Research confirms that Facebook, Twitter and Google are spying on users

big brother (Photo credit: Vince_Lamb)

Social networks: can robots violate user privacy?

ECM Plus +++ Recent news in the international media has revealed numerous Internet privacy concerns that definitely deserve attention and further investigation, which is why Geneva-based High-Tech Bridge  decided to conduct a simple technical experiment to verify how the 50 largest social networks, web services and free emails systems respect – or indeed abuse – the privacy of their users.

According to High-Tech Bridge, the experiment and its results can be reproduced by anyone, as we tried to be as neutral and objective as possible.

Amazon and eBay implicated in data protection scandal

Privacy International 2007 privacy ranking Consistently upholds human rights standards Significant protections and safeguards Adequate safeguards against abuse Some safeguards but weakened protections Systemic failure to uphold safeguards Extensive surveillance societies Endemic surveillance societies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Online retail giant and auction behemoth site lobbyists found to be writing EU data protection law in copy-paste legislation scandal

ECM Plus +++ A European privacy group claimed today that dozens of amendments to the new Data Protection Regulation being proposed by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are being copied word-for-word from corporate lobby papers, with MEPs frequently failing to even remember their own amendments. Max Schrems, of the website and campaign Europe v Facebook, noticed striking similarities between proposed amendments and lobby papers written by representatives of Amazon, eBay, the American Chamber of Commerce and the European Banking Federation.

Half of firms suffering from cloudphobia – survey

Snoopers (sic) Paradise (Photo credit: the justified sinner)

Fear of governments snooping deters companies from using the cloud

ECM Plus +++ Almost half of IT experts are deterred from keeping sensitive data in the cloud because of fear of government intervention and possible legal action, according to a new survey from Lieberman Software which was released today.

Massive 65% rise in data centre power consumption – survey

Power requirements surging across globalised data centres – survey

Exponential gigawatts more energy being siphoned into globalised corporate data centres

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ In a sharp rise in expected power consumption by data centres used for cloud computing as a result of globalisation of the IT and corporatist sectors, research firm DCD Intelligence has just taken the wrsps off stark findings from its DatacenterDynamics 2012 Global Census report.

Hearing to probe cellular data legal status

A cell phone tower in Palatine, Illinois, USA.

Foundation fights for cellular phone users’ privacy in Tuesday hearing

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The Electronic Frontier Foundation will urge a federal appeals court on Tuesday to recognize cellular phone users’ privacy rights and require that the government obtain a warrant before collecting cell phone location information.

According to the Foundation, the oral argument is set for 9 a.m. on October 2nd in New Orleans.

At issue in Tuesday’s hearing are government requests for judicial orders authorizing the disclosure of 60 days of location data from two separate cell phone companies as part of a routine law enforcement investigation.

Foundation sues over email and phone hacking allegations

Electronic Frontier Foundation

EFF says government ‘withholding information’ about ‘unconstitutional spying’

Washington, D.C. – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the Department of Justice (DOJ) today, demanding answers about illegal email and telephone call surveillance at the National Security Agency (NSA).

Location data takes centre stage in legal case

U.S. Supreme Court building.

Government faces new warrantless surveillance battle after losing landmark GPS tracking case as defendant pushes to exclude cell phone location data obtained without a warrant

A federal district court is poised to determine whether the government can use cell phone data obtained without a warrant to establish an individual’s location.

In an amicus brief filed last Monday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) argue that this form of surveillance is just as unconstitutional as the warrantless GPS tracking the U.S. Supreme Court already shot down in this case.

Judicial hearing in Megaupload user data case

Former federal judge Abraham Sofaer joins with EFF in fight for return of property

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The Electronic Frontier Foundation, ssisted by retired federal judge and former State Department legal adviser Abraham D. Sofaer, asked a federal judge Friday to order the return of data to Kyle Goodwin, a Megaupload user who lost all access to his files when the cloud storage service was shut down by the U.S. government.

Judges find Feds’ GPS surveillance breaches Fourth Amendment

Supreme Court finds against Feds

Unanimous Supreme Court ensures Americans have protections from GPS surveillance – EFF amicus brief argued that government installation and use of GPS is a search

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has confirmed that Americans have constitutional protections against GPS surveillance by law enforcement, holding in U.S. v. Jones that GPS tracking is a “search” under the Fourth Amendment.

REVIEW: Verbatim Executive 500GB USB3.0 External HDD

Portable drive with encrpytion, backup and power saving functionality

By PAUL QUIGLEY

ECM Plus +++ With the rise and rise of private cloud, NAS boxes and SSD portable media, the role of localised storage will always be as important if not more so than entrusting one’s priceless personal data to the vagaries of a remote public cloud, where one’s data may be lost, deleted, or simply vanish forever as happened to Flickr in recent times.

EFF proffers free guidance tips on good cellphone data management

A picture's worth a thousand words. Image: Rob Boudon

 

ECM Plus +++ The Electronic Frontier Foundation has just published a most interesting document on its web site called “Cell phone guide for Wall St protestors and Everyone Else’, which details guidelines to cellular phone users out and about on good governance of their handset’s valuable, personal data when out and about on the streets, with some useful tips on what to do and how to manage the data in cell phones and how to make sure the data is protected and backed up.

Senators call for privacy law update

Senator Wyden supporting privacy campaign

Senators Wyden and Kirk join EFF for conference and ‘Retro Tech’ fair

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ On October 18, US Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) will jointly call for updating U.S. privacy law to keep pace with 21st century technology.

The conference comes the same week as the 25th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the main federal law setting standards for government surveillance of digital technologies.

ECPA – signed at a time when mobile phones were the size of bricks and the World Wide Web didn’t even exist – is woefully outdated, putting Americans’ privacy at risk as technology continues to advance.

