tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16750015.post7819117032760479719..comments2024-01-24T20:01:37.600-05:00Comments on slight paranoia: DOJ's surveillance reporting failureChristopher Soghoianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08950937382104783909noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16750015.post-80051341453857637732010-10-08T14:47:05.891-04:002010-10-08T14:47:05.891-04:00Users already have the choice of opt-out of passi...Users already have the choice of opt-out of passing the referring keyword - at a browsers level e.g...<br /><br />FireFox >> addOns > Install WebDeveloperToolbar > Disable > Referrer<br />https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/60<br /><br />Or...<br /><br />about:config<br />network.http.sendRefererHeader=0<br />[see screenshot] http://cafe.elharo.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/referer.png<br /><br />Thus... there is no need for a Google FTC action.<br /><br />Also, on GoogleMaps and GoogleSocial the zipcode entered in the search box is NOT passed in referrer, due to 200 status redirect > 200 status > landing page (rather than 200 status redirect > 302/301 > landing page).<br /><br />Additionally, GoogleAdwords DOES anonymise referral keywords which contain PII`s shown in the Adwords SearchQueryPerformace reports, as these are shown as "other".<br /><br />Anon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16750015.post-78719790869628508592010-06-22T13:35:28.934-04:002010-06-22T13:35:28.934-04:00A caveat to the idea that Congress should "co...A caveat to the idea that Congress should "consider shifting the responsibility for the reporting to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts" is the known shortcomings in the AO data. While admittedly much more copious than the non-existant DoJ data, it's not clear the AO data is thorough or complete, representative or unbiased. I'd suggest it's clear that the AO data is clearly incomplete and has known weaknesses. I strongly suspect there's a CRS report or 2 on the topic that may be worth chasing down. As several DoJ and FBI Inspectors General (among others) have illustrated, there are no shortages of instances of extra-judicial requests, misrepresentations to carriers, non-reporting, unpunished personal use, etc. And that's just at the federal level where OIGs are occasionally watching. At either the federal or state level, this data isn't captured by the AO of the Courts. Having the AO ask for it is presumably not any different than having Congress ask for it. The disclosures will still be at the whim of the agency.<br /><br />Admittedly, this is a shortcoming of the agencies, not the AO gathering the data, but asking the AO to collect data it doesn't know about isn't going to get any better results than asking the DoJ to disclose what it does know about and apparently doesn't want to share.Ethannoreply@blogger.com