Online Guide to Privacy Resources
Privacy Organizations
Electronic Privacy Information Center. EPIC was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging privacy issues relating to the National Information Infrastructure, such as the Clipper Chip, the Digital Telephony proposal, medical records privacy and the sale of consumer data. EPIC conducts litigation, sponsors conferences, produces reports, publishes the EPIC Alert and leads campaigns on privacy issues. For more information email: epic-info@epic.org, or contact EPIC, 1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20009. Tel: (202) 483-1140. Executive Director: Marc Rotenberg.
American Civil Liberties Union. National civil liberties organization. Originally founded in 1920, the ACLU conducts extensive litigation on Constitutional issues including privacy, and free speech. The ACLU Washington office lobbies Congress for civil liberties and civil rights issues. Contact: info@aclu.org. 125 Broad Street, NY, NY 10004-2400. Executive Director: Anthony Romero.
Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering. CASPIAN is a national web-based organization opposing the current trends of supermarkets to require customer information in order to receive discounts. Email kma@nocards.org. Founder: Katherine Albrecht.
Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. CAUCE is an all volunteer, entirely web-based organization, created by Netizens to advocate for a legislative solution to the problem of UCE (spam). CAUCE began as a discussion group called SPAM-LAW, formed of members who felt that legislation was necessary to stop spam from choking the life out of the Internet. In 1997 CAUCE proposed an amendment to the Federal statute which outlaws junk "faxes" (47 USC 227) to also prohibit junk e-mail, and since then has remained a pre-eminent voice in the anti-spam community. Email: comments@cauce.org. President: Edward Cherlin.
Center for Digital Democracy. A non-profit public interest group dedicated to ensuring open access to Internet architectures.
Center for Media Education. A national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of electronic media, especially on the behalf of children and families. Provides guides, reports and other information on children's and consumer privacy. Contact: cme@cme.org. 2120 L Street, NW Suite 518, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: (202) 331-7833. Fax: (202) 331-7841. President: Kathryn M. Montgomery.
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. A national membership organization of people concerned about the impact of technology on society. CPSR sponsors an annual conference, maintains numerous mailing lists on computer-related issues, a large internet site of information and publishes a quarterly newsletter. It has 24 local chapters across the US and several international affiliates. CPSR sponsors working groups on civil liberties, working in the computer industry and others. Contact: cpsr-info@cpsr.org. PO Box 717, Palo Alto, CA 94302. Tel: (650) 322-3778. Fax: (650) 322-4748.
Consumer Project on Technology. The CPT was created by Ralph Nader in 1995 to focus on a variety of issues, including telecommunications regulation, pricing of ISDN services; fair use under the copyright law; issues relating to the pricing, ownership and development of pharmaceutical drugs; impact of technology on personal privacy; and several other issues. The CPT is currently focusing on intellectual property rights, health care, electronic commerce ad competition policy. Contact: Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036, Tel: (202) 387-8030. Fax: (202) 234-5176. Director: James Love.
Cypherpunks. Informal group that develops technological solutions to protect privacy. the Cypherpunks write cryptography and other programs, set up anonymous remailers and discuss political and technical issues. Meetings are also regularly held in California and other states. Email: cyperpunks-ftp@csua.berkely.edu.
EF-Texas. Texas-based, electronic civil liberties organization founded in 1990. Purpose is to engage in and support educational activities that promote a clearer understanding of the social, legal, and technical issues surrounding online telecommunications. Contact: directors@eftexas.org. PO Box 328, Bastrop, TX 78602. President: Gene Crick.
Electronic Frontier Foundation. Organization formed in 1990 to maintain and enhance intellectual freedom, privacy, and other values of civil liberties and democracy in networked communications. Publishes newsletters, Internet Guidebooks and other documents, provides mailing lists and other online forums, and hosts a large electronic document archive. Contact: info@eff.org. 454 Shotwell Street, San Francisco, CA 94110-1914. Tel: (415) 436-9333. Fax: (415) 436-9993. Executive Director: Sheryl Steele.
Global Internet Liberty Campaign. International coalition of 40 privacy, free speech and human rights groups dedicated to fighting international threats to privacy and free speech on the Internet. Email: gilc@gilc.org.
Privacy Coalition. A nonpartisan coalition of consumer, civil liberties, educational, family, library, labor, and technology organizations in support of legislation that effectively protects personal privacy. Contact: coalition@privacy.org.