Inventor pioneer joins fight against GPS tracking

GPS tracking abuse challenged in court

Coalition urges U.S. Supreme Court to block government abuse of surveillance technology

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The principal inventor of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and other leading technologists have joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in urging the U.S Supreme Court to block the government from using GPS tracking without first getting a warrant, arguing that the massive collection of sensitive location data should require court oversight.

New document scanning node opens in Stafford, England

Iron Mountain facility in Staffordshire, England.

Iron Mountain unveils Europe’s largest document scanning and indexing centres

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ Iron Mountain has just opened one of Europe’s largest document scanning and indexing centres for organisations to manage information in the face of what it calls “increasingly stringent national and EU regulation”.

UPDATE: Coincidence – Mobile phone CEO quits on same day Met chiefs exit

Mobile phone CEO quits

According to an article in Mobile Today, the Franco-German Uk subsidiary Orange/T-Mobile’s (branded as ‘Everything Everywhere since last year) former Virgin Mobile boss Tom Alexander has quit citing ‘personal reasons’.

COMMENT: When will accountability be front and centre?

Accountability: Systemic flaws need real independent oversight. Image: srqpix

Shameful News Corp. fiasco plumbs depths of disgusting depravity of institutions

BY PAUL QUIGLEY

ECM Plus +++ As the News Corp woes further unfold, it starts to call into question the whole systemic root of generic institutional accountability where conflict of interests issues are no longer allowed to be smokescreens to stop accountability and compliance being overhauled and independently monitored – true segregation of duties in governance terminology.

WEEKEND PLUS: News Corp woes shadow real issues

Eavesdropping of voicemails should never have been technically possible in the first place. Image: Joe Howell

Infatuation with celebs and politicians clouds issue of weak data protection laws and further telecoms oversight by independent accountability councils of citizens

BY PAUL QUIGLEY

Truth is the first victim of war.

The disgusting charade that has been paraded this last week or so over the News Corporations’ alleged invasion of people privacy’s tends to mask the real problem. That is, how could this loophole of privacy invasion has been possible in the first place?

Insecure voicemail systems and processes.

And who is it who hosts these systems of privacy invasion?

Encrypted password court case puts Fifth to the test

Content encryption comes to the fore in test case

Foundation urges court to uphold privilege against self-incrimination

The Electronic Frontier Foundation urged a federal court in Colorado to block the government’s attempt to force a woman to enter a password into an encrypted laptop, arguing in an amicus brief that it would violate her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Digital rights guide to protect computers and mobile devices published

Digital rights take centre stage in new publication

New ‘Know Your Digital Rights’ guide to constitutional liberties

By ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

EFF +++ The Electronic Frontier Foundation has answers to these questions in our new “Know Your Digital Rights” guide, including easy-to-understand tips on interacting with police officers and other law enforcement officials.

“With smart phones, tablet computers, and laptops, we carry around with us an unprecedented amount of sensitive personal information,” said EFF Staff Attorney Hanni Fakhoury. “That smart phone in your pocket right now could contain email from your doctor or your kid’s teacher, not to mention detailed contact information for all of your friends and family members. Your laptop probably holds even more data — your Internet browsing history, family photo albums, and maybe even things like an electronic copy of your taxes or your employment agreement. This is sensitive data that’s worth protecting from prying eyes.”

Document management helps detect jobsworth jiggery-pokery

The Enemy Within? Public sector jobsworth internal fraud increasing. (Image by Eleventh Earl of Mar via Flickr)

Preventing rising public sector employee ‘jobsworth’ fraud tackled by document management, says document management vendor Version One

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ Reported cases of internal fraud are increasing following spending review cuts, according to dcument magement software vendor Version One.

The company said it was now urging public sector departments, agencies and quangos to invest in its electronic document imaging and cheque printing software, to combat rising levels of so-called ‘jobsworth terrorists’ or ‘jobsworth-jacking’ – public sector employee fraudsters.

Facebook finished: Fad fading as developed market numbers begin descent

All over bar the tweeting? Image: kevindean

Usage already falling in Britain and United States as privacy fears weigh

By ROBBIE NEWKET

ECM Plus +++ Official figures show that new subscribers to Facebook are already on the decline in Britain, the USA, Russia, Norway and other developed nations with fears over privacy and concerns over business ethics taking their toll.

Skype hack: Breach could have been prevented – StarForce

US$8.5 billion VoIP service hacked

Hack could have been delayed or prevented says StarForce

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The recent high-profile hacking of Skype could have been prevented – or at least delayed – by better software protection, according to copy protection software specialist StarForce Technologies.

According to the company, Russian hacker Efin Bushmanov has cracked Skype’s protocol and data encryption mechanisms. Bushmanov has also made it publicly available for the public.

EFF launches campaign to protect privacy

Internet censorship around the world

Tor programme to support open internet and protect privacy

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The Electronic Frontier Foundation has just launched a new campaign to promote internet privacy. Dubbed as the ‘Tor Challenge’, the campaign is to encourage Internet users all over the world to support the Tor network by operating relays.

LATEST FEATURE: Compliance: A hybrid marital troika?

BY HOWARD SKLAR

Compliance is essential for all organisations, not least because of the financial penalties and reputational damage that come with non-compliance.

This, however, is easier said than done when many organisations have no idea that they are failing to comply.

This can often be the case with global companies where they may find they’re complying in one country but not in another, or across the whole.

Demands for Twitter information endanger privacy rights – EFF, ACLU

American Civil Liberties Union

ACLU and EFF appeal ruling in case challenging government attempt to obtain private datails

ECM Plus – The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union have appealed a ruling that the U.S. government can collect the private records of three Twitter users as part of its investigation related to WikiLeaks.