Articles about Privacy

The US government is busy putting thousands of its own employees under 'permanent surveillance' according to a document obtained by Chelsea Manning. In the wake of leaks by the likes of Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks, the government set up the Insider Threat program in an attempt to nip future leaks in the bud.

It's a while since Manning was in the news, the last notable appearance being when the solider formerly known as Bradley Manning joined Twitter from prison. But the latest document released by Manning -- obtained using a freedom of information request -- shows that the government is not afraid to use NSA-style tactics on its own employees.

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When companies allow staff to use their own systems to access corporate data, the devices used can often be outside of IT department control.

But how much of a security and privacy hazard is presented by a new off-the-shelf laptop? Security company Duo Labs set out to discover the risks by buying a number of OEM Windows 10 machines in the US, Canada and the UK and testing them for vulnerabilities.

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Ever since Edward Snowden, a former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, leaked information about the internet spying activities conducted by the NSA, there has been an unrest among Americans. The main concern for most people is that their privacy has been intruded without their permission.

Many Americans are also worried about the things that the NSA and the US administration could do with access to such "private" data. And the revelation about several tech giants, including Yahoo and Google, being involved has probably made people even more circumspect about using online services based in the US.

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In the Apple vs FBI fight, the issue is very black and white for many people; you support Apple's position of standing firm against the FBI, or you believe the FBI should have unfettered access to whatever data it wants, regardless of the consequences.

Tim Cook has been steadfast in his position, but in an interview with TIME the Apple CEO admits that the situation is not entirely binary. Presented with a thought experiment Cook appears to concede there are gray areas, opening up the possibility of assisting the FBI to break into the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone.

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The increasingly decentralized world of work means that data can be in many different places, on desktops, mobile devices, or in the cloud.

This creates challenges for security and governance, especially if there's a need to adhere to legal and compliance rules. Data protection company Druva wants to guard information wherever it's stored and is extending its inSync offering to cover Box, Google Apps for Work and Exchange Online.

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Encryption is a must-have in today’s digital communications, IT pros agree, adding that what the government is (trying to) achieve with surveillance could mean the death of privacy altogether.

Those are the results of a new survey conducted by security firm AlienVault. It surveyed the attitudes of more than 1,500 IT (including security) professionals about today’s privacy, and came up with interesting results -- 34 percent believe the government should be able to eavesdrop on communications for the purposes of national security.

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The regulatory environment for data is in a state of change at the moment with many countries introducing legislation to control the flow of information. This combined with growth of the IoT and digital economy is posing major challenges for business.

A new survey by identity management company ForgeRock finds 96 percent of surveyed IT professionals agree that there is an increasing need for dynamic and flexible privacy tools. And that these need to be adaptable to future borderless regulatory requirements and consumer expectations.

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With so much choice available online, if a business doesn't deliver on meeting customer expectations then it's likely to lose out. One of the main challenges in keeping customers happy is delivering effective authentication while maintaining security.

Identity management company Gigya is releasing a new registration-as-a-service (RaaS) offering to enable enterprises to more effectively authenticate consumers with consistent cross-device experiences.

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Privacy and security has always been a hot topic, but never more so than in recent months. The Apple/FBI case has really brought things to a head, enlivening the debate between privacy and security advocates, and those who side with the government. As Apple fights to prevent the FBI from accessing the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, Facebook, Google and others are looking to increase encryption and lockdown user data even further.

The Guardian has learned that a number of Silicon Valley companies are working on ultra-secure encrypted messaging systems. With President Obama having made a sideways reference to supporting the inclusion of backdoors for government, Facebook is planning to not only bring encryption to Whatsapp's voice messages, but also to bolster the security of Facebook Messenger.

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People care more about their privacy than ever before according to the latest Consumer Openness Index by open source messaging and office productivity company OpenXchange, with 80 percent believing they have a right to privacy.

The survey of 3,000 Internet users in the US, UK and Germany shows that over the past year, public opinions about data privacy have hardened. The internet-aware public in all regions surveyed are more likely to say they would stop using websites and services if news of a privacy scandal broke.

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"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety". So goes the quote from Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, in 1755. Little did he know that over 250 years later, his words would be frequently cited in one of the most complex debates of modern times.

In a world where data is collected, shared and sold as the norm, the liberty vs. security question has never been so relevant. The topic has been brought into the public eye by the UK Home Secretary’s draft Investigatory Powers Bill -- or Snoopers’ Charter -- and honed-in on the issue of encryption. More specifically, whether government agencies should be given the power to access encrypted, private communications, by forcing service providers to hand them over.

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The on-going battle between Apple and the FBI has brought encryption and security to the fore once again. After remaining silent on the subject for some time, President Obama -- speaking at SXSW -- said that he was opposed the idea of encryption mechanism that are so strong it prevents governmental access.

"If technologically it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system where the encryption is so strong that there is no key, there's no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer, how do we solve or disrupt a terrorist plot?" he wondered aloud, his almost rhetorical question playing neatly on two of America's biggest fears. He suggested that security keys should be made available to third parties, saying "you cannot take an absolutist view" when it comes to balancing security and privacy. But Obama has a solution: backdoors.

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Online advertising is incredibly divisive, and for World Day Against Cyber Censorship, AdBlock is opting to replace banner ads that would normally be blocked with links to Amnesty International. The human rights group is fronting an anti-cyber-censorship campaign, joined by Edward Snowden, Pussy Riot (famous for rubbing up Russia's President Putin the wrong way) and Ai Weiwei.

The aim of the campaign is to promote freedom of speech online but highlighting examples of free speech being censored -- not just in obvious places like China and North Korea, but also the United States and the United Kingdom. Government control of the internet is something that many think is restricted to limiting what journalists are able to publish online, but as the campaign highlights it's a problem that can affect anyone.

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Ahead of the hearing due to be held on 22 March, the Justice Department has lashed out at Apple in its latest response to the company's refusal to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone. Playing an emotional game, the DoJ says "Apple deliberately raised technological barriers that now stand between a lawful warrant and an iPhone containing evidence related to the terrorist mass murder of 14 Americans."

It says that only Apple is able to remove the barriers that are currently in the way, "and it can do so without undue burden". Apple has already made it abundantly clear that it will not help the FBI in creating what it describes as a backdoor into the iPhone at the center of the case.

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The chairman of the Federal Communication Commission has put forward a set of proposals to protect internet user's privacy. Tom Wheeler wants to place limits on how ISPs are able to use customer data in much the same way that phone companies are regulated.

The amount of unencrypted data ISPs have access to which can be used for advertising and marketing worries Wheeler. The FCC already governs how phone companies can use and resell customer data, and he believes the same rules should be applied to ISPs. More than this, he wants to empower customers so they can choose precisely how their data is used.

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