• Sep 29, 2018 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Call for wide-ranging GDPR investigation into online ads, which could kill today’s real-time bidding system

Privacy News Online recently wrote about how the widely-used real-time bidding (RTB) system for online ads causes personal data to be spread widely among potential advertisers. We noted that one key proposal of the ePrivacy regulation, currently working its way through the EU legislative process, is to make it easy for people to opt out … Continue reading “Call for wide-ranging GDPR investigation into online ads, which could kill today’s real-time bidding system”

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• Sep 22, 2018 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments,

Top court rules UK mass interception of fiber-optic cable traffic violates the right to privacy: a victory, but how big?

Five years have passed since Edward Snowden’s revelations about the scale of surveillance by the US and UK shocked the world. Things have gone rather quiet on that front now, partly because there have been few new releases of documents from the Snowden hoard. But in the background, many privacy groups have been quietly working … Continue reading “Top court rules UK mass interception of fiber-optic cable traffic violates the right to privacy: a victory, but how big?”

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• Sep 19, 2018 |
• Derek Zimmer |
• Copyright, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Articles 11 and 13 in the New EU Copyright Directive Enable More Surveillance

Privacy activists were caught off guard last week when the EU passed its controversial copyright legislation. The new law has far reaching consequences that technical experts and internet companies alike have strongly advised would damage EU businesses and change fundamentally how the Internet works. This article is intended to show you WHY these two directives … Continue reading “Articles 11 and 13 in the New EU Copyright Directive Enable More Surveillance”

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• Sep 8, 2018 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Surveillance,

How pervasive real-time bidding for online ads silently undermines your privacy

Most people have heard of Moore’s Law, which roughly means that computers have doubled in power every few years. One of the benefits of Moore’s Law is that it has put a supercomputer in everyone’s pocket, in the shape of a low-cost mobile phone. Less well known is the profound impact on online advertising it … Continue reading “How pervasive real-time bidding for online ads silently undermines your privacy”

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• Aug 25, 2018 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Beyond the GDPR: here comes the EU’s ePrivacy regulation – but not yet

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most important – and controversial – privacy law passed in recent years. Despite its origin in the EU, its reach is truly global, since it affects anyone storing the personal data of EU citizens, no matter where the organization is located. In part because of a flurry … Continue reading “Beyond the GDPR: here comes the EU’s ePrivacy regulation – but not yet”

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• Nov 22, 2017 |
• Glyn Moody |
• Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Surveillance,

The latest threat to your online privacy: exfiltration of personal data by website session-replay scripts

Last week, Privacy News Online reported on a worrying trend of increased surveillance in the workplace. This kind of spying includes capturing every keystroke workers make. The practice is regarded in many jurisdictions as acceptable because people are working on equipment provided by their employer, and use it to carry out tasks for the company … Continue reading “The latest threat to your online privacy: exfiltration of personal data by website session-replay scripts”

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• Nov 14, 2017 |
• David Meyer |
• Censorship, General Privacy News, Governments,

Get ready for a whole lot more site blocking in the EU, thanks to a new consumer protection law

European Union lawmakers have approved a new consumer protection regulation that, among other things, allows for the wholesale blocking of websites without the need for judicial authorization. The reasoning seems innocuous enough on the surface. More than a third of online shops and booking websites were found to be breaching EU consumer laws, when a … Continue reading “Get ready for a whole lot more site blocking in the EU, thanks to a new consumer protection law”

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• Nov 13, 2017 |
• Glyn Moody |
• Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Surveillance,

Welcome to the brave new world of workplace surveillance

Here on Privacy News Online, we write a lot about government surveillance and its impact on privacy. Sadly, constant spying has been normalized to such an extent that workplace surveillance is a thriving new business sector that startups and established companies are rushing to serve. For example, InterGuard promises “complete end-user auditing and control”, and … Continue reading “Welcome to the brave new world of workplace surveillance”

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• Nov 9, 2017 |
• Glyn Moody |
• Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments,

What the Sci-Hub saga and DNA testing services can teach us about privacy

Privacy News Online has just written about an “unprecedented” injunction granted by a US judge against the site Sci-Hub. The reach of that injunction is clearly deeply problematic for lots of reasons, and creates a very troubling precedent. But there’s an aspect of the story that merits further consideration, since it has broader implications for … Continue reading “What the Sci-Hub saga and DNA testing services can teach us about privacy”

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• Nov 6, 2017 |
• Glyn Moody |
• General Privacy News, Governments, Social Media, Surveillance,

US Senate hearing confirms Facebook is the perfect surveillance machine: what can we do about it?

Last week’s hearings before US lawmakers has provided us with new insights into the workings of companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter, and how they have been subverted by Russia to further its political aims. In his opening remarks, the Vice Chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Mark Warner, said that 120 Russian-backed pages on … Continue reading “US Senate hearing confirms Facebook is the perfect surveillance machine: what can we do about it?”

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