Category: News

General news and updates about Privacy Online and Private Internet Access VPN Service.
  • Oct 4, 2017 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • Governments, News, Privacy,

UK privacy laws may allow 230 million Americans to demand personality profiles created by Trump’s big data ally

Earlier this week, Facebook released a statement about ads it carried which had been paid for by Russian sources. It now says that around ten million people in the US saw the ads, and that 44% of total ad impressions were before the 2016 US election. Strikingly, for 50% of the ads less than $3 … Continue reading “UK privacy laws may allow 230 million Americans to demand personality profiles created by Trump’s big data ally”

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Big Canadian ISP is actually asking the Canadian Government for Internet censorship

Bell Canada, one of Canada’s major ISPs, is requesting the Canadian government to create a governmental censorship regime, blacklisting resources that Canadians shall not be reading. According to Bell Canada, this is necessary to “prevent people from leaving regulated television and turning to piracy instead”. It is not explained how leaving the regulated TV system, … Continue reading “Big Canadian ISP is actually asking the Canadian Government for Internet censorship”

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The UK home secretary still doesn’t know how encryption works, and she’s not ashamed

Railing against the use of encryption by criminals has always been an exercise in futility, but it’s a great way to sound tough. What better way to assert your power as a law-enforcer than by demanding the impossible? The problem is, there’s a line between swagger and overt foolishness, and for some reason politicians are … Continue reading “The UK home secretary still doesn’t know how encryption works, and she’s not ashamed”

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  • Oct 2, 2017 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • Governments, News, Privacy,

EU is losing its patience with the US government over its failure to implement properly the Privacy Shield deal

Last week, the European Commission announced new guidelines to tackle illegal content inciting hatred, violence and terrorism online. Central to its new framework is expecting “online platforms” – Internet companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter – to take a more pro-active role: “The Communication invites online platforms step up their efforts to remove illegal content … Continue reading “EU is losing its patience with the US government over its failure to implement properly the Privacy Shield deal”

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  • Sep 29, 2017 |
  • David Meyer |
  • Governments, Networking, News,

UN experts are worried about the Catalan referendum online crackdown

Catalonia is set to have an independence vote this coming Sunday and the Spanish authorities, who say the referendum is unconstitutional, are furious — to the extent that they arrested the Catalan junior economy minister, are trying to prosecute referendum officials, and have raided printing operations and newspaper offices in an attempt to make the … Continue reading “UN experts are worried about the Catalan referendum online crackdown”

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  • Sep 27, 2017 |
  • Caleb Chen |
  • Governments, News, Privacy,

South Korea considers blocking Tumblr

Korea has threatened to block Tumblr should the site not cooperate with the South Korean government to censor pornographic content. The Korean government’s position was revealed during a briefing held earlier today in Seoul. The vice chairman of the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), Heo Wook, said that blocking access to the site in South … Continue reading “South Korea considers blocking Tumblr”

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  • Sep 27, 2017 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • Governments, News, Privacy, Security,

Stunning: Taser wants to turn the public and their smartphones into its big data posse of police informants

Last month we wrote about the increasing application of big data analysis by police forces, often using software from the shadowy outfit Palantir. But it’s by no means the only company that sees this as a huge growth market: another is Axon. If that name is unfamiliar, that’s because it’s the new, rather anonymous branding … Continue reading “Stunning: Taser wants to turn the public and their smartphones into its big data posse of police informants”

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  • Sep 21, 2017 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • News, Privacy, Programming, Security,

Opening the black boxes: algorithmic bias and the need for accountability

Here on Privacy News Online we’ve written a number of stories about the privacy implications of DNA. There’s an important case going through the Californian courts at the moment that involves DNA and privacy, but whose ramifications go far beyond those issues: “In this case, a defendant was linked to a series of rapes by … Continue reading “Opening the black boxes: algorithmic bias and the need for accountability”

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With the World Wide Web Consortium captured by the copyright industry, who will step up to lead web development next?

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which used to develop standards for the Web, has been captured by the copyright industry. In a doubly controversial vote, the W3C decided that media companies and not the user should be in control, ending their longstanding commitment to openness and the Internet’s core values. The open question is … Continue reading “With the World Wide Web Consortium captured by the copyright industry, who will step up to lead web development next?”

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I Have Nothing to Hide – Really? Here’s why privacy matters to all of us

The statement “I have nothing to hide” is very popular. But recently reversing this statement has also become very popular: “Give me your bank account login, your email login, your Facebook login.” Most people refuse this instantly, and for a good reason: Everybody has something to hide. To convince everybody – once and for all … Continue reading “I Have Nothing to Hide – Really? Here’s why privacy matters to all of us”

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