Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

See the following -

DHS Agrees To Outside Study On Cancer Risks Of Airport Body Scanners

Aliya Sternstein | Nextgov | December 14, 2012

The Transportation Security Administration has tapped the National Academy of Sciences to probe the health risks of body scans to passengers and pilots after years of pressure from civil liberties groups and Congress. The study is limited to radiation and safety testing, and will not examine the privacy implications of the X-ray machines, according to a new contracting notice. Read More »

DHS Tries Monitoring Social Media For Signs Of Biological Attacks

Aliya Sternstein | Nextgov | November 9, 2012

The Homeland Security Department has commissioned Accenture to test technology that mines open social networks for indications of pandemics, according to the vendor. Read More »

Domestic Drones Could be Hijacked or Jammed, Pilots and Manufacturers Warn

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | May 11, 2012

Pilots, aircraft manufacturers and privacy groups say the Federal Aviation Administration should ensure that drone aircraft cannot be hijacked or jammed before the agency allows their widespread use in domestic air space. Pilots and airlines also warned FAA that plans to allow unfettered use of drones across the United States have the potential to degrade safe operations of manned aircraft.

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Drones for Healthcare Powered by 'Open Source'

About a week after Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, one of the Direct Relief partnering organizations called Team Rubicon sought to determine the operational status of the Carigara District Hospital, located northwest of the city of Tacloban. Travel along damaged roads was difficult and slow. Yet, the assessment team was able to provide local officials and aid groups with a rapid and highly accurate visual analysis of damage to the Carigara District Hospital by deploying the latest in close proximity aerial imaging technology, using a Huginn X1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or civil surveillance drone. 

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FTC: Google Offers 'Brutal Choice' on Privacy Policies

Juliana Gruenwald | NextGov | February 27, 2012

The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission said on Sunday that Google was giving consumers a "binary and somewhat brutal" choice on whether they want to go along with the changes to the company's privacy policies set to go into effect next week. Read More »

Raytheon's 'Google for Spies' Tracks You From Social-Media Sharing — And Fast

Rebecca Greenfield | The Atlantic Wire | February 11, 2013

As if you weren't paranoid enough about your Facebook privacy settings, now your ever social-media move can be mined for the purposes of actual spying... Read More »

Software That Tracks People On Social Media Created By Defence Firm

Ryan Gallagher | The Guardian | February 10, 2013

ERaytheon's Riot program mines social network data like a 'Google for spies', drawing ire from civil rights groups Read More »