December 22, 2010

GOOGLE DELETES DATA COLLECTED BY STREET VIEW CARS

Personal data collected by Google’s UK Street View cars has been deleted. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which has been criticised for not taking a more hardline stance against Google, confirmed the deletion.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/WpjSL (Source: BBC News)

December 21, 2010

WOMAN SUES GOOGLE FOR SHOWING UNDERWEAR

A Japanese woman is suing Google for displaying images of underwear hanging on her washing line on its Street View function. The woman, who has not been named, is suing the Internet giant for 600,000 Yen, claiming the images caused her psychological distress, according to Japan’s Mainichi newspaper.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/n46qk (Source: The Telegraph)

SMARTPHONES SHARING PERSONAL DATA, PROBE FINDS

Few devices know more personal details about people than the smartphones in their pockets: phone numbers, current location, often the owner’s real name — even a unique ID number that can never be changed or turned off. These phones don’t keep secrets. They are sharing this personal data widely and regularly, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/hI0z6 (Source: The Wall Street Journal)


December 15, 2010

DATA BREACH EXPOSES McDONALD'S CUSTOMERS' INFO

McDonald’s Corp. says some of its customers’ private information was exposed during a data breach. The company said Monday that a third party was able to get past security measures and see into a database of its customer information that included e-mail, phone numbers, addresses, birthdates and other specifics that they provided when signing up for online promotions or other subscriptions to its websites.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/XZ6JX (Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

December 3, 2010

FTC ENDORSES "DO NOT TRACK" PRIVACY PLAN ONLINE

The Federal Trade Commission advocated a plan that lets consumers on the Internet choose whether they want information about their browsing habits to be collected, an option known as “do not track.” The FTC’s proposal, a framework for commercial use of consumer data, would make consumer privacy the default position and would let Web users decide whether Internet sites and advertisers can build profiles of their browsing and buying habits as well as collect other personal information.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/AqS0J (Source: The New York Times)

December 2, 2010

HACKER CLAIMS ATTACK ON WIKILEAKS WEBSITE

A computer hacker who calls himself “The Jester” claimed responsibility for the cyber attack which took down the WikiLeaks site, shortly before it started posting hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. The Jester, who describes himself as a “hacktivist for good,” said he took the controversial site down “for attempting to endanger the lives of our troops, ‘other assets’ & foreign relations.”

Read the article: http://goo.gl/mfMlA (Source: CNN)

November 24, 2010

U.K ENDS GOOGLE STREET VIEW PROBE AS DATA DELETED

The UK’s information commissioner has said that wi-fi data accidentally collected by Google’s Street View cars will be deleted “as soon as possible.” Deputy information commissioner David Smith told the BBC that there would be no further enquiries into the matter.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/o7VHb (Source: BBC News)


EU LAW ON INTERNET TRACKING FACES OBSTACLES

Europe’s effort to regulate online “cookies” is crumbling, exposing how tough it is to curb the practice of tracking Internet users’ movements on the Web. Seeking to be a leader in protecting online privacy, the European Union last year passed a law requiring companies to obtain consent from Web users when tracking files such as cookies are placed on users’ computers, but Internet companies, advertisers, lawmakers, privacy advocates and EU member nations can’t agree on the law’s meaning.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/9icvA (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

November 20, 2010

CHINESE WOMAN GETS 1- YEAR SENTENCE FOR TWEET

A Chinese woman was sentenced to one year in a labor camp after she forwarded a satirical microblog message that urged recipients to attack the Japanese pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, human rights groupsTwitter said. The woman, Cheng Jianping, 46, was accused of “disturbing social order” for resending a message from her fiancĂ© that mocked young nationalists who held anti-Japanese rallies in several cities last month.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/1lsXD (Source: The New York Times)

November 19, 2010

DEFENSE SECRETARY WARNS OF "HUGE" CYBER THREAT

The United States faces a major threat in the future from cyber technologies that will require civil-military coordination to shield networks from attack, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. “I think there is a huge future threat. And there is a considerable current threat,” Gates told The Wall Street Journal CEO Council.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/jV1J8 (Source: Reuters)


PRIVACY QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT FACEBOOK MESSAGING

After Facebook’s struggle with one privacy issue after another this year, some in the industry are raising privacy questions about Facebook’s new messaging system. As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained the new system at a press conference, he never touched on how the company plans on keeping users’ messages private and secure.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/3s6SZ (Source: Computerworld)

November 15, 2010

POPE BENEDICT'S VIEW OF THE INTERNET RISK

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday warned that the Internet does not make people more humane but instead risks increasing a "sense of solitude and disorientation" among "numbed" young people.

"A large number of young people... establish forms of communication that to do not increase humaneness but instead risk increasing a sense of solitude and disorientation," Benedict told a Vatican conference on culture.

Read the article

November 13, 2010

MY NEW BOOK

For more info please CLICK HERE

WHITE HOUSE TO PUSH FOR INTERNET PRIVACY LAWS

The Obama Administration is preparing a stepped-up approach to policing Internet privacy that calls for new laws and the creation of a new position to oversee the effort, according to people familiar with the situation. The strategy is expected to be unveiled in a report being issued by the U.S. Commerce Department in coming weeks, these people said.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/rTQQw (Source: The Wall Street Journal)


November 12, 2010

COMPANY ACCUSED OF ILLEGAL FIRING FOR FACEBOOK POST

In what labor officials and lawyers view as a ground-breaking case involving workers and social media, the National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page. This is the first case in which the labor board has stepped in to argue that workers’ criticisms of their bosses or companies on a social networking site are generally a protected activity and that employers would be violating the law by punishing workers for such statements.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/hyPXK (Source: The New York Times)


