Peter A Clarke

The FTC has issued a press release announcing settlement with 12 companies who were caught falsely claiming compliance with the US – EU Safe Harbor Framework.  The nub of the problem was the companies claimed they held current certification where they had not.  Some of the companies are quite well known, including Bit Torrent Inc and the Atlanta Falcons, an NFL franchise.

The Safe Harbor Framework is Read the rest of this entry »

Encryption of data is a fundamental part of protecting personal information stored by an agency or organisation.  Or at least it should be.  Keeping data in the clear form makes the work of a hacker easier once he or she breaks into a system.  Data breaches should be avoided by having up to date and suitably effective systems.  Even so they happen. In that case mitigating loss is important.  It is certainly an important factor privacy commissioners look at when assessing the steps taken to maintain data security.  But what if Read the rest of this entry »

In its Annual Security Report 2014 (found here) Cisco notes that businesses that allow staff to use their own mobile devices for work purposes face challenges in ensuring the organisation’s data  are secure.  Stealing data is becoming easier.

Some of the findings of of the long but very interesting report are that:

• the more smartphones, tablets, and other devices perform like traditional desktop and laptop computers, the easier it is to design malware for them.
• security teams Read the rest of this entry »

That the explosion of data, most recently big data, and its correspondingly inadequate regulation has prejudiced individual privacy rights is almost trite.  On this theme The New Statesman’s Death by data: how Kafka’s The Trial prefigured the nightmare of the modern surveillance state considers Read the rest of this entry »

Cloud computing, or more accurately the storage of data in offshore servers (the cloud), is a significant issue or organisations and agencies in Australia.  Australian Privacy Principle 8 specifically deals with the use of offshore entities storing, using or otherwise dealing with personal information.

The UK Information Commissioner has provided an overall commentary on cloud computing (found here).  As an introduction it is not bad. The suggestions are good.

It provides:

What is cloud storage?

There are an Read the rest of this entry »

Senator Fienstein, Democrat from California, is one of the most powerful and influential members of the US Senate.  For those interested in the legislature taking some proactive steps to provide privacy protections from the excesses of drone usage it was perhaps fortuitous that someone used such a device to spy on her during a protest. Politico reports on her giving evidence during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in Dianne Feinstein spots drone inches from face.

It provides:

Daniel Solove, a professor at George Washington University, is a leading authority on privacy.  He has penned both academic tomes (eg Information Privacy Law) and immensely readable polemics on privacy (The future of reputation and Nothing to Hide).  He is also a prolific blogger on both serious legal sites and the more general linked in.

One of his recent posts is 10 Reasons Why Privacy Matters which provides:

Why does privacy matter? Often courts and commentators struggle to articulate why privacy is valuable. They see privacy violations as often slight annoyances. But privacy matters a lot more than that. Here are 10 reasons why privacy matters.

1. Limit on Power

Privacy is a limit on government power Read the rest of this entry »

The Economist again considers the development of drones in the USA in Game of drones.  As I have posted previously drone technology is moving along at an astounding speed with pressure for commercial use. That is currently not permitted but that restriction is probably going to disappear.

It provides:

The ABC radio program, AM, reports in Huge hack of consumer data in the USA on  a massive data breach involving Target over the Christmas period.

It provides:

TIM PALMER: It’s been described as the worst security breach of personal data in history and we may not yet know the full extent of it.

US retailer Target revealed over the weekend that the details of tens of millions more customers than first thought have been stolen in a massive hacking scandal, and now the upscale retailer Neiman Marcus says it’s been hacked too.

Security experts say Read the rest of this entry »

In Know your privacy rights the Privacy Commissioner has posted a reminder of the upcoming changes to the Privacy Read the rest of this entry »