January 28, 2014
Zdnet reports in FBI issues security warning to US retailers that the US Federal Bureau of Investigations is warning retailers to be aware of malware infecting point of sale systems. This leads to significant data breaches.
The article provides:
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning US retailers Read the rest of this entry »
January 23, 2014
Slate in This Smartphone Is Making Privacy a Priority reports on a new smartphone, Blackphone which is specifically designed to give the user’s privacy priority.
It provides:
The national conversation about privacy is in high gear, and services for things like secure Read the rest of this entry »
January 22, 2014
The Australian in Industry in dark on privacy law (found here behind the paywall) reported on 21 January 2014 on the poor state of preparedness of many organisations in complying with the amendments to the Privacy Act when they come into force on 12 March 2014.
The article provides:
IT vendors and privacy advocates Read the rest of this entry »
January 18, 2014
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 »
January 16, 2014
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:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she once found a drone peeking into the window of her home — the kind of cautionary tale she wants lawmakers to consider as they look at allowing commercial drone use.
The California Democrat offered few details about the incident when speaking about it Wednesday afternoon, during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on drone policy where she appeared as a special witness. But she used the episode to implore lawmakers to “proceed with caution.”
Feinstein said she encountered the flying robot Read the rest of this entry »
January 13, 2014
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:
DEEP in the bowels of the engineering building at Oklahoma State University, Ben Loh flips a switch on a remote control. A rotor starts whirring and a white sphere the size of a large beach ball rises. Mr Loh navigates it around the room, then lands it and rolls it across the floor.
The flying sphere Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
January 12, 2014
The current edition of the New York Review of Books has a detailed and very readable article, How Your Data Are Being Deeply Mined, on data mining by business and the growing business of database marketing. The clear privacy concerns Read the rest of this entry »
The International Consumer Electronics Show (“CES”) again delivers a story of technology having huge privacy implications. In Want to find a great deal? It’s looking for you, too the Washington Post reports on technology used by department stores to not only to use a person’s smartphone to track his/her movements but use other data from in it to sell.
The article provides:
Salvador Alejo was a man on a mission. Walking the floor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, he used his phone and the event’s app to find nine spots that would earn him the digital badges he needed to finish a high-tech scavenger hunt.
But in this case, the scavenger hunt was looking for him, too.
The International Consumer Electronics Show (“CES”) held in Nevada every January, generates plenty of media interest as new gizmos and gadgets are unveiled for the first time. Some go on to be world beaters while others sink without trace. Privacy concerns are also a regular fixture of the product launches. And this year is no different. The Washington Post in As automakers tap smartphone technology, concerns grow about use of drivers’ data highlights the privacy risks Read the rest of this entry »