November 5, 2010

BRITISH OFFICIALS SAY GOOGLE BREACHED PRIVACY LAWS

British data protection officials said that Google had committed a “significant breach” of privacy laws when its Street View mapping service gathered e-mail messages, computer passwords and other personal information without the owners’ knowledge. Yet Google managed to avoid a fine, with the Information Commissioner’s Office accepting a promise from the company that it would take steps to avoid repeating what it has described as an inadvertent error.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/DrCao (Source: The New York Times)


November 4, 2010

JUDGE APPROVES $8.5 MILLION GOOGLE BUZZ PRIVACY SETTLEMENT

Google said that a settlement for a class action suit by Gmail users over privacy violations related to Google Buzz has been granted preliminary approval by a federal district court judge. The settlement, proposed in September, calls for Google to pay $8.5 million toward a fund for organizations focusing on Internet privacy policy or education.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/1PinD (Source: ZDNet)

November 3, 2010

BRITISH OFFICIALS REOPEN PROBE OF GOOGLE STREET VIEW

British officials said that they would re-open an investigation into Wi-Fi data collected by Google’s Street View cars after the search engine giant admitted that it captured entire e-mails, URLs, and passwords. “We will be making enquires to see whether this information relates to the data inadvertently captured in the U.K., before deciding on the necessary course of action, including a consideration of the need to use our enforcement powers,” the Information Commissioner’s Office said in a statement.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/YFKwW (Source: PC Magazine)

September 1, 2010

PENTAGON CONSIDERS PREEMPTIVE CYBERSECURITY STRIKES

The Pentagon is contemplating an aggressive approach to defending its computer systems that includes preemptive actions such as knocking out parts of an adversary’s computer network overseas — but it is still wrestling with how to pursue the strategy legally.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/08/30/pentagon-considers-preemptive-cybersecurity-strikes/ (Source: The Washington Post)

August 4, 2010

DIFFERING VIEWS ON STREET VIEW

BY ABU BAKAR MUNIR

After an investigation that has spanned almost two months, the Australian Privacy Commissioner, last month, concluded that the collection and storing of unsecured WiFi payload data using Street View vehicles in Australia by Google has breached the Privacy Act. The Privacy Commissioner said, "On the information available I am satisfied that any collection of personal information would have breach the Australian Privacy Act. Collecting personal information in these circumstances is a very serious matter. Australians should reasonably expect that private communications remain private".

In response to the investigation, Google has provided the Privacy Commissioner with several written undertaking and published an apology. The undertakings are:

1. Undertake to conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) on any Street View data collection activities in Australia that include personal information.
2. Provide a copy of these PIAs to the Commissioner Office.
3. Regularly consult with the Australian Privacy Commissioner about personal data collection activities arising from significant product launches in Australia.

Google's apology states, "In May, we announced that we had also mistakenly collecting publicly broadcast payload data. To be clear, we did not want and have never used any payload data in our products or services - and as soon as we discovered our error , we announced that we would stop collecting all WiFi data via our Street View vehicles...We want to reiterate to Australians that this was a mistake for which we are sincerely sorry. Maintaining people's trust is crucial to everything we do and we have earn that trust every single day. We are acutely aware that we failed badly here."

In the U.K, however, Google was cleared. The Information Commissioner Office (ICO) on 29 July 2010 stated, "The ICO has visited Google's premises to assess samples of the payload data it inadvertently collected. ..The information we saw does not include meaningful personal details that could linked to an identifiable person."

The ICO qualifies this statement by saying that "As we have only seen samples of the records collected in the U.K we recognise that other data protection authorities conducting a detailed analysis of all payload data collected in their jurisdictions may nevertheless find samples of information which can be linked to identifiable individuals." The ICO concludes that, "on the basis of the samples we saw we are satisfied that so far that it is unlikely that Google will have captured significant amounts of personal data."




July 31, 2010

U.K SAYS GOOGLE DIDN'T COLLECT "SIGNIFICANT" DATA

Google did not grab “significant” personal details when collecting data from wi-fi networks, according to the UK’s Information Commissioner Office. The finding came after the body reviewed some of the data Google scooped up from unsecured networks.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/30/u-k-says-google-didnt-collect-significant-data/ (Source: BBC News)

July 30, 2010

DATA ON 100 MILLION FACEBOOK USERS EXPOSED

A security researcher released a file containing the names, profile addresses and unique identification numbers of more than 100 million Facebook users. The information was corralled via a public directory Facebook makes available that lists users who are sharing at least some of their profile information with everyone on the Internet.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/28/data-on-100-million-facebook-users-exposed/ (Source: The New York Times)

July 29, 2010

SENATORS PRESS GOOGLE, APPLE, FACEBOOK ON PRIVACY

After a string of online privacy problems this year, legislators grilled Google Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook and AT&T Inc., seeking assurance that user information will be protected in the future. Senators questioned whether new legislation is needed to protect people’s personal information online during a hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/28/senators-press-google-apple-facebook-on-privacy/ (Source: Los Angeles Times)

July 20, 2010

FTC OFFICIAL CITES "CHALLENGES" IN PROTECTING TEENS ONLINE

The agency responsible for protecting consumers in the U.S. says defending the interests of teenagers in the online world presents “unique challenges.” The deputy director of consumer protection at the Federal Trade Commission laid out some of those challenges in testimony before a U.S. Congress subcommittee on consumer protection.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/18/ftc-official-cites-challenges-in-protecting-teens-online/ (Source: CBC News)

July 15, 2010

GOOGLE "STREET VIEW" ILLEGAL, AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL SAYS

