Don’t Ask, Don’t Kvell

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Sep 1, 2007 Yes, it's hypocritical when a member of the "family values" party gets caught stepping out on his spouse or tapping toes in a restroom, but politicians of all stripes should be allowed to destroy their marriages in peace. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

An Ode to Privacy

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig Aug 7, 2007 It wasn't so long ago that thinking the government was reading your mail, listening to your phone calls, tracking your movements and snapping photos along the way meant you were just paranoid. Ah, the good old days. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

IRS Workers Fall for Simulated Password Scam

Staff / Truthdig Aug 4, 2007 According to a recent internal audit, 60 percent of IRS employees fell for the oldest trick in the book, allowing auditors posing as help-desk employees access to their digital identities, and by extension your personal and private information. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Federal Bureau of Intrusion

Staff / Truthdig Jun 14, 2007 Disturbing news from the FBI: The top U.S. intelligence agency recently underwent an internal audit, which produced some pretty creepy results. Even in a small sampling of the agency's activities (the survey covered 10% of the whole organization, according to The Washington Post), the bureau was found to have violated privacy laws and agency rules some 1,000 times while monitoring phone calls, e-mails and other communications. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bill Maher Says Mind Your Own Business

Staff / Truthdig Apr 6, 2007 On last week's "Real Time," Bill Maher took on conservative personality Michael Smerconish to defend John and Elizabeth Edwards' right to privacy: "Since they announced this last week, so many people have become experts on what you should do when you get sick, when I don't think it's really anybody's business but theirs." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

FBI Abuses Patriot Act Powers

Staff / Truthdig Mar 9, 2007 An internal Justice Department investigation has documented multiple abuses by the FBI in obtaining the private records of U.S. residents. Even with the broad powers of the Patriot Act in place, the bureau is still required to certify that the phone, e-mail and financial documents it seeks are at least related to investigations of terrorism or intelligence activities. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

MySpace to Share Sex Offender Data With U.S. Center

Staff / Truthdig Jan 30, 2007 Internet social network MySpace has developed a sophisticated national database of sex offenders it uses to police memberships and protect users, many of them minors. On Monday, the company announced it would share the information with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in an effort to aid law enforcement. (h/t: Sex Drive Daily) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bush’s Pseudo-Watchdog Takes a Beating

Staff / Truthdig Dec 6, 2006 President Bush's puppet Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board held its first public meeting on Tuesday, getting an earful from civil liberty advocates and experts, including the ACLU's Caroline Fredrickson, who remarked: "Clearly, you've been fiddling while Rome burns." The group, though conceived by the 9/11 Commission and created by Congress, holds little power and its members serve at the pleasure of the president. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

EU Rules Financial Spying Program Illegal

Staff / Truthdig Nov 23, 2006 A European Union oversight committee has concluded that the data sharing program between the U.S. and a European financial consortium broke the law by violating the civil liberties of European citizens. The decision may prompt the EU's ruling body to sue Belgium for allowing the program to continue. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Friendster Rebellion: A Privacy-Concern Dam Break?

Staff / Truthdig Sep 8, 2006 Bush's warrantless wiretapping program failed to arouse much more than a collective shrug across much of America, but when the social networking site Facebook recently began broadcasting every change a user makes to his online "friends," ("you're out of my top-50," for example), the community rebelled -- quickly and viciously. Could this be the start of something? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Judge Orders End to Bush’s Warrantless Wiretapping

Staff / Truthdig Aug 17, 2006 A federal judge in Detroit ruled that the government's eavesdropping program is illegal and unconstitutional, and ordered an immediate halt to it. Check out constitutional scholar and bestselling author Glenn Greenwald's stellar analysis and opinion roundup. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

AOL Exposes Users

Staff / Truthdig Aug 8, 2006 America Online recently released the search queries of more than 650,000 of its users for ?research? purposes. The data contained three months' worth of searches that were attached to unique user IDs. No names were included with the release, but private information was easily gleaned from some of the queries. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )