Online privacy
World Leaders at Davos Call for Global Rules on Tech
Leaders of Japan, South Africa, China and Germany issued a series of calls for global oversight of the tech sector, in a clear signal of growing international interest in seizing greater regulatory supervision of an industry led by the United States. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said his country would use its chairmanship of the Group of 20 nations to push forward a new international system for the oversight of how data is used.
Data Broker That Sold Phone Locations Used by Bounty Hunters Lobbied FCC to Scrap User Consent
Earlier in Jan it was reported how T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint were selling cell phone users’ location data that ultimately ended up in the hands of bounty hunters and people unauthorized to handle it. That data trickled down from the telecommunications giants through a complex network of middlemen and data brokers. One of those third parties was Zumigo, a company that gets location data access directly from the telecom companies and then sells it for a profit.
Chinese hackers stealing technology from U.S. companies, Russian trolls interfering in our elections, U.S. tech leaders hauled before Congress to explain some new data breach or misuse of personal information – hardly a week goes by without Americans being bombarded with new revelations about assaults on our privacy.
As a new year and a new Congress begin, it's critical that we promote online privacy as a bipartisan priority that needs timely action.
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: Shoshana Zuboff’s new book is a chilling exposé of the business model that underpins the digital world
A Q&A with Shoshana Zuboff, author of "The Age of Surveillance Capital".
Privacy Groups Propose New Government Data Protection Agency
Privacy groups are calling for the creation of a new Data Protection Agency to focus on privacy protection and replace the Federal Trade Commission in that role, which lacks rulemaking authority and which, they argue, has failed to exercise the enforcement authority it has in that space.
House Commerce GOP Leaders Probe Wireless Carriers and Third Parties Over Location Sharing Practices
Republican leaders of the House Commerce Committee and Subcommittees sent letters requesting information from six companies about the sale and misuse of cell phone geolocation data. The letters were sent to Zumingo, Microbilt, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. The letters seek to increase transparency surrounding how US wireless carriers and third parties are accessing, transferring, storing, and securing customer location information.
Public Knowledge Demands FTC, FCC Get Off Privacy Sidelines and Enforce Existing Law
Jan 15, reports surfaced that Voipo, a California voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) provider, exposed millions of consumer call logs and text messages stored on an “improperly secured” ElasticSearch database for several months before security researcher Justin Paine located them. Public Knowledge demands that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai enforce existing Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) rules that protect the privacy of information related to telephone calls.
Facebook Algorithms and Personal Data
How well do Americans understand algorithm-driven classification systems, and how much do they think their lives line up with what gets reported about them?
Investors urge companies to use Ranking Digital Rights’ Index to improve their respect for users’ digital rights
A group of investors has endorsed the Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) Corporate Accountability Index as an important tool for helping tech companies meet their human rights responsibilities and for helping investors identify digital rights risks.
Rifts Risk Democrats' Privacy Plans
House Democrats want to use the coming months to execute a bold tech agenda ahead of the 2020 presidential election, but they may need to make peace with each other first. While Democrats insist they bring a unified front to the issue of online privacy, they're kicking off this year with a clash between Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a thought leader on privacy issues, and House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), who's committee is responsible for shepherding any such legislation. “If Democrats can’t agree with each other, how can they come to a single position with the Republicans?"