President Barack Obama's administration won't support legislation to force device makers to help law enforcement agencies defeat encryption, according to a news report.
Two senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have been floating draft legislation to require device makers and other tech companies to provide workarounds for encryption and other security features, but the White House won't offer public support for the proposal, according to a report from Reuters.
FBI Director James Comey has long pushed for encryption workarounds, and just last month, Obama called for tech companies and the government to work together to allow police access to suspects' smartphones protected by encryption.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
President Barack Obama's administration won't support legislation to force device makers to help law enforcement agencies defeat encryption, according to a news report.
Two senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have been floating draft legislation to require device makers and other tech companies to provide workarounds for encryption and other security features, but the White House won't offer public support for the proposal, according to a report from Reuters.
FBI Director James Comey has long pushed for encryption workarounds, and just last month, Obama called for tech companies and the government to work together to allow police access to suspects' smartphones protected by encryption.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A data breach at Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca is being touted as the largest ever, at least in terms of the sheer volume of information leaked.
The leaked information allegedly details the ways dozens of high-ranking politicians, their relatives or close associates in more than 40 countries, including the U.K., France, Russia, China, and India, have used offshore companies to hide income and avoid paying taxes. Starting on Sunday, more than 100 news organizations filed reports based on the leaked information.
The numbers: The leaks reportedly cover 11.5 million confidential documents dating from the 1970s through late 2015. The 2.6 terabytes of leaked data include 4.8 million emails, 3 million database format files, 2.2 million PDFs, 1.1 million images, and 320,000 text documents.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has taken a major step toward new regulations requiring ISPs to get customer permission before using or sharing their Web-surfing history and other personal information.The FCC voted 3-2 Thursday to approve a notice of proposed rule-making, or NPRM, the first step toward passing new regulations, over the objections of the commission's two Republicans.The proposed rules, which will now be released for public comment, require ISPs to get opt-in permission from customers if they want to use their personal information for most reasons besides marketing their own products.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
U.S. government agencies have filed more than 70 orders requiring Apple or Google to help law enforcement agencies unlock mobile devices since 2008, despite the agency insisting its fight with Apple in a recent terrorism case was limited in scope.The Department of Justice dropped its California case against Apple after the FBI found a way to break into one of the San Bernardino shooters' iPhone without assistance.But the American Civil Liberties Union has identified 64 cases where representatives of the DOJ have filed All Writs Act orders seeking assistance from Apple or Google to unlock mobile devices. The ACLU's numbers are on top of 12 cases identified by Apple lawyer Marc Zwillinger in mid-February, the group said. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Internet service providers are picking "winners and losers" in violation of U.S. net neutrality rules by selectively exempting Web traffic from their monthly data caps, according to a coalition of more than 50 advocacy groups.The Federal Communications Commission should stop ISPs from exempting selected Web traffic, known as offering zero-rating plans, and enforce its year-old net neutrality rules, the digital rights and consumer groups said in a letter to the agency Monday.INSIDER: 5 tricks to improve poor TCP performance
Zero-rating plans "present a serious threat" to the open Internet, the letter said. "They distort competition, thwart innovation, threaten free speech, and restrict consumer choice."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Weeks before the FBI sought a court order forcing Apple to help it break into an iPhone used by one of the the San Bernardino gunmen, a sister agency in the Department of Justice was already using an Israeli security firm's technology to attempt to crack a similar device.The FBI and the DOJ have repeatedly insisted that they had no other option but to force Apple to help them crack an iPhone used by the gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, at least until an outside party offered assistance earlier this week.“We have engaged all parts of the U.S. government” to find a way to access the device without Apple’s help, FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers in early March. “If we could have done this quietly and privately, we would have done it.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Web users face an even greater threat to their privacy as large ISPs align themselves more closely with data brokers to track their customers, an advocacy group said.Several large ISPs have either formed partnerships with, or acquired, data tracking and analytics firms in recent years, giving them a "vast storehouse of consumer data," according to a report Wednesday from the Center for Digital Democracy."ISPs have been on a shopping spree to help build their data-targeting system across devices and platforms," the report says. "Superfast computers analyze our information ... to decide in milliseconds whether to target us for marketing and more."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Don't expect the U.S. government to back off its push for technology vendors to build encryption workarounds into their products, even though the FBI acknowledged it may have a way to crack into an iPhone used in the San Bernardino, California, mass shooting case.Some lawmakers and President Barack Obama's administration will continue to look for ways to compel tech vendors to help law enforcement agencies defeat encryption and other security controls on smartphones and other devices, security and legal experts said.Even if the FBI can break into the iPhone used by San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, it doesn't significantly change the larger discussion about encryption, said Ed Black, president and CEO of trade group the Computer and Communications Industry Association. "There is an ongoing effort by our government and every government around the world ... to want more information."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple and the U.S. Department of Justice will argue in court Tuesday about whether a judge should require the tech giant help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by the San Bernardino, California, mass shooter.The hearing, before Magistrate Judge Sher Pym of U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is the end result of weeks of court filings, media coverage, and often contentious debate. The case has pitted advocates of encryption and other security measures on electronic devices against law enforcement agencies trying to fight crime and terrorism.Here are five things to remember about the hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. PDT in California.