Following two years of pressure from Congress, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has agreed to disclose a series of internal memoranda that set policy on device geolocation data collection for federal law enforcement purposes.
The DoJ originally distributed these secret memos following the 2012 case U.S. v Jones, in which the Supreme Court ruled that use of a GPS tracking device to monitor a vehicle's movements required a valid court warrant, subject to Fourth Amendment protections.
This morning, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, revealed that within the last 24 hours, the DoJ had agreed to a compromise that would allow him and the Committee's ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) to review the memos, along with two selected staff members.
“Now while I appreciate that gesture, I need to say it is frustrating that it has literally taken years to get to this point,” said Chaffetz, speaking at an Oversight Committee hearing held today to address the thorny issues surrounding geolocation data tracking, including the collection of historical cell site records and real-time GPS tracking using devices such as stingrays. “Thus far the Department of Justice has refused to allow those of us who serve in Congress to even understand how they're using these type of materials. This is a positive step forward.” continued…
first published week of: 03/14/2016
Learn Effective Location-based Vector–Borne Disease Surveillance and Control
Esri is hosting a no–cost one–hour webinar Effective Vector-Borne Disease Surveillance and Control on Thursday, May 26, 2016 at 11:00 am PDT. The webinar will help city and county staff implement a complete workflow that is driven by understanding the location of information.
Geographic information systems (GIS) technology plays a vital role in monitoring and eradicating mosquitos, and ramping up to fast and efficient response when outbreaks occur. The webinar will introduce how the Esri ArcGIS platform can help create smart communities when collecting and analyzing data, improving operations and response times, and communicating critical information with the public.
When vector-borne disease outbreaks occur, fast, effective response protects people from infection and its consequences,” said Este Geraghty, Chief Medical Office and Health Solutions Director, Esri. “Integrated pest management programs respond through the vital functions of prevention, surveillance, and control activities. Temporal and spatial information are critical to those efforts to curb the spread of disease. Organizations that harness the power of a location platform can achieve faster, more efficient response.”
Who:
What: Free webinar, Effective Vector–Borne Disease Surveillance and Control.
Where: Online, register here.
When: May 26, 2016
first published week of: 05/16/2016
"Disclosure of even minor details about them may cause jeopardy," bureau says.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has successfully convinced a federal judge to block the disclosure of where the bureau has attached surveillance cams on Seattle utility poles. The decision Monday stopping Seattle City Light from divulging the information was expected, as claims of national security tend to trump the public's right to know.
If the Protected Information is released, the United States will not be able to obtain its return; the confidentiality of the Protected Information will be destroyed, and the recipients will be free to publish it ... US District Judge Richard Jones
However, this privacy dispute highlights a powerful and clandestine tool the authorities are employing across the country to snoop on the public—sometimes with warrants, sometimes without. Just last month, for example, this powerful surveillance measure—which sometimes allows the authorities to control the camera's focus point remotely—helped crack a sex trafficking ring in suburban Chicago.
Meanwhile, in stopping the release of the Seattle surveillance cam location information—in a public records act case request brought by activist Phil Mocek—US District Judge Richard Jones agreed with the FBI's contention that releasing the data would harm national security.
"If the Protected Information is released, the United States will not be able to obtain its return; the confidentiality of the Protected Information will be destroyed, and the recipients will be free to publish it or post the sensitive information wherever they choose, including on the Internet, where it would harm important federal law enforcement operational interests as well as the personal privacy of innocent third parties," Jones ruled. continued…
first published week of: 06/20/2016
As widely expected, the FCC has proposed expansive new data privacy rules for broadband providers that, if adopted, could see ISPs required to gain explicit consent from users for using or sharing their data.
Although the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), adopted by the FCC late last week, seeks to tighten privacy rules it would not require broadband providers to gain explicit opt in customer consent for all purposes — with leeway left for providing the broadband service, marketing the specific service to users, and for certain other specific purposes “consistent with customer expectations”, such as public safety contacts.
ISPs would also still be able to share customer data for marketing other comms-related services and with any affiliates providing these services — provided broadband customers have not opted out of receiving this type of marketing missive.
However all other uses of customer data by ISPs would require explicit opt in consent from users under the proposals. continued…
first published week of: 04/04/2016
Customers should be able to watch TV on any device without CableCard, FCC said.
The Federal Communications Commission today approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to give consumers more choices in the set-top boxes they use to watch cable TV.
The vote was 3-2, with Chairman Tom Wheeler and fellow Democrats Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel voting in favor of the proposal, while Republicans Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly voted against. An NPRM is not a final vote. Instead, this will kick off a months-long public comment period leading up to a final vote that is likely to happen before the end of this year.
The FCC is essentially trying to create a software-based replacement for CableCard. Pay-TV operators from the cable, satellite, and telco industries would have to provide content and programming information to makers of third-party hardware or applications. Theoretically, customers could then watch their TV channels on various devices without needing to rent a set-top box from their cable company and without buying equipment that is compatible with a physical CableCard. continued…
first published week of: 02/22/2016
As the saying goes in cybersecurity, it’s not a question of whether a network will be hacked, but when. For many agencies, that means the right approach to security is resiliency -- the ability to be able to rapidly respond to and recover from a hack, intrusion or attack.
