Thomas Claburn reports: Europe’s proposed “Chat Control” legislation to automatically scan chat, email, and instant message communications for child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) ran up against broad resistance at a meeting of the German Parliament’s (Bundestag) Digital Affairs Committee on Wednesday. By the Digital Affairs Committee’s own account, as algorithmically translated, “The plans, which include the…
Report: ICE and the Secret Service Conducted Illegal Surveillance of Cell Phones
Mathew Guariglia of EFF writes: The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General has released a troubling new report detailing how federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Secret Service have conducted surveillance using cell-site simulators (CSS) without proper authorization and in violation of the law. Specifically, the office of the Inspector General…
FTC says online counseling service BetterHelp pushed people into handing over health information – and broke its privacy promises
Lesley Fair writes: In the hierarchy of confidential data, health information ranks right up there. And in the hierarchy of health information, details about a person’s mental health may be among the most confidential. But according to the FTC, that’s not how online counseling service BetterHelp viewed it. The FTC says the company repeatedly pushed…
Reddit Asks Court to Protect Users’ Anonymity in Third-Party Piracy Lawsuit
There’s an update on a court case that involves requests to unmask anonymous commenters. As TorrentFreak reported weeks ago: Filmmakers have obtained a subpoena to reveal the identities of Redditors who commented on piracy-related topics. The comments can provide relevant evidence in support of a repeat infringer lawsuit against ISP RCN, the companies argue. Reddit…