RonWyden
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Senator Wyden wants to jail execs who don't protect consumer data
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) released a draft the Consumer Data Protection Act, which would create new protections for consumer information and strict punishments for those found to be abusing user data. The proposed bill would send senior executives to jail for 10 to 20 years if they fail to follow the guidelines for data use.
Senator asks FCC if Stingrays can interfere with 911 calls
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) wants to know if cell-site simulators, also known as Stingrays, have the potential to interfere with mobile communications, and he's asked the FCC to share any research it has done into the matter. In a letter sent to Chairman Ajit Pai today, Wyden asked what steps the agency had taken to ensure the devices -- which track mobile devices by mimicking cell towers -- don't interfere with the communications of targeted and non-targeted devices or calls to 911, specifically. "The FCC has an obligation to ensure that surveillance technology which it certifies does not interfere with emergency services or the mobile communications of innocent Americans who are in the same neighborhood where law enforcement is using a cell-site simulator," he wrote.
Major US carriers will stop selling customer location data to aggregators (updated)
Last month, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent letters to Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, asking who they share their customers' location data with and whether those companies obtain customer consent. The move came after reports revealed that a service provided by Securus Technologies -- a company previously reported to have allowed prisons to record calls between inmates and their lawyers -- let a former Mississippi County sheriff track the cellphones of other officers and a judge without court orders. All four carriers have now replied to Wyden and Verizon has pledged to end its practice of selling location data through intermediary companies.
Senators ask the FCC if it was truly targeted by DDoS attacks
US Senators Brian Schatz and Ron Wyden want to know once and for all whether the FCC truly suffered DDoS attacks in the middle of soliciting net neutrality comments in 2014 and 2017 like it claimed. If you'll recall, a couple of recent Gizmodo reports and an interview with former Chairman Tom Wheeler cast doubt on the veracity of those claims. The Senators have sent a letter to the commission, asking if any third-party entity confirmed that the outages it suffered those times were truly caused by DDoS. If they were, Schatz and Wyden want to know why no investigation was conducted.
Congress wants answers from Facebook about Cambridge Analytica
You knew it was just a matter of time before Congress joined those investigating Facebook's data sharing debacle, even if it's only in a tentative way. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking him to explain how Cambridge Analytica ended up with data on 50 million people, most of them without permission. In addition to details of the incident itself, Wyden wants to know why Facebook didn't drop Cambridge Analytica when it learned of the collection in 2015, whether the data was used for targeted ads and how this could happen despite the FTC decree limiting Facebook's data collection and sharing activities.
Senators warn the FCC to be ready for net neutrality comments
Two pro-net neutrality Democrat Senators have told the FCC that it had damn well better be ready for public comments on tomorrow's net neutrality Day of Action. "It is critical to the rulemaking and regulatory process that the public be able to take part without unnecessary technical or administrative burden," they stated in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
Bipartisan bill aims to curb warrantless phone searches at the border
The Trump administration revealed its "extreme vetting" procedures on Tuesday and hoo boy, are they draconian. They'll require foreign visitors -- even close allies like France and Germany -- to potentially reveal passwords, phone contacts and even financial records in order to enter the country. Americans are being searched as well, with Border Patrol forces increasingly demanding the same information from US citizens as they cross the border, but a newly introduced bicameral bill could help safeguard their privacy.
Democrats demand the FCC tackle cybersecurity
Two Democrats in Congress are imploring FCC head Ajit Pai to address cybersecurity issues in the United States, arguing vulnerabilities in cellular networks infringe on citizens' liberties and pose a "serious threat" to national security. Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Ted Lieu penned a letter to Pai laying out known issues in modern communications systems and asking the FCC to step in. However, that's unlikely to happen.
Reuters: Yahoo email scanning done with a Linux kernel module
In the ever evolving saga of Yahoo's email servers and who could peek into them, the latest nugget comes from a Reuters report that the scanning program operated at a deeper level than mail filters for porn or spam. Citing three former employees, it now says the scanning was done via a module attached to the Linux kernel itself. While the more technically-minded wondered why this method would've been employed at all, others like Senator Ron Wyden called for the government to release the FISA order apparently ordering the surveillance.
Senate introduces bill to limit the FBI's new hacking rules
A bipartisan group of senators have introduced a new bill called the Stop Mass Hacking Act that would block expanded hacking powers the U.S. Department of Justice claims are necessary to keep up with "sophisticated 21st century criminals."
New bill aims to curb US government backdoor spying
While the FBI thinks that all communication tools in the US should have backdoors for law enforcement, a new Senate bill has proposed the exact opposite. The Secure Data Act, introduced by Senator Ron Wyden, would prohibit the government from forcing companies like Google and Apple to grant access to encrypted data. A different bill to curb the NSA and other agencies (the USA Freedom Act) was denuded by the House of Representatives, while a recent vote allowed the Feds to carry on with massive surveillance. However, the Secure Data Act would specifically bar US agencies from forcing private companies to "design or alter their commercial information technology products for the purpose of facilitating government surveillance."
