Wiretap picture frame

This isn't really an invasion of your privacy, unless you're still figuring out that using unsecured WiFi is a problem. :-)

Scott says pause in drug-testing, “just the process now"

From Post on Politics:

Gov. Rick Scott downplayed the implications of his decision to suspend his order that all state employees undergo pre-employment and random drug testing, saying Thursday he remains committed to screening.

The move came two weeks after the ACLU of Florida sued the governor, claiming testing was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. Scott sent a memo last week to agency heads saying that only the Department of Corrections should go forward with implementing his March testing order until the outcome of the lawsuit, now in Miami federal court.

“We’re going forward with it,” Scott said. “We’ll continue to go forward…It’s just the process now.”

Scott also brushed off questions about whether he was concerned about the court overturning his order.

“The private sector does this all the time,” Scott said. “Our taxpayers expect our state employees to be productive…this is the right thing, and we’re going forward.”

Ont. cops get new high-tech plate scanners

We normally focus on the United States, but here's a bit from our friendly neighbors to the north. From the Toronto Sun:

Drivers beware, the Ontario Provincial Police have extra eyes on the road.

And not everyone's happy about what they see as a potential invasion of your privacy.

As part of a pilot project, four OPP cruisers and one SUV are outfitted with a new sophisticated camera system, similar to one used on toll highways, that can scan as many as 7,000 licence plates an hour.

The vehicles equipped with the Automated Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology are based in London, Ont., Cornwall, Ont., and the Greater Toronto Area.

With two cameras mounted on 45-degree angles on the front of the roof and one on the back, ALPR-equipped vehicles are able to scan plates behind and in the lanes to the left and right.

Student punished upon school's privacy invasion

From OneNewsNow.com:

A U.S. federal court has ruled that a school overstepped its authority in disciplining a student for information he posted on his social networking site.

Hickory High School senior Justin Layshock used his grandmother's computer to create a parody profile of a teacher. But when school officials learned of it, they imposed a ten-day suspension and banned him from extracurricular activities and from participating in graduation ceremonies. But John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute is defending Layshock's privacy.

'What this says is state officials, which public school teachers...and school officials [are], can't come into your home [or] your computer and tell you what you can and can't say,' he explains.

Scanner Vans Allow Drive-By Snooping

From Forbes.com:

Privacy-conscious travelers may cringe to think of the full-body scanners finding their way into dozens of airport checkpoints around the country. Most likely aren't aware that the same technology, capable of seeing through walls and clothes, has also been rolling out on U.S. streets.

American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Mass., has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter X-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles or cargo containers to snoop into their contents. And while the biggest buyer of AS&E's machines over the last seven years has been the Department of Defense for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the company says law enforcement agencies have also been using them domestically, deploying the roving scanners to search for vehicle-based roadside bombs in American cities. 'This product is now the largest-selling cargo and vehicle inspection system ever,' says Joseph Reiss, AS&E's vice president of marketing.

Kids, guns and doctors’ rights

From Boston.com:

Pediatricians regularly give parents advice about how to keep their children safe at home: Stash toxic cleaners where young children cannot get to them, fence the backyard swimming pool, require bike helmets, and keep any firearms unloaded and locked away.

Physicians call this kind of preventive care “anticipatory guidance.’’ When it comes to guns, the National Rifle Association calls it an invasion of privacy.

Governor Rick Scott this month signed a law making Florida the first state to limit a physician’s ability to ask patients or their parents whether they own a gun. Those who do would be subject to discipline by the state medical board. Similar proposals now being considered by several other states have enraged many doctors who say the law impinges on their ability to deliver critical information to families.

ACLU, Workers Question State Drug-Testing Mandate

From The Famuan:

One civil liberty group questions the constitutionality of Florida's new drug-testing mandate for state employees and plans to challenge Gov. Rick Scott's Executive Order 11-58 in court.

