Category: Privacy

China gains more internet control after passing cyber security law

July 14, 2015 Christy Leos Leave a comment Government, Human Rights, Justice, News, Privacy, Security

China has censored the internet again after adopting a new national cyber security law that seeks to make data, IT infrastructure and systems, and the internet  in certain areas “secure and controllable,” according to the National People’s Congress website.

Reporters were told by Zheng Shuna, of the NPC’s Legislative Affairs Commission, that cyberspace sovereignty is “the embodiment and extension of national sovereignty” and an important part of national infrastructure (according to Xinhua, a state-owned news agency).

Article via Above The Law, 10 July 2015

Photo:China Flag via Bryan Jones [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

Antitrust complaint made against Google over banned privacy app

June 5, 2015 Christy Leos Leave a comment Ethics, News, Privacy, Security, Tech

A recent complaint against Google claims that the company was violating antitrust regulations when it banned a privacy app. The app, Disconnect, stops malevolent advertising and secretive user tracking. The creator of the app filed a complaint with the EU on Tuesday. According to Disconnect, Google’s decision to discontinue the app on the Google Play store was an abuse of its dominant position in mobile tech. Google said the app violates its policies and their complaint is groundless.

“We don’t oppose advertising and understand ad revenue is critically important to many Internet companies, publishers and developers,” Disconnect Co-founder and CEO Casey Oppenheim said. “But users have the right to protect themselves from invisible tracking and malware, both of which put sensitive personal information at risk. Advertising doesn’t have to violate user privacy and security.”

The complaint is just a part of the increased scrutiny Google is undergoing as it hopes to increase the influence of its Android Mobile operating system. The ongoing European Commission investigation into Android shines a light on regulators’ worries concerning how Google exercises its power.

Disconnect argues that Google is using Android in monopolistic ways and has consolidated inadequate security and privacy features into its presiding products, thus bringing harm to consumers and giving itself a discriminatory advantage.

Google, on the other hand, claims that Disconnect has violated its policies, according to clause 4.4 of Google’s Developer Distribution Agreement which forbids apps from interfering with other apps.

Article via CNET, 2 June 2015

Photo:Big Google brother?  via Alain Bachellier [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

Tech companies send letter to Obama asking him to keep law enforcement out of their data

May 26, 2015 Christy Leos Leave a comment Cybercrime, Government, Privacy, Security, Social Media

Facebook, Google, Apple and Twitter, along with more than 75 companies and cyber security experts, sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday, asking him to reject government proposals that would grant law enforcement access to their user’s encrypted data. The letter said that providing law enforcement access to their user’s data will leave them vulnerable to attacks and compromise their products, and asked Obama to reject proposals to force a “back door” into their operating systems. The efforts from several major tech companies to make data more secure precedes the open letter. They also requested that the White House focus on creating policies that advocate strong encryption technology and thus cyber security, human rights and economic growth. Law enforcement does not seem to agree however. Google and Apple were criticized for making their smartphone encryption too difficult for law enforcement to crack, and one official doesn’t understand why businesses market devices to purposefully allow users to escape the law’s reach.

Article via Mashable, 19 May 2015

Photo: Campaigning with a smile (Barack Obama in Austin #3) via Jack Thielepape/jmtimages [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

 

Texas vs NSA: Cutting the Cord

April 30, 2015 Christy Leos Leave a comment All, Privacy

A representative from Texas has proposed a very interesting way to try to combat NSA surveillance. Jonathan Stickland has proposed a state law (H.RB. No. 3916), which aims to combat NSA surveillance at a San Antonio site by cutting the cord so to speak. The bill would cut access to electricity and water utilities to any federal agency that “is involved in the routine surveillance or collection and storage of bulk telephone or e-mail records or related metadata concerning any citizen of the United States”.

 

Read the full BBC article here.

By Hustvedt (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

People of the CIJT, What do you think?

Google and Facebook Continue to Push Back on Government Access to Consumer Data

April 24, 2015 Administrator Leave a comment Privacy

Facebook and Google privacy heads disagreed on Wednesday April 23, 2015, with White House claims that the government needs ways around encryption of consumer data. Cryptography experts claim that a system designed to allow the U.S. government cirvumvent encryption could be exploited. Google’s chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, said the ability to access encrypted data could also decrease law enforcement’s accountability in data search and access.

Read full article via MIT Technology Review here.

“System Code” by Yuri Samoilov is licensed under CC BY 2.0

 

Federal Court Rules Against FBI Cutting Internet in Search Dupe

April 21, 2015 Administrator Leave a comment Privacy

US District Judge Andrew P. Gordon shot down evidence collected by the FBI during a search early this year investigating an illegal online betting ring. Agents cut Internet access to $25,000-per-night villas at Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino and searched the premises, posing as service repair providers.

“Permitting the government to create the need for the occupant to invite a third party into his or her home would effectively allow the government to conduct warrantless searches of the vast majority of residents and hotel rooms in America,” Gordon wrote. “Authorities would need only to disrupt phone, Internet, cable, or other ‘non-essential’ service and then pose as technicians to gain warrantless entry to the vast majority of homes, hotel rooms, and similarly protected premises across America.”

Thomas Goldstein, one of the nation’s top Supreme Court litigators who runs the SCOTUSblog, labelled the ruling as “monumental” in protecting privacy in the digital age.

Read more via Ars Technica.

“Cables – The Missing Link” by JordanHill School D&T Dept is licensed under CC BY 2.0