According to the FCC, ISPs collect vast amounts of data on what websites individual customers are visiting and what apps they are using. Mobile carriers can even track the movements of their customers. Under the new rules proposed today, the FCC would not flat-out prohibit ISPs from using any of the data. Rather, it would leave it up to the customers, using an opt-in/opt-out approach.
As Apple tries to fend off government demands for access to iPhone content, the company is leaning on free speech arguments as a key part of its defense in a California courtroom. On the other end of the country, 10 separate lawsuits have piled up this year against net neutrality rules, with both sides claiming First Amendment rights in this long-running dispute over the federal regulation of Internet service.
In the wake of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, the California Department of Motor Vehicles abruptly changed its long-standing policy on releasing the driver license photos of deceased people to the news media. A DMV spokesman said that photos would now be considered private data as outlined by state statute.
News organizations were among the groups that pushed for passage of the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act signed Thursday. The law now requires police to get a court order before they can search messages, photos and other digital data stored on phones or company servers in the nation’s most-populous state.
The Federal Trade Commission is calling for original research into privacy and security issues, including how “vulnerabilities” might be exploited to harm consumers. The agency will address the research on Jan. 14 at a conference about privacy. “We want to increase the FTC’s engagement with the technology community in order to more effectively encourage innovation that is protective of consumer privacy and security,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said.
Earlier this month, New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul suffered a serious hand injury while celebrating Independence Day. He was taken to a hospital in Miami, was treated and reportedly required surgery. ESPN’s Adam Schefter learned that Pierre-Paul’s injured finger had to be amputated, and tweeted a picture of what he said was the football player’s medical chart, which included what appeared to be confidendial medical information. That set off a firestorm of debate over the implications.
Exclusives
The FCC is about to muscle in on the FTC’s privacy turf and the FTC is pushing back. Since the 1999 Geocities case, the Federal Trade Commission has been the nation’s de facto privacy cop, bringing more than 150 privacy and data security cases. But the net neutrality order could make the FCC a much bigger player in privacy enforcement.
As consumers buy up fitness trackers, Internet-connected thermostats and even Web-enabled cars and toothbrushes, the Federal Trade Commission has a message: It’s watching. The agency is warning that as millions of new smart devices make people’s daily lives more convenient, they’re also collecting reams of personal information that raise new privacy and data security concerns.
A broad array of organizations in technology, media and other fields rallied on Monday behind Microsoft’s effort to block American authorities from seizing a customer’s emails stored in Ireland. The organizations filing supporting briefs in the Microsoft case included Apple, Amazon, Verizon, Fox News, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, CNN and almost two dozen other technology and media companies.
