Kate Cox writes: When a car has a major flaw, like a potentially lethal airbag, it gets recalled. Same for a coffeemaker, or a surfboard, or a prescription drug. But when that major flaw is in a product’s software — like a huge exploit that puts literally a billion consumers’ privacy and personal data at risk — there’s…
Category: Govt
The quiet battle for privacy in the cloud
Dan Horowitz writes: Why is the Second Circuit being forced to defend our electronic privacy and preserve an international agreement from the Obama administration? Recently, a Federal Judge in New York was convinced by lawyers from the Obama administration that international agreements and the Fourth Amendment were simply minor impediments to be brushed aside at the behest…
Data Brokers Sold Payday Loan Applicants’ Information to Scammers: FTC
Reuters reports: A data broker operation sold payday loan applicants’ financial information to scammers, who took in millions of dollars by debiting bank accounts and charging credit cards without authorization, the Federal Trade Commission charged Wednesday. The data brokers bought “hundreds of thousands of consumer payday loan applications” and, instead of passing them to legitimate…
Federal Court: DHS Failed to Justify Withholdings in Defense Contractor Monitoring FOIA Case
From EPIC.org: In EPIC v. DHS, a federal district court ruled that the Department of Homeland Security failed to justify withholding documents subject to the Freedom of Information Act. EPIC sued DHS to compel the disclosure of records relating to a cybersecurity program designed to monitor traffic flowing through ISPs to a select number of defense contractors. The court concluded that…