Opponents call mandatory pre-employment and unannounced, quarterly drug-testing a costly invasion of privacy in a state that has faced sweeping budget cuts since Scott entered office this year. Testing the more than 150,000 state workers each quarter will cost at least $23.5 million, according to The FAMUAN's research.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Richard Flamm, a scientist with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission, filed a lawsuit in Miami this month along with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) – a civil servant's union - challenging the validity of rehashing an outdated law to screen workers for unnamed drugs.

Iowa City's Ordinance Making Apartment Keys Available to Emergency Crews Faces Backlash

From FoxNews.com:

An Iowa city has passed an ordinance requiring hundreds of commercial buildings and apartment complexes to literally leave the keys outside in case of an emergency, allowing quicker access to first responders but potentially to those up to no good, as well.

The Cedar Falls City Council voted 6-1 on Monday to expand an existing 2004 ordinance that required lock boxes containing keys at buildings with six or more units and commercial buildings with sprinkler system or unsupervised alarms. The new ordinance, which can become law with a signature by Mayor Jon Crews, expands the requirement to apartment buildings with just three or more units.

Nick Taiber, the lone council member to oppose the ordinance, told FoxNews.com the issue has led to allegations of overreaching bureaucracy and constitutional concerns. He said he has yet to see a "strong case" for the benefits of requiring the safe-like boxes located on the outside of buildings so fire officials, with a master key, can gain entry during emergencies. With at least 841 commercial properties in Cedar Falls, Taiber estimates the cost of expanding the ordinance will cost the city roughly $500,000.

Video: Airport security checkpoint of the future

From SmartPlanet

Heeding to calls for a less intrusive way to screen passengers at the airport, transportation authorities have proposed a high tech solution that includes eye scanners, x-rays, metal and liquid detectors.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) demoed the first mock-up of a Checkpoint of the Future at the the Association’s 67th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit, in Singapore.

“We spend $7.4 billion a year to keep aviation secure. But our passengers only see hassle. Passengers should be able to get from curb to boarding gate with dignity,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. “That means without stopping, stripping or unpacking, and certainly not groping.”

A new Ohio law could be an invasion of privacy for charged felon

From WTOL.com:

Certain civil rights groups say a new state law in Ohio could violate your civil rights.

Taking effect July 1st, law enforcement will now take a DNA swab upon a felony arrest. Right now, police can only request a sample or a judge can order someone give a sample if that someone has been convicted of a felony.

'How far do we allow law enforcement to go without the individual's consent or without a court order?' asked Toledo defense attorney Jerry Phillips. 'You can't legislate away your constitutional rights.'

The idea behind the law is to possible match a suspect's DNA to other crimes by using the state's DNA database. With a match, police could have the opportunity to keep their suspect in custody for a longer period of time.

New School Webcam Privacy Lawsuit Filed

From eSecurity Planet:

A new lawsuit has been filed against Pennsylvania's Lower Merion School District over webcam photos secretly taken of students by school administrators, following the settling of two previous lawsuits last fall.

'The latest accusations, which were said to occur during a six-month period ending September 2008, [have] left the high school student 'shocked, humiliated and severely emotionally distressed,' according to a federal invasion-of-privacy lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages,' writes Wired's David Kravets.

'As part of an FBI investigation and a lawsuit brought by a different student, a judge had contacted the boy’s parents informing him of the breach, and invited them to view the pictures,' Kravets writes. 'The youth’s parents were shown 4,404 webcam photographs and 3,978 screenshots captured with the Lower Merion School District–issued MacBook. The amount of photos represents the largest publicly known number of images secretly recorded in the webcam scandal.'

Man posts billboard claiming ex had an abortion, tells courts 'free speech!'

From the NY Daily News:

A New Mexico man is fighting a free speech battle over a giant billboard that he set up claiming his ex-girlfriend had an abortion.

Greg Fultz, 35, put up a billboard in mid-May that shows him cradling the black silhouette of a baby with the message, 'This Would Have Been a Picture of My 2-Month Old Baby If the Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!'

The towering sign is next to the main road through Alamogordo, N.M., where Fultz lives.