David Meyer

State hijacking of social media is getting worse

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your fist in the air of digital rights news and analysis. SOCIAL MEDIA HAS BEEN HIJACKED TO INFLUENCE elections in at least 18 countries over the past year, according to Freedom House's latest Freedom on the Net report: http://bit.ly/2yZcOku "The Chinese and Russian regimes pioneered the use of surreptitious methods to distort online … Continue reading State hijacking of social media is getting worse

David Meyer

Finally, a country’s citizens get to have their say on mass surveillance

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your shot in the dark of digital rights news and analysis. THE DUTCH PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET A MASS SURVEILLANCE REFERENDUM, probably next March. The country has a law that says if people can gather 300,000 valid signatures calling for a poll on an issue, they get their referendum. And that's … Continue reading Finally, a country’s citizens get to have their say on mass surveillance

David Meyer

Europe’s new privacy law is moving forward and lobbyists aren’t happy

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your foot in the door of digital rights news and analysis. THE EU's ePRIVACY REGULATION HAS CLEARED A MAJOR HURDLE after the European Parliament green-lit the start of negotiations with the EU member states over its terms. In other words, the parliament is OK with the amendments that its civil liberties committee … Continue reading Europe’s new privacy law is moving forward and lobbyists aren’t happy

David Meyer

Microsoft just scored a privacy victory for its email users

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your fly in the ointment of digital rights news and analysis. MICROSOFT HAS BEEN FIGHTING THE US AUTHORITIES since last year over the issue of gag orders, and it seems to have won: http://for.tn/2yNjBwq The company was irked that the authorities routinely told it to keep its mouth shut when they wanted … Continue reading Microsoft just scored a privacy victory for its email users

David Meyer

Does the controversial Privacy Shield really “work well”?

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your finger on the pulse of digital rights news and analysis. PRIVACY SHIELD IS WORKING DESPITE SOME PROBLEMS, according to the European Commission. The executive issued its first annual report on the EU-US data-sharing deal on Wednesday, saying it ensures an "adequate level of protection" for Europeans whose personal data is being … Continue reading Does the controversial Privacy Shield really “work well”?

David Meyer

NSA surveillance threatens Facebook’s European operations yet again

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your cog in the wheel of digital rights news and analysis. THE EU'S HIGHEST COURT IS GOING TO HAVE TO DECIDE whether the legal mechanism used by Facebook (and others) to send personal data to the U.S. is kosher or not: http://for.tn/2g8d0T2 This is essentially the same case that brought down the … Continue reading NSA surveillance threatens Facebook’s European operations yet again

David Meyer

America is starting to get why data protection is so important

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your shot in the arm of digital rights news and analysis. A slightly longer newsletter than usual today, but there's a lot to discuss. Here goes… THE EQUIFAX DATA LEAK is what can mostly politely be termed as an omnishambles. Hackers made off with the personal information of 143 million Americans, and … Continue reading America is starting to get why data protection is so important

David Meyer

These are the EU countries flouting privacy rights with data retention laws

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your nudge in the ribs of digital rights news and analysis. DATA RETENTION LAWS ARE UNLAWFULLY IN FORCE across 21 European countries, according to a survey by Privacy International: http://bit.ly/2xOT6UC Data retention – where governments force internet service providers (ISPs) to log the activities of their customers so authorities can comb through … Continue reading These are the EU countries flouting privacy rights with data retention laws

David Meyer

Online anonymity is under threat, and not just in China

WELCOME to Connected Rights, your toe on the tripwire of digital rights news and analysis. CHINA IS TRYING (AGAIN) TO MAKE ONLINE ANONYMITY a thing of the past. According to new rules from the country's "cyberspace administration", website operators have to ensure that anyone commenting on their site is using their real name – which they … Continue reading Online anonymity is under threat, and not just in China