Privacy

French Police Pushing to Outlaw Anonymous Web Browsing

According to reports today, French police is planning to develop tough laws following the Paris terror attacks to help crack down on anonymous web browsing technology Tor, as well as free WiFi in public places. more

2012: The Year of Securing Websites?

In a seemingly never-ending row of news on hacks of websites now the news in which 2.3 million individual cases of privacy sensitive data were accessible through a leak in the websites of most public broadcasting stations in the Netherlands. To make the news more cheerful, the accessible data was, if compiled, sufficient to successfully steal a complete identity. What were thoughts that came to my mind after hearing this news on Friday? more

Internet Society’s New Policy Brief Series Provides Concise Information On Critical Internet Issues

Have you ever wanted to quickly find out information on key Internet policy issues from an Internet Society perspective? Have you wished you could more easily understand topics such as net neutrality or Internet privacy? This year, the Internet Society has taken on a number of initiatives to help fill a need identified by our community to make Internet Governance easier to understand and to have more information available that can be used to inform policymakers and other stakeholders about key Internet issues. more

U.S. House of Representatives Passes H.R. 699, the Email Privacy Act

The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously today to pass H.R. 699, the Email Privacy Act, closing a loophole that allowed law enforcement authorities to obtain old email and other digital communications without a warrant from the court. more

The Internet and the Legitimacy of Governments

In two recent debate events I participated in, on iFreedom and privacy in the online world, mistrust of government and government's intentions and motivations on and towards the Internet were abundantly present with more than just a few people in the audiences. The emotions were not new to me, no, it was the rationality that surprised and sometimes almost shocked me. Why? Well, should these sentiments get the support of the majority of people, it would undermine all legitimacy of a government to govern. Let's try and take a closer look. more

China’s App Allows “Superuser” Access to Entire Data of Over 100 Million Android-Based Phones

The Chinese Communist Party's app called Study the Great Nation released in January is reported to have "superuser" access to the entire data of over 100 million Android-based phones via a backdoor. more

Collecting Cybercrime Data: Can Signal Spam Be a Piece of the Puzzle?

The gathering of coherent data on cybercrime is a problem most countries haven't found a solution for. So far. In 2011 it is a well known fact that spam, cybercrime and botnets are all interrelated. The French database Signal Spam may be a significant part of the solution to gather, analyse and distribute data on spam, phishing, cybercrimes and botnets, but also be a forum in which commercial mass e-mail senders and ISPs can work on trust. more

May 31 Deadline for $517,000 US in Internet-related Grants in Africa and Asia Pacific

If you are located in Africa or the Asia Pacific region, this coming Tuesday, May 31, is the application deadline for an excellent series of grants related to Internet infrastructure, development, security and education. I just wrote about the Internet Society Cybersecurity Grant for up to $56,000 AUD (roughly $40K USD) in the Asia Pacific region... but it is part of a larger set of grants that all have a deadline of May 31. more

European Union Wants to Fix the GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted in 2016 and has since become the global standard for privacy regulation. The GDPR has been a watershed moment in tech regulation, requiring companies to ask for consent to collect data online and threatening hefty fines if they don't comply. more

The Globe on Terror Goes Digital

The Globe and Mail published an embarrassing feature story on the weekend focusing on terror groups' use of the Internet and a "Canadian connection." A story on terror group use of the Internet would have made for an interesting (albeit unoriginal) story, so it appears that the Globe tried to generate greater interest in the story by adding a Canadian connection. The article begins with "Welcome to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia - pivotal battleground in the global jihad."... more

US Federal Trade Commission Says It Lacks Resources to Go After Privacy Violations Effectively

At hearing on Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urged Congress to pass data privacy legislation and enhance its authority to police large tech companies. more

The Good Old Days in the Cryptography Wars

The 20th century was the golden age of surveillance. High-speed communication went either by telegraph and telephone, which needed a license from the government, or by radio, which anyone can listen to. Codes were manual or electromechanical and were breakable, e.g., the Zimmermann telegram and Bletchley Park. (The UK government spent far more effort inventing a cover story for the source of the telegram than on the break itself, to avoid telling the world how thoroughly they were spying on everyone.) more

Caribbean Businesses Can Make Good Use of Free DNS Security

IBM Security, Packet Clearing House (PCH) and Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) unveiled a free Domain Name System (DNS) service designed to protect all Internet users from a wide range of common cyber threats. Launched on November 16 with simultaneous press events in London, Maputo and New York, the public DNS resolver has strong privacy and security features built-in and can be enabled with a few changes to network settings, as outlined on the organisation's website. more

Proposed Changes to Australia’s Data Retention Laws Likely to Be Costly

Australians may lose their right to privacy online if the attorney-general has her way. Nicola Roxon's discussion paper is before a parliamentary inquiry. Proposals include storing the social media and other online and telecommunications data of Australians for two years, under a major overhaul of Australia's surveillance laws. The government passed a toned down version of these proposals last week, giving police the power to force telcos to store data on customers for a specific period while a warrant is sought. more

NGOs, Academics Warn Against EU’s Deep Packet Inspection Problem, at Least 186 ISPs Breaking Rules

European Digital Rights organization (EDRi) along with 45 NGOs, academics and companies from 15 countries sent an open letter to European policymakers and regulators on Wednesday warned against the widespread use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology by Internet service providers in the EU. more