Facebook Threatens to Quit Ireland Over Data-Sharing Decision; China Unlikely to Approve TikTok-Oracle Deal; Amazon Plans Location-Tracking Mesh Network; Walmart Sets Drone-Delivery Program for COVID Test Kits. Click “Continue reading” below.
Continue reading “Daily Digest (9/23)”Month: September 2020
Minn. Hospital Patients, Donors Hit in State’s Second-Largest Data Breach; Hackers Leak Information on 1,000 Top Belarus Officers; US Judge Approves Delay on WH’s WeChat Ban; Google and Apple to Limit Third-Party Tracking for Advertising. Click “Continue reading” below.
Continue reading “Daily Digest (9/22)”
By Robert Bateman
Google faces a $2.5 billion class-action lawsuit in the U.K., over allegations that its YouTube video-sharing platform is “breaching millions of young peoples’ privacy and data rights.”
The case is on behalf of an estimated 5 million children under 13 across England and Wales, according to a Sept.14 news release from the case’s legal team.
If successful, it would be the first class-action lawsuit against a tech company in Europe.
Google, which acquired YouTube in 2006, is accused of violating U.K. law, which states that children under 13 are unable to consent to the collection of their personal information.
“They’re using this data to capture the attention of our children,” Duncan McCann, the representative claimant in the case, told Digital Privacy News.
He has three children aged 13 or under, and McCann said he was concerned about how Google used their personal information on YouTube.
Continue reading “Google Faces $2.5B Lawsuit Over YouTube and Children’s Data”SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dies at 87; US Judge Doesn’t Block WH Order Banning WeChat; German Patient Dies after Ransomware Attack Hits Hospital; Google Bans Stalkerware From Play Store. Click “Continue reading” below.
Continue reading “Daily Digest (9/21)”
Privacy Experts Alarmed at Oracle’s Role in Proposed TikTok Deal
By Charles McDermid
The impact of the White House’s decision to ban TikTok and WeChat that began Sunday remained unclear, but global privacy experts were alarmed that Oracle Corp. could still become the “trusted technology partner” of the Chinese owner of the two widely popular apps.
They told Digital Privacy News that the possible deal marked the start of a global era of data localization, as nations scrambled to keep citizens’ personal data within their own borders.
“It’s easier for a government to request data stored on its territory, provided that its laws authorize it,” said Emmanuel Pernot-Leplay, a researcher in data-protection law at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. “It’s much more difficult when it has to make a request for such data when they are stored abroad.
Continue reading “‘Trusted Technology Partner’?”
Online Voting Is Not Safe
By Patrick W. Dunne
With the concerns surrounding a U.S. Postal Service slowdown and voter suppression, discussions continue to grow about online voting for the 2020 election.
But many cybersecurity experts are skeptical, including Murat Kantarcioglu, a professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Kantarcioglu, who holds a doctorate in computer science from Perdue University, told Digital Privacy News that online voting lacked a meaningful method of self-auditing, which eroded trust in the system.
Continue reading “Q&A: University of Texas’ Murat Kantarcioglu”US Bans TikTok, WeChat From App Stores Beginning Sunday; WeChat ‘Ban’ Won’t Target Users, US Says; 100K Customer Records Exposed in Razer Data Leak; US Indicts 5 Members of APT41 Threat Group Over Hack. Click “Continue reading” below.
Continue reading “Daily Digest (9/18)”
By Joanne Cleaver
A home-based doggy boarding business nearly cost Dianna Sells her house.
Sells didn’t realize that her retirement business of taking in sedate older dogs for short periods violated the rules and regulations of the homeowners association (HOA) in which her house is situated in Round Rock, Texas.
After all, her yard is big, the geriatric dogs were quiet — and many of her clients were neighbors.
Then someone — Sells told Digital Privacy News she still doesn’t know who — complained to the association’s board.
Continue reading “Workers, Homeowner Associations Square Off Over Rules in Pandemic”FTC May File Antitrust Case Against Facebook; US Charges 7 in Broad Chinese Hacking Effort; Hackers Indicted for Vandalizing 51 Websites With Pro-Iranian Sentiments; Google Executive Under Fire by Lawmakers Over Advertising Practices. Click “Continue reading” below.
Continue reading “Daily Digest (9/17)”
Schools See Rise in Cyberthreats With Online Learning
By Samantha Cleaver
This fall, back to school means back on defense.
Schools in Haywood County, N.C., started remote learning last month. They then closed abruptly because of a cyberattack.
Later in the month, Palm Springs Unified Schools in California, also virtual, reported having to clear a hacking attack. The district addressed it with teacher, student and parent training.
This is the landscape for schools for the 2020-21 year. With networks branching out into households, and hackers well aware of the value of education data, phishing and ransomware attacks are expected to be a common occurrence, experts told Digital Privacy News.
Continue reading “Back to School, Back to Crime?”