in a case that tested the power of the state Freedom of Information Law.

In the unanimous decisions, the Court of Appeals decided it was not an invasion of privacy to identify retirees benefitting from the state's various pension systems for public workers. The court, however, said the addresses of the individuals shouldn't be made public.

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InfoSec 2014: 17 Percent Of All Thefts In The UK Threaten Victim Privacy

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Seventeen percent of all thefts in the UK involve digital devices which are likely to contain sensitive information, suggest numbers obtained by Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and regional Police forces in the UK by communications firm ViaSat.

The findings were presented at the InfoSec 2014 conference in London, where it was revealed that the number of data breaches reported to the ICO has increased by ten percent in 2104, but the the regulator is only half as likely to issue monetary fines as last year.

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Climate scientist’s privacy victory may prove a lose for journalists

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After deliberating for months, late last week the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in favor of climate scientist Michael Mann in his quest to maintain the privacy of his emails against a Virginia legislator and conservative think tank that sought to access his records using Virginia’s freedom of information laws.

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Alaska Senate Passes Bill To Limit Access To Certain Court Records

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Sen. Fred Dyson’s bill would make it so all criminal cases that result in a dismissal or an acquittal are considered confidential. They won’t appear on the Internet, and you won’t be able to access them at the courthouse unless you are a state worker who deals with child welfare.

The Eagle River Republican presented it on the Senate floor as a justice issue. “This one is about Amendments Four and Five: privacy and due process,” said Dyson, referencing the United States Constitution.

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Protecting your privacy is a good cause to support

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When someone goes to the doctor, they expect their medical information will be kept confidential. In the same way, when producers work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they also want confidentiality.

Livestock and crop producers, for the most part, do not want the EPA sharing their names and other personal information with various organizations.

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SXSW: Freedom of Your Information – If everyone cares about privacy, why do we give it away?

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In the afterglow of the Edward Snowden talk at SXSW, the interactive world may be bullish about the future of privacy. And then they'll use free services that data mine their communications to talk about it. As David Tishgart of local security startup Gazzang warned, "If it's free, then you're the product."

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Privacy and access laws across Canada

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British Columbia

British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act came into effect on Oct. 4, 1993. A year later, the legislation was expanded to include municipalities, schools, hospitals and municipal police forces.

Alberta

Alberta's FOIP Act was given royal assent in 1994 and came into force during five phases. The fifth phase, which happened on Oct. 1, 1999, brought local government bodies including police services under the authority of FOIP.

Saskatchewan

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Probation Officers Seek To Keep Personal Information From Inmates

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Probation officers asked lawmakers Wednesday to consider preventing the release of their employment records to people who are under court supervision or incarcerated in the state’s prisons.

Several officers testified at a hearing of the Government Administration and Elections Committee, which has raised a bill that would add an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act for probation officers, shielding their personnel and medical records from inmates and people under court supervision.

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Gene Policinski: ‘When’ and ‘why’ we need to hear 911 calls

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Opinion from The Californian: The word “restraint” and the First Amendment usually exist in uneasy tension.

The 45 words of the First Amendment don’t include it. The Pentagon Papers case in 1971 settled the issue of “prior restraint” by the government on what the press may publish: Nothing doing.

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Tensions between student privacy and excessive secrecy may be heating up

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From NFOIC: COLUMBIA, Mo — Will there be an onslaught of new state legislation that aims to moot the impact of a relaxed Department of Education regulation that gives educational researchers access to data to track individual students’ progress?

The Student Press Law Center, press associations and some open are bracing for legislative overreach at the state level that might result in attempts to respond to the Department of Education’s relaxed regulation.

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