Consumers worried about the National Security Agency's ability to read even encrypted electronic data have few options, according to cybersecurity and privacy experts. And some experts said the NSA's reported actions to crack the sophisticated technology that masks data traveling over the Internet may have made that information more vulnerable, possibly exposing Web users to criminal hackers.
FTC Chairwoman targets firms with vast databases
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman said the FTC will aggressively police companies with control over large databases of personal information.
Ad-supported website operators decry cost of new online privacy rules for children
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Under regulations that went into effect July 1, websites catering to children will no longer be able to collect a range of identifying information without obtaining verifiable parental consent.
CBO Scores Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2013 (S. 607) would amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-508) to make several changes to the current laws relating to the privacy of personal electronic communications.
Angst over Internet surveillance detected on Hill
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Federal law enforcers say they have their hands full with criminals who skirt legal surveillance by using hard-to-wiretap services like Google and Facebook. Now they’re about to inherit a new foe in the fight: Capitol Hill.
Sen. Rockefeller to push for Do Not Track at hearing
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) will hold a hearing April 24 to push for a feature that would allow users to opt out of online tracking.
House panel set to debate CISPA
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
The House Intelligence Committee will meet behind closed doors on the afternoon of April 10 to mark up a controversial cybersecurity bill before it heads to the floor for a vote, which could come as early as next week.
Hey Internet, where’s the outrage?
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Compare, for a moment, the Internet industry’s outrage against potential government censorship, as they see it, with the seeming indifference to government surveillance. In 2012, major Web sites staged a massive global protest against a law that would have given the government new powers to shut down sites associated with piracy. Yet, as Congress considers sweeping new surveillance procedures over popular Internet companies, those same digital activists are largely silent. It begs the question, does this younger, tech-savvy generation care more about innovation than civil liberties?
Recalculating the privacy debate after Google Maps penalty
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
By now, consumers and citizens may have detected a pattern: New technologies allow new types of privacy invasions, which then lead to ad hoc remedies – until the next type of intrusion. As the string of Google violations shows – along with dozens of new privacy laws passed since the 1970s – the pace of this cat-and-mouse privacy quest has quickened in the Digital Age.
The Agenda Of The Senate Judiciary Committee For The 113th Congress
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
At the Georgetown Law Center, Sen Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, discussed the panel’s agenda for the 113th Congress.