Topic: Surveillance
FTC withholds hundreds of Facebook audit records
An independent audit of Facebook says “substantial additional work” is still needed to fix the company’s privacy problems. Just how much work is unclear, as the US Federal Trade Commission has kept hundreds of records from the 236-plus page report secret.
23 September 2021
Pentagon could issue report on Afghan data by year’s end
A bipartisan provision in next year’s US military budget calls for the Pentagon to account for the trove of Afghan biometric data believed to be in the hands of the Taliban.
21 September 2021
Civil liberties groups lament NSA “state secrets” case
Civil libertarians say a split appeal court’s decision in a lawsuit challenging National Security Agency data harvesting could prevent meaningful challenges to government abuse.
20 September 2021
Clearview mounts another BIPA First Amendment defence
Armed with a recent Eighth Circuit decision, facial recognition company Clearview AI has argued again that its activities are protected by the First Amendment.
09 September 2021
Facebook’s new FTC independent assessor revealed
After a previous watchdog failed to spot the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook hired a new independent assessor to oversee its US Federal Trade Commission-mandated privacy programme.
07 September 2021
US enforcers employ new surveillance methods post-Carpenter
Geofence warrants, stingrays and bulk data purchases are among the new surveillance tactics employed by law enforcers some three years after the US Supreme Court’s 2018 Carpenter decision – a state of affairs that has civil libertarians urging Congress to enact privacy reforms.
03 September 2021
Report sounds alarm over companies brokering active-duty military data
New research has found that at least three of the world’s 10 largest data brokers sell information on US active-duty military personnel – a situation critics say jeopardises national security.
25 August 2021
Huawei accused of shifting Pakistani data to China
A subcontractor for a Huawei project in Lahore says the company made unauthorised transfers of Pakistani national security and personal data to China.
17 August 2021
EDPB guidance could open transfer loophole
Despite the burdensome risk assessments mandated by the European Data Protection Board’s supplementary measures guidance, personal data could still be exposed to state interception.
06 August 2021
Can big data help detect biological weapons?
The US Department of Homeland Security is building a system that would help law enforcers use data analytics to detect biological weapons – but internal reports suggest that the equipment may not work as planned.
28 July 2021