The FBI wants more power. That’s not any particular kind of surprising, since the FBI always wants more power, but this push is notable for what’s it’s after: real time spy privileges for your online communication. More »
Microsoft‘s Legal & Corporate Affairs Executive Vice President Brad Smith announced on Microsoft’s Tech Net blog that the company has released its first Law Enforcement Requests Report. The report details law enforcement data requests worldwide for information from the company’s cloud and online services, including how it responded to the requests.
According to the announcement, Microsoft’s first report includes information about data requests and responses for its various services, including Xbox LIVE, Outlook.com and Hotmail, Microsoft Account, and Office 365. It will continue to update this report twice a year (every six months) with new information. In addition, the company is also releasing data related to Skype, which it acquired a little over a year ago.
This move is to provide the public with information on consumer data requests and how they are responded to, providing transparency and contributing to the information on the topic already provided by other companies in the industry. The information is split by country, and shows how often the requests for each country are responded to with the data being handed over.
The report shows that Microsoft received 75,378 requests from various law enforcement agencies in 2012 concerning 137,424 accounts. Out of this large number, 2.1-percent of them resulted in Microsoft providing the requested information, a total of 1,558. Specifically, that 2.1-percent represents instances when the company provided content stored in/on the customer’s account, but not what it calls “non-consumer” data, which includes things like email addresses.
[via TechNet]
Microsoft publishes 2012 Law Enforcement Requests Report is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Civil liberty advocates have had access to Google’s Transparency Report and a handful of equivalents to understand just how frequently governments want our data. But what if we spend most of our time in Outlook.com, Skype or Xbox Live? Microsoft wants to show that it’s equally concerned, and it’s accordingly publishing its first-ever Law Enforcement Requests Report to reveal just how much attention the police gave to our information in 2012. The gist? While there were 75,378 international requests, 99 percent of the 1,558 actual content disclosures went straight to American agencies — thankfully, with court warrants. Microsoft did get its fair share of FBI National Security Letter requests, although those may be short-lived. Different Microsoft services also received different levels of attention: Skype handed over certain account details but no actual content, while enterprise users were virtually untouched from Microsoft’s position. The company plans to keep publishing these reports in the future, which should give us a better long-term sense of just how we’re put under the microscope.
Filed under: Internet, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Google’s legal director of law enforcement and information security, Richard Salgado, is set to testify before the US House of Representatives this morning about the need for new email privacy legislation. In his written testimony, Salgado notes that the 1986 ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act) doesn’t reflect the internet circa 2013, noting how cloud computing has increased the amount of user information shared and stored online.
Salgado’s prepared statement calls for updates to ECPA that allow for greater privacy measures, while also ensuring that government agencies can obtain access to documents when necessary. He points to the ECPA’s policy on government requests to view users’ email — only a subpoena is required for email 180 days or older, but viewing newer communication requires a search warrant — as an example of the law’s “inconsistent, confusing and uncertain standards.” Google wants to alter the ECPA to require search warrants to access any user data stored online, regardless of their age. Salgado’s testimony also touches on Mountain View’s own efforts to improve transparency when it comes to user privacy, including publishing reports about government requests. Read the statement in full via the source link below.
Source: Google Public Policy blog
The government is claiming that authorities should be allowed to fasten GPS tracking devices to any vehicle—and then monitor its movements—without any form of warrant. More »
Data companies are scooping up enormous amounts of information about almost every American. They sell information about whether you’re pregnant or divorced or trying to lose weight, about how rich you are and what kinds of cars you have. More »
Airplane seats are notoriously uncomfortable for sleeping. Whether it’s because of the stiff-as-a-board headrest, or a chatty seatmate who didn’t take a hint when you put on your headphones. So here’s the simple solution to both problems: an inflatable pillow that doubles as an obnoxious wall. More »
If you’ve heard about Google’s latest fine at the hands of privacy seekers across the USA, you know good and well that their Street View cars are roaming around your neighborhood with their sensors on. But what are we doing to prepare for these traveling information collectors? Apparently not a whole lot, as part of the penalty being leveraged against Google is a requirement that they inform the public how to turn on the security on their own personal wifi hubs.
The privacy case at hand has 38 states across the USA and the District of Columbia saying Google’s “Wifi-poaching” Street View cars – which we’ve heard from many times before – are going out of their way NOT to keep to themselves. As these cars roam through your neighborhood, they take photos that are used for Google’s Street View portion of Google Maps – accessible by anyone with an internet connection. The part that regulators are not happy about has to do with Google also seeking open wifi networks to better pinpoint the location of their vehicles as they take said photos.
But as the settlement against Google here in the USA shines down a $7 million dollar fine against the big G, so too did the public raise their voices in freak-out mode to Google, telling them to “stop all the downloadin”.
Only that didn’t happen. There was no massive public outcry, nor was there a large call for citizens across the USA – or anywhere else, for that matter – to take better care to secure their own wireless network. That’s why this week’s directive has Google creating a consumer campaign to educate everyday users on how they might secure themselves against… well… Google.
Sound like a life-changing experience for you? Will a set of Google Public Service Announcements change the way you secure your home internet network? Or is this just an exercise in absurdity?
Have a peek at the timeline below to follow this Street View story back several months (and years) and see how we’re all handling this modern not-quite-so-private world of ours.
Google $7m Street View fine shows how little we care about privacy is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Remember a few years ago when Google got itself in that whole little Street-View-cars-collecting-personal-Wi-Fi-network-data debacle? Well, it looks like the case is finally being settled, and it’s not just the people who had their privacy stripped before their very eyes that are benefitting—everyone gets a piece of the pie! Because in addition to being fined $7 million (the same amount literally burned every week after management has their giant-pool-of-money bath), Google is being forced to teach everyone about a little something they like to call “passwords.” More »
If you like thunderstorms, The Colbert Report or curly fries on Facebook, you’re a genius. If you like Sephora, Harley-Davidson or the country-western band Lady Antebellum, you’re not.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
