Big investors see cybersecurity as opportunity

Cyberattacks on U.S. businesses could be an opportunity for investors as companies spend money to upgrade their infrastructures, big-name money managers said on Wednesday at a conference geared to sharing potential blockbuster ideas.

Even U.S. Treasury Jacob Lew, speaking at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha conference, noted that such attacks are an immediate concern.

"Everyone in this room knows cyber intrusions are not some hypothetical event on the horizon," Lew said, calling them a threat to economic security.

That, in turn, means more companies will have to upgrade, adapt or otherwise evolve their systems to deal with the problem, investors said.

"Every business in the United States will have to spend more money to defend themselves," said Lee Ainslie, head of Maverick Capital. He feels that companies providing cybersecurity could grow.

Jim Breyer, the chief executive of Breyer Capital, also listed cybersecurity and messaging as among his most interesting focuses at the conference, as well.

read full article at Chicago Tribune

UN Human Rights Report and the Turning Tide Against Mass Spying

The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights has released an excellent report today on the right to privacy in the digital age, blasting the digital mass surveillance that has been taking place, unchecked, by the U.S., the U.K, and other world governments. The report is issued in response to a resolution passed with unanimous approval by the United Nations General Assembly in November 2013. That resolution was introduced by Brazil and Germany and sponsored by more than 50 member states.

This report turns the tide in the privacy debate at the United Nations and opens the door for more substantive scrutiny of states’ surveillance practices and their compliance with international human rights law. The report elaborates on issues EFF has long championed, and which are deeply integrated into our 13 Principles and its legal background paper, which have been signed by more than 400 organizations and 350,000 individuals.

read full article at EFF

Microsoft Next To Comply With Europe’s Search Privacy Ruling

Microsoft has followed Google’s lead and launched an online webform where European users of its Bing search engine (all few of them) can make a request for information displayed in search results triggered by a search for their name to be de-indexed — if that information is outdated or irrelevant.

The move follows the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling back in May by Europe’s top court, the ECJ, which found that search engines are data controllers and therefore should have to comply with existing European data protection legislation.

Google was faster off the mark to respond to the ruling — which was immediately enforceable — launching its rtbf removal form at the end of May.

It’s since fielded more than 70,000 requests from private individuals wanting links about them to be de-indexed.

A week ago Redmond said it was working on its own implementation to comply with the ruling – and now has a formal process in place.

Microsoft’s webform is a little different to Google’s. For instance, it includes direct questions asking the rtbf requester whether they are a public figure, and also whether they more broadly have a role in the community that involves “leadership, trust or safety” — with given examples of this category including ‘teacher, clergy, community leader, police, doctor’.


read full article at TechCrunch

Corporate colonisation of cyberspace

I love the fact that every time I buy a bottle of Fairy Liquid, I am helping overthrow a dictator somewhere around the world. Proctor & Gamble, the company behind Fairy, is one of the biggest advertisers on Facebook, helping to generate the $10bn a year of advertising revenue that keeps the social networking site alive. Facebook is now one of the primary means by which public uprisings are being organised. So, my little over-priced bottle of soap is doing its bit to change the world.

It is perverse to think that tools like Facebook, Twitter and free email services like Gmail, which have arguably done more than any other to facilitate the political activism of the last decade, are almost entirely reliant on paid advertising. Social media and web 2.0 is the contemporary soapbox. But corporate influence is no longer limited to the label on the orator's crate. 

Every 20 minutes on Facebook, 3 million messages are sent. Almost half of 18- to 34-year-old Facebook users check the site when they wake up; 28 percent before they get out of bed.

The new "public spaces" we have created online are an increasingly important part of our everyday lives and our societies' shared infrastructure; but they are also privately run. And the implications of this go far beyond attempts to influence which brand of soap we purchase.

There is no greater threat to the internet's potential to radically enhance our public sphere than the corporate colonisation of cyberspace. Yes, the internet makes accessible more information from a wider array of sources and to a greater number of people more easily than any instrument of information and communication in history. As a global, decentralised, two-way medium that is not owned by any one corporation or government, it allows for relatively unfettered public communication. 
 

With so much material available, what matters most is what gets our attention online. Publishing views on the internet is easy; getting them noticed is not.

read full article at AlJazeera

Minister Says U.K. Government Opposes Right to Forget Principle in EU Regulation

The U.K. government is against the inclusion of a right to be forgotten principle in the proposed European Union data protection regulation, U.K. Justice and Civil Liberties Minister Simon Hughes told a U.K. Parliament subcommittee July 9.

 The House of Lords Affairs, Health and Education European Union Sub-Committee met to discuss the consequences of the European Court of Justice's May 13 ruling that data subjects can in certain circumstances require Google and other Internet search engines to remove links to websites containing personal information about them.

 The U.K. government plans to reiterate its opposition to include the right to be forgotten principle in the European Commission's proposed data protection regulation, which would replace the EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC), he said.

read full article at Bloomberg

Net-Neutrality Proposal Faces Public Backlash

The Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality rules are giving Janet Jackson and her infamous "wardrobe malfunction" a run for its money.
The agency has received more than 677,000 comments so far on its proposed rules for how broadband providers can treat content traveling over their networks.

 A random sampling of the public's input suggests that the agency's chairman, Tom Wheeler, has his work cut out for him in selling his plan.

