German politicians and government officials have reacted angrily to a plan by the European Commission to renew an agreement with the United States, which gives anti-terror officials’ the ability to scrutinize the banking activities of European citizens. The oversight occurs through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions or SWIFT, which handles millions of transactions…
Category: Non-U.S.
Barwatch: Privacy ruling a risk to public safety
A ruling by B.C.’s privacy commissioner that an identity-scanning technology used by dozens of bars and clubs in the province violates privacy laws may put public safety in jeopardy, the chairman of Vancouver Barwatch said Friday. “Our fear is that his ruling has put Barwatch out of business, and that every gangster and every nutbar…
Exposed: Repair shops hack your laptops
Some computer repair shops are illegally accessing personal data on customers’ hard drives – and even trying to hack their bank accounts, a Sky News investigation has found. In one case, passwords, log-in details and holiday photographs were all copied onto a portable memory stick by a technician. […] Inside one of the documents copied…
Germany adopts stricter data protection law
On July 3, 2009, the German Federal Parliament passed comprehensive amendments to the Federal Data Protection Act (the “Federal Act”). These amendments also passed the Federal Council on July 10, 2009, and the revised law will enter into force on September 1, 2009. The new amendments cover a range of data protection-related issues, including marketing,…