The UK House of Commons narrowly passed (315 to 306) Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s proposal to extend the period terrorism suspects could be held without charges to 42 days, according to various news outlets. The International Herald Tribune reports that this legislation is the latest of several expansions of the detention power:

From a limit of 48 hours in the 2000, the limit was extended to 14 days in 2003 and 28 days in 2006, after the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair was defeated in 2005 in a bid to push the limit to 90 days. After taking office last year, Brown proposed that the limit be set at 56 days, but settled for 42 days in the face of widespread opposition. Read more »

"The purpose of this two-day National Institute is to explore recent developments involving computers and the Internet, especially in the realms of criminal law, business law, and intellectual property. The presenters and panelists are nationally known professionals including practitioners, judges, academics, and scientists. The following topics will be covered at the Institute:

• Identity theft
• The future of ICANN and control of the Internet
• Ethics for handling electronic documents and evidence
• Digital forensics for investigations and the courtroom
• Pornography and sexual predators on the Internet
• Civil copyright enforcement
• Tracking, data mining, and marketing of information obtained from Internet users
• Computer crime and procedure
• Plus - a debate on ‘The NSA Wiretap Program and the U.S. Constitution’"

Date: June 18-20, 2008
Location: Mandarin Oriental; 1330 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC
More information at: http://www.abanet.org/cle/programs/n08ceh1.html

UPDATE: A California lawmaker has told Google that he is "prepared to push for new legislation or seek the state attorney general’s help to force the company to comply with" the California privacy law that requires Google add a link to its privacy policy to the search engine’s home page.

Disclosure: I worked on a Federal Trade Commission complaint urging the agency to condition approval of the Google-DoubleClick merger on strong consumer privacy protections of the data gathered by Google-DoubleClick, and I am part of a coalition urging Google to follow California privacy law.

Reuters reports that Google executives told Congressmembers that the company supports a comprehensive federal privacy law. In May, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) sent a letter (pdf) to Google asking for an explanation of its privacy practices since its merger with Internet advertising company Doubleclick. Congressman Barton is the Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a co-founder of the House Privacy Caucus. Reuters has a copy of the response Google sent, which was signed by Alan Davidson, Google’s head lobbyist.

"Google supports the adoption of a comprehensive federal privacy law that would accomplish several goals such as building consumer trust and protections; creating a uniform framework for privacy, which would create consistent levels of privacy from one jurisdiction to another; and putting penalties in place to punish and dissuade bad actors," the letter said. (emphasis mine) Read more »

The Wall Street Journal reports on a trend of spy targets using counter-spy technology:

Crooks are parking vans outside people’s homes to steal bank-account passwords and credit-card numbers, using programs that tap into Wi-Fi connections. Paparazzi hide cameras and microphones in private jets, hoping to record embarrassing celebrity video. Corporate spies plant keystroke-recording software in executives’ laptops and listen in on phone conversations as they travel.

Now, people are deploying counter-spy technology to fight back. Some celebrities and corporate executives get regular sweeps of their offices, limos and private jets in search of hidden devices. Others hire security experts to safeguard their phones and home computers. And corporate security experts are advising businesspeople on how to keep company secrets safe while traveling abroad.

The New York City Bar Association has joined a growing list of organizations and individuals urging Congress to include strong privacy and civil liberty protections in the legislation to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs some forms of electronic surveillance. House and Senate negotiators have been trying to reconcile the two chambers’ versions of the bill, which concerns the legality of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program. Currently, the lawmakers are considering a compromise proposal by Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), which has been roundly criticized by privacy, security, and civil liberty groups.

In a letter (pdf) to House of Representative leaders, the New York City Bar detailed numerous “inadequate privacy protections” in the proposal by Sen. Bond:

1. First, the compromise proposal, like the Senate bill, gives the Attorney General (“AG”) and the Director of National Intelligence (“DNI”) the authority to conduct warrantless surveillance on their own certification, without advance judicial review or approval. […] Read more »

The UK Home Affairs Committee has released its fifth report (pdf) on whether the country has become a surveillance society and urges the government to minimize the amount of data on citizens that is collected and retained. The Committee said it “rejects a characterisation of Britain as a ‘surveillance society’ but warns against the expansion of surveillance techniques and the dangers of ‘function creep’, where information is used for purposes beyond those originally intended.” The Committee cautioned against underestimating the “risks associated with the collection and use of personal information in databases in particular and the monitoring of individuals’ behaviour in general,” emphasizing, “Mistakes or misuse of data can result in serious practical harm to individuals.” Read more »