surveillance

If a new federal proposal announced this week requiring Internet providers and Wi-Fi access points to keep records on users for two years becomes law, police would not be the only ones to benefit.

So would individuals and companies bringing civil lawsuits, including the Recording Industry Association of America and other large copyright holders, many of which have lobbied for similar data retention laws in other countries.

When filing lawsuits over suspected online piracy, lawyers for the RIAA and other plaintiffs typically have an Internet Protocol address they hope to link with someone's identity. But if the network operator … Read more

Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations.

The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates.

"While the Internet has generated many positive changes in the way we communicate … Read more

New powers are needed to combat a culture of "pervasive" surveillance that has seen the U.K. become the most spied-upon country in the world, the Lords said Friday.

The U.K. is now watched by more about 4 million CCTV cameras and details of 7 percent of the population is held in the National DNA Database (NDNAD)--more than any other country, according to chairman of the House of Lords Constitution Committee, Lord Goodlad.

At the same time national databases designed to hold personal information on nearly every U.K. citizen are being set up across Whitehall, … Read more

This snooping utility provides almost all the features essential for monitoring a PC, but we were especially impressed with its stealthiness. System Surveillance Pro logs keystrokes, IM chats, applications used, and Web sites visited, and can capture screenshots at user-defined periodic intervals.

The interface makes it easy to locate any log file you need to access. System Surveillance Pro can block Web sites via URLs or detected keywords, and includes a scheduler in case you don't need to monitor PC usage at all times. Like most respectable spying applications, it will send you e-mail reports so you can keep … Read more

A secret federal appeals court has ruled that federal agencies can be authorized to conduct warrantless e-mail and telephone surveillance without violating the U.S. Constitution.

In a 29-page redacted opinion (PDF) released Thursday, the court ruled that presidents do not need to obtain warrants to conduct "foreign intelligence for national-security purposes"--which is effectively at least a partial endorsement of President Bush's views on expansive executive powers.

The central question in this case was how the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on "unreasonable searches and seizures" applies to intelligence agencies wishing to compel AT&… Read more

Police Blotter is a regular CNET News report on the intersection of technology and the law.

What: Feds want to eavesdrop on touch tones pressed during phone calls without obtaining a court-authorized wiretap order first.

When: U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in the Eastern District of New York rules on December 16, 2008.

Outcome: Surveillance request rejected.

What happened, according to court records and other documents: Just about everyone knows that the FBI must obtain a formal wiretap order from a judge to listen in on your phone calls legally. But the U.S. Department of Justice believes that … Read more

The first NAS server I've run into that features a surveillance system is the Synology DS107+, and I was very impressed. Thursday, D-Link announced two NAS servers that work more like Internet-based surveillance products--or network video recorders (NVRs)--than storage devices. They are the DNS-722-4 and the DNS-726-4.

Both products are based on D-Link's two-bay network-attached storage (NAS) device technology, such as that used in the DNS-323. The DNS-726-4 NVR Pro version works with D-Link, as well as Axis, Sony, and Panasonic network cameras, while the DNS-722-4 NVR works only with D-Link network cameras.

There's one more … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--A federal judge on Tuesday heard arguments in a case that centers on an important constitutional principle: can the Feds immunize any telecommunications company that violated the law by opening its network to government snoops?

That was the question debated in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker on Tuesday. Lawyers with the U.S. Justice Department, who sought to persuade Walker to throw out lawsuits pending against the telecommunications companies, told him the government engages in a variety of activities designed to "protect the heartland." Those in the Bush administration have said the lawsuits … Read more

In a purported effort to cut down on "ID sharing" in Beijing's Internet cafes, the government will require that by the end of 2008, first-time visitors will have their picture taken and ID scanned before being allowed online, according to The Beijing News and the China Media Project.

Users were already required to show identification when they entered, a rule that has been spottily enforced at times but more strictly, by most accounts, since preparations for the Olympics began. David Bandurski at China Media Project writes:

The newspaper quoted Li Fei (李菲), a spokesperson for the Beijing Cultural … Read more