Google broke Australia’s privacy law when it collected private information from wireless networks, the country’s privacy commissioner said, following an investigation into the Internet giant’s “Street View” mapping service. Several other countries are investigating Google over the data collection, and there are growing concerns from regulators and consumer watchdogs worldwide that Google isn’t serious enough about people’s privacy — a charge the company denies.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/13/google-street-view-illegal-australian-official-says/ (Source: MyBroadband)

July 10, 2010

LAW FIRM WORKING ON CLASS-ACTION FACEBOOK PRIVACY CASE

A Toronto-based law firm with a history of targeting litigation at corporations as varied as chocolate companies and silicone breast implant manufacturers has a new company in the crosshairs: Facebook. Merchant Law Group, which has offices in 10 Canadian cities, launched litigation seeking class action status against the massive social-networking site, alleging the mishandling of sensitive user data — the latest development in a resurgence of action against the social network’s privacy policies, after it looked for a while as if all the fuss had calmed down.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/08/law-firm-working-on-class-action-facebook-privacy-case/ (Source: CNET News)


July 9, 2010

GERMANY OPENS FORMAL PROBE OF FACEBOOK'S PRIVACY

Data protection officials in Germany announced the launch of a formal investigation into Facebook, saying they believe some of its much-maligned privacy policies are illegal. It’s given Facebook until August 11 to respond formally.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/07/germany-opens-formal-probe-of-facebooks-privacy/ (Source: CNET News)

July 8, 2010

SENATORS URGE OBAMA TO SUPPORT CYBERSECURITY BILL

Seven Senate leaders urged President Obama to support planned legislation designed to protect critical information technology systems from attacks. In a letter to Obama, the senators said they plan to produce a comprehensive cybersecurity bill, although they did not specify a timeframe.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/05/senators-urge-obama-to-support-cybersecurity-bill/ (Source: National Journal)

LEADER OF .XXX DOMAIN SAYS IT WILL BE "VERY SUCCESSFUL"

The Internet has made Stuart Lawley a wealthy man. Now he’s poised to make his next fortune selling Internet addresses to pornographers.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/07/03/leader-of-xxx-domain-says-it-will-be-very-successful/ (Source: Bloomberg Businessweek)

June 28, 2010

ICANN EXPECTED TO APPROVE .XXX DOMAIN

The company that oversees Web addresses is expected to give the go-ahead for the creation of a .xxx suffix for websites with pornographic content, company officials indicated. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees the Internet on behalf of the U.S. government, has in the past resisted creating a .xxx generic domain name system akin to those for .com and .net.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/24/icann-expected-to-approve-xxx-domain/ (Source: Reuters)


June 11, 2010

GOOGLE ACCUSED OF CRIMINAL INTENT OVER STREET VIEW DATA

Google Street View camera

Source: BBC NEWS

Google is "almost certain" to face prosecution for collecting data from unsecured wi-fi networks, according to Privacy International (PI). The search giant has been under scrutiny for collecting wi-fi data as part of its StreetView project. Google has released an independent audit of the rogue code, which it has claimed was included in the StreetView software by mistake. But PI is convinced the audit proves "criminal intent". "The independent audit of the Google system shows that the system used for the wi-fi collection intentionally separated out unencrypted content (payload data) of communications and systematically wrote this data to hard drives. This is equivalent to placing a hard tap and a digital recorder onto a phone wire without consent or authorisation," said PI in a statement. This would put Google at odds with the interception laws of the 30 countries that the system was used in, it added.

Scotland Yard

"The Germans are almost certain to prosecute. Because there was intent, they have no choice but to prosecute," said Simon Davies, head of PI. In the UK the ICO has said it is reviewing the audit but that for the time being it had no plans to pursue the matter. PI however does intend to take the case to the police. "I don't see any alternative but for us to go to Scotland Yard," said Mr Davies.

The revelation that Google had collected such data led the German Information Commissioner to demand it handed over a hard-disk so it could examine exactly what it had collected. It has not yet received the data and has extended the original deadline for it to be handed over. The Australian police have also been ordered to investigate Google for possible breach of privacy.

'Systematic failure'

According to Google, the code which allowed data to be collected was part of an experimental wi-fi project undertaken by an unnamed engineer to improve location-based services and was never intended to be incorporated in the software for StreetView.

"As we have said before, this was a mistake. The report today confirms that Google did indeed collect and store payload data from unencrypted wi-fi networks, but not from networks that were encrypted. We are continuing to work with the relevant authorities to respond to their questions and concerns," said a Google spokesman.

"This was a failure of communication between and within teams," he added. But PI disputes this explanation. "The idea that this was a work of a lone engineer doesn't add up. This is complex code and it must have been given a budget and been overseen. Google has asserted that all its projects are rigorously checked," said Mr Davies.

"It goes to the heart of a systematic failure of management and of duty of care," he added.

June 10, 2010

MOST INTERNET USERS WORRIED ABOUT PRIVACY

A new poll shows that a large majority of consumers are concerned about being tracked on the Internet and favor a proposal from privacy groups to create a “do not track list.” The survey, commissioned by the tech and telecom industry research group Precursor LLC, found that 81 percent of those polled said they were “somewhat” or “very” concerned about companies tracking their Web surfing habits and using that information for advertising, while 88 percent said it is “unfair” for companies to do such tracking without an Internet user’s permission.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/08/most-internet-users-worried-about-privacy-poll-shows/ (Source: National Journal)

CHINA SAYS IT WON'T REDUCE INTERNET RESTRICTIONS

China will not ease state control over what can be said online and will brook no foreign criticism of its rules, according to a government white paper released after months of wrangling about freedoms for Web users. The 31-page white paper, which called the Internet “a crystallization of human wisdom,” said its usage in the most populous nation on earth was “transforming the pattern of economic development.”

