Chris Hoofnagle of Berkeley Law has just published arguably the single most important archive in privacy today: it is the transcripts of six of the HEW meetings in the early 197os that formed the origins of today’s Fair Information Practices. FIPs have now for 40 years formed the cornerstone of most of the privacy laws passed globally. Long lost to the dust of time, the original hearing transcripts have never been available online, and even access to the paper versions have not been widely available.

This interactive map shows in one glance the medical data breaches in the U.S. that have been reported to the U.S. government from 2009-2012. Each blue dot represents one breach. The bigger the dot, the bigger the breach. To see the detailed information about where, when, and how the breach happened, mouse over the dots, or zoom in by state.

An important and emerging area of facial recognition tech is “Passive Inspection Point” tech. This means the technology automatically captures consumers’ face prints as they move through public spaces like malls and on city streets. This video showcases current technology by Accenture that can automatically collect and enroll consumers’ facial biometrics from many angles.

This video is of an automatic border control entry point demo, along with examples of real-world installations of automated facial recognition-based entry systems. This technology collects facial recognition information from the people passing through a checkpoint to allow or disallow entry. This “ABC” type of technology is used at entrances to places such as commercial companies, border crossings, and airports.

February 3, 2014   Washington, D.C. — Senator Rockefeller sent six hard-hitting and precedent-setting letters to data brokers today. This was the Senator’s direct follow-up to the information WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon revealed in her December 2013 data broker testimony at the Senate Commerce Committee, which Sen. Rockefeller chairs. Rockefeller, in his release, said: “I