[ad_1] When police arrested a suspect named Joseph Sam in Washington state last year, an officer hit a button on the man’s phone to bring up its lock screen. Months later, an FBI agent turned the phone on to take a photograph of the lock screen, which contained evidence in the form of a contact, […]
Category: law
Canada fines Facebook almost $6.5 million over ‘false’ data privacy claims
[ad_1] In a statement to Reuters, Facebook said it “did not agree” with the finding, but wanted to resolve the matter quickly. “Although we do not agree with the Commissioner’s conclusions, we are resolving this matter by entering into a consent agreement and not contesting the conclusions for the purposes of this agreement,” a spokesperson […]
AG Barr seeks ‘legislative solution’ to make companies unlock phones
[ad_1] Last December, a Saudi Arabian cadet training with the US military opened fire at Naval Air Station Pensacola, killing three soldiers and wounding eight others. The FBI recovered two iPhones, and after failing to access their data, asked Apple to unlock them. The company refused, but eventually the FBI unlocked at least one of […]
France gives social media sites one hour to delete criminal content
[ad_1] The internet has no shortage of illegal media and verbiage. Social media companies do what they can to soften the blow, but unsavory (and downright criminal) images, videos and text inevitably break through. According to Reuters, France’s government has passed a strict law that will require companies like Facebook and Twitter to delete content […]
California sues Uber and Lyft for allegedly misclassifying drivers
[ad_1] The companies have promised to compensate drivers either infected by COVID-19 or quarantined by health officials out of precaution, but their strategies are exceptions that don’t cover separate health issues or other costs. They also don’t account for payroll taxes. A Lyft spokesperson told Engadget the company was “looking forward” to working with the […]
Supreme Court broadcasts oral arguments live for the first time
[ad_1] CNBC noted that this pioneering case is relatively unremarkable, revolving around a Booking.com attempt to trademark its name. There’s an incoming surge of higher-profile cases coming during this period, though, and the teleconferences might just shape perception of both the cases and the Supreme Court itself. As a general rule, the public only learns […]
Senate bill would set privacy requirements for COVID-19 tracking
[ad_1] This would theoretically prevent Apple, Google and government agencies from collecting more data than they should, or funnelling it into the hands of marketers and others who might abuse it. However, privacy advocates are concerned it doesn’t do enough and might even worsen consumer safeguards. Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Sara Collins claimed that the […]
Israel barred from COVID-19 phone tracking without new legislation
[ad_1] While the phone tracking hasn’t been detailed in earnest, it’s believed to involve anti-terrorism tech from the Shin Bet domestic security agency. The tracking was used to enforce quarantines, flagging infected people who left home. The government isn’t happy with the decision. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz claimed the technology made a “critical contribution” to […]
Judge denies Twitter effort to reveal US surveillance requests
[ad_1] The 2014 lawsuit followed months of unsuccessful negotiations for greater transparency in the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks revealing much about US surveillance activities, including online. Twitter, along with other internet giants, had argued that providing more details would help users understand government activity and protect freedom of expression. The government’s argument appears to […]
Court finds algorithm bias studies don’t violate US anti-hacking law
[ad_1] Bates observed that many sites’ terms of service (which are frequently buried, cryptic or both) didn’t provide a good-enough notice to make people criminally liable, and that it’s problematic for private sites to define criminal liability. The judge also found that the government was using an overly broad interpretation when it’s supposed to use […]