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.

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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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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."

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

GOOGLE ACCUSED OF CRIMINAL INTENT OVER STREET VIEW DATA

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.

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)

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