Category: News

General news and updates about Privacy Online and Private Internet Access VPN Service.

Colombian researcher cleared of prison-term criminal charges for sharing one academic paper online




Three years ago, Colombian researcher Diego Gomez was charged with copyright infringement for uploading one (1) academic paper to Scribd, and was facing four to eight years in prison for the allegedly heinous act of sharing knowledge. This week, the Colombian court acquitted him of all charges. The Right-to-Research Coalition celebrates the ruling, and says … Continue reading “Colombian researcher cleared of prison-term criminal charges for sharing one academic paper online”

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Google now also tracks and collects your OFFLINE credit card purchases




A little-noticed article in the Consumerist dropped a bombshell: Google is now deliberately tracking your offline activity, your credit card purchases, in order to feed information back to advertisers about what ads had an effect on you – not just at the individual level, but even at the device level. It’s been said, that an … Continue reading “Google now also tracks and collects your OFFLINE credit card purchases”

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  • May 25, 2017 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • Governments, News, Privacy,

Aadhaar: India’s billion-person biometric database is the world’s biggest privacy experiment




The use of social security numbers and biometric databases is not unusual these days, but there’s nothing else on the scale of what India is doing in this field. Its Aadhaar system – the name means ‘foundation’ in Hindi – aims to provide everyone in India with a randomly-generated, unique 12-digit number associated with their … Continue reading “Aadhaar: India’s billion-person biometric database is the world’s biggest privacy experiment”

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  • May 25, 2017 |
  • Caleb Chen |
  • Governments, News, Privacy,

Illinois Right to Know Act will protect the private information that internet companies collect on you




The Right to Know Act in Illinois is a proposed state level internet privacy law that would protect private information online – no matter the type of company it is stored with. Shortly after President Trump signed S.J.Res. 34 and ended federal rules protecting internet privacy, Illinois politicians reacted, introducing bills collectively known as the Right … Continue reading “Illinois Right to Know Act will protect the private information that internet companies collect on you”

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  • May 24, 2017 |
  • Caleb Chen |
  • Governments, Net Neutrality, News,

Comcast is trying to censor a FFTF website that supports net neutrality




Comcast has sent a formal cease and desist letter to Fight for the Future (FFTF) demanding control of its pro-net neutrality website, comcastroturf.com. FFTF set up comcastroturf.com to allow people, real Americans, to check the millions of FCC comments to see if their name has been used to submit a fake comment to the FCC about … Continue reading “Comcast is trying to censor a FFTF website that supports net neutrality”

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New bipartisan bill will permanently end warrantless collection of American emails by the NSA




A new bill currently with the House of Representatives will permanently forbid the US government from illegally collecting and searching Americans’ private emails. The two House Representative that presented this bill are Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Representative Scott Perry (R-PA) – both members of the Fourth Amendment Caucus and co-chairs of the Post 9/11 Veterans … Continue reading “New bipartisan bill will permanently end warrantless collection of American emails by the NSA”

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  • May 22, 2017 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • Governments, News, Privacy,

Detailed medical records of 61 million Italian citizens to be given to IBM for its “cognitive computing” system Watson




Last year, Italy’s prime minister at the time, Matteo Renzi, announced that IBM would invest $150 million dollars building a new research center in Milan for its Watson Health division, which applies “cognitive computing” techniques to healthcare. As usual, much was made of what was presented as a big win for Italy and its citizens, … Continue reading “Detailed medical records of 61 million Italian citizens to be given to IBM for its “cognitive computing” system Watson”

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  • May 21, 2017 |
  • Caleb Chen |
  • Governments, News, Privacy,

New Jersey is latest state to introduce internet privacy bill to protect your personally identifiable information




A New Jersey Democrat has submitted a new internet privacy bill (A-4800) to the New Jersey Assembly that would bring strong broadband privacy protections to the state. According to MediaPost, New Jersey Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker of Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset introduced the legislation with input from former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) technologist Ed Felten. Zwicker … Continue reading “New Jersey is latest state to introduce internet privacy bill to protect your personally identifiable information”

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And now, under-the-skin RFID tags replace paper train tickets in Europe




The Swedish State Railways has decided to accept under-the-skin RFID tag implants for ticket purchases, arguing it enhances ticketless travel better than having your ticket in your mobile. Actually, they didn’t argue that at all. They just said “we’re digital” and “it works” as if that would justify the rest. Sweden is a European state … Continue reading “And now, under-the-skin RFID tags replace paper train tickets in Europe”

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  • May 19, 2017 |
  • Caleb Chen |
  • Governments, News, Privacy,

Theresa May outlines Tory plan to create new, censored Internet controlled by UK government




Yesterday, during her speech describing the current Tory Manifesto, Theresa May revealed that she plans to build a “new Internet,” over which the government has complete control. The goal in the Tory internet plan is to become “the global leader in the regulation of the use of personal data and the internet.” The manifesto states: Some people … Continue reading “Theresa May outlines Tory plan to create new, censored Internet controlled by UK government”

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