Legal, Privacy & Security
17 June 2013
Archivists in France Fight a Privacy Initiative New York Times
As a European proposal to bolster digital privacy safeguards faces intense lobbying from Silicon Valley and other powerful groups in Brussels, an obscure but committed group has joined in the campaign to keep personal data flourishing online.
Scams cost Australians $93 million in 2012: ACCC ABC News
New figures show Australians reported losing more than $93 million to scams last year, and the consumer watchdog warns the figure may be just the tip of the iceberg.
16 June 2013
The NSA has us snared in its trap - and there's no way out The Observer
A boycott of Facebook, Microsoft, Google et al is easy to talk about, but almost impossible to achieve
After Profits, Defense Contractor Faces the Pitfalls of Cybersecurity New York Times
When the United Arab Emirates wanted to create its own version of the National Security Agency, it turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to replicate the world's largest and most powerful spy agency in the sands of Abu Dhabi.
14 June 2013
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom opens up about extradition fight ABC News
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has taken a swipe at New Zealand's prime minister, accusing him of trying to curry favour with Hollywood film executives by assisting in his extradition.
Twitter told to reveal details of racist users to French court BBC News
Twitter will have to reveal the names of France-based users posting anti-Semitic messages, after a Paris court refused to consider the firm's appeal.
13 June 2013
NSA chief says U.S. infrastructure highly vulnerable to cyber attack Reuters
U.S. critical infrastructure - which ranges from telecommunications to water to energy supplies - is not well prepared to handle a destructive cyber attack, the top U.S. general in charge of cybersecurity said on Wednesday.
Internet anonymity is the height of chic The Guardian
In this age of information overload, internet exhibitionism and NSA snooping, is it possible to make yourself unGoogleable? And does it earn you added credibility, as fashion designer Phoebe Philo and bands such as !!! suggest?
Privacy needs to be balanced with security: Australian privacy commissioner Computerworld
Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has defended the public's right to privacy, but warned that privacy was not "absolute" following revelations about a US surveillance program called PRISM.
11 June 2013
NSA surveillance: is it possible to exist online without casting a digital shadow? The Guardian
Consumers worried about their internet privacy in the wake of the online snooping revelations have the option of using some alternatives to the likes of Google and can try to use more secure forms of communication - if, that is, individuals believe maintaining their online security is worth it.
10 June 2013
Obama warns Xi that continued cybertheft would damage relations, U.S. officials said Washington Post
President Obama confronted Chinese President Xi Jinping here Saturday with specific evidence of China's widespread theft of intellectual property from U.S. companies and warned the newly minted Chinese leader that continued cybertheft would undermine economic ties between the rival nations, U.S. officials said.
U.S. Helps Allies Trying to Battle Iranian Hackers New York Times
The Obama administration has begun helping Middle Eastern allies build up their defenses against Iran's growing arsenal of cyberweapons, and will be doing the same in Asia to contain computer-network attacks from North Korea, according to senior American officials.
Data-Driven Tech Industry Is Shaken by Online Privacy Fears New York Times
The dreamers, brains and cranks who built the Internet hoped it would be a tool of liberation and knowledge. Last week, an altogether bleaker vision emerged with new revelations of how the United States government is using it as a monitoring and tracking device.
09 June 2013
Cybercrime: Admit nothing and deny everything - Barack Obama says he is ready to talk with Xi Jinping about Chinese cyber-attacks. That makes one of them The Economist
Xi Jinping's first meeting with President Obama as head of state on June 7th is also the first such summit to feature prominently the issue of alleged Chinese cyber-attacks on American companies and interests. It has taken a long time for the issue to take centre stage in diplomatic relations between the two countries. After years of ineffectual and perhaps overly discreet grumbling about Chinese hacking, American officials are finally forcing the issue.
Ponemon and Symantec Find Most Data Breaches Caused by Human and System Errors - Malicious and Criminal Attacks are the Most Costly Worldwide Symantec
Symantec Corp. and the Ponemon Institute today released the 2013 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis which reveals human errors and system problems caused two-thirds of data breaches in 2012 and pushed the global average to $136¹ per record . Issues included employee mishandling of confidential data, lack of system controls, and violations of industry and government regulations. Heavily regulated fields including healthcare, finance and pharmaceutical incurred breach costs 70 percent higher than other industries.
IC3 2012 Internet Crime Report Released: More Than 280,000 Complaints of Online Criminal Activity Reported in 2012 Internet Crime Complaint Center
Today the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released the 2012 Internet Crime Report -- a summary of reported fraudulent activity, including data and statistics. In 2012, the IC3 received and processed 289,874 complaints, averaging more than 24,000 complaints per month. Unverified losses reported to IC3 rose 8.3 percent over the previous year.
Cyber Criminals Using Photo-Sharing Programs to Compromise Computers Internet Crime Complaint Center
The FBI has seen an increase in cyber criminals who use online photo-sharing programs to perpetrate scams and harm victims' computers. These criminals advertise vehicles online but will not provide pictures in the advertisement. They will send photos on request. Sometimes the photo is a single file sent as an e-mail attachment, and sometimes the victim receives a link to an online photo gallery.
08 June 2013
Google bans Glass at shareholder meeting The Independent
Privacy concerns regarding Google Glass have been heightened this week after the company first banned facial recognition for their hardware and then US casinos outlawed Glass over card-counting fears (that's without even mentioning Google banning pornography on the device).
U.S. lawmakers to introduce new bill to punish cyber theft Reuters
A day before Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the United States, three U.S. lawmakers plan to propose a new law that would punish hackers backed by China, Russia or other foreign governments for cyber spying and theft.
The A-list conspiracy: Did Hollywood tell Obama to take down internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom? The Independent
Featuring helicopters and scores of armed police, the dramatic, night-time raid on the remote luxury mansion of a larger-than-life comic book villain in January last year had all the trappings of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Google allows ads for illegal drugs, US state AG says USA Today
Google still is allowing ads for illegal online pharmacies that sell dangerous or counterfeit drugs without a prescription, Mississippi state Attorney General Jim Hood charged Thursday.
07 June 2013
Europe Continues Wrestling With Online Privacy Rules New York Times
More than a year ago, the European Union's top justice official proposed a tough set of measures for protecting the privacy of personal data online.
Reports on U.S. surveillance of Americans fuel debate over privacy, security Reuters
The debate over whether the U.S. government is violating citizens' privacy rights while trying to protect them from terrorism escalated dramatically on Thursday amid reports that authorities have collected data on millions of phone users and tapped into servers at nine internet companies.
06 June 2013
FBI and Microsoft take down criminal botnet Financial Times
A vast criminal network of hijacked computers responsible for more than $500m in bank fraud has been taken offline by an assault involving Microsoft and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
05 June 2013
Obama Orders Regulators to Root Out 'Patent Trolls' New York Times
One company threatened to sue 8,000 coffee shops, hotels and retailers for patent infringement because they had set up Wi-Fi networks for their customers. Another claimed that hundreds of small businesses were violating its patents by attaching a document scanner to an office computer system. One claimed rights to royalties from anyone producing a podcast.