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/08/china-says-it-wont-reduce-internet-restrictions/ (Source: Reuters)

SOCIAL NETWORKING EXPOSES EMPLOYERS TO RISKS, STUDY SAYS

Employees who dabble in social networking both on and off the job could expose their companies to a variety of risks, according to a study released by the ISACA. Malware, brand hijacking, lack of content control, noncompliance with rules over recordkeeping, and unrealistic expectations of Internet performance were the top five social-media risks to businesses identified by the ISACA in its study “Social Media: Business Benefits With Security, Governance and Assurance Perspectives.”

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/08/social-networking-exposes-employers-to-risks-study-says/ (Source: CNET News)

June 9, 2010

CONN. AG SEEKS ANSWERS FROM GOOGLE WIFI PRIVACY

Connecticut’s attorney general is asking Google Inc. whether it collected personal information sent over wireless networks in the state, as a growing privacy controversy involving the Internet giant continues to ripple around the world. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said his office would determine whether the company violated state privacy laws when Google gathered private data transmitted over unsecured networks used by residents and businesses.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/07/conn-ag-seeks-answers-from-google-on-wi-fi-privacy/ (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

U.K PLAN WOULD REQUIRE ISPs TO IDENTIFY INFRINGERS

Lists of Britons who infringe copyright are to be drawn up by the UK’s biggest ISPs, under proposals from the regulator Ofcom. The plan is contained in a draft code of practice it hopes will curb copyright infringement.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/05/30/u-k-plan-would-require-isps-to-identify-infringers/ (Source: BBC News)

FTC HOLDING WORKSHOP ON CHILDREN'S PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT

The FTC is set to host its first workshop on whether to update the rule implementing a law aimed at protecting children’s privacy online. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which went into effect in 2000, requires Web sites to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/01/ftc-holding-workshop-on-childrens-privacy-protection-act/ (Source: National Journal)

LAWMAKERS INDICATES FACEBOOK PRIVACY HEARINGS LIKELY

A House of Representatives committee responsible for writing some electronic privacy laws sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking for details on when the company shared user data “without the knowledge of the account holders.” The letter, written by Democratic chairman John Conyers of Michigan, suggests that the committee will eventually hold hearings on whether the Internet’s second most popular site has — at least in the minds of a handful of politicians — acted responsibly in disclosing its data-sharing practices to its users.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/01/lawmaker-indicates-facebook-privacy-hearings-likely/ (Source: CNET News)

AUSTRALIAN POLICE ASKED TO PROBE GOOGLE ON PRIVACY

Australian police have been asked to investigate Internet giant Google over possible breaches of telecommunications privacy laws, the attorney general said. The investigation follows complaints from members of the public about activities of Google employees while taking photographs for Google Maps, the search engine’s maps page.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/06/australian-police-asked-to-probe-google-on-privacy/ (Source: Reuters)

EU COURT SAYS COUNTRIES CAN BAN INTERNET GAMBLING

EU countries can ban online gambling if their aim is to combat fraud, Europe’s highest court said, dealing a blow to the multi-billion euro online betting industry seeking to break domestic monopolies. The European Union Court of Justice issued rulings on two separate challenges involving online gambling in the Netherlands.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/06/03/eu-court-says-countries-can-ban-internet-gambling

May 25, 2010

FACEBOOK, MYSPACE SENT USER DATA TO ADVERTISING FIRMS

Facebook, MySpace and several other social-networking sites have been sending data to advertising companies that could be used to find consumers’ names and other personal details, despite promises they don’t share such information without consent. The practice, which most of the companies defended, sent user names or ID numbers tied to personal profiles being viewed when users clicked on ads. Read the article: tp://gigalaw.com/2010/05/20/facebook-myspace-sent-user-data-to-advertising-firms/ (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

May 21, 2010

LAWMAKERS SEEK LEGAL OPINION ON GOOGLE WIFI ERROR

Two lawmakers who co-chair the House Privacy Caucus asked the Federal Trade Commission if Google broke the law in collecting WiFi and other Internet data while taking photographs for its Street View product. Reps. Joe Barton, a Republican, and Edward Markey, a Democrat, wrote to the FTC chairman to ask if the agency was looking into the data collection, which Google has said was “a mistake.”
Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/05/19/lawmakers-seek-legal-opinion-on-google-wifi-error/ (Source: Reuters)


May 20, 2010

GERMANY THREATENS LEGAL ACTION OVER GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Google came under increased pressure in Europe over its collection of private data from unsecured home wireless networks, as a German regulator threatened legal action if the company did not surrender a hard drive for inspection. The German demand underscored the seriousness of the quandary Google now faced following its admission that it had stored the snippets of Web sites and personal e-mail messages from people around the world while compiling its Street View photo archive.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/05/18/germany-threatens-legal-action-over-google-street-view/ (Source: The New York Times)

May 18, 2010

GERMANY SCOLDS GOOGLE FOR "STREET VIEW" PRIVACY BREACH

May 15, 2010

Germany’s consumer protection minister strongly criticized Google for a widespread privacy breach and insisted the U.S. Internet giant must cooperate better with data protection authorities. Google Inc. issued an apology, acknowledging it has been vacuuming up fragments of people’s online activities broadcast over public Wi-Fi networks for the past four years while expanding a mapping feature called “Street View.”

May 17, 2010

EUROPEAN GROUP CALLS FACEBOOK PRIVACY "UNACCEPTABLE"

May 13, 2010

A European data protection group penned a letter to Facebook in which it told the social networking site that its recent privacy changes are “unacceptable”. That Article 29 Working Party, a collection of European data groups, sent letters to 20 social networking sites overall, but singled out Facebook for “fundamentally chang[ing] the default settings on its social-networking platform to the detriment of a user.”