Privacy International. Privacy International is an international NGO based in London that defends and promotes the right to privacy around the world. It investigates the governments and companies that intercept communications and collect data. It litigates against them when they abuse their power. It advocates for laws, regulations and technologies to ensure privacy remains a cornerstone of our modern society. Contact: info[at]privacyinternational.org. Privacy International, 62 Britton Street, London, EC1M 5UY, United Kingdom. Phone: +44.20.3422.4321. Executive Director: Gus Hosein.
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. A California-based organization formed in 1992. The Clearinghouse has produced many fact sheets and an annual report, and maintains a toll-free hotline to provide advice to consumers about their rights. Contact: http://www.privacyrights.org/inquiryform.html. 3100 5th Ave., Suite B, San Diego, CA 92103. Tel: (619) 298-3396. Fax: (619) 298-5681. Director: Beth Givens.
US Privacy Council. A coalition of US privacy groups and individuals founded in 1991 to deal with privacy issues in the US. USPC works in Washington monitoring legislation and the activities of government agencies. USPC works closely with other groups on privacy issues including National ID cards, reforming credit reporting, Caller ID and international issues. Email: pritimes@nicom.com . Tel: (202) 829-3660. Chair: Evan Hendricks.
US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). The State Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs). Non-profit, non-partisan consumer and environmental watchdog groups. Advocates for better consumer privacy laws, preventing identity theft and correcting credit reports. Fact sheets and reports available on web. For general information, email: pirg@pirg.org. Tel:1-800-838-6554.To contact DC Office (U.S. PIRG) email: uspirg@pirg.org. 218 D Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Tel: (202) 546-9707. Fax: (202) 546-2461. Executive Director: Gene Karpinsk.
Printed Publications
US-Based Newsletters
2600 Magazine. Inside technical information on telephone and computer network operations. Published quarterly. Contact: 2600@well.com. P.O. Box 752, Middle Island, NY 11953. Tel: (631) 751-2600. Fax: (631) 474-2677. Cost:$18/year.
Access Reports. A biweekly newsletter covering the Freedom of Information Act, other federal open government statutes, and information policy issues on both the legislative and administrative level. It also covers case law development on open government issues in the states. Current trends and issues in privacy are also covered. Editor: Harry Hammitt. Contact: hhammitt@accessreports.com. 1624 Dogwood lane, Lynchburg, VA, 24503. Tel (804) 384-5334. Fax (804) 384-8272. Cost: $350/year.
Full Disclosure. A monthly newspaper on surveillance and civil liberties issues. Editor: Glen Roberts. PO Box 1533, Oil City, PA 16301. Cost: $29.95/year.
Gray Areas. Covers subject matter which is illegal, immoral and/or controversial. Covers all sorts of privacy issues ranging from urine tests to computer crimes to the rights of prisoners. Editor: Netta Gilboa. Address: Gray Areas, Inc. P.O. Box 808, Broomall, PA 19008-0808. Quarterly. Cost: $8.00/sample $12.00 foreign 4-issue subscriptions are $23 bulk/$32 first class mail/$45 foreign.
Privacy and American Business. Bimonthly publication giving an industry perspective on privacy. Editor: Robert Belair. Contact: pab@idt.net or ctrslr@aol.com. Two University Plaza, Suite 414, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Tel: (201) 996-1154. Fax: (201) 996-1883. Cost: $395/year.
Privacy Journal. A monthly journal on privacy, mainly in the U.S., now in its 38th year of publication. Publisher: Robert Ellis Smith. Contact: orders@privacyjournal.net. P.O. Box 28577, Providence, RI 02908. (401) 274-7861 (tel) (401) 274-4747 (fax). Cost: $125/year, discounted rates for individuals.
Privacy Law Adviser. Abi-weekly Pike & Fisher publication designed to provide concise, objective and current information on the full range of today's consumer and employee privacy issues. Contact: pike@pf.com. 1010 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1400, Silver Spring, MD 20910-5600. Phone:1-800-255-8131.
Privacy Times. Biweekly newsletter on information law. Each issue covers developments related to privacy and information access, including summaries of court decisions on the Freedom of Information Act and other relevant statutes. Editor: Evan Hendricks. Contact: evan@privacytimes.com. P.O. Box 21501, Washington, DC 20009. Tel: (301) 229-7002. Fax: (301) 229-8011. Cost: $250/Year.
