Month: February 2016

Safe Harbor 2.0 in the making

February 14, 2016 Abby Shulman Leave a comment Citizen Justice, Court, Government, Privacy

The United States and the European Union have reached a new agreement in replacement of Safe Harbor, as announced on February 2. Safe Harbor originally outlined the rules for electronic data transfers between the U.S. and the EU, until it was nullified by a European court for jeopardizing the privacy of European citizens. According to negotiators, the new deal will create a “Privacy Shield” in order to protect European data. Whatever the new agreement might entail, it will affect e-discovery—electronic evidence used in litigation or government investigations—as well as social media and business-related data transfers between the U.S. and the EU.

The European court decision on Safe Harbor’s validity is a result of fundamental differences in the way that Americans and Europeans view privacy. The 1995 EU Data Protection Directive established data protection requirements in the European Union that are far more comprehensive than current laws in the U.S. One of the stipulations of the 1995 law is that citizens’ personal data cannot be transferred to countries lacking sufficient data protection, such as the United States. When the Patriot Act was passed in 2001, the divergence between European and American privacy laws widened even further.

The Safe Harbor framework was considered to be a loophole to the European law. It allowed any individual company with EU privacy certification to transfer data between the U.S. and EU, even though the U.S. as a nation did not comply with the 1995 EU data Protection Directive. Moreover, American companies were only required to self-certify—essentially, a company had only to state that they were abiding by European privacy standards in order to transfer any amount of data.

Max Schrems, an Austrian law student, created an organization called “Europe versus Facebook” (EvF) in order to fight Safe Harbor in court. Although he lost his case before the Irish Data Protection Authority, the European Court of Justice held on October 6, 2015 that “There is no general privacy law or other measures enacted in the U.S. that shows the U.S offers ‘an adequate level of protection’ for personal data relating to European data subjects.”

Some call the new agreement “Safe-Harbor 2.0.” Until more information is provided, it’s impossible to know whether the deal includes real improvements, or just more loopholes.

Article via: Legaltech News, 11 February 2016

Photo: European Union Colours by Tristam Sparks  [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

 

Uber settles claim for 28.5 million

February 12, 2016 Astrid Countee Leave a comment Business

Uber has agreed to pay 28.5 million dollars to settle claims that a $1 “safe rides fee” charged to riders was misleading.

The cases of Philliben v. Uber Technologies, Inc. and Mena v. Uber Technologies, Inc., which have since been consolidated into one case on behalf of Uber passengers seeking restitution. The passengers have sued the company because the background checks on drivers aren’t as rigorous as the company advertised. This is a part of an ongoing narrative that Uber leads its customers to believe that their service is more safe than it actually is.

“The civil enforcement action is still ongoing,” said Alex Bastian a spokesperson for one of the prosecutors in the case. “There are laws to protect consumers, and any time a company deviates from those laws, they need to be punished and they need to be deterred.”

There are roughly 25 million passengers involved in the settlement, which yields nearly $1.14 to each before attorney fees.  Bastian said that his office will “take a hard look” at whether $28.5 million in restitution is sufficient. In addition to the settlement, Uber is now stating that it will change the terms used to describe safety related features and will be using terms like “booking fees” in the future.

Uber first added the $1 safe ride fee in April 2014 to help pay for its safety program, which includes driver training, background checks and vehicle inspections. But passengers were unsatisfied, citing several incidents with Uber drivers which called into question the industry leading background checks that the company claimed to offer. In Uber’s release, the company recognizes that “accidents and incidents do happen,” which is “why it’s important to ensure that the language we use to describe safety at Uber is clear and precise.”

This is just the latest in a series of legal battles facing the popular company. Last month, Uber was fined $7.6 million by the California Public Utilities Commission for failing to provide information “in a full and timely fashion” around the number and percentage of customers who requested cars, and how often it could provide rides for them. Meanwhile, Uber is still battling the class action lawsuit around reimbursing drivers for gas and other expenses. That lawsuit is set to go to trial this summer in June.