May 14, 2010

GOOGLE ANSWERS PRIVACY QUESTIONS POSED BY COMMISSIONERS

Source - BBC NEWS

Google has defended its privacy practices following a letter of complaint from data protection commissioners around the world. The original letter expressed concerns on privacy issues surrounding Google's social networking tool Buzz and its Street View service. In response Google said it was "committed to ensuring privacy is designed into our products".

But it admitted that mistakes were made with the launch of Buzz. "We do not get everything 100% right - that is why we acted so quickly on Google Buzz," said the letter, signed by Jane Horvath and Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel for Google. A spokesman for Google said the letter represented Google's "full response" to the concerns raised by ten privacy commissioners from around the world, including the UK, Canada and France. Google insisted that it had a "core commitment" to privacy.

"We are keenly aware of the trust that our users place in our services, and of our responsibility to protect their privacy. As part of this responsibility, we are committed to being transparent with our users about the information that we collect," the letter read.

"Respecting privacy is a part of every Googler's job," it added.

Privacy default

This respect was not apparent to all users at the launch of its social networking service Buzz. The search giant found itself with a flurry of complaints from users unhappy that their Gmail accounts had automatically been connected to the service without their consent. As the row escalated, Google moved quickly to enable Buzz users to set their own privacy controls. In a subsequent letter from Canada's privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, this prompt response was praised. But the letter also raised concerns about the way Google handled users' privacy.

It was co-signed by Ms Stoddart's counterparts in France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the UK. It called on Google to collect and process the minimum amount of personal information required for a service, to be clear about how it would be used and to ensure that privacy settings were default and easy to use. It also expressed unease about Street View, Google's street level, 360-degree photographs of areas taken by specially equipped Google vehicles.

In Germany there has been criticism of the Street View service because it has recorded the details of private wi-fi networks. Germany's Federal Commissioner for Data Protection Peter Schaar has complained to Google. A legal claim in February 2009 by a Pittsburgh couple who said that Street View violated their privacy was thrown out by a federal judge.

May 12, 2010

COALITION SAYS GOOGLE BOOK SETTLEMENT VIOLATES TREATY

A coalition that includes firms that compete with Google says a proposed settlement aimed at allowing Google to create an online digital library violates U.S. treaty obligations aimed at protecting intellectual property. The Open Book Alliance, which includes Google rivals Amazon.com, Microsoft and Yahoo as well as some smaller publishers and writers groups, released an analysis of the proposed settlement between Google and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers that claims the deal violates the Berne Convention’s Protection of Literary and Artistic Works as well as the nondiscrimination provision of the World Trade Organization’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

May 11, 2010

UNIVERSITY DROPS GMAIL , CITES PRIVACY CONCERNS

In a potential blow to Google’s efforts to establish itself as a major player in enterprise software, a leading public university has ended its evaluation of Gmail as the official e-mail program for its 30,000 faculty and staff members — and it’s got some harsh words for the search giant. In a joint letter to employees, University of California-Davis CIO Peter Siegel, Academic Senate IT chair Niels Jensen, and Campus Council IT chair Joe Kiskis said the school decided to end its Gmail pilot, which could have led to campus-wide deployment, because faculty members doubted Google’s ability to keep their correspondences private.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/05/05/university-drops-gmail-cites-privacy-concerns/ (Source: InformationWeek)

May 7, 2010

LAWMAKER RELEASES DRAFT OF INTERNET PRIVACY BILL

House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., released draft privacy legislation that would require Web sites to provide enhanced notice about how they use consumer information and obtain a user’s consent before collecting sensitive information or sharing data about a consumer with some third parties. In an interview, Boucher said he will use the feedback from the draft to make some possible modifications to the measure.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/05/04/lawmaker-releases-draft-of-internet-privacy-bill/ (Source: National Journal)

May 5, 2010

LAWMAKERS DRAFT WEB - AD PRIVACY SAFEGUARDS

By Emily Steel (The Wall Street Journal)

More than a year in the making, the draft legislation proposes regulating Internet companies' tactics for collecting information about Web visitors and the use of that data for ad targeting. It also could apply to the practices for collecting consumers' information in the offline world.

The proposed legislation comes as the furor over privacy issues related to the Internet grows. Lawmakers and regulators say that most consumers experience a great deal of confusion about what information is collected about them and how it is used. Privacy advocates say such tracking has reached alarming levels.

Meanwhile, Internet and advertising companies say that they are capable of regulating themselves and privacy legislation threatens to stifle the $23 billion Internet-ad market.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D., Va.), along with Rep. Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.), plan to post a draft of the bill on their websites on Tuesday, then solicit feedback for a two-month period. Legislators will then revise the bill for introduction during a House subcommittee hearing. To be sure, the proposal doesn't mean that Congress will pass a law.

Mr. Boucher revealed details of the much-anticipated legislation on Monday during a conference for American Business Media, a trade group of business-to-business publications, said Mark Sableman, a partner at the law firm Thompson Coburn and counsel to American Business Media.

Under the current draft, websites collecting information about their visitors would need to disclose to consumers how that information is collected and used, with whom it is shared and the circumstances under which that sharing takes place, Mr. Sableman said. If consumers decide they don't want their information to be collected or used for those stated purposes, they should be able to opt out directly on the site.

The regulation also lays out a separate set of regulations for outside companies that collect information about consumers on websites and target ads to those consumers on other, unrelated sites.

Consumers would need to grant these third-party companies special permission for their data to be collected. The draft legislation provides some exceptions. The ad company wouldn't need to solicit permission to collect information about consumers if the targeted ad includes a link that explains which company was involved in making the ad appear, shows consumers what information is collected about them and gives them the chance to opt out.

The draft also includes special restrictions for the collection of sensitive information, including financial information, medical history, government identifiers such as drivers' license and Social Security cards and information about children or adolescents.

