Narrative: Declining Privacy & Security

Each narrative page (like this) has a page describing and evaluating the narrative, followed by all the posts on the site tagged with that narrative. Scroll down beyond the introduction to see the posts.

Each post below is tagged with
  • Company/Division names
  • Topics
  • and
  • Narratives
  • as appropriate.
    Court Rules Google Has to Hand Over Data in Contradiction to Recent Microsoft Ruling – The Register (Feb 4, 2017)

    The recent ruling in the ongoing case involving Microsoft and customer data stored outside the US had at least temporarily provided some reassurance that the big tech companies’ stance on this issue would be upheld in court. However, a new court in a different part of the US has now ruled the other way, though its rationale for ruling differently is that Google manages its data and data centers differently from Microsoft. This is a blow to the big tech companies who’ve fought to keep their overseas data centers (and the data held there on non-US customers) off limits for US law enforcement, but the Microsoft case was likely to go to the Supreme Court anyway. Hopefully, the court will rule in such a way that provides clarity not just in the Microsoft case but more broadly on this question.

    via Register

    Microsoft victory in overseas email seizure case is upheld – Reuters (Jan 24, 2017)

    This was one of those rare cases where many of the big tech companies banded together to support one of their number on an issue of concern to all of them. The case concerns data held by Microsoft in a data center in Ireland but requested by US authorities investigating a crime (there’s a good summary of the case here). Microsoft and its pals have argued that this data should not be subject to US law enforcement requests because it resides outside the US, even though Microsoft is a US-headquartered company. Were the government’s argument to be upheld, data held anywhere by a US-based company could be obtained by the authorities in the US, regardless of whether the user has any ties to the US, which could dramatically impact tech companies’ ability to operate in overseas jurisdictions. That’s precisely why Microsoft has had the support of Apple, Amazon, and others, because the effects of upholding the government’s arguments here would be significant. This is a victory not just for Microsoft but the sector as a whole, and I would hope that the Supreme Court either refuses to hear the case or upholds the current verdict.

    via Reuters

    Google Privacy-Policy Change Faces New Scrutiny in EU – WSJ (Jan 24, 2017)

    Europe continues to be the locus of a lot of regulatory effort aimed at paring back perceived privacy invasions by big US online advertising companies, notably Facebook and Google. In this case, Oracle is part of a coalition that seeks controls on Google’s tracking of user data, and the focus of the current complaint is the change Google made to its terms and conditions last June, pursuant to which it now combines data on its users across its various services and DoubleClick. No action has been taken yet by European regulators, so this is only a complaint by one of Google’s biggest foes at this point, but this area has proven a thorny one for Facebook already, and could yet become one for Google too.

    via WSJ

    Microsoft tries to soothe regulators and critics with new privacy controls | ZDNet (Jan 10, 2017)

    Microsoft has been rapped over the knuckles by regulators and attacked by privacy advocates over its data collection in Windows 10. Over-collection of data combined with lack of notification for users have to be the most common twosome in privacy abuses among tech companies. Tech companies often collect far too much data by default, and then fail to inform users what’s being collected or why. This change is a positive one, but I’d hope that Microsoft (and others) will learn from the backlash here and do better from the outset in future releases of Windows and other products.

    via Microsoft tries to soothe regulators and critics with new privacy controls | ZDNet

    Europe proposes expanding telco data privacy rules to WhatsApp, Facebook et al | TechCrunch (Jan 10, 2017)

    Europe continues to take a harder line on privacy for online services, and is also finally caving to long-term pressure from telecoms operators to force online communications providers to comply with a more consistent regulatory framework. Both individual European countries and the EU have come down on Facebook recently for its attempted integration with WhatsApp following the merger, and the region is likely to continue to be more challenging for online providers operating there. This, in turn, may provide a small advantage for those providers that collect less user data and offer more protections by default.

    via Europe proposes expanding telco data privacy rules to WhatsApp, Facebook et al | TechCrunch

    Plenty of users sticking with Yahoo despite data breaches – San Francisco Chronicle (Jan 2, 2017)

    As per a previous piece I linked to, despite all the attention the various Yahoo breaches have received in the press, they’ll likely have little impact on usage, which makes it likely Verizon will go ahead with the acquisition, though it may use the breaches as leverage to lower the price. The key point is that users have short memories, and the very people still using Yahoo (largely out of apathy in a world with better alternatives) are least likely to jump ship, which obviously helps.

    via Plenty of users sticking with Yahoo despite data breaches – San Francisco Chronicle

    Uber explains why app appears to continue tracking your location; other apps affected too | 9to5Mac (Dec 23, 2016)

    There was something of a fuss when Uber was found to have changed its location settings in its iOS app to always share the user’s location. It now appears the explanation is benign – it’s the app’s Maps extension that’s to blame. But the fact that the issue blew up at all is an indication of skepticism about Uber’s privacy protections, especially given repeated stories about employees accessing user data in illegitimate ways.

    via Uber explains why app appears to continue tracking your location; other apps affected too | 9to5Mac