 

Article via: TechCrunch,11 February 2016, Bloomberg, 11 February 2016

Photo Uber launch Party by 5chw4r7z

Hackers attacked the IRS

February 11, 2016 Astrid Countee Leave a comment Cybercrime, Economy, Government, Legal News

Hackers were recently able to break into the IRS and steal taxpayer identification numbers. The agency was able to detect the attack and shut it down on Tuesday. The breach means that it may be possible for the hackers to file fraudulent tax returns. The attack was done by attempting to obtain e-filing pins from over 450,000 stolen social security numbers. Attempts involving about 100,000 of those social security numbers were successful, the IRS said in a statement.

The IRS stated that the attacks did not originate in their system. It appears as though the social security numbers were stolen outside the IRS, and then used in the attack. They added that “no personal taxpayer data was compromised or disclosed” by its systems. The IRS said it will notify people affected by the attack and will mark their accounts to guard against identity theft.

All of this is part of why President Barack Obama proposed, on Tuesday, to spend $19 billion on more secure technology for the government. If approved, the funds would help in efforts like recruiting cybersecurity experts, reducing reliance on unsafe items like social security numbers. “The caliber of the enemy we’re facing is incredibly sophisticated and global,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the Senate Finance Committee at a hearing Wednesday, in response to a question about the most recent hack. The attackers are professionals that steal sensitive data from their targets, government and financial institutions throughout the world.

Attacks like these have become more prevalent as more tax filing and banking is done online. In the US 150 million tax returns are expected to be filed this season, with 80 percent of them expected to be filed online.

Despite storing a massive trove of data on American citizens, the federal government has struggled to protect it from hackers. That includes the IRS, which hackers attacked last year to steal tax records of perhaps 300,000 people. The agency has even struggled with fraudsters in its ranks; on Monday it successfully prosecuted an employee for identity theft and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Article via CNET, 10 February 2016

Photo: Please Insert Coin by arsheffield[Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

Voter ID law suppresses votes

February 10, 2016 Astrid Countee Leave a comment Citizen Justice, Government, Justice

Voter ID requirements are having an effect on suppressing voters, especially those of color, a recent research paper claims.

UCSD’s political science department has conducted research on the recent voter ID law changes, and have found that they are changing the makeup of voters. In the past few years there has been a wave to restrict voting to those that cannot show a proper ID. The motivation has come from the sentiment that if you need an ID to board a plan, then you should need one to vote. There is growing concern that allowing citizens to vote without showing proper ID could open up the process to fraud, via people using the names of the recently deceased to cast illegitimate votes. Other reasoning behind the updates to the law have stated that requiring an ID is a minor barrier to voting and should not have an effect on the process. This has been backed up by past research that showed that there was no difference between the voters who had to show an ID and those that were not required to in order to vote.

The problem is that these laws seem to be fixing a problem that doesn’t exist. It has been reported that most instances of voter fraud tend to be baseless. In contrast, the creation of an ID requirement has been found to be a barrier for voters.  It is estimated that 10% of Americans do not have the proper ID in order to cast a vote. As a result, the voting population gets skewed to being more white and more conservative. Some Republicans have admitted that defense of the new voter ID laws are aimed at the democratic voters.

The researchers found that these claims were turning out to be true. “We find that strict voter identification laws do, in fact, substantially alter the makeup of who votes and ultimately do skew democracy in favor of whites and those on the political right.” They even draw a broader point from this finding: “These laws significantly impact the representativeness of the vote and the fairness of democracy.”

Voting is not a privilege, it is a fundamental right of our democracy. Before 2006, not one state required that a person have a photo ID in order to cast a vote. Although past research may not have indicated that Voter ID laws would become a barrier to a civil right, this research generally pre-dates the especially strict voter ID laws that are on the books in many states today. Although the most recent study is still under peer review, it results are enough to cause alarm about the state of our voting rights in America.

Article via AboveTheLaw.com, 9 February 2016

Photo Proof Voter ID Lowers Turnout by Democracy Chronicles [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

Petition against pro-rape meetings

February 10, 2016 Sandy Tang Leave a comment Ethics, Human Rights, Justice

Several thousands have signed a petition in an attempt to reach out to the Scottish government hoping they will take action against the rape advocate.