The legislation would grant authority to the Federal Trade Commission to endorse the provisions of the bill.

"We haven't seen the bill, but protecting privacy is a priority for the FTC, as it is to Congressman Boucher, and we're eager to work with Congress as it crafts legislation to address privacy concerns," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement.

"Although I do not support all of the provisions in the draft, I look forward to getting back comments to improve the bill and then hopefully advance it through the committee process," Rep. Stearns said in a statement, noting that it was premature for him to comment on the legislation as it has yet to be made public. He said that the bill is based on earlier privacy legislation that he developed in 2005.

RISK OF CYBERATTACKS SEEN AS SERIOUS THREAT

A new survey finds that while more than 90 percent of private and public sector security experts say cyber attacks pose a serious threat, they differ on whether each side is doing enough to protect their networks. The poll, released before the start of a worldwide cybersecurity summit in Dallas, found that 70 percent of government officials surveyed said private-sector networks were not secure enough, while only 39 percent of private sector security officials surveyed believed government networks were not secure enough.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/05/03/risk-of-cyberattacks-seen-as-serious-threat/ (Source: National Journal)


April 26, 2010

DATA PROTECTION LEADERS FOCUS ON SOCIAL- NETWORKING PRIVACY

Data protection authorities from a range of countries held a teleconference to discuss how they can work together to protect what they see as a steady erosion of privacy by social networking services, and the European Union too is studying what role it can play. They may not be able to hold the social networking wave back, but policymakers are looking at what they can do to limit what they see as the “Big Brother”-like role of some sites.
Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/04/22/data-protection-leaders-focus-on-social-networking-privacy/ (Source: Reuters)

SEC WORKERS VIEWED PORN ONLINE

As the country was sinking into its worst financial crisis in more than 70 years, Security and Exchange Commission employees and contractors cruised porn sites and viewed sexually explicit pictures using government computers, according to an agency report obtained by CNN. “During the past five years, the SEC OIG (Office of Inspector General) substantiated that 33 SEC employees and or contractors violated Commission rules and policies, as well as the government-wide Standards of Ethical Conduct, by viewing pornographic, sexually explicit or sexually suggestive images using government computer resources and official time,” said a summary of the investigation by the inspector general’s office.
Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/04/23/sec-workers-viewed-porn-online-report-says/ (Source: CNN.com)

April 21, 2010

TEN COUNTRIES TELL GOOGLE TO STRENGTHEN PRIVACY

Privacy officials from ten countries sent Google Inc. a letter demanding that the Internet giant build more privacy protections into its services, the latest sign of increasingly international anxiety over Google’s power. The letter, reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, was signed by officials in Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/04/19/ten-countries-tell-google-to-strengthen-privacy/ (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

SUPREME COURT HEARS CASE ON E-MAIL PRIVACY AT WORK

An Obama administration lawyer urged the Supreme Court to rule that employees usually have no right to privacy when they send personal messages on computers, cellphones or other devices supplied by their employer. Nationwide, most employers have adopted policies telling workers they have no right to privacy when they use computers and cellphones supplied by an employer, said Deputy Solicitor Gen. Neal Katyal.
Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/04/19/supreme-court-hears-case-on-e-mail-privacy-at-work/ (Source: Los Angeles Times)

April 14, 2010

FACEBOOK TO DISCUSS CHILD PROTECTION ISSUES

Facebook executives are due to meet the head of a British child protection agency in Washington to discuss safety measures on the social networking site. It has been criticized by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) center for not installing “panic buttons” on every page.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/04/12/facebook-to-discuss-child-protection-issues/ (Source: BBC News)


April 8, 2010

FINALLY, THE LAW IS HERE

By Abu Bakar Munir

The long wait is over. On Monday 5 April 2010, the Dewan Rakyat at about 7.30 p.m, after quite an exciting and interesting debate, passed the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Bill. It was a special privilege to be able to assist the Minister in responding to the questions from the Members of Parliament (MPs). All of them, from BN and opposition parties, acknowledged and supported the Bill. They differ, however, in term of what should be in it. It is a special thrill to see the passage of this crucial law.

The first in ASEAN, the law provides rules and regulations as to how data users should manage and process personal data of their workers, customers, suppliers, etc. The law also gives certain rights to the data subjects. Some new criminal offences have been created in relation to processing of personal data.

For the existing data users, they are required to comply with the law within three months from the date of coming into operation of the Act. Companies and organizations are required to be registered as data users to enable them to process personal data.

Data subjects, under the law, among others, would have the right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress. More importantly, the law empowers data subjects the right to prevent processing of personal data for purposes of direct marketing.

Data protection is not rocket science. It is about respect and common sense. Good data protection is good business.

March 30, 2010

LAWMAKERS WANT FTC PROBE OF GOOGLE BUZZ

By Grant Gross

DG News Service - Eleven U.S. lawmakers have asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google's launch of its Buzz social-networking product for breaches of consumer privacy. The representatives -- six Democrats and five Republicans from the House Energy and Commerce Committee -- noted in their letter that Google's roll-out of Buzz exposed private information of users to Google's Gmail service to outsiders. In one case, a 9-year-old girl accidentally shared her contact list in Gmail with a person who has a "sexually charged" username, the lawmakers said in the letter, sent to the FTC Friday and released Monday.

"Due to the high number of individuals whose online privacy is affected by tools like this -- either directly or indirectly --- we feel that these claims warrant the commission's review of Google's public disclosure of personal information of consumers through Google Buzz," said the letter, organized by Representative John Barrow, a Georgia Democrat.

In the original public version of Buzz, launched in February, the program compiled a list of the Gmail contacts the users most frequently e-mailed or chatted with and automatically started following those people. Those lists were made public, giving strangers access to the contacts of Buzz users.