Mr. Wheeler wrote the rules, which were designed to enforce net neutrality, but leave the door open for content companies to cut deals with broadband providers for preferential treatment. His proposal has left few satisfied, from supporters of net neutrality to conservatives opposed to any rules whatsoever.

 read full article at Wall Street Journal 

Open letter on data retention and investigatory powers Bill ("DRIP") from UK privacy law academics

"On Thursday 10 July the Coalition Government (with support from the Opposition) published draft emergency legislation, the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill (“DRIP”). The Bill was posited as doing no more than extending the data retention powers already in force under the EU Data Retention Directive, which was recently ruled incompatible with European human rights law by the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the joined cases brought by Digital Rights Ireland (C-293/12) and Seitlinger and Others (C-594/12) handed down on 8 April 2014.

 

In introducing the Bill to Parliament, the Home Secretary framed the legislation as a response to the CJEU’s decision on data retention, and as essential to preserve current levels of access to communications data by law enforcement and security services. The government has maintained that the Bill does not contain new powers.

On our analysis, this position is false. In fact, the Bill proposes to extend investigatory powers considerably, increasing the British government’s capabilities to access both communications data and content. The Bill will increase surveillance powers by authorising the government to; ..."

read full article at PanGloss

EU VAT rules change in 2015: Establishing your business in Switzerland?

Currently, telecommunications and broadcasting companies as well as providers of electronic services to consumers (B2C) are at a disadvantage when it comes to VAT if they are established outside the EU (e.g., in Switzerland). As from 1 January 2015, this will no longer be the case.

Current state

EU telecommunications and broadcasting companies as well as providers of electronic services to EU consumers (B2C) are taxed where the supplier is established; if provided by a non-EU business, they are taxed where the EU consumers are established or the services are used and enjoyed. For example, a Luxembourg supplier has to charge 15% Luxembourg VAT (lowest rate in the EU) to EU consumers regardless where they are established, while a Swiss supplier has to charge the VAT of the EU Member State where EU consumers are domiciled or the services are used and enjoyed (i.e. anywhere from 15% to 27%). These discrepancies, combined with compliance constraints, imply that suppliers are reluctant to establish their businesses outside the EU (e.g. Switzerland).

Changes as of 1 January 2015

As from 1 January 2015, EU businesses and non-EU businesses will be treated equally from a VAT point of view. Indeed, telecommunications, broadcasting and electronically supplied services provided to EU consumers will be taxed where the consumers are domiciled, regardless of where the suppliers are established. In the above example, the Hungarian customer will pay 27% Hungarian VAT on the received services whether it is provided by a Luxembourg or a Swiss supplier. Along with the change of the place-of-supply rules, a “Mini One Stop Shop” will be introduced, giving both EU suppliers and non-EU suppliers the possibility to register for VAT in a single EU Member State through which they will account for VAT on services to customers in other EU Member States.

read full article at KPMG

FTC Sues Amazon Over Billing for Childrens' In-App Purchases

The FTC has filed a lawsuit alleging that "Amazon.com, Inc. has billed parents and other account holders for millions of dollars in unauthorized in-app charges incurred by children." FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said, "Amazon's in-app system allowed children to incur unlimited charges on their parents' accounts without permission. Even Amazon's own employees recognized the serious problem its process created." The FTC recently settled similar charges with Apple. In that case, the FTC charged Apple with "billing consumers for millions of dollars of charges incurred by children in kids' mobile apps without their parents' consent." Under the terms of the settlement, Apple must provide a refund for affected consumers and must change its billing practices to ensure that it has obtained express, informed consent from consumers before charging them for items sold in mobile apps. Previously, EPIC filed a complaint with the FTC over Amazon's collection of children's data. EPIC explained that Amazon was violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by allowing children to post content, including personally identifiable information, without their parents' permission. EPIC currently has several complaints pending with the FTC. For more information, see EPIC: FTC. 

read full article at EPIC 

 

5 online privacy tips from an ex-FBI agent

1. Change passwords once a month.
2. Give the wrong contact information at checkout.
3. Need photo ID? Don't show your driver's license. 
4. No banking apps. 
5. Keep one email account for junk mail only.

read full article at CNN

Google to Tour Europe to Discuss Privacy

The search engine company will soon send a group of executives and legal experts, including the company’s executive chairman, Eric E. Schmidt, around the region to explain Google’s stance on online privacy.

The series of meetings, which is expected to start as early as September and last up to nine months, will form part of the company’s response to a recent European court ruling that gives people the right to ask that links about themselves be removed from certain Internet searches.

On Friday in Europe, Google opened a website for its 10-person privacy advisory group. The site includes an area where people can give suggestions for how the company should respond to the court’s decision.

The privacy committee includes Mr. Schmidt and Google’s top lawyer, David C. Drummond. Other members are Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, who has been a vocal critic of Europe’s so-called right to be forgotten, and several European data protection experts, including José Luis Piñar, a former Spanish privacy regulator.

read full article at NY Times 

Austria: Data retention provisions no longer apply

The Constitutional Court of Austria ('the Court') declared - on 27 June 2014 - data retention laws in Austria unconstitutional. Austria is the first EU Member State (MS) to annul data retention laws following the European Court of Justice (CJEU)'s decision to annul the Data Retention Directive (2006/24/EC) on 8 April 2014.

 The Court set aside the data retention provisions in the Austrian Telecommunications Act, the Police Authorisation Act and the Criminal Procedure Act. Companies now would only be obliged to retain data for specific purposes provided by law, such as billing of fault recovery.

''There is no requirement and legitimisation for retaining data beyond the limits provided by the general data provisions [and] this would also apply to data retained prior to the ruling," Dietmar Huemer, Attorney-at-Law at LEGIS, told DataGuidance. "The [data retention] provisions have been vacated as of 1 July 2014. The general data protection provisions apply."

read full article Data Guidance