Via Deutsche Welle:

“The big problem with social networks is that you don’t know just who can poke around in there,” says Henry Krasemann, an expert at the Independent Centre for Data Protection for Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany … that’s why data protection specialists recommend storing as little private information as possible online.

“Under no circumstances should you be putting bikini or party photos up onto a network of that kind,” says Constanze Kurz, spokeswoman for the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Berlin.

New Europe has published an article by Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe, calling for stronger data protection rules in Europe:

Surveillance technology is developing with breath-taking speed. This creates new instruments in the struggle against terrorism and organised crime, but also raises fundamental questions on the right to privacy for everyone. Individuals should be protected from intrusions into their private life and from the improper collecting, storing, sharing and use of data about them. Terrorism and organised crime must be combated - but not with means which undermine basic human rights.

(Via Ars Technica.)

With the help of Public Citizen, an eBay merchant has won the right to sell used copies of AutoCAD on eBay. Autodesk had sought to block the sale under the software’s license agreement, but a court ruled that such sales were legal under copyright’s First Sale Doctrine.

From the BBC:

The Information Commissioner is launching an investigation after the Conservatives accidentally sent details of 8,000 people to a radio station.

The e-mail sent contained the names, addresses, telephone numbers and intentions of voters in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.

From news.com:

Although digital music stores such as eMusic, Amazon MP3, and even Napster itself already had MP3s on offer before this point, the collective catalogs of all three didn’t even come near the volume of tracks you can find in the entire Napster library. All four major labels and thousands of indies are represented in the store, and every track will be available at the standard 99 cent price point.

At the time of writing the store is only available in the United States.

Further commentary from Techdirt:

This story wasn’t too surprising given the way things have been going over the last year. But even less surprising is the fact that customers who were foolish enough to purchase DRMed content from previous versions of Napster are stuck with their decision. They don’t get to update their content to MP3 format, and while Napster has decided to continue running its “license servers” for now, it’s only a matter of time before Napster decides running those servers is more trouble than it’s worth and shuts them off, cutting customers off from their music libraries entirely.

via BBC

Ministers are to consider plans for a database of electronic information holding details of every phone call and e-mail sent in the UK, it has emerged.

From the Times:

Signals given off by mobile phones are being used by shopping centres to monitor how long people stay and which stores they visit.

The company selling the system

Analysis on Spy Blog

Discussion on Slashdot

(Via Ars Technica.)

Citing a flawed jury instruction and a precedent-setting Eighth Circuit ruling he was previously unaware of, Judge Michael Davis is on the cusp of granting Jammie Thomas’ request for a new trial.

(Via ZDNet) Nick Heath writes

The NHS has pledged to halt the further rollout of its electronic patient record system while it takes stock of criticisms in a report. A report evaluating the trial rollout of the Summary Care Record (SCR) system highlighted concerns that the system was clunky, interfaces poorly with other systems and was being foisted upon patients without their full knowledge.

Via Linx Public Affairs blog:

The Home Office has disclosed police use of powers to demand the decryption of data or production of decryption keys.