International Newsletters
Computer Law and Security Report. UK-based report that focuses on world-wide developments in security granted by computer and technology laws. Editor: Stephen Saxby. Contact: compseconline@elsevier.co.uk.. Fax: 44-0-1865-843971 Cost: $822/year.Privacy Laws and Business. UK-based newsletter that focuses on international privacy and data protection from a business perspective. Editor: Stewart Dresner. Contact: Raeburn House Fifth Floor, 100 Northholt Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA2 0BX, United Kindgom. Tel: 44-20-8423-1300. Fax: 44-20-8423-4536. Info@privacylaws.co.uk. Cost: $US 464/year.
Privacy Law and Policy Reporter. A well written, law-oriented overview of privacy developments in NZ, Australia and South Pacific. 10 issues/year. Editor: Graham Greenleaf. Contact: Level 11, Carlton Centre, 55-63 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia. 61-2-221-6199 (tel). Cost: $AZ 345
U.S. Privacy Sites
ACLU Freedom Network. Reports, testimony and other materials on privacy, free speech and other civil liberties issues.
The Antitelemarketers Source. Extensive information and help on fighting telemarketing.
CASPIAN - Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering.
The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. Ad hoc coalition of Internet users, network technology professionals, and Internet Service administrators opposing junk email.
CPSR Internet Library. Maintains the online archives for CPSR, EPIC Privacy International and other groups.
Cypherpunks. Archives on cryptography and other privacy technologies.
Echelon Watch. Information on the threat to privacy and other civil liberties posed by the extensive international resources of ECHELON.
Electronic Frontier Foundation Archives. Archives on privacy, free speech, underground newsletters.
Electronic Privacy Information Center. Includes back issues of EPIC Alert, privacy resources, legislation, and articles.
Encryption Policy Resource Page. Materials and news on current debates in US encryption debate.
Federal Trade Commission. Information on credit reports, kids, and consumer privacy.
Fight Spam on the Internet! Campaign to fight unsolicited email.
Junkbusters. Materials on fighting junk mail, spam, telemarketing calls and other privacy invasive marketing. Also tools to protect privacy.
Privacy.net. Extensive archives on consumer privacy and federal and state levels.
Privacy.org. Daily news, information, and initiatives on privacy.
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Contact: http://www.privacyrights.org/inquiryform.html.
Private Citizen. Dedicated to junking junk mail, spam and telemarketers.
Stopcarnivore.org. Information on the threat to privacy and other civil liberties posed by the extensive resources of Carnivore, the FBI's wire tapping tool.
Tech Law Journal. Decisions, legislation, news, and other materials on privacy, encryption, censorship, copyright and other online legal issues.
US PIRG's Consumer Credit & Privacy Page. Reports, testimony, fact sheets and advice on credit reports, identity theft and privacy.
Yahoo's Privacy Resources. Link to Yahoo Web resources page on privacy.
International Privacy Sites
Arge Daten. Web Site on Austrian Privacy. Mostly in German.
Australia Office of the Privacy Commissioner
New South Wales Privacy Committee
Canadian Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Materials on Canadian privacy. Includes text of law, reports. In English and French.
British Columbia, Canada Information and Privacy Commissioner. Official web page of the commissioner. Includes the text of the BC act and decision.Ontario, Canada Information and Privacy Commissioner. Text of law, reports, guides, orders and investigations.
Commission for Liberties and Informatics. Web pages on privacy in Spain. Spanish version.
Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK). UK-based civil liberties group
Data Surveillance and Information Privacy Web Page. Extensive materials on privacy of transactional records and data matching.
Electronic Frontiers Australia. Australian cyber-rights group. Materials on free speech, privacy, and encryption.
Electronic Frontiers Canada. Materials on Privacy and Civil Liberties in Canada.
Foundation for Information Policy Research. An independent body that studies the interaction between information technology and society in UK and Europe.
Finland Privacy Commission. Mostly in Finnish.
German Privacy Information from Humbalt University. Extensive collection of German data protection information. All in German.
Global Internet Liberty Campaign. Coalition of human rights, privacy, anti-censorship and cyberliberties groups.
Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner.
Parliamentary Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Hungary). Mostly in Hungarian.
Italian Privacy Site. New site on recently enacted Italian Data protection law. Mostly in Italian.
New Zealand Office of Privacy Commissioner. Guides and fact sheets on wide range of privacy issues including the NZ Privacy Act, case notes, and medical records.
The Norwegian Data Inspectorate (Datatilsynet). Web page of Norway Privacy Commissioner. English available.
The Policing & Surveillance WWW-page. Information on technologies of surveillance and control. In German.
Privacy International. Extensive materials on international privacy and human rights. Includes fact sheets on current issues such as national id cards, CCTV and others. Detailed country pages.
