Privacy

Understand More, Fear Less: Will G20 Be Able to Contribute to an Internet Future with a Human Face?

Last week, the G20's ministers responsible for the digital economy met in Düsseldorf to prepare this year's G20 summit, scheduled for Hamburg, July 2017. Building on important strides initiated two years ago during the G20 summit in Antalya and based on the G20 Digital Economy Development and Cooperation Initiative (DEDCI), which was adopted last year under the Chinese G20 presidency, the Düsseldorf meeting adopted a "G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Declaration" which also includes a "Roadmap for Digitalisation". One day before the ministerial meeting, non-state actors were invited to discuss "Policies for a Digital Future" within a so-called Multistakeholder Conference. more

ICANN at Large Shanghais The At-Large Conversation

On October 28, as ICANN met in Shanghai, China for its regular board meeting, ICANN at Large held a lengthy meeting to address user concerns, particularly the disenfranchisement of the At-Large by ICANN, and the At-Large's self-organizing in response. The meeting was chaired by YJ Park, one of our Executive Panel Members, and was well attended. Attendees included ... more

U.S. Bypassing ICANN on Whois Privacy With Closed-Door Meeting in Paris

Despite positive discussions currently underway at the ICANN54 meetings in Dublin regarding protection of privacy services for domain name registrants, another meeting in Paris seems to be contradicting the efforts. more

Business Email Compromised (BEC) Scams Explode Under the GDPR Implementation

Business email compromised (BEC) attacks targeting American companies are exploding, with an increase of over 476% in incidents between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018. Up as well is email fraud with companies experiencing an increase of over 226%. These highly targeted attacks use social engineering to identify specific company employees, usually in the finance department and then convince these employees to wire large sums of money to third-party banking accounts owned by the attackers. more

9 Thoughts on Stepping Up Spam and Malware Enforcement

In a tweet, EU commissioner for the Information Society Neelie Kroes congratulates OPTA on the spam fine for the golf ball printing company Backsound. Since 2004 the Dutch OPTA is the number one spam and malware fighter of the EU with a total of €1.9 million in fines. It made me ask two question to myself: How come that we seldom hear of other spam fines in the EU? And can the EU change this in any way? more

Traceability

At a recent workshop on cybersecurity at Ditchley House sponsored by the Ditchley Foundation in the U.K., a primary topic of consideration was how to preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet while protecting against the harmful behaviors that have emerged in this global medium. That this is a significant challenge cannot be overstated... That these harmful behaviors can and do cross international boundaries only makes it more difficult to fashion effective responses. more

The Economist: Data, the Oil of the Digital Era

In its latest print edition, The Economist calls the world's most valuable resource to be no longer oil, but data. more

Google Showing Signs of Increased Concerns Over Rising Data Privacy Scrutiny

Earlier this year, Google quietly terminated its "Mobile Network Insights" service, which provided wireless carriers globally, information on network performance in various locations. more

Emergence, Rise and Fall of Surveillance Capitalism, Part 2: Rise and Fall

One of the consequences of the Jan 6th events is a renewed attention towards Surveillance Capitalism as a key doctrine undermining democracy.2 This part 2 of the 2 part series of discusses the rise and fall of Surveillance Capitalism under the premise that the better we understand the danger at the door, the better we are able to confront it. more

US Senate to Hold Hearing on Consumer Data Privacy Issues

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced today that it will convene a hearing titled, "Policy Principles for a Federal Data Privacy Framework in the United States." more

Canadian Bill S-210 Sparks Controversy Over Internet Regulations

A new bill in the Canadian Senate, Bill S-210, has ignited a heated debate over its potential impact on the Internet in Canada. The bill, which mandates strict age verification for online content, has raised significant concerns among privacy advocates, network operators, and digital rights groups. more

Counter-eCrime Operations Summit (APWG) In Prague Next Week

The sixth annual Counter-eCrime Operations Summit (CeCOS VI) will engage questions of operational challenges and the development of common resources for the first responders and forensic professionals who protect consumers and enterprises from the ecrime threat every day. This year's meeting will focus on the shifting nature of cybercrime and the attendant challenges of managing that dynamic threatscape. more

The Modern Encryption Debate: What’s at Stake?

The debate around encryption has become a hot topic in a world where communications are increasingly becoming digital. The modern encryption debate is a complex and nuanced issue, with many players from different backgrounds trying to influence the conversation. The question of balancing the need for national security with the right to privacy has been a matter of public debate for years. Only recently has the issue been framed in terms of encryption, but the discussion is certainly not new. more

The Global Network Initiative

After more than two years of work behind closed doors, the Global Network Initiative is launching this week. That's the corporate code of conduct on free speech and privacy I've been talking about in generalities for quite some time. By midnight Tuesday U.S. East Coast time, the full set of documents and list of initial signatories will be made publicly available at globalnetworkinitiative.org. more

Neelie Kroes, the EU, Cloud Computing, Regulation and Good Ears

In her blog EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes blogs on her stance on cloud computing. In short: this is a good development which the EU will embrace and advocate, but may need regulation in order to ensure a safe environment for industry and individuals in the cloud. Here's some thoughts on that. more