One way to increase resiliency is to focus more on shared networks and shared applications, U.S. CIO Tony Scott said.
Agencies have many common functions and workflow processes, and there’s “no reason every agency has to run its own email system,” he told GCN after a Feb. 11 New America Foundation event on cybersecurity. continued…
first published week of: 02/22/2016
Mobile security is assumed to critical to an agency’s overall IT security, but details on the effectiveness of such programs are scarce, making it hard to assess the overall risk from mobile devices.
A study by the Ponemon Institute and cybersecurity company Lookout of nearly 600 IT and security executives at major organizations, including those in the public sector, shows the risk from mobile devices is great and increasing. In fact, the majority of the study respondents believe mobile is a root cause of breaches.
Some 83 percent say mobile devices are susceptible to hacking, and over two-thirds said it was certain or likely that their organization had a data breach caused by employees accessing sensitive and confidential information using mobile devices.
At the same time, only 33 percent of the respondents said their organization was vigilant in protecting data from unauthorized access. Even more startling, nearly 40 percent didn’t even consider protection of that data on mobile devices to be a priority.
Perhaps that’s not surprising when, according to the study, most of these IT security professionals didn’t know what their employees were really accessing on their devices. Those who said they did know thought the data was mostly email and text, when, in fact, personally identifiable information, customer records and confidential and classified documents made up a large part of it. continued…
first published week of: 03/21/2016
Both Malibu Media and Prenda Law have run into different roadblocks
The number of copyright lawsuits in the US over online file-sharing have dropped significantly this year, according to data compiled by Lex Machina. Data released by the legal research company shows there were 249 file-sharing lawsuits filed in the second quarter of 2016, compared to 517 cases the previous year.
Anti-piracy copyright lawsuits began increasing in number dramatically around 2012 and last year constituted the majority of all copyright cases nationally. The number of copyright disputes unrelated to file-sharing have held steady for the last five years, as shown in the graph above.
Lex Machina defines file-sharing lawsuits as cases having "John Doe or anonymous defendants" and allegations related to file-sharing technology, typically BitTorrent.
Some of the most litigious copyright holders have run into major roadblocks in recent years. Of the two lawyers who created "copyright trolling" firm Prenda Law, one has agreed to suspend his law license, and John Steele is facing allegations that could also lead to disbarment. continued…
first published week of: 07/18/2016
The Agriculture Department seeks information on the availability of professional services to support the geospatial data analysis and management efforts of the agency’s Forest Service organization.
According to the agency's solicitation number AG-02NV-RFI-16-0025:
The Forest Service (GTSC) is conducting market research regarding the availability of potential sources of onsite/off-site professional services (NOT of an architectural or engineering nature as defined under the Brooks Act) in the areas of geospatial web application development, geographic information systems (GIS), enterprise architecture, geospatial data management, spatial database administration and related geospatial activity areas. Considered sources for such services may include large, non-profit, and small businesses (8(a), service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business, and women-owned small business).
GSTC develops, implements and applies geospatial solutions to address a variety of resource management needs utilizing a variety of technical services which includes: 1) data conversion, processing, and integration in accordance with the Forest Service's GIS Data Dictionary and other standards; 2) linking of the GIS spatial data with Oracle or SQL databases; 3) generation of related metadata to Federal Geographic Data Committee standards; 4) miscellaneous technical support, including training, analysis, map development, etc; and 5) GIS application and associated programming in the desktop, server, and internet environments. Project size will typically involve large parts of, or an entire, National Forest (50,000 to 5 million acres), and may include part or all of the USDA FS GIS Data layers at one time. The possibility exists for non core data themes to also be processed.
Interested parties may register at www.fedbizopps.gov to receive notification when the solicitation (AG-02NV-S-16-0025) and any amendments or notices are issued and available for downloading.
Please submit your electronic response to msschafer@fs.fed.us on or before March 7, 2016 - 2:00 P.M. MT. Information should be submitted electronically referencing the Notice Number AG-02NV-RFI-16-0025. No faxes will be accepted. continued…
first published week of: 02/29/2016
Georgia CIO Calvin Rhodes and Washington state CISO Agnes Kirk weigh in on how to garner support for a cybersecurity strategy that protects against today's threats.
The potential for a cyberattack targeting government data is on the radar of most decision-makers, but that doesn't always translate to funding for a comprehensive cyberstrategy. At the NASCIO Mid-Year Conference last month, state IT leaders talked to Government Technology about the importance of executive support and the need to involve the proper stakeholders in the discussion.
In Washington, Chief Information Security Officer Agnes Kirk talks about what's working in her state, and the continuing challenge to compete for limited government resources.
In Georgia, CIO Calvin Rhodes sits on a cybersecurity board alongside a diverse set of stakeholders, including the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security, the National Guard and risk management staff. continued…
first published week of: 07/11/2016