Last Monday, Cat Boyd started the petition calling for the Holyrood government to stop Daryush Valizadeh, the rape-promoting “neo-masculinist” .

“RooshV (Valizadeh), a militant pro-rape pick-up artist is holding gatherings for his followers in Glasgow and Edinburgh. This makes our cities unsafe for at least half the population. Promoting rape is hate speech, and should be treated as such,” the petition says.

Valizadeh writes that rape should be allowed and claims it would actually be good, as it will help push women to become more alert in situations such as this. He also thinks that by legalizing rape, women will stop showing mixed signals about consent, but in Valizadeh’s previous journal, his movement seems to be in favor of women’s well-being, his next articles show his true intentions.

“Modern women are too broken, unreliable and narcissistic to give men anything reliable besides fornification,” said Valizadeh.

Not only are Glasgow citizens petitioning against his movement, but people several other communities are also taking part in stopping his world-wide meet-ups.

“Pro-rape women-haters are not welcome in Glasgow, as they will find out when they gather in George Square… and have the pish ripped right out of them by decent Glaswegians.

“These men deserve derision and pity. Violence and intimidation is their game and we will not join in,” protestors said.

Valizadeh’s plans failed to execute as they occurred during Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week. His announcement for his plans only encouraged people around the world to promote against sexual abuse.

“The focus is going to be on the fact that all forms of sexual abuse and sexual violence are unacceptable and survivors should not have to tolerate it. There should also be adequate services to support those who have experienced it and clear guidelines for reporting it,” a spokesperson for the week’s organizer said.

Article via The Guardian, 2 February 2016
Photo: End rape_ Sexual Abuse by Your DOST [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

Kids design prosthetics in “Superhero Cyborgs” workshop

February 9, 2016 Joyce Varghese Leave a comment Tech

Superhero Cyborgs is a workshop by a Bay area based organization called KIDmob. This workshop is place where kids with or without disabilities design devices that mirror the form of upper limb prosthetics. With wearable devices it’s universally known as a “one-size-fits-all” product. This workshops seek to disprove that.

From January 15-19 KIDmob and Autodesk teamed up for “Superhero Cyborgs 2.0” at Autodesk’s Pier 9 design space. With the help of professional designers and engineers, kids created their own “superpowers” through personalized wearable devices. In addition, they learned about 3D modeling and digital fabrication.

Some of the finished work included:

  • “Project Unicorn”, a 5-nozzle glitter shooter for 10-year-old Jordan Reeve’s arm.
  • “Sport Splint”, a purple splint with modular attachments for a Nerf gun device and a horse-riding attachment that allows 13-year-old David Botana to hold on to the reins.
  • 12-year-old Sydney Howard created a dual-water-gun arm activated by elbow movement.
  • “Nubinator”, an e-NABLE hand that 13-year-old Kieran Blue Coffee tricked out with LED lights and an aluminum attachment that allows him to carry heavier loads.
  • 10-year-old Riley Gonzalez augmented an e-NABLE prosthetic with a detachable bow and arrow.

Kate Ganim, KIDMob co-founder and co-director, told GOOD: “One of the main motivations for the work we do is exposing kids (and adults) to ‘21st-century skills’ in a meaningful way. Design is creative problem solving—it is bringing ideas to reality. Our workshops are very active, with lots of improv, hands-on making, discussion and sharing, and playful discovery.”

Autodesk, the other benefactor of this workshop, is a company that builds computer-aided drafting software. Sarah O’Rourke, Autodesk’s senior product marketing manager for consumer and 3D printing, says that the decision to get involved was a “no-brainer.” Autodesk provided monetary support to the families for travel and housing and made their Pier 9 space available for the workshop. O’Rouke hopes this workshop is just the start of a partnership with KIDMob and wants to incorporate this into the classroom through a project called Project Ignite, Autodesk’s open learning platform.

“If we can inspire any of the participants to start thinking like a designer and empower them to create their own devices, then that is successful,” says O’Rourke.

Article via GOOD, February 1, 2016

Photo: Neural interfaces for prosthetics via Sandla Labs [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]