There were a flurry of complaints from Gmail users, and Google made changes to Buzz within a couple of days. Asked for a response to the letter, a Google spokeswoman said user transparency and control are important to the company. "When we realized that we'd unintentionally made many of our users unhappy, we moved quickly to make significant product improvements to address their concerns," she said, repeating Google's past statements on Buzz. "Our door is always open to discuss additional ways to improve our products and services moving forward. "

The lawmakers asked the FTC to get answers to four questions from Google, including whether the company will revise its Gmail privacy policy to obtain consent from consumers for sharing their information. The lawmakers also want to know if Google was using the personal information collected through Buzz to deliver targeted advertising. The representatives also questioned how Google's planned acquisition of mobile advertising vendor AdMob will affect consumer privacy. In mid-March, outgoing FTC member Pamela Jones Harbour ripped into Google for its handling of Buzz, calling the product's launch "irresponsible conduct."

In February, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint with the FTC, saying that Google Buzz engaged in unfair and deceptive practices that violated Google's privacy policy and federal wiretap laws.

March 26, 2010

GOOGLE EXECUTIVE URGES TRADE AGREEMENTS FOR INTERNET

A top Google executive called for new rules to crack down on governments that filter the Internet, saying the practice was hindering international trade. Alan Davidson, director of United States public policy for Google, told a joint Congressional panel that the United States and other democracies should draft trade agreements that incorporate pledges to keep Web sites uncensored.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/03/24/google-executive-urges-trade-agreements-for-internet/ (Source: The New York Times)

FRENCH MAN ARRESTED FOR HACKING OBAMA'S TWITTER ACCOUNT

A French man has been arrested for hacking into the Twitter account of President Barack Obama, French police said. The 25-year-old man, who lives in central France, also stole information online about other celebrities, including Britney Spears, stealing passwords for email accounts and publishing personal information on the Web.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/03/24/french-man-arrested-for-hacking-obamas-twitter-account/ (Source: Reuters)


March 12, 2010

ICANN MAY REVISIT DECISION DENYING .XXX DOMAIN


A global Internet oversight agency is reopening discussions about whether to create a “.xxx” domain name as an online red-light district where porn sites can set up shop away from the wandering eyes of children and teenagers. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the allocation of Internet addresses globally, may revive ICM Registry’s bid yet again as ICANN meets this week in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/03/11/icann-may-revisit-decision-denying-xxx-domain/ (Source: USA Today)

March 11, 2010

U.S WEIGHING CHINA INTERNET CENSORSHIP CASE



Pedestrians walk past Google China headquarters in Beijing January 26, 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Jason Lee

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is studying whether it can legally challenge Chinese Internet restrictions that hurt Google and other U.S. companies operating in China, but direct talks with Beijing might yield faster results, the top U.S. trade official said on Tuesday.

At the same time, U.S. trade officials are "trying to make our own determination whether we believe in fact this is not WTO compliant and if the best resolution is to go forward and file an appeal," Kirk said. "We are still dialoguing not just with Google, but with other Internet providers, to make sure we fully understand what is happening in China," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in remarks at the National Press Club.

A U.S. free speech group known as the First Amendment Coalition had been urging such a case for years before Google threatened to leave China in January due to hacking incidents and Web restrictions. A case challenging censorship practices that affect Google and other Internet providers who operate in China would be the first of its kind at the WTO.

U.S. companies cannot wait that long for a solution in the current economic environment, although the United States will not hesitate to go to the WTO when that is the only solution it has left, Kirk said.

Kirk said trying to resolve the issue through bilateral forums such as the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) was "much more preferable than the uncertain path of what can be a two-, three-, four-year legal battle in the WTO." Kirk noted Google and China have been in "very intense negotiations" since the company's threat to leave.

The government procurement policy is intended to spur Chinese companies to be more innovative, but the United States argues it is essentially a trade barrier that does not reflect how products are developed in the global economy. On another matter, Kirk said the United States also hoped to persuade China to change "indigenous innovation" rules favoring companies that develop the intellectual property for new products in China.

"This was one of the prime topics of concern" in preparatory talks with the Chinese for two upcoming high-level bilateral forums, the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue this spring and the JCCT next fall, Kirk said.

"Our objective is just to get the government's thumb off the scale," Kirk said.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Xavier Briand)

March 9, 2010

GERMAN DATA RETENTION LAW CANNOT BE RETAINED

By Abu Bakar Munir

On 6 January 2010, under the title, "E.U Data Retention Directive: Would It Survive?, I mentioned about the Germany's biggest-ever class action challenging the Germany's law implementing the E.U Data Retention Directive. Germany's Constitutional Court, on 2 March 2010, has made its decision that the law which requires telecommunication and Internet providers to retain personal information for six months is unconstitutional. Storing or retaining the information has been regarded as "grave intrusion' to personal privacy rights and must be revised.

The Court held that section 113 of the Telecommunications Act violates the privacy of German citizens and that the lacks the controls to ensure the data is secured and properly utilized. The Court also ruled that all data stored until now must be immediately deleted and no more data may be held until the national law is revised to conform with the country's basic law.

Justice Minister Sabine Leuthesser-Schnarrenberger, one of the plaintiffs as private citizen, welcomed the decision. The Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, however, expressed disappointment with the decision of the Court and said that the government would look to draw up new law quickly. Civil rights activists who had fiercely opposed the law welcomed the ruling. Germany's federal data protection watchdog said, "The government must not only refrain from collecting data, it must also protect citizens from the excessive gathering of information and building of profiles by the private sector."

The ruling hasn't scrapped the law altogether, but has effectively suspended it until massive amendments limiting its scope have been implemented. Many plaintiffs had hope the Court would rule that storing data per se was unconstitutional and scrap the law altogether.

