The nation’s major mobile-phone providers are keeping a treasure trove of sensitive data on their customers, according to newly-released Justice Department internal memo that for the first time reveals the data retention policies of America’s largest telecoms. The single-page Department of Justice document, “Retention Periods of Major Cellular Service Providers,” (.pdf) ...

An Obama administration policy allowing U.S. border officials to seize and search laptops, smartphones and other electronic devices for any reason was challenged as unconstitutional in federal court Tuesday. Citing the government’s own figures, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers claim about 6,500 persons ...

A creepy caricature of Google CEO Eric Schmidt drives an ice cream truck in this video produced by a consumer group targeting the search giant for its data collection practices. The video is part of a lobbying effort by Consumer Watchdog to get the government to create a so-called “Do Not Track Me” ...

Whether Google is liable for damages for secretly intercepting data on open Wi-Fi routers across the United States is to be aired out in a Silicon Valley federal court. Eight proposed class actions from across the country that seek unspecified monetary damages from Google were consolidated this week and transferred to ...

Using an iPhone to secretly record a conversation is not a violation of the Wiretap Act if done for legitmate purposes, a federal appeals court has ruled. “The defendant must have the intent to use the illicit recording to commit a tort of crime beyond the act of recording itself,” (.pdf) the ...

Federal authorities announced Tuesday they will not prosecute administrators connected to a webcam spying scandal at a suburban Philadelphia school district. Prosecutors and the FBI opened an inquiry following a February privacy lawsuit accusing Lower Merion School District officials of spying on students with webcams on the 2,300 district-issued Macbooks. The ...

A wide swath of the net’s top websites, including MTV, ESPN, MySpace, Hulu, ABC, NBC and Scribd, were sued in federal court Friday on the grounds they violated federal computer intrusion law by secretly using storage in Adobe’s Flash player to re-create cookies deleted by users. At issue is technology from ...

Lonnie David Franklin Jr. appears for arraignment on multiple charges as the alleged "Grim Sleeper" killer, in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday, July 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Al Seib, Pool) When California authorities arrested Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. as the suspected “Grim Sleeper” serial killer last week they based their case in ...

We’re not sure what’s more humorous: That California Rep. Jane Harman, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, maintains two unencrypted Wi-Fi networks at her residence, or that a consumer group sniffed her unsecured traffic in a bid to convince lawmakers to hold hearings about Google. A representative for Consumer Watchdog ...

Spokeo, an online data broker, is accused of peddling inaccurate information and violating consumer protection laws in a complaint sent to the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday. The Center for Democracy and Technology, which filed the complaint, alleges Spokeo purports to provide information about individuals’ credit ratings and other financial data, but ...