News & Commentary

Microsoft recently announced the Windows Sensor and Location Platform, a component of the next release of the Windows operating system that allows applications to access sensors, including location sensors. Tracking a user's location, and sharing that information with any application that requests it, carries serious privacy concerns. Other tools, such as Mozilla Geode, allay some of these concerns by giving the user control over whether and how location information is shared with Web sites. Windows, unfortunately, does not currently provide such controls, forcing the user to choose between eschewing location-aware applications entirely and giving every application complete knowledge of her present location.

Search users trust companies like Google to keep the contents of their search private. Recently, Google threatened that trust in using search queries to track flu outbreaks. Even though the motivation for this use may be wholly altruistic, and the information may be entirely aggregate without any personal identifiers, this still demonstrates that Google considers search queries Google property to be used as the company sees fit and not private communications from individual users.

Recently, Mozilla introduced Geode, an extension for the Firefox browser that can determine where you are and share that information with Web sites and other services. This allows Web sites to deliver location-based services, which, as we recently discussed, carry serious privacy concerns. Geode's privacy policy mitigates some of these concerns, but ultimately our ability to control location information depends on the policies and practices of the Web sites with which we share this information.

For the third time in four years, voters in California rejected a measure that would have endangered the health and safety of pregnant teenagers. Proposition 4 represents a third strike against mandatory parental notification laws and the harms they cause.

All Mary Scott wanted was a quiet place to raise her girls. With high-ranking schools, low crime rates and plenty of affordable housing, Antioch seemed to fit the bill. That was before the police tried to run her out of town.

Cyberspace is no longer a separate world. Instead, more and more online applications and networked devices know exactly where you are in the real world and put that information to use. Knowing where you are can reveal details of your life that you may well wish to keep private – details about where and when you work, which clubs and groups you join, and who your friends are. You deserve the right to control this information and how it is used, stored, and shared.

The University of Washington and RSA today released a report on the significant privacy and security vulnerabilities of RFID-embedded Enhanced Drivers' Licenses and Passport cards.

A broad coalition of public interest groups released two letters today calling on television networks and YouTube to protect online political speech in the final days of this election.

Congress and the Bush White House overstepped their constitutional authority and violated the rights of millions of customers when they passed and approved legislation granting sweeping immunity to telecoms that collaborated in illegal spying.