http://www.heartland.org/article/27595/Senate_Considers_Bill_to_Stop_Remote_Laptop_Surveillance.htmlSenate Considers Bill to Stop Remote Laptop Surveillance
Written By: Phil Britt
Published In: InfoTech & Telecom News
Publication date: 05/07/2010
Publisher: The Heartland Institute
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The Surreptitious Video Surveillance Act (S. 3214), introduced in April by Sens. Arlen Specter (D-PA), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Ted Kaufman (D-DE), would institute the nation’s first explicit rules outlawing video surveillance. ......The FBI is now pursuing a criminal investigation against the Lower Merion School District on possible wiretapping violations.
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Under Specter’s bill, persons caught capturing and storing video without the taped user’s consent would face the same civil and criminal penalties as those who wiretap an unsuspecting caller’s phone.........The bill, if approved, would update the current Wiretap Act, which was drafted in the 1960s, long before today’s modern video-ready Internet.
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Harold J. Krent, dean of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, says Specter’s bill does not go far enough......“This is an important step forward, but it doesn’t include any prohibition against capturing wireless video,” Krent said, noting unauthorized third parties are increasingly intercepting wireless video transmissions.
.....Although the Lower Merion case has received much attention, Johnson suggests other school districts, government agencies, and even private companies might be engaging in secret photographing.
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Anthony Gregory, a research analyst with the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, says the “most ominous implication for civil liberties in this story is that it signals a generally high cultural threshold for government invasions into personal life.”......“That even the beloved public school system would engage in something so Orwellian should immediately spark a profound national debate on the nature of government, its role in our lives, and whatever limits should be placed on surveillance,” he said.......“It is time for deep contemplation of our public institutions and their power over people’s lives,” he said.
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Scott Testa, a professor of business administration at Cabrini College in Philadelphia, said the “initial reaction from the school district was deny, deny, deny.” And that only made the situation worse, he says.......“The school district handled this as badly as they could have handled it,” Testa said. “They denied it, then hid behind their lawyers. When you have people do things like this, then you need laws to protect people.”
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