James Risen and Nick Wingfield report on the (cooperative/collaborative/too-cozy?) relationship between Silicon Valley and the NSA. Here’s a snippet: Despite the companies’ assertions that they cooperate with the agency only when legally compelled, current and former industry officials say the companies sometimes secretly put together teams of in-house experts to find ways to cooperate more…
Category: Business
France sets Google deadline on privacy improvements
DW reports: France’s data protection watchdog on Thursday gave Google three months to bring its practices into line with French privacy law or risk an initial fine of 150,000 euros ($201,100). CNIL president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said by the end of July all of the six countries within the [EU data protection] task force – formed…
U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms
I have no idea how I missed this last week, but just saw it mentioned on Twitter. Michael Riley reports: Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process…
Firefox Web browser to move ahead with ‘Do Not Track’ option
Craig Timberg reports: The maker of the popular Firefox browser is moving ahead with plans to block the most common forms of Internet tracking, allowing hundreds of millions of users to eventually limit who watches their movements across the Web, company officials said Wednesday. Firefox made the decision despite intense resistance from advertising groups, which…