Germany’s general data retention law violates EU law, Europe’s top court ruled on Tuesday, dealing a blow to member states banking on blanket data collection to fight crime and safeguard national security. The law may only be applied in circumstances where there is a serious threat to national security defined under very strict terms, the Read more about Germany’s blanket data retention law is illegal, EU top court says[…]
U.S. government officials are adding data from as many as 10,000 electronic devices each year to a massive database they’ve compiled from cellphones, iPads and computers seized from travelers at the country’s airports, seaports and border crossings, leaders of Customs and Border Protection told congressional staff in a briefing this summer. The rapid expansion of Read more about DHS built huge database from cellphones, computers seized at border, searchable without a warrant, kept for 15 years[…]
[…] AB 587 requires social media companies to post their terms of service online, as well as submit a twice-yearly report to the state attorney general. The report must include details about whether the platform defines and moderates several categories of content, including “hate speech or racism,” “extremism or radicalization,” “disinformation or misinformation,” harassment, and Read more about California signs social media terms of service disclosure law[…]
[…] In a statement, the Personal Information Protection Commission said it fined Google 69.2 billion won ($50 million) and Meta 30.8 billion won ($22 million). The privacy panel said the firms did not clearly inform service users and obtain their prior consent when collecting and analysing behavioural information to infer their interests or use them Read more about S.Korea fines Google, Meta billions of won for privacy violations[…]
“Creators aren’t getting paid,” says Cory Doctorow. “That’s because powerful corporations have figured out how to create chokepoints — that let them snatch up more of the value generated by creative work before it reaches creative workers.” But he’s doing something about it. Doctorow’s teamed up with Melbourne-based law professor Rebecca Giblin, the director of Read more about Cory Doctorow Launches New Fight against Copyrights, Creative Chokepoints, and Big Tech’s ‘Chokepoint Capitalism’[…]
It was a Friday night in February 2021. His wife called an advice nurse at their health care provider to schedule an emergency consultation for the next morning, by video because it was a Saturday and there was a pandemic going on. The nurse said to send photos so the doctor could review them in Read more about A Dad Took Photos of His Naked Toddler for the Doctor. Google Flagged Him as a Criminal, destroyed his digital life with no recourse[…]
Oracle is the subject of a class-action suit alleging the software giant created a network containing personal information of hundreds of millions of people and sold the data to third parties. The case [PDF] is being brought by Johnny Ryan, formerly a policy officer at Brave, maker of the privacy-centric browser, and now part of Read more about Oracle facing class action over ‘brokering’ personal data of 5 billion people[…]
Meta has been fined €405 million ($402 million) by the Irish Data Protection Commission for its handling of children’s privacy settings on Instagram, which violated Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As Politico reports, it’s the second-largest fine to come out of Europe’s GDPR laws, and the third (and largest) fine levied against Meta by Read more about Meta fined $402 million in EU over Instagram’s privacy settings for children[…]
[…] New rules from India’s Computer Emergency Response Team India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has said that new rules will apply to VPN providers from September 25. These will require services to collect customer names, email addresses, and IP addresses. The data must be retained for at least five years, and handed over to Read more about Major VPN services shut down in India over anti-privacy law[…]
[…] Commissioners voted 4-1 this week to bring a suit against Kochava, Inc., which calls itself the “industry leader for mobile app attribution” and sells mobile geo-location data on hundreds of millions of people. The suit accuses the company of violating the FTC Act, and the agency warns that the company’s business practices could easily Read more about FTC Sues Broker Kochava Over Geolocation Data Sales, giving away the data for free for 61m devices[…]
Samsung’s de-facto leader secured a pardon Friday of his conviction for bribing a former president in a corruption scandal that toppled a previous South Korean government, an act of leniency that underscored the tech company’s huge influence in the nation. Lee Jae-yong’s pardon is partially symbolic since he was released on parole a year ago Read more about South Korea to pardon Samsung’s Lee, other corporate giants[…]
Google is being ordered to pay A$60 million ($42.5 million) in penalties to Australia’s competition and national consumer law regulator regarding the collection and use of location data on Android phones. The financial slap on the wrist relates to a period between January 2017 and December 2018 and follows court action by the Australian Competition Read more about Australia fines Google $42.5 million over misleading location settings[…]
