At 8 ET tonight, October 9, I will be on the Peter B. Collins Show speaking about the NSA warrantless wiretapping program, today’s ABC News story quoting whistleblowers, and the civil liberty questions involved.

ABC News published an interesting op-ed by Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, about searches conducted by Customs and Border Protection. “Checking Your Privacy at the Border: ‘Snail Mail’ Is More Protected Than Laptops in the Airport Security Line.” (Read my previous posts on this issue.)

Harris writes:

The amount of information the government collects on citizens crossing our borders, and the means with which it gathers it, is expanding in ways that seem procedurally chilling and irritatingly limitless in scope.

New regulations now allow Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to search your laptop computer. Every file, photo, e-mail or scrap of confidential data — any of the secrets or intensely personal information you keep closely guarded — is now subject to the spotlight of inspection and possible seizure without any “reasonable suspicion.”

The rule extends to all electronic devices: your cell phone, your personal digital assistant, your iPod or iPhone. Ironically, the rule prohibits CBP agents from inspecting any unopened letters without a warrant, as long as those letters are in the postal system. So, while en route to the old country, your letter to grandma asking for her secret goulash recipe has more protection than the confidential merger agreements living on your hard drive. [...] (more…)

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has released its Breach Report (pdf) and the " total has reached an all-time high. Between January 1st and June 27th, the total number of data breaches recorded by the ITRC is 342, more than 69% greater than the same time period in 2007." The ITRC also notes, " The actual number of breaches is likely even higher, due to underreporting and the fact that some of the breaches reported as a single event actually affected multiple businesses."

Here’s the fine print on the Breach Report:

The ITRC Breach database is updated on a daily basis, and published to our website on each Tuesday. These reports only cover breachs that occurred in 2008, or became public in 2008, but were not public in 2007. Each item must be previously published by a solid media source, such as TV, radio, press, etc.

Read the full report (pdf).

I’m guest blogging over at the Liberty Coalition , which links back here. Greetings, Liberty Coalition readers. This site chronicles and analyzes attacks on privacy and civil liberties and details various defenses against these assaults to show that privacy lives on. Feel free to comment, but please keep the discussion civil.

In 1755, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Centuries later, we face numerous attacks on our privacy and civil rights, ostensibly for national security. Phone calls are tapped, e-mails are read, and individuals are tracked by video surveillance. We’re told that if you’re not for these invasive surveillance tactics, then you’re with the terrorists. PrivacyLives.com rejects such fear mongering. This site will chronicle and analyze these attacks and various defenses against them to show that privacy lives on, despite this onslaught. (more…)