WELCOME to Connected Rights, your cherry on the cake of digital rights news and analysis. FIRST THINGS FIRST! As many of you will know, last year I published a book called Control Shift: How Technology Affects You and Your Rights. Well, I've now decided to give it away for free, so please go ahead and download … Continue reading Free stuff alert! I’m giving away my book on digital rights
Are online platforms tools or privatised law enforcement?
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your jewel in the cuckoo's nest of digital rights news and analysis. THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IS PREPARING TO ABANDON the whole self-regulatory thing around takedowns of terrorist content. Per security commissioner Julian King, there hasn't been "enough progress" from the platforms, and "we cannot afford to relax or become complacent in the … Continue reading Are online platforms tools or privatised law enforcement?
Google, China and InfoWars: Online censorship hits the headlines
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your hadron in the collider of digital rights news and analysis. GOOGLE PULLED OUT OF CHINA EIGHT YEARS AGO over the country's censorship requirements and state-sponsored hacking. But now, according to multiple reports, the company is planning a return, with censor-friendly search and news aggregation apps being developed under a project codenamed … Continue reading Google, China and InfoWars: Online censorship hits the headlines
When spies get to decide surveillance is OK
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your bun in the oven of digital rights news and analysis. A DECADE'S WORTH OF BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARIES WRONGLY authorised the intelligence agencies to collect as much telecommunications as they liked, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal has found after a lot of bugging (pardon the pun) by Privacy International. Essentially, the foreign secretaries … Continue reading When spies get to decide surveillance is OK
Tech’s perversion of the democratic process
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your gambol through the wheat fields of digital rights news and analysis. FACEBOOK WILL INCUR THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE FINE in the UK over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) announced today. That fine is only £500,000, because the incident happened in the pre-GDPR days, but it's still not a … Continue reading Tech’s perversion of the democratic process
Avoiding and enforcing the GDPR
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your slap in the face of digital rights news and analysis. LAST YEAR I WROTE ABOUT HOW many of Europe's data protection authorities are too underfunded to properly enforce the General Data Protection Regulation. With just a few weeks to go now, that's still the case. Reuters surveyed 24 DPAs and found … Continue reading Avoiding and enforcing the GDPR
Facebook and the history Zuck denied
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your jam in the jar of digital rights news and analysis. REMEMBER WHEN MARK ZUCKERBERG TOLD CONGRESS that "all of your information is included in 'download your information'", while trying to dodge questions over whether Facebook also collects browsing and other data from third parties, that aren't included in such downloads? Funny … Continue reading Facebook and the history Zuck denied
Let’s talk about encryption. Again.
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your fire in the hold of digital rights news and analysis. RUSSIA IS PROVIDING A HORRIFYING/HILARIOUS CASE STUDY into the effects of trying to censor a popular service that doesn't want to be censored. After a court ordered the blocking of encrypted messaging app Telegram (for not being willing/able to share encryption … Continue reading Let’s talk about encryption. Again.
Microsoft’s big email privacy fight is over
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your twist in the sobriety of digital rights news and analysis. MICROSOFT AGREES WITH THE US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT that their epic battle over user privacy, as it relates to emails stored on overseas servers, should be scrapped. The argument is now moot, after president Trump signed a new law (supported by Microsoft) … Continue reading Microsoft’s big email privacy fight is over
Apple makes another worrying China decision
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your pinch on the cheek of digital rights news and analysis. APPLE HAS ALARMED PRIVACY ACTIVISTS by agreeing not only to store its Chinese customers' iCloud data on Chinese servers, but to store the encryption keys for that information in the country too: http://on.wsj.com/2ESetY6 The company claims that the keys will be … Continue reading Apple makes another worrying China decision
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