[…]Ring Nation, a new twist on the popular clip show genre, from MGM Television, Live PD producer Big Fish Entertainment and Ring. The series, which will launch on September 26, will feature viral videos shared by people from their video doorbells and smart home cameras. It’s a television take on a genre that has been Read more about Ring surveillance camera footage exploited for “funny clip” show[…]
e-HallPass, a digital system that students have to use to request to leave their classroom and which takes note of how long they’ve been away, including to visit the bathroom, has spread into at least a thousand schools around the United States. The system has some resemblance to the sort of worker monitoring carried out Read more about e-HallPass Monitors How Long Kids Are in the Bathroom Is Now in 1,000 American Schools, normalises surveillance[…]
[…] Haven recently took to Twitter to share a frustrating experience with their wife’s “very expensive @EpsonAmerica printer” which, seemingly out of the blue, displayed a warning message stating that “it had reached the end of its service life.” It then simply stopped working, requiring either a servicing to bring it back from the dead, Read more about Some Epson Printers Programmed to Eventually Self-Brick[…]
Apple, which celebrates its self-professed commitment to free expression and human rights, has reportedly told its suppliers in Taiwan to label their components so they describe Taiwan as a province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). According to Japanese financial publication Nikkei, Apple on Friday warned its suppliers that China has ramped up enforcement Read more about Apple tells suppliers to use ‘Taiwan, China’ on labels[…]
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -1.73% is buying Roomba maker iRobot Corp. IRBT +19.23% for $1.7 billion, giving the online retailer another connected-home product that deepens its ties to consumers’ homes. Amazon agreed to pay $61 a share for iRobot in an all-cash deal. The price, which includes a small amount of debt, represents a 22% premium Read more about Roomba Maker iRobot sells out to Amazon for $1.7 Billion cash – now your vacuum will be spying on you too[…]
Visa and Mastercard, two of the world’s largest payment processors, said Thursday that they will suspend payments for ad purchases on Pornhub. The move comes on the heels of a judge allowing a lawsuit to proceed that accuses Visa of knowingly facilitating the spread of child pornography, also known as child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Read more about Visa, Mastercard Cancel Ad Pornhub Payments Amid Lawsuit – suspicion is enough apparently[…]
[…] New rules for gatekeepers The DMA defines new rules for large online platforms (“gatekeepers”). They now have to: ensure that unsubscribing from core platform services is just as easy as subscribing ensure that the basic functionalities of instant messaging services are interoperable, i.e. enable users to exchange messages, send voice messages or files across Read more about EU Digital Markets App (DMA) approved for new rules for fair competition online[…]
HKD, a spinoff IPO with 51 employees within the space of a few days had a stock price explosion up to around $2555 per stock from around $75 starting on 28th July. No buy button was disabled (as was the case with Gamestop / $GME) and within a few days the rug was pulled on Read more about AMTD Digital / $HKD massive pump and dump squeeze, Reddit shocked but figuring out who dun it[…]
Will Cathcart, who has been at parent company Meta for more than 12 years and head of WhatsApp since 2019, told the BBC that the popular communications service wouldn’t downgrade or bypass its end-to-end encryption (EE2E) just for British snoops, saying it would be “foolish” to do so and that WhatsApp needs to offer a Read more about WhatsApp boss says no to AI filters policing encrypted chat[…]
When activated, repair mode prevents a range of behaviors – from casual snooping to outright lifting of personal data – by blocking access to photos, messages, and account information. The mode provides technicians with the access they require to make a fix, including the apps a user employs. But repairers won’t see user data in Read more about Samsung adds ‘repair mode’ to smartphone[…]
Over the weekend, the Indonesian government began the task of blocking any website or service that had failed to register as part of new “internet control” laws. That ended up being a lot, including everything from Steam to the Epic Games Store to Nintendo Online to EA and Ubisoft’s platforms. Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Read more about Indonesian Government Blocks Steam, Epic, Ubisoft, Nintendo and more for 270 million people[…]
Twitter has published its 20th transparency report, and the details still aren’t reassuring to those concerned about abuses of personal info. The social network saw “record highs” in the number of account data requests during the July-December 2021 reporting period, with 47,572 legal demands on 198,931 accounts. The media in particular faced much more pressure. Read more about Twitter warns of ‘record highs’ in account data requests[…]
A Russian court fined Google $374 million on Monday for its failure to remove prohibited content, according to the country’s internet watchdog Roskomnadzor. The Tagansky District Court of Moscow took exception to YouTube content it claimed contained “fakes about the course of a special military operation in Ukraine” and discredited Russia’s armed forces. The court Read more about Russia fines Google $374M over Ukraine invasion portrayal[…]