Is the GDPR failing? If it is, how can it be saved?
The coronavirus pandemic rightly dominates the headlines, including those of the privacy world, but in the background, life goes on. For example, companies operating in the EU are still subject…
Governments
UK government plans to let more agencies access internet connection records with Investigatory Powers Act expansion
The Investigatory Powers Act was passed in 2016 and mandated that internet service providers and mobile data providers in the UK store internet connection records for twelve months. Internet connection…
What’s the best approach for building Bluetooth-based tracing apps as a way out of the pandemic lockdowns?
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, governments around the world are desperately trying to find a way to ease current lockdowns without triggering massive new waves of infection by Covid-19. There…
Open source, open science: the coronavirus crisis is when openness comes into its own
Open source figures frequently on this blog. That's in part because Private Internet Access is a long-time supporter of free software, and is in the process of open-sourcing its own…
OK Zoomer: avoiding a privacy disaster in the post-coronavirus world
It would be an understatement to say that Covid-19 has affected practically every aspect of our lives, given the scale of the transformation. Its impact on privacy, too, is evident.…
China’s “New IP” proposal to replace TCP/IP has a built in “shut up command” for censorship
The Chinese government and the Chinese telecommunications companies such as Huawei under its control are proposing a “New IP” addressing system for the internet to replace TCP/IP. The New IP…
How can we protect privacy during a crisis like Covid-19, when “health surveillance” is on the rise around the world?
A couple of weeks ago, this blog looked at the use of smartphones to track people so that contact tracing can be carried out to slow the spread of Covid-19.…
Telecoms across Europe are sharing phone location data with governments as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic
A telecommunications lobbying group, the GSMA, has confirmed that several telecom companies in Europe are providing mobile phone location data with the European Union as a way to track the…
Taiwan is using a phone location “electronic fence” to help police track quarantined individuals
The government in Taiwan has rolled out an “electronic fence” to keep quarantined individuals in their homes. The “electronic fence” uses mobile phone data to notify police if the cell…
Coronavirus delays the passage of the world’s most important new privacy law
For obvious and justified reasons, the coronavirus pandemic dominates the news currently. One of the latest developments is that India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has put his entire country on…
Poland’s COVID-19 “selfie app” raises privacy questions – will everyone eventually be tracked?
People in Poland under a mandatory 14-day quarantine have an interesting way to prove that they are following the quarantine. Usually, such mandatory quarantines are checked on by local authorities…
Toronto, Canada is now using phone location data to track if people are congregating
This past Monday, Toronto Mayor Tory announced at a virtual TechTO meetup that the government has been receiving location data from wireless carriers and telecommunication companies in the area to…
Activists in Minecraft made a digital library to bypass government censorship
Media freedom activists have built a 125 million block library in a Minecraft map called the “Uncensored Library” which contains a world’s worth of information and is available to read…
Jordan uses internet throttling instead of internet shutdowns and blocks to censor websites
Internet blocking by governments is evolving at a fast pace, and new research shows that one government in particular, Jordan, has decided to start internet throttling instead of blocking to…
As Covid-19 spreads around the globe, so does the idea of using smartphones to track everyone to help contact tracing
It seems extraordinary that it was only a month ago that this blog wrote about the new coronavirus, also called Covid-19. At that time, it was not yet clear whether…