Apple Inc. released a free software update that corrects a security flaw in the iPhone, a day after a researcher showed how hackers could exploit the vulnerability to seize control of the device. “No one has been able to take control of the iPhone to gain access to personal information,’’ Tom Neumayr, an Apple spokesman,…
A hard case makes bad law
What case did Debbie Purdy win on Thursday? I am sure that most people believe that, as Channel 4 News put it, she won “a landmark ruling allowing her husband to travel with her to Switzerland where the MS sufferer plans to end her life”. That is how most of the media, who seem to…
UBS, Swiss reach pact on tax battle
UBS and the Swiss government, rocked by months of embarrassing details about bank secrecy and guilty pleas for UBS clients, agreed to settle a tax-evasion probe with US authorities. The agreement appears to signal that thousands of US client accounts, hidden in offshore shadows, will be turned over to US revenue agents. The settlement, announced…
Privacy v transparency
If you sign a petition supporting a controversial ballot referendum should your name and address be publicized (posted online) in the interests of transparency? Do you have a right to privacy or relative anonymity when you engage in political advocacy that trumps the public right to know your identity? These difficult, increasingly familiar questions are…