Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft are among tech companies that have joined Apple in its iPhone fight with the U.S. government, according the latest report from the Wall Street Journal. more
Amidst debates concerning privacy rules for ISPs, Comcast in an FCC filing on Monday has urged the Commission to not interfere with business models offering discounts or other value to consumers in exchange for allowing ISPs to use their data. more
Beijing and leading Chinese tech firms are collaborating to build a secure smartphone for government officials that rely on domestically built operating system and processor chip, according to reports. more
The digital domain encompasses the different spaces and spheres we use to relate and interact with the people and things that surround us using digital technologies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, as the globally accepted standard, should serve us as the guiding light when it comes to striking the delicate balance between our rights and responsibilities on and off-line. more
C-SPAN interviews professor Gene Spafford from Purdue University on the topic of cybersecurity and how the current Internet is a conduit for all types of "cybercrime". He also talks about the much discussed article "A New Internet?" by John Markoff in the February 14, 2009, New York Times in which he was quoted. The piece argued for a new type of Internet that is more secure with the trade-off of users giving up more of their anonymity. Professor Spafford talks about alternative solutions and he responded to questions via telephone calls and email. more
Joseph Cannataci recently submitted his first report as UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy - a brand new position, created in July 2015 in the wake of the German-Brazilian initiative for a UN resolution on privacy in the digital age. The report includes a description of Cannataci's working methods, a general overview of privacy-relevant topics, and a 'Ten point action plan' - described as a to-do list for the post holder, rather than a mere wish list. more
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission today voted 3-2 to approve rules requiring broadband Internet Service Providers to provide customers more control over the use of their personal information. more
Mozilla is launching Mozilla Monitor Plus, a premium service priced at $8.99 per month annually, promising to detect and remove users' personal information from over 190 data broker sites. more
It's incredibly hard to keep things private in the new digital age. There are far too many stories circulating about people who talked to a friend on the phone or texted about something and almost instantly got hit with ads for the subject of the conversation. And that happens without malware - no telling what information you're giving out if your devices have been infected with malicious software that is spying on you. more
The Internet Society Board of Trustees during its meeting in Berlin, Germany today called on the global Internet community to stand together in support of open Internet access, freedom, and privacy. Recently exposed information about government Internet surveillance programs is a wake-up call for Internet users everywhere -- the fundamental ideals of the Internet are under threat. The Internet Society Board of Trustees believes that government Internet surveillance programs create unacceptable risks for the future of a global, interoperable, and open Internet. more
The newly proposed British spying law, the Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB), is reported to include methods that would permit the British government to order companies like Apple to re-engineer their own technology, similar to current demands from the FBI. In addition, if the law passes, it would be accompanied by a gag order. more
US leadership and influence online stems from US innovation and corporate risk-taking. But it also is the direct result of US Government policy. In the early days of the web and e-commerce, the Clinton administration recognized they had to figure out a strategy to reconcile the internet, which is global, with laws and regulations, which are domestic. Instead of demanding negotiations for shared global rules, Administration officials put forward a set of principles, which they called the Framework for Global Electronic Commerce. more
"EU-U.S. commercial data transfer pact clears final hurdle," Julia Fioretti today reported in Reuters: "A commercial data transfer pact provisionally agreed by the EU executive and the United States in February received the green light from EU governments on Friday." more
The FCC lawfully fined U.S. facilities-based wireless carriers nearly $200 million for selling highly intrusive location data about subscribers without their "opt-in" consent. In Section 222 of the Communications Act, Congress comprehensively specified how the carriers bore an affirmative duty of care not to disclose clearly defined Customer Proprietary Information ("CPNI"). The Act explicitly required the FCC, and no other agency, to protect telecommunications consumers. more
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has called it a "sad day for Brazil" after a court there ordered a two-day shutdown of the popular messaging app WhatsApp, owned by the social media company. more
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