May 9
Mobile GPS technology has recently spawned the development of smart phone games that blur the line between the game world and the real word by utilizing a user’s real-time location as part of a game’s competitive strategy. However, when one such game—Drugs Lords—allowed virtual drug dealing, Apple cracked down (no pun intended) to ban the app from sale on the AppStore. Read more
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), an internet privacy advocacy group, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Wednesday with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the full release of its report on the investigation of Google Street View. Google Street View was under investigation for the collection and storage of data from unencrypted wireless networks. The investigation started when it was determined that Google Street View collected data about personal online usage from unsecured Wi-Fi networks for four years while intending to simply collect the locations of Wi-Fi access points. Read more
On Wednesday, in another big setback for companies fighting computer-related fraud, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York threw out the conviction of a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. computer programmer. After a December 2010 conviction for stealing a secret high-frequency trading computer code from Goldman Sachs, Sergey Aleynikov served 11 months of an eight-year prison term. In the decision released Wednesday, the 2nd Circuit Court cited that the taking of source code was not a crime under a 1996 law that makes it illegal to steal trade secrets as the code did not qualify as stolen goods. In the decision, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote for the unanimous three judge panel: “We decline to stretch or update statutory words of plain and ordinary meaning in order to better accommodate the digital age.” Read more
By now we all know at least one friend who has tweeted or posted something to Facebook without considering whether it will offend people. Ok… so, by “friend,” I mean we’ve all done it. Hopefully, your gaffe caused—at most—a few snickers, face-palms, or awkward conversations. For Steelers’ running back Rashad Mendenhall, his emotional tweet caused him to lose a multimillion dollar endorsement deal. Read more
The House of Representatives has plans to focus on cybersecurity in the coming weeks and, as a result, is slated to consider at least two bills that have gained substantial traction out of committee. These bills carve out exceptions to privacy laws to allow private companies to disclose “cyber threat intelligence” to the government. The need for such a law is proclaimed by political officials and private entities alike. Current privacy laws—such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act or the Privacy Act—provide an all-important shield against disclosure of private information but often have the consequence of hamstringing efforts to identify and prevent cyber threats. Read more
On March 27th, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it has settled its complaint that RockYou, Inc., an online gaming site, allowed hackers to access the personal information of 32 million users while it touted its security features and that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule when it collected information from approximately 179,000 children. The settlement requires RockYou to stop its deceptive claims about privacy and data security, implement a data security program, stop all future violations of COPPA, and pay a civil penalty of $250,000. Read more
Late last week, Verizon released their annual Data Breach Investigations Report. With collaboration from the U.S. Secret Service, the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit, the Irish Reporting and Information Security Service, the Australian Federal Police, and the Police Central e-Crime Unit of the London Metropolitan Police, the 2012 report releases some staggering numbers: “hacktivists” (hacker activists, including the group Anonymous) were responsible for 58% percent of all thieved data in 2011. Verizon has been tracking hacktivist activity since 2004 and said that 2011′s breaches exceeded the total from all other years combined. Read more
While at least one Senator is drafting a bill to stop the “unreasonable invasion of privacy” resulting from employer access to your Facebook page, the House has rejected a similar proposal from Colorado Representative Ed Perlmutter. The measure would have prevented employers from collecting Facebook user names and passwords as a condition of employment. The law was added as an amendment to the FCC Reform Act Bill, but was shot down 236-184. Republican opposition spelled disaster for the amendment, though it’s not clear whether House Republicans were genuinely opposed to the legislation or simply did not want to address the matter as part of the FCC Bill (which incidentally, they passed later that day).
As this blog has reported previously, Facebook is vehemently opposed to employers gaining access to employee pages. However, presumably because Facebook lacks the legal and technical capacity to stop the practice, Facebook (and its user base) has been ratcheting up the pressure on Congress to do something.
Given the attention on this issue, it’s practically certain that these measures will be reintroduced in future legislation. We’ll no doubt be blogging about these developments, so check back with us for updates as this saga unfolds.
In a recent UDRP proceeding, the popular X-Sports manufacturer Vans, Inc. tried to gain the rights to the domain name <protechelmet.com> from the company, Military and Rescue Supply. Despite the evidence provided by both sides, a team of three Panelists decided that this dispute is not the type covered by the UDRP and should be resolved by the courts. Due to this decision, the domain name for now rests with Military and Rescue Supply. Read more
It is not surprising that Facebook would take a hard line against employers (and potential employers) who are seeking passwords from people’s Facebook accounts. We blogged about it here a few days ago.
If this trend grows (or at least has that perception), many people may stop using Facebook altogether which would (naturally) not be good for Facebook. Legally, there is not a whole lot Facebook could do at this juncture because they would not have standing to sue these (potential) employers. For now, a strongly worded statement will have to suffice.
We have the statement from Erin Egan (which was released this morning) below.
Theme: Linen by The Theme Foundry
