Another agency admits to buying and using smartphone location data, using a loophole in the Fourth Amendment. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has again prompted a national security agency to admit it is circumventing the Fourth Amendment bar against unreasonable searches and seizures in the United States (U.S.) However, given the current state of Fourth Amendment … Continue reading Wyden Gets DIA To Acknowledge Buying Location Data
Further Reading “'Law unto themselves': the Australian battle to curb Facebook and Twitter's power” By Paul Karp — The Guardian. This piece contextualizes the proposed policies coming out of Canberra that are setting the pace for the western world.“Malwarebytes said it was hacked by the same group who breached SolarWinds” By Catalin Cimpanu — ZDNet. … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (25 January 2021)
The EU’s two bloc-wide data protection entities weighed in on the EC’s proposed changes to SCCs, meant to satisfy the Schrems II ruling. The European Union’s (EU) data protection authorities have rendered their joint opinions on the European Commission’s (EC) draft revisions of Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) permissible under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). … Continue reading EDPB and EDPS Issue Opinions On EC’s Draft SCCs
Google and France reach agreement on a scheme to compensate media while the company threatens to pull its search engine from Australia. Not long after Google reached agreement with French media on how to compensate them under France’s law to implement a European Union (EU) Directive, the company threatened to pull its search engine from … Continue reading France Reaches Agreement On Pay For Media; Australia Clashes With Google and Facebook On Same Issue
The Google/Fitbit deal could ultimately get blocked. Even though the European Union (EU) has signed off on Google’s acquisition of Fitbit with some conditions, the United States (U.S.) and Australia are still assessing the deal. Moreover, given that both nations are in the midst of acting against Google and other tech companies, one, if not … Continue reading Google Buys Fitbit Even Though U.S. and Australia May Still Oppose
Further Reading “Amazon’s Ring Neighbors app exposed users’ precise locations and home addresses” By Zack Whittaker — Tech Crunch. Again Amazon’s home security platform suffers problems by way of users data being exposed or less than protected.“Harassment of Chinese dissidents was warning signal on disinformation” By Shawna Chen and Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian — Axios. In an … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (20 and 21 January 2021)
The FCC denies the NTIA petition, but language in the FY 2021 NDAA all but pauses the project. Earlier this month, the Trump Administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denied the petition to stay submitted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to stop the FCC’s April 2020 decision to let Ligado proceed with “a … Continue reading FCC Denies Trump Administration’s Request To Block Ligado
Further Reading “Hong Kong telecoms provider blocks website for first time, citing security law” — Reuters; “A Hong Kong Website Gets Blocked, Raising Censorship Fears” By Paul Mozur and Aaron Krolik — The New York Times. The Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) blocked access to a website about the 2019 protests against the People’s Republic … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (19 January 2021)
Late last month, a broad exception to the EU’s privacy regulations became effective. My apologies. The first version of this post erroneously asserted the derogation to the ePrivacy Directive had been enacted. It has not, and this post has been re-titled and updated to reflect this fact. As the European Union (EU) continues to work … Continue reading ePrivacy Exception Proposed
Further Reading “YouTube Suspends Trump’s Channel for at Least Seven Days” By Daisuke Wakabayashi — The New York Times. Even Google is getting further into the water. Its YouTube platform flagged a video of President Donald Trump’s for inciting violence and citing the “ongoing potential for violence,” Trump and his team will not be able … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (13 and 14 January 2021)
Michael Kans 