data protection – Digital Age Defense

Quicklinks 1/21/2012

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Jan 212012

Various recent news:

“DNA McSpray to foil thieves – McDonalds to use new anti-theft spray,” The Sunday Telegraph, Jan. 8, 2012. The spray, developed and used in the UK, contains an “invisible, synthetic DNA solution” particular to each location using it. “It stays on clothing for up to six months and on skin for up to two weeks” and police can detect it using a UVA light.
“Edmonton transit riders to be scanned for explosives,” Bill Mah, Edmonton Journal, Jan. 10, 2012.
“Who — If Anyone — Should Control The Internet?” Tom Gjelten, NPR, Jan. 12, 2012.
“Viruses stole City College of S.F. data for years,” Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 13, 2012.
“Canada To Reform Law Banning Election-Day Tweets,” Miranda Neubauer, Tech President, Jan. 13, 2012.
Russian Ministry of Communications wants to lock each mobile phone to a specific SIM. Russia Today, Jan. 13, 2012.
“TomTom cleared of data violation allegations,” Jamie Yap, ZDNet Asia, Jan. 13, 2012. “The company issued a statement on Thursday saying that it had been cooperating with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (CBP) in recent months to ensure it is fully compliant with privacy laws, and has since been found that sharing of data with third parties did not constitute a violation of Dutch privacy laws.”
“Florida Cop Turns Off Dash Cam Before Beating Elderly Man With Dementia, Cop then charges man with battery on police officer,” Carlos Miller, Pixiq, Jan. 16, 2012.
“WiFi signal with racist, anti-Semitic slur in Teaneck, NJ sparks police probe; signal came from rec center router,” Michael J. Feeney, NY Daily News, Jan. 18, 2012.
“Judge Says Defendant’s Facebook Posts Didn’t Influence Her Sentencing Decision,” Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal, Jan. 19, 2012.
“Oregon Ethics Board on lawyers, cloud computing,” Nicole Black, Sui Generis, Jan. 19, 2012.
“Death sentence for Iranian programmer accused of developing software used by porn sites,” Nancy Messieh, The Next Web, Jan. 19, 2012.

Reach of USA PATRIOT Act affects international investment

Examples, Jurisdiction, Privacy from government Comments Off

Dec 102011

From ZDNet, reports that the Dutch government is avoiding doing business with US cloud providers out of concern that the USA PATRIOT Act could make any data it stores subject to disclosure, in possible contravention of European data protection law.

Discussed by the European Parliament’s Privacy Platform earlier this month, the Patriot Act is being investigated by European authorities, after Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft UK, exclusively told ZDNet that the Redmond-based company must comply with Patriot Act requests, and other companies with a U.S. presence must do also.

This contravenes European law, which states that organisations cannot pass on user data to a third-party outside the European zone without the users’ permission.

In a written answer to a parliamentary question, Dutch minister Ivo Opstelten asserted that, in response to previous questions (Dutch): “This basically means that companies from the United States in such bids and contracts are excluded.”

EU threatens fines for privacy breaches

Examples, Privacy from private parties Comments Off

Dec 052011

Per the Financial Times, the European Union is working on measures allowing for fines of up to 5% of a company’s global turnover should it leak customer data.

The proposals would bolster significantly the EU’s powers on combating data protection breaches, such as when companies sell customer data to third parties without authorisation or fail to adequately protect information held by social networks and “cloud computing” services.

Companies would have 24 hours to notify data protection authorities and the effected parties in cases where private data are compromised, as happened this year when the details of 77m Sony PlayStation accounts were hacked.

By ensuring the rules also apply to foreign groups’ European subsidiaries, the new rules will force global companies to strengthen their data policies.

The article mentions, but not does not discuss in further detail, that measures covering the “right to be forgotten” are included in these proposals, which are expected to take two years to be finalized and then be approved by member states, whom, the article notes, may not be eager to cede jurisdiction on privacy matters to the EU.