Category: TECH

Germany cancels Verizon contract over spying anxiety

Staff Writer

The German government has cancelled a contract with Verizon over concern that US firms may be giving data to US authorities. Verizon has provided internet services to a number of German government departments and the current contract was due to run out in 2015. The firm did not comment on the move. There was anger in Germany over allegations that a US agency bugged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone. Earlier this month Germany announced an investigation into those allegations which were made by a former contractor of the US National Security…

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Tim Wu,The Father of Net Neutrality Returns to Do Battle With Comcast

Staff Writer

Tim Wu saw firsthand how people can mess with the internet. Fifteen years ago, he landed a marketing job with a network equipment maker called Riverstone Networks. Riverstone made network routers, among other things, and it sold many of these to Chinese internet service providers who then used them to block traffic on their networks. After about a year, he left Riverstone, disillusioned but wiser. And today, Wu says that the time he spent there helped cement the idea that has made him famous: net neutrality. First proposed in a…

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Right to Be Forgotten: Google must block a group of websites worldwide Rules Canadian Court

On the heels of Europe’s “Right to Be Forgotten” ruling, a British Columbia court in Canada has ruled Google must block a group of websites worldwide. The case was opened by industrial networking devices manufacturer Equustek Solutions, Inc. to block a network of websites it claims are owned by former associates who stole trade secrets to illegally manufacture and sell competing products. According to a report from the The Globe and Mail, a temporary injunction against Google was issued last Friday in spite of Google’s protests that Canadian courts had no…

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GCIG: No Single Overarching Cyberspace Regime will emerge in near future

“There are many potential paths along which cyber norms may evolve” Like-minded states cooperating together, not an overarching global agreement, is likely to emerge as the primary way to avoid destabilisation in cyberspace, according to the first working paper of the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG), an independent, non-partisan think tank on international governance. In The Regime Complex for Managing Global Cyber Activities, Professor Joseph S. Nye, Jr. said “it is unlikely that there will be a single overarching regime for cyberspace any time soon.” In his assessment of…

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Google launches webform for ‘right to be forgotten’ removal requests in response to EU court ruling

Privacy

Google has launched a webpage where European citizens can request that links to information about them be taken off search results, the first step to comply with a court ruling affirming the “right to be forgotten”. The company, which processes more than 90% of all web searches in Europe, has made available a webform through which people can submit their requests but has stopped short of specifying when it will remove links that meet the criteria for being taken down. Google said it had convened a committee of senior executives…

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House of Representatives vote threatens Obama Administration planned internet giveaway

For years, conservative activists have prodded the House of Representatives to use their unique Constitutional power of the purse to rein in Obama Administration excesses. This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is doing just that through a series of amendments that will be considered to the bill that appropriates money for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, along with other science related agencies. One particularly important rider is being offered by Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI). The Duffy amendment prohibits the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from using any…

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Privacy under attack: the NSA files revealed new threats to democracy

In the third chapter of his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon gave two reasons why the slavery into which the Romans had tumbled under Augustus and his successors left them more wretched than any previous human slavery. In the first place, Gibbon said, the Romans had carried with them into slavery the culture of a free people: their language and their conception of themselves as human beings presupposed freedom. And thus, says Gibbon, for a long time the Romans preserved the sentiments –…

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Right to Be Forgotten? Europe’s Orwellian Internet Time Warp

Google

By David Kirkpatrick When the European Court of Justice—the rough equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court—ruled that individuals have the “Right to Be Forgotten,” it took a dangerous step backward. Among many potential negative consequences, it could contribute to slowing global economic growth. The court endorsed a profoundly a historical, anti-technological argument about the supposed rights of individuals. The plaintiff, Mario Costeja Gonzalez, is a Spanish citizen who was joined by a Spanish government agency in arguing that Google ought not link to a 1998 newspaper mention of a real estate…

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Historic eBay password database hack, Change your password!

eBay revealed that attackers “compromised a database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data” between late February and early March. The database included names, e-mail addresses, home addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth. While there is “no evidence of the compromise resulting in unauthorized activity for eBay users,” the company is recommending that users change their passwords. The attackers were able to log in to eBay employee accounts.”Cyberattackers compromised a small number of employee log-in credentials, allowing unauthorized access to eBay’s corporate network,” the eBay announcement said. “Working with law…

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ICANN fails to follow its own Bylaws and procedures says IRP panel

“Our bylaws are very important to us. They capture our mission of security, stability and accessibility, and compel the organization to be open and transparent.” — from the ICANN website ICANN may claim its bylaws are important, but apparently ICANN doesn’t follow its bylaws. At least that is what an IRP panel ruled yesterday in the DotConnectAfrica (DCA) Trust Case #50117T108313, full decision here (pdf), stating “In the Panel’s unanimous view, it would be unfair and unjust to deny DCA Trust’s request for interim relief when the need for such a relief by…

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