German NGO Working Group on Data Retention demands the resignation of the responsible Minister of Justice, social democrat Brigitte Zypries who negotiated the data retention rules.


February 25, 2010

ITALY CONVICTS GOOGLE EXECS OVER UPLOADED VIDEO

By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporterFebruary 24, 2010: 7:52 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)

A judge in Milan found three Google executives guilty Wednesday of violating Italy's privacy code over a video that was uploaded on the search giant's video platform, the company said.
After being notified about the video -- which showed students bullying an autistic classmate -- by Italian police in 2006, Google took the video down within hours, said Matt Sucherman, the company's vice president and deputy general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in a blog post.

He added that the company continued to work with authorities to help identify the student who uploaded the video, and she and other students involved were sentenced to 10 months of community service by a court in Turin, Italy. The video was uploaded to Google Video, prior to the company's purchase of YouTube. Sucherman said a public prosecutor in Milan then indicted four Google executives -- senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, chief privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, marketing executive Arvind Desikan and former chief financial officer George Reyes -- for criminal defamation and violation of the country's privacy code. All but Desikan were found guilty of the privacy charge, and the judge found all four executives not guilty of criminal defamation.

Google said it plans to appeal the court's decision because its employees "had nothing to to do with the video in question" and for its implications on Internet freedom and censorship."In essence this ruling means that employees of hosting platforms like Google Video are criminally responsible for content that users upload," Sucherman said. "Common sense dictates that only the person who films and uploads a video to a hosting platform could take the steps necessary to protect the privacy and obtain the consent of the people they are filming."

Following the sentencing, Google's lawyer Giuseppe Banan told reporters that legal codes do not require Google, the Internet or any other company to control content before it is uploaded to the Web. But prosecutor Alfredo Robledo said "the right of enterprise cannot rule over that of dignity of the human being," and expressed his satisfaction with the judge's ruling.

February 19, 2010

INTERNET CRASHES IN MOCK CYBER WAR

Ten former White House advisors and other top officials joined forces in a rare public cyber war game designed to highlight the potential vulnerability of the nation’s digital infrastructure to crippling attack. The results were hardly reassuring.
Read the article: http://gigalaw.com/2010/02/17/internet-crashes-in-mock-cyber-war/ (Source: Los Angeles Times)

BROAD NEW HACKING ATTACK DETECTED

By SIOBHAN GORMAN (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)

Hackers in Europe and China successfully broke into computers at nearly 2,500 companies and government agencies over the last 18 months in a coordinated global attack that exposed vast amounts of personal and corporate secrets to theft, according to a computer-security company that discovered the breach. The damage from the latest cyberattack is still being assessed, and affected companies are still being notified. But data compiled by NetWitness, the closely held firm that discovered the breaches, showed that hackers gained access to a wide array of data at 2,411 companies, from credit-card transactions to intellectual property.

The hacking operation, the latest of several major hacks that have raised alarms for companies and government officials, is still running and it isn't clear to what extent it has been contained, NetWitness said. Also unclear is the full amount of data stolen and how it was used. Two companies that were infiltrated, pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. and Cardinal Health Inc., said they had isolated and contained the problem. Starting in late 2008, hackers operating a command center in Germany got into corporate networks by enticing employees to click on contaminated Web sites, email attachments or ads purporting to clean up viruses, NetWitness found. In more than 100 cases, the hackers gained access to corporate servers that store large quantities of business data, such as company files, databases and email.

They also broke into computers at 10 U.S. government agencies. In one case, they obtained the user name and password of a soldier's military email account, NetWitness found. A Pentagon spokesman said the military didn't comment on specific threats or intrusions. At one company, the hackers gained access to a corporate server used for processing online credit-card payments. At others, stolen passwords provided access to computers used to store and swap proprietary corporate documents, presentations, contracts and even upcoming versions of software products, NetWitness said.

Data stolen from another U.S. company pointed to an employee's apparent involvement in criminal activities; authorities have been called in to investigate, NetWitness said. Criminal groups have used such information to extort sensitive information from employees in the past. The spyware used in this attack allows hackers to control computers remotely, said Amit Yoran, chief executive of NetWitness. NetWitness engineer Alex Cox said he uncovered the scheme Jan. 26 while installing technology for a large corporation to hunt for cyberattacks.

That discovery points to the growing number of attacks in recent years that have drafted computers into cyber armies known as botnets—intrusions not blocked by standard antivirus software. Researchers estimate millions of computers are conscripted into these armies. "It highlights the weaknesses in cyber security right now," said Adam Meyers, a senior engineer at government contractor SRA International Inc. who reviewed the NetWitness data. "If you're a Fortune 500 company or a government agency or a home DSL user, you could be successfully victimized."

Disclosure of the attack comes on the heels of Google Inc.'s allegation that it and more than 20 other companies were breached by Chinese hackers. This operation appears to be more far-reaching, infiltrating some 75,000 computers and touching 196 countries. The highest concentrations of infected computers are in Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the U.S.
NetWitness, based in Herndon, Va., said it was sharing information with the companies infected. Mr. Yoran declined to name them. The company provides computer security for U.S. government agencies and companies. Mr. Yoran is a former Air Force officer who also served as cyber security chief at the Department of Homeland Security.

Besides Merck and Cardinal Health, people familiar with the attack named several other companies infiltrated, including Paramount Pictures and software company Juniper Networks Inc. Merck said in a statement that one computer had been infected. It said it had isolated the attack and that "no sensitive information was compromised." Cardinal said it removed the infected computer from its network. Paramount declined to comment. Juniper's security chief, Barry Greene, wouldn't speak about any specific incidents but said the company worked aggressively to counter infections.