data privacy

Spying On Users: Google, Facebook Hit With More Than $200M In Fines By French Regulators

A French privacy watchdog accused the tech giants Google and Facebook of making it difficult for users to opt out of tracking their activity. France’s online privacy regulator has ordered Google and Facebook to cough up some €210 million ($237 million) between them, fining the firms for their questionable use of data-tracking ‘cookies’ on their sites. A report by The[Read More...]

Federal Prosecutors Want Google Punished For ‘Withholding’ User Data

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday urged a judge to slap Google with higher sanctions for failing to comply with a court order that it hand over emails and other data the technology giant claims are beyond the reach of the U.S. government.
“The sanction itself needs to have significant teeth in order to compel Google, a $600 billion company, to change its behavior,” Department of Justice attorney Andrew Pak argued in court Wednesday.

Edward Snowden: Here’s how we take back the Internet

Appearing by telepresence robot, Edward Snowden speaks at TED2014 about surveillance and Internet freedom. The right to data privacy, he suggests, is not a partisan issue, but requires a fundamental rethink of the role of the internet in our lives — and the laws that protect it. “Your rights matter,” he say, “because you never know when you’re going to need them.” Chris Anderson interviews, with special guest Tim Berners-Lee.