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Congressional Hearing on Employment Verification
The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on employment verification. Several hearings have be held by the committee on the proposal to create a mandatory national government employment eligibility system. The current private sector system is voluntary.
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Privacy Coalition Members Send Comments to NIST on Smart Grid Systems
Members of the Privacy Coalition urged a federal agency to establish safeguards for Smart Grid systems that protect consumer electricity usage information from unauthorized collection, use, disclosure, or sale. Smart Grid networks, which uniquely identify individual devices and appliances, create new privacy risks and could reveal intimate details of home life. EPIC recommended that policies be established to safeguard consumer privacy, including limitations on data collection, enforceable privacy practices, new security standards, and independent oversight.
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FISA Reform Bill Introduced in the House
Representatives Conyers, Nadler, and Scott introduced two bills today that would amend the PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Patriot Amendments Act of 2009 will enhance reporting and judicial oversight of law enforcement powers, including the National Security Letter process. The FISA Amendments Act of 2009 will place new limits on the government's ability to collect and store Americans' communications without a warrant and repeals retroactive immunity.
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2010 Annual Privacy Coalition Meeting
The annual meeting of the Privacy Coalition held in Washington DC on January 21-23, 2010 hosted discussions among activists, policy makers, government decision makers, and federal chief privacy officials. Congressman Bennie G. Thompson served as the Keynote speaker at the dinner held on Thursday evening. At the event Beth Givens, founder and director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, was presented with the EPIC's U.S. Privacy Champion Award for 2010. Meeting participants. Meeting Agenda.

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Privacy Coalition Members Defend Privacy of Facebook Users
Ten Privacy and consumer organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, urging the FTC to open an investigation into Facebook's revised privacy settings. The complaint, led by EPIC is signed by nine other privacy and consumer organizations, states that the "changes violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook's own representations." There has been widespread opposition from Facebook users, security experts, bloggers, and news organizations.
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2010 Annual Privacy Coalition Meeting
The annual meeting of the Privacy Coalition held in Washington DC on January 21-23, 2010 hosted discussions among activists, policy makers, government decision makers, and federal chief privacy officials. Congressman Bennie G. Thompson served as the Keynote speaker at the dinner held on Thursday evening. At the event Beth Givens, founder and director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, was presented with the EPIC's U.S. Privacy Champion Award for 2010. Meeting participants. Meeting Agenda.

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January 17, 2008
Homeland Security Releases Final REAL ID Rules
The Department of Homeland Security released the long awaited final rule on state issued drivers licenses and identification documents. The rule indicated that the new federal REAL ID will be used for a variety of purposes unrelated to the law that resulted in the federalization of state issued drivers licenses. If states do not comply with the agency rule the drivers’ licenses held by state residents will not be accepted for air travel or to access federal government buildings. As a cost saving measure the Department of Homeland Security decided not to require encryption of the digital data stored on the REAL ID. The Privacy Coalition led a major anti-REAL ID public education campaign. EPIC's page on REAL ID and the ACLU's analysis of the new agency rule..
Posted by EPIC at January 17, 2008 10:39 AM