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has sent warning letters to 12 smartphone app developers for allegedly compromising users' privacy by packaging audio monitoring software into their products.The software, from an Indian company called SilverPush, allows apps to use the smartphone's microphone to listen to nearby television audio in an effort to deliver more targeted advertisements. SilverPush allows the apps to surreptitiously monitor the television viewing habits of people who downloaded apps with the software included, the FTC said Thursday."This functionality is designed to run silently in the background, even while the user is not actively using the application," the agency said in its letter to the app developers. "Using this technology, SilverPush could generate a detailed log of the television content viewed while a user’s mobile phone was turned on."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Digital rights group Fight for the Future is hoping to give voice to ordinary people concerned with the FBI's attempt to force Apple to help it unlock the iPhone used by a mass shooter.Fight for the Future's new Save Security campaign, launched Wednesday, will collect comments from people worried about the Internet security implications of the FBI's court request. Organizers will display the comments and read them aloud outside a California courthouse before a hearing in the case next Tuesday."We're actually trying to give a voice to people all over the world who are extremely concerned about this," said Evan Greer, campaign director for the group. Fight for the Future is trying to "bring those voices into the conversation so that it's not just a fight between a giant company and the government," Greer added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Broadband providers would often be required to get customer permission to use and share personal data they collect under regulations proposed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
Broadband providers have an unrivaled ability to track customers and collect personal data, and there currently are no specific rules covering broadband providers and customer privacy, FCC officials said Thursday.
The goal of the rules is to give broadband customers notice, choice and control over their personal data, FCC officials said during a press briefing.
"Your ISP handles all of your network traffic," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote in the Huffington Post. "That means it has a broad view of all of your unencrypted online activity -- when you are online, the websites you visit, and the apps you use."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Some Internet service providers are building powerful tools to track customers, and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission needs to step in, privacy advocates say.Some privacy advocates are calling on the FCC to create new regulations that limit how ISPs can track their customers across the Internet. The agency could release a proposal for ISP privacy rules as soon as this month, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said last week.Some ISPs are deploying "invasive and ubiquitous" tracking practices as a way to deliver targeted advertising to customers, 12 privacy groups said in a letter to the FCC this week. In recent years, large ISPs like Comcast and Verizon have entered into advertising partnerships or launched their own advertising services that take advantage of ISP customer data, the letter said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Verizon Wireless, in a settlement over its use of so-called supercookies to track mobile customers, will notify them about its targeted advertising practices and will obtain their permission before sharing personal identifiers with third parties.The company, in its settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, will also seek customer permission before internally sharing information gleaned by tracking its mobile customers using undeletable supercookies, the agency said Monday. The company will also pay a US$1.35 million fine for its use of the unique identifier headers, called UIDH or supercookies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Law enforcement groups and family members of victims of December's San Bernardino mass shooting have backed the FBI and opposed Apple in the court fight over an iPhone used by one of the shooters.Family members of the shooting victims "seek to remind all parties of the terrible crime -- an act of terrorism -- the United States must investigate to its fullest," wrote lawyers for family members of five victims and one witness to the shooting. "Ultimately, this is a situation where no stone can be left unturned."Much of the debate over the FBI's demands of Apple assistance has focused on the "potentially global ramifications" of Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym's Feb. 16 order requiring Apple to comply, but there's a law enforcement investigation to consider, the lawyers added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The next time you see a billboard on the side of the road, it may also be scanning you.A geolocation-tracking feature on billboards owned by Clear Channel Outdoor gives the company new ways to target advertising and measure its effectiveness. The service has caught the eye of privacy advocates, who worry that the so-called Radar tracker will be able to collect massive amounts of information from smartphones in cars driving past.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Just in case its motion to vacate wasn't enough, Apple late Tuesday filed an appeal of a California judge's order requiring it to help the FBI defeat the password protection on the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino mass shooters.Apple's lawyers filed the appeal "in an abundance of caution," to cover the possibility that an appeal is the most appropriate way to oppose Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym's Feb. 16 order, they said in a court filing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The FBI might be able to copy the hard drive of an iPhone used by a mass shooter without triggering the device's auto-erase functions, thus eliminating the agency's need to take Apple to court, a company executive said Tuesday.Instead of forcing Apple to help defeat the iPhone password security that erases the device's contents after 10 unsuccessful attempts, it may be possible to make hundreds of copies of the hard drive, said Bruce Sewell, Apple's senior vice president and general counsel.Apple doesn't know the condition of the iPhone used by San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, so it's unclear if mirroring the hard drive would work, but it's possible, Sewell said during a congressional hearing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple has raised some interesting, and potentially winning, legal arguments in its motion to overturn a judge’s order requiring the company to help the FBI unlock the iPhone of a mass shooter.The FBI's request for Apple to write new software to defeat password protections on the phone violates the company’s free speech and due process rights, Apple argued Thursday in its motion to vacate Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym’s Feb.16 order.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Grant Gross