CyberLaw Blog

Archive for November 9th, 2009

More delays for UK.gov’s net snooping programme: “

Queen to keep schtum on IMP

Protests from ISPs and phone providers have further delayed government plans to massively increase monitoring of phone calls, web browsing and emails, it’s revealed today.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

McAfee Notes Brief Surge in BitTorrent Sites: “There’s at least one benefit to The Pirate Bay’s brief departure from the Internet in August – it showed the resiliency of the BitTorrent community. Even though the world’s largest tracker was taken offline for a short while, the BitTorrent community, with its near limitless supply of tech savvy individuals, was able to set up alternative trackers and communities within days – if not hours.”

(Via Slyck.com File-Sharing News And Information.)

Transparency, choice and control – now complete with a Dashboard!: “Posted by Alma Whitten, Software Engineer, Yariv Adan, Product Manager, and Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Products and User Experience

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of Google Dashboard. Have you ever wondered what data is stored with your Google Account? The Google Dashboard offers a simple view into the data associated with your account — easily and concisely in one location.

Over the past 11 years, Google has focused on building innovative products for our users. Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data. In the past, we’ve taken numerous steps in this area, investing in educating our users with our Privacy Center, making it easier to move data in and out of Google with our Data Liberation Front, and allowing you to control the ads you see with interest-based advertising. Transparency, choice and control have become a key part of Google’s philosophy, and today, we’re happy to announce that we’re doing even more.

In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over their own data, we’ve built the Google Dashboard. Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more. The scale and level of detail of the Dashboard is unprecedented, and we’re delighted to be the first Internet company to offer this — and we hope it will become the standard. Watch this quick video to learn more and then try it out for yourself at www.google.com/dashboard.

(Via Google Public Policy Blog.)

Number of local council snoopers clipped: “

RIPA abuse curtailed

The number of local officials who can authorise access to communications records and order surveillance operations will be cut under changes to snooping regulations announced today.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Government rejects call to secure snoop data: “

Mandatory crypto ‘impractical’

Councils and police will continue to pass around sensitive data obtained using spying powers in the clear, after the government rejected calls to impose encryption.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Telcos’ data breach notification amendment is passed: “The European Council has approved a data breach notification rule for Europe’s telecoms firms. The amendment to an EU Directive will force telcos to tell customers if they lose their data.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Google centralises privacy control: (Guardian)
With the new Google Dashboard, the personal data and product settings of different Google products are combined on one side to make it simpler for users to deal with them. The feature, which has just been launched, looks like a console for your personal data. Now you can do what Google can do too, as it links from one place to the data stored on different Google sites. And yes, it does make it easier to manage your personal data. Users can change their privacy settings, delete data on the dashboard, or read the privacy policies from various accounts instead of looking for them everywhere.

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

Experts agree on proposed global privacy standards: (AFP)
Experts from 50 nations meeting in Madrid have reached a draft agreement on international standards for the protection of privacy and personal data. Under the proposed standards, data may only be processed after obtaining the ‘free, unambiguous and informed consent’ of the data subjects and it should be deleted when it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was gathered. Data collectors must identify themselves, state in clear language the purpose of the data processing and the recipients of the gathered data. International transfers of personal data may only be carried out to a country which ‘affords, as a minimum, the level of protection provided for in the document,’ according to the proposed standards, agreed by representatives from privacy protection agencies.

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

EU – European 'internet freedom' law agreed: “(ZDNet UK)
Europe is set to get a major overhaul of its telecoms regulation, after the European Parliament and Council of Telecoms Ministers reached a compromise on the rights of internet users across the continent. The Telecoms Reform Package is a raft of new laws that tackle issues ranging from data-breach notification to faster number porting. Following an agreement reached on Wednesday night, the package will now become part of national legislation in every EU country, with a deadline of May 2011. see Commission Press Memo.

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

EU agrees internet restriction guidelines: “Europe’s MEPs and Council representatives on Wednesday night agreed that restrictions on access to the internet within the EU may ‘only be imposed if they are appropriate, proportionate and necessary within a democratic society’.

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)