Electronic trespass- Laws

Advice:

September 12, 2011- When Congress and President Obama authorized a four-year extension of the Patriot Act. the Patriot Act's Section 215 most likely includes unfettered government access to geo-location data from your smartphone. Location Intelligence (LocInt) software can be used on historical archives of mobile phone geo-location info to detect relationships between people, locations and events in order to spot suspicious behavior.
We suggest that if you have a portable device of any kind, that you use it in an appropriate manner, because Big Brother can watch.

February 27, 2010- Patriot Act extended in some areas under Oboma..
Despite the many amendments to these laws since 9/11, Congress and the Public have yet to receive real information about how these powerful tools are being used to collect information on Americans and how that information is being used. All of these laws work together to create a surveillance superstructure – and Congress must understand how it really works to create meaningful protections for civil liberties.

March 2, 2006 The Patriot Act did not expire March 10th passed by the Senate by a large majority. Fourteen of the sixteen provision will become permanent with measures to curb some law enforcement powers. This second bill proceeded to Congress and was signed into law.

You should familiarize yourself with the following excerpt from the Patriot Act.

Item 3. Point 2- Allows victims of computer hacking to request law enforcement assistance in monitoring the “trespassers” on their computers.

The law makes trespass "technology-neutral" by treating electronic trespassers the same as physical trespassers. Victims that ascertain that they have been electronically violated can seek law enforcement help in the same fashion as burglary victims. In other words, they can invite authorities into their offices or homes, hence into their systems, to assist in apprehending the offender(s), internally or externally.

Organizations and individuals need to aware that electronic communications are subject to similar treatment as verbal & written communication. Electronic information flows much more freely than paper documents or word of mouth & their origins are traceable.

Whether you are in agreement with these types of laws or not, we suggest you govern yourself accordingly. "Nothing to hide" means taking your own precautions to make sure you do not have "anything to hide" legally. How damaging materials and files got on your computer(s) is your problem!

By the same token, if you know your confidential information has gone astray or your systems have been tampered with, it is better to come clean with the proof that you took every reasonable precaution to protect it. There could be some form of assistance & recourse should you decide to pursue the offenders. We have found the general public & shareholders understand mistakes but not deceit. These measures are in place in the US for both inbound and outbound communications:
Authorization for court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones.
Allows for court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.
To permit surveillance against a so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group.

Leaving old files that are past their legal retention dates (especially Client files) is just asking for trouble. We use a system cleaner daily, which can be set to various levels and standards of encryption. Do not dispose of older equipment without thoroughly cleaning the drive(s) and back ups off. Be aware that formatting a drive or disk does not prevent recovery since data is imprinted or burnt into magnetic media. For more particulars, see Norton Utilities
For heavy duty business needs, we use Acronis Disk Cleanser to eliminate and encrypt files we have been given in confidence.