Personal PrivacyNews and information on matters impacting personal privacyPatriot Act Hits another Roadblock Due to Privacy Issues- January 25, 2006 January 25, 2006 Last month, just prior to the Congressional holiday recess, renewal efforts for the Patriot Act ground to a halt. The law, which gives the federal government sweeping search and seizure powers that many believe to be unconstitutional, had sixteen very controversial clauses that were due to expire at the beginning of this year. The Bush Administration had been pushing Congress to renew the law in its entirety, and to make it permanent. But when four Republican senators (a...http://financialprivacy.blogspot.com/2006/01/patriot-act-hits-another-roadblock-due.html Google Defies Government on Privacy Issues- January 23, 2006 January 20, 2006 Google, the 800 pound gorilla of search engines, is defying a subpoena by the justice department. The government is demanding that the company turn over one full week of user search data. But Google has said that it will fight the subpoena vigorously because the company fears the ramifications to privacy for twelve million people who use the companys website every single day.http://financialprivacy.blogspot.com/2006/01/google-defies-government-on-privacy.html IRS to Outsource Some Tax Collection Raises Privacy Concerns- January 16, 2006 January 16, 2006 - In 2004, Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act. As innocuous as the title sounds, it contained a provision allowing the IRS to outsource collection efforts to private contractors. But both the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) are questioning the wisdom of this; saying that the move may jeopardize personal privacy and lead to cases of fraud and identity theft.http://www.guardmycreditfile.org/index.php/content/view/544/76/ Setback for Financial Privacy in New Hampshire- January 12, 2006 January 12, 2006 New Hampshires State Supreme Court has set aside portions of a 2004 state law that protected financial records revealed in divorce proceedings from prying eyes. The law had allowed judges to seal financial records of parties involved in a divorce for any reason.http://www.guardmycreditfile.org/index.php/content/view/543/76/ Illinois Poised to Become First State to Ban Sale of Phone Records- January 9, 2006 January 9, 2006 - On Friday, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced that he wants to ban the unauthorized sale of phone records within his state. The practice, know in the industry as pretexting, occurs when someone pretending to be the phone companys customer calls the phone company and gains access to all of the call information available for the actual customer. Surprisingly, no state currently outlaws this practice. And disturbingly, this lack of regulation has seen the birth of a new cottage...http://www.guardmycreditfile.org/index.php/content/view/541/76/ Two New Internet Scams to Look Out For An ACCESS Fraud Alert- January 6, 2006 January 5, 2006 Two new scams have hit the internet, with one common goal; making you part with your personal financial information. From all accounts, it looks like the scam artists are having a pretty good week. But with a little knowledge, you stand a fighting chance of keeping both your credit and your identity in tact.http://www.guardmycreditfile.org/index.php/content/view/539// H&R Block Mistakenly Embeds SSNs in Some Mailing Labels- January 4, 2006 January 4, 2006 - Last month, H&R Block sent a promotional mailing to both existing customers and prospects. A portion of the recipients were surprised to find out that their Social Security Numbers were embedded in a string of numbers on the mailing label.http://www.guardmycreditfile.org/index.php/content/view/538/138/ |