In an opinion column at the Washington Post, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley discussing how the United States’ expanding security powers can affect individual privacy and liberties:

Every year, the State Department issues reports on individual rights in other countries, monitoring the passage of restrictive laws and regulations around the world. Iran, for example, has been criticized for denying fair public trials and limiting privacy, while Russia has been taken to task for undermining due process. Other countries have been condemned for the use of secret evidence and torture.

Even as we pass judgment on countries we consider unfree, Americans remain confident that any definition of a free nation must include their own — the land of free. Yet, the laws and practices of the land should shake that confidence. In the decade since Sept. 11, 2001, this country has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the name of an expanded security state. The most recent example of this was the National Defense Authorization Act, signed Dec. 31, which allows for the indefinite detention of citizens. At what point does the reduction of individual rights in our country change how we define ourselves?

While each new national security power Washington has embraced was controversial when enacted, they are often discussed in isolation. But they don’t operate in isolation. They form a mosaic of powers under which our country could be considered, at least in part, authoritarian. Americans often proclaim our nation as a symbol of freedom to the world while dismissing nations such as Cuba and China as categorically unfree. Yet, objectively, we may be only half right. Those countries do lack basic individual rights such as due process, placing them outside any reasonable definition of “free,” but the United States now has much more in common with such regimes than anyone may like to admit. [...] Read more »

USA Today reports on security questions with Amazon’s tablet/e-reader, the Kindle Fire:

Security concerns are giving some consumers another reason to hold off on the Kindle Fire, one of the holiday’s hottest gadgets. [...]

In order to use the Fire, users must tie it to an Amazon.com account — with credit card on file — that is set up to purchase items with just one click.

This means that anyone given access to the device can buy, with just a tap, e-books, apps, TV shows and music.

Even more concerning: If a user has recently logged into the Amazon.com shopping app, the next person who picks up the Fire can use that app to buy anything from the Web giant’s catalog, even if the device has briefly gone dormant between uses. [...] Read more »

Recently, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the Reader Privacy Act (SB 602: HTML, PDF). Set to take effect on Jan. 1, the law requires government agencies to obtain a court order before they can access the customer records of online  bookstores. Now, MediaPost reports that there could be privacy questions affecting bloggers’ online postings:

Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, says California lawmakers might have imposed some new requirements on individual bloggers who aren’t booksellers in the traditional sense.

That’s because the statute’s wording appears to leave room for interpretation about exactly who is covered by the law. The measure prohibits any “commercial entity” offering a book service from turning over information about readers without a court order. Goldman says in a blog post that the language appears broad enough to include individuals who operate ad-supported blogs.

“Consider that many blogs are, in fact, paginated (at least in the URL),” Goldman writes. “Perhaps many bloggers aren’t ‘commercial entities,’ although I’m sure plaintiff lawyers will argue that a blog with AdSense and some Amazon affiliate links would satisfy that standard,” he adds. Read more »

PCMag reports that California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has signed the Reader Privacy Act (SB 602: HTML, PDF), which “will extend privacy protections currently in place for library records to book purchases, including e-books.”

The bill, known as the Reader Privacy Act of 2011, will require government agencies to obtain a court order before they access customer records from book stores or online retailers. It will officially become law on January 1.

“California law was completely inadequate when it came to protecting one’s privacy for book purchases, especially for online shopping and electronic books,” said Calif. state Sen. Leland Yee, the bill’s sponsor. “Individuals should be free to buy books without fear of government intrusion and witch hunts. If law enforcement has reason to suspect wrongdoing, they should obtain a court order for such information.” [...] Read more »

Last week, Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn halted the $13.9 million sale of the intellectual property of bookseller Borders to Barnes & Noble. Glenn said he needed more time to decide on privacy questions concerning customer data. Now, Reuters reports that Glenn has approved the sale — after both companies made provisions concerning customer data:

Barnes & Noble won the bulk of Borders’ intellectual property at auction earlier in September. It will inherit the 48-million-member customer database of its one-time rival, which is going out of business after filing for bankruptcy in February. [...]

The deal announced on Monday gives customers 15 days to opt out of the transfer by responding to an email that will be sent when the deal closes, Borders lawyer Andrew Glenn said at the hearing. Read more »

The Times Herald-Record has an opinion column about protecting the privacy of book readers:

How would you like it if the bookstore you happened to visit kept track of every book you look at before you make your decision on what to buy? And after the purchase, would it be OK with you if the bookstore recorded how often you read the book, how long you view each page and even any notes you might write in the book’s margins?

Well, all those things are happening now with digital books. Many bookstores already collect information about readers and their purchases.

But digital book services can collect even more detailed information that often is bundled in a database and sold to marketers or acquired by governments. [...] Read more »