Statewatch.. UK-based civil liberties group. Extensive database (15+ years) of materials on civil liberties in the UK and Europe.
Swiss Data Protection Agency WWW page. In German, French and Italian.
UK Data Protection Registrar. Overview of UK Data Protection Act.
Privacy Tools
Consult the EPIC Online Guide to Practical Privacy Tools for a comprehensive list of accessible and operable privacy tools.
Mailing Lists and Electronic Newsgroups
Moderated Newsletters and Digests:
ACLU Action Network. Free periodic e-mail updates about threats to civil liberties.
BNA's Internet Law Reporter. Free daily e-mail summary of developments in Internet law with links to full text articles.
CPSR Announce. Moderated mailing list for CPSR. Newsgroup: comp.org.cpsr.announce. Includes Telecom Report, and other CPSR newsletters and releases. Also available as mailing list. Mail to listserv@cpsr.org. 1st line: subscribe cpsr-announce.
CPSR-Global. CPSR sponsored mailing list on Global information infrastructure issues. To subscribe, email listserv@cpsr.org with the 1st line: subscribe cpsr-global. Moderator: Marsha Woodbury.
Computer Privacy Digest. Moderated digest on privacy. Newsgroup: comp.society.privacy. To subscribe, email: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu, 1st line "subscribe". Back issues gopher: gopher.cs.uwm.edu, ftp: ftp.cs.uwm.edu/pub/comp-privacy/. Moderator: Len Levine.
Computer Underground Digest. Weekly moderated digest on computer underground, privacy, free speech issues. Newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest. Email: cu-digest-request@weber.ucsd.edu, Subject: SUBSCRIBE CU-DIGEST. Back issues at http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest. Moderator: Jim Thomas.
EPIC Alert. Biweekly electronic newsletter of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. To subscribe, go to http://mailman.epic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/epic_news/ and follow instructions, or send email to epic_news-request@mailman.epic.org, subject: subscribe.
Epic Digest. Privacy.org's weekly newsletter of privacy news, information, and action. Mail to epic_digest-request@mailman.epic.org, subject: subscribe.
Gigalaw. Offers two newsletters. GigaLaw.com Weekly Update provides weekly, in-depth articles on basic and cutting-edge issues in the law. GigaLaw.com Daily News provides daily reports on the most important Internet and technology law news from around the web.
Netizen: Le Bulletin Lambada. French newsletter on online privacy and free speech issues. Available in French and English.
The Network Observer. [Archives] On-line newsletter about networks and democracy. Email: rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu. with the Subject: subscribe Jane Doe.
Privacy Forum. Moderated digest on privacy partially sponsored by ACM. To subscribe, email: privacy-request@vortex.com. Back issues at ftp.vortex.com /privacy or http://www.vortex.com/. Moderator: Lauren Weinstein.
Risks Digest. Moderated digest on risks to the public using computers and related systems. Newsgroup: comp.risks. Also available as mailing list from email: risks-request@csl.sri.com 1st line: SUBSCRIBE. Back issues at unix.sri.com /risks/ . Moderator: Peter Neumann.
VTW Announce. Moderated mailing list of Voters Telecomm Watch. Email listproc@panix.com, 1st line of the message: SUBSCRIBE VTW-ANNOUNCE your name.
Upcoming Privacy Related Conferences and Events
Consult the bi-weekly EPIC Alert for a comprehensive list of upcoming privacy related conferences and events.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center is a public interest research center in Washington, DC. It was established in 1994 as a project of the Fund for Constitutional Government to focus public attention on emerging privacy issues relating to the National Information Infrastructure, such as the Clipper Chip, the Digital Telephony proposal, medical record privacy, ID cards, and the sale of consumer data. EPIC publishes the EPIC Alert and EPIC Reports, pursues Freedom of Information Act litigation, and conducts policy research on emerging privacy issues. EPIC is incorporated in Washington, DC. For more information email info@epic.org, or write EPIC, 1718 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20009. Tel: (202) 483 1140. Fax: (202) 483 1248.
The Fund for Constitutional Government is a non-profit organization established in 1974 to protect civil liberties and constitutional rights. For information contact funcongov@aol.com.
If you'd like to support the work of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, contributions are welcome and fully tax-deductible. Checks should be made payable to "EPIC" and sent to EPIC, 1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20009.
Your contributions will help support Freedom of Information Act litigation, strong and effective advocacy for the right of privacy and efforts to oppose Clipper and Digital Telephony wiretapping proposals.
Send additions, suggestions to info@epic.org.
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