Latest in Privacy Paradox
This piece is part of a series on Tim Edgar's new book, "Beyond Snowden."
One of the most important revelations following the disclosures by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden was the inadequate oversight of highly invasive U.S. surveillance programs.
Earlier this month Scarlet Kim and Mailyn Fidler posted an extended critique of the proposed US-UK agreement for cross-border law enforcement data requests. The critique was troubling, especially because I have long thought that some form of bilateral or multilateral agreement on cross-border data exchange is necessary to regularize the process and prevent the balkanization of the network.
With this week’s White House announcement of an intent to nominate additional leadership officials at the Department of Justice, one of whom is current Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) member Rachel Brand, the PCLOB is one step closer to conducting its business with a lone remaining member, Elisebeth Collins. Board members may not serve in separate U.S. government positions.
Amid an onslaught of privacy and cybersecurity threats, it can be difficult to predict which potential concerns will capture the public imagination. A particularly unlikely candidate for public debate over privacy and cybersecurity is Pokémon Go—a location-based, augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. And yet, in the month since its release, media outlets, members of Congress, and even celebrities have lambasted Pokémon Go over a supposed lack of privacy measures.
Earlier this month, a number of federal employees were surprised by a letter they received in the mail: a letter from their professional liability insurance provider informing them that it, Wright USA, had been acquired by a Chinese company.
Newsweek’s Jeff Stein has an informative article on this development, available here. A quick preview, according to Stein’s reporting:
This morning, I presented the following speech at Kenyon College—on Jodie Liu and my paper from last year on the privacy benefits of privacy threats, on some forthcoming work we'll be releasing next month on online sexual sextortion, and on Going Dark in relation to the most egregious privacy impacts.