A company that markets video cameras designed to allow consumers to monitor their homes remotely has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that its lax security practices exposed the private lives of hundreds of consumers to public viewing on the Internet. This is the agency’s first action against a marketer of an everyday product with interconnectivity…
Category: Business
NL: TP Vision violated Dutch privacy laws
Valerie Vlasenko reports: TP Vision is a joint venture based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which develops, manufactures and markets Philips branded TV sets in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and selected countries in Asia-Pacific. In 2012 TP Vision made statements about their monitoring the use of Philips branded smart TVs in the Netherlands, such as “60% of…
Record labels ask broadband providers to collect data on illegal downloads
Juliette Garside reports: Broadband providers are being asked to create a database of customers illegally downloading music, films and books, which could be used to disconnect or prosecute persistent offenders. Measures to combat digital piracy will be among the topics discussed at a Downing Street breakfast on 12 September, when record-label bosses and their trade association, the…
Your phone is blabbing your location to anyone who will listen
Devin Coldewey reports: Everywhere you go, your phone is sending out signals that can be assembled to form a picture of your movements. You can’t turn them off, and companies have begun to pick them up, often without any indication that they’re doing so. As this trend develops, smartphones could spell the end of real-world…