UPDATE: Twitter has dropped the lawsuit, saying that the administration has rescinded its demand for the user’s information. [More]
privacy
Twitter Fights Trump Administration’s Attempt To Reveal Identity Of Critical ‘Alt’ Immigration Services Account
By 4.6.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
The Code Running Millions Of Samsung Devices Is Full of Giant, Gaping Security Holes
By 4.5.17
The Internet of Things — the amorphous, rapidly-growing mass of devices that are always on and speaking to the great cloud — has never exactly been known for its great security practices. And according to one researcher, the system Samsung uses in everything from its TVs to its phones is “worst code I’ve ever seen,” containing multiple major vulnerabilities. [More]
Proposed Bill Would End Warrantless Searches Of Cellphones At U.S. Borders
By 4.4.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
More than 225 years ago, the First U.S. Congress carved out an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s search warrant requirement, allowing for warrantless searches at the border. Until recently, this was limited to the people and their physical items, but federal agents can now search your phones and computers to look at photos, read emails, watch videos — all without having to demonstrate probable cause. A new piece of bipartisan legislation hopes to close that loophole, at least for U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens. [More]
How To Protect Yourself From A Hospital Data Breach
By 4.4.17
You may never have considered whether your preferred hospital is one of the approximately 311 major teaching hospitals in the U.S., but according to a new study, the type of hospital you choose might affect your privacy. [More]
President Trump Signs Resolution Killing Internet Privacy Rules, Allowing ISPs To Keep Selling Your Data
By 4.3.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
AIG Now Sells Cybersecurity Insurance That Covers Online Bullying, Extortion
By 4.3.17
Most big companies have some sort of insurance to cover their butts in a world where data breaches are an everyday occurrence, but now AIG is joining the ranks of insurers offering (wealthy) consumers coverage as a buffer against the threat of the internet. [More]
After Congress Trashes Internet Privacy Rule, One State May Adopt Its Own
By 4.3.17
The House and Senate both voted in March to toss out the FCC’s rule limiting what your internet service provider can do with your personal data without your consent. That resolution now awaits only the President’s signature before we lose protection at a federal level. One state, though, is already fighting back with a new rule of its own. [More]
Comcast, AT&T: We Totally Respect Your Privacy Even Though We Helped Kill The Law Protecting It
By 3.31.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
The FCC rule that would have prohibited your ISP from collecting and selling your personal data without your permission is pretty much dead, leaving consumers to fend for themselves. Members of the House and Senate didn’t all spontaneously come up with the same talking points about why the FCC rule was unfair, though; they had help from lobbyists and telecom corporations along the way. And now some of the biggest of those corporations are pinky-swearing that just because they can abuse the heck out of your data now doesn’t mean they will. [More]
Without Internet Privacy Rules, How Can I Protect My Data?
By 3.30.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
The FCC’s ISP privacy rule, which would have limited how your internet service provider could collect and use your data without your permission, is effectively dead. The good news is, you do have some tools you can use. The bad news is, they’re not perfect. [More]
Civil Rights Groups That Received Donations From ISPs Spoke Out Against Internet Privacy
By 3.29.17
The Federal Communication Commission’s internet privacy regulations would have prevented your internet provider from using and selling some potentially sensitive information about you, but the Senate and the House of Representatives voted to roll back the regulations. As the bill awaits the President’s signature, we’ve learned that some of the community groups that contacted the FCC to oppose privacy regulations are recipients of donations from Comcast. [More]
House Votes To Allow Internet Service Providers To Sell, Share Your Personal Information
By 3.28.17 — Updated: 3.29.17
The new Federal Communications Commission’s rules intended to limit how companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and Charter can use internet customers’ sensitive personal information are effectively dead in the water, thanks to a House of Representatives vote today to kill the regulations, making sure internet service providers can use and sell user data. [More]
Lawmakers Ask FCC To Seek Fixes For Phone Network Vulnerabilities
By 3.28.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
When you think about phone security, you’re probably thinking about the apps on your phone, who’s listening in on the call you make, or perhaps even the metadata you leave behind. You’re probably not thinking about the national and global network of fibers, cables, and businesses that makes your phone call physically possible. But that network has vulnerabilities, and two lawmakers want the FCC to protect consumers from them. [More]
First Amendment Group Wants Homeland Security To Turn Over Records On Phone Searches At Borders
By 3.28.17
House Expected To Vote On Rolling Back Internet Privacy Rules Tomorrow
By 3.27.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
If you like having any control over what your internet service provider does with the personal data it has on you, we’ve got some bad news: The House of Representatives is expected to vote tomorrow to reverse the FCC rules that limit what the Comcasts, AT&Ts, Verizons, and Charters of the world can do with the data they have on you. [More]
Mobile Health App Makers Settle Allegations Of Misleading Marketing Claims
By 3.23.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
A trio of smartphone health apps that claim to do things like measure your heart rate or the vitals of your unborn child have agreed to settle allegations brought by the state of New York that these products made promises they couldn’t keep. [More]
Senate Votes To Roll Back Privacy Protections For Internet Users
By and 3.23.17
The FCC’s efforts to put restrictions on what internet service providers can do with the information they have about their users is all but dead, following a party-line 50-48 vote in the Senate this afternoon to roll back this regulation. [More]
Apple Says Systems Not Breached After Hackers Threaten To Wipe Millions Of iPhones
By 3.23.17
Earlier this week, a group of hackers claimed to have email addresses and passwords for hundreds of millions of Apple accounts, and that it would use this information to remotely erase massive numbers of iPhones if a ransom weren’t paid. For its part, Apple says no account information was stolen from its servers. [More]
Why Are So Many Tech & Telecom Companies Bad At Respecting Your Privacy?
By and 3.23.17
The 21st century world is all about data: who has it, how they use it, when they share it, and how much they make from selling it. Despite the proliferation of terms of service and privacy policies, the companies responsible for handling our data are largely doing a poor job of telling us what they do with it. [More]
