policy
Latest
Proposed privacy bill protects industry more than it does people
If the return of Frank Underwood stoked a thirst for real drama from the nation's capitol, perhaps the White House's late-Friday news dump of the proposed Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights will whet your whistle. Alongside common-sense things like Congress finding that Americans "cherish privacy as an element of their individual freedom" in the draft, are headings pertaining to transparency, individual control, security and accountability. In regards to that first one, the bill states (PDF) that companies make their policies for exactly what they do with your data readable without the need for a legalese translator. In addition to that, companies would need to disclose what they're doing with the reams of data they're collecting on all of us and comply with requests for data deletion, as well. You'd also be able to request a look at the data collected by companies. Sounds good, right? Well, as the Associated Press reports, that isn't quite the case.
Native Americans still battling Facebook over 'real name' policy
Despite policy changes following its dispute with drag queens, Facebook is still banning individuals who run afoul of its "real name" policy. It recently suspended Native American Dana Lone Hill and wouldn't reinstate her even after she provided the requested ID. It was only after the media got wind of it that she was restored, prompting her to write "Katy Perry's Left Shark... has a Facebook page and we have to prove who we are." The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote in response that "no one should have to rely on media attention to get Facebook to deal with its broken name policy."
Samsung swears its smart TVs aren't eavesdropping on you
Over the weekend, quite a few people panicked at the phrasing of Samsung's smart TV privacy policy. Its warning that third parties would get your sensitive spoken info conjured up images of Orwellian telescreens spying on their viewers. The reaction was largely paranoia (this was just a description of standard cloud-based voice recognition), but the company isn't leaving anything to chance -- it posted a retort that denies any eavesdropping and clarifies what its screens are really doing. As Samsung explains, neither the TV's mic nor the one in your remote are monitoring everything you say. The TV only listens for a predetermined set of commands, while the controller won't handle more sophisticated requests (such as asking for movie advice) until you hit a button.
The FCC will reportedly try to ban internet 'slow lanes'
It's only been a few months since President Barack Obama urged the Federal Communications Commission to start treating the internet as a utility, but it's enough time to have gotten the gears of policy a-spinning. According to a pair of new reports from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will soon do what some net neutrality advocates have been clamoring for for ages: Try to officially reclassify internet service as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. That'd effectively put internet access in the same bucket as landline telephone service, which is treated as a public utility in the United States, and would basically ban the paid prioritization of certain web sites and services over others. All that nitty-gritty should surface sooner instead of later -- the FCC is expected to release the new rules on Thursday, with a vote on them to follow at a meeting on February 26.
FCC more than quintuples the legal definition of 'broadband'
It used to be that a paltry 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps was all it took for an internet connection to be considered "broadband," but the Federal Communications Commission has just flipped that definition on its ear. FCC commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of upping the broadband threshold, and pretty dramatically too: Now service providers will have to offer speeds of 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up if they want to apply that label. Need a little perspective? The average American home broadband connection pulls down around 11 Mbps, while some 17 percent of Americans technically don't have broadband internet anymore.
French law would make Google, Facebook accomplices to hate speech
France is eying new laws that would make the likes of Facebook and Google accountable for hosting extremist messages. As Bloomberg tells it, the new talk is a direct response to terrorist attacks from earlier this month, and should the draft law pass, it'd make online entities "accomplices" for hosting hate speech or terrorism sites. French president François Hollande addressed the sharp increase in terrorist recruitment over the internet, saying: "We must act at the European and international level to define a legal framework so that Internet platforms which manage social media be considered responsible and that sanctions can be taken."
Lawmakers in charge of NASA and the environment don't understand science
Well, this is more than a little depressing: The politician who tried reducing NASA funding (and successfully shut it down for over two weeks) is now in charge of the senate subcommittee that effectively controls NASA. More than that, one of the most vocal climate-change detractors is now in charge of the United States Senate's Environmental committee. Let's let that sink in for a minute, shall we? Despite all the progress we've made so far with things like unmanned, deep-space space-flight and our efforts toward limiting the negative effects that humans have had on the environment, any future plans are now up in the air. Any major scientific progress is now at the mercy of Republican senators Ted Cruz and James Inhofe. With their actions and words over the recent years, the pair have proved just how little they understand about each area they're now controlling.
Chicago's getting its own Uber-like app for ordering taxis
It's basically impossible to ignore the impact that the likes of Uber and Lyft have had on the taxicab industry, and Chicago's given up trying. The city government has approved a package from the local cab-drivers union that, among other things, pushes for unified mobile dispatching apps. As proposed, it'd work a lot like the aforementioned ride-sharing services and, compared to apps like Hailo, this would link potential customers to all of the city's 7,000 taxis instead of just a handful here or there. Additionally, the Taxi Driver Fairness Reforms package would make it easier for cabbies to compete financially as well. Lease rates would drop for fuel-efficient vehicles, saving drivers, as the city notes (PDF), between 15 and 25 percent on electric, hybrid or compressed natural gas vehicle payments over three years.
Digital copyright issues are affecting car modifications
Tinkering to get better performance out of your ride is one of the more rewarding aspects of vehicle ownership. The thing is, as cars have become more and more computer-dependent, getting a horsepower boost or better gas mileage by swapping exhaust systems or air filters is just the beginning. Sometimes to hit the level you'd want, tweaking the engine control or primary control module by aftermarket means is necessary. Thanks to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, however, that puts wrenching on your vehicle into murky legal territory. The folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (PDF) have your back and are hoping to keep the DMCA out from under your hood, though. As Autoblog notes, the EFF is hoping its petition to the federal copyright office will result in removing some of the legal issues that can arise from futzing with your car's electronic brain-box.
Uber gets a failing grade from Better Business Bureau, but taxis do too
The latest scuffle between Uber and the taxi industry is, as you might expect, a bit one-sided. The Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association (TLPA) trade group recently issued a press release stating that the Better Business Bureau has given Uber an F rating (failing), citing the service's surge pricing and customer complaints regarding difficulties with customer service reps as the main faults. TLPA spokesperson Dave Sutton naturally sees this as leading to the ride-sharing giant's downfall. "Uber's unresponsiveness could easily contribute to or cause the company's next tragedy," he told Bloomberg. What that press release fails to mention, noted by Bloomberg, is that quite a few of the largest cab companies have the same dismal grade with the BBB. In its defense, Uber said that complaints that users make through the app are addressed on a regular basis and that taxi outfits are well-known for not addressing complaints of their own. [Image credit: Getty Images]
Corvette's 'valet mode' is illegal depending on where you live
When we took the Corvette Performance Data Recorder for a spin at CES this year we'd never have guessed that the system could cause a run-in with Johnny Law. As it turns out, the system's audio recording feature that activates when the car's put into valet mode doesn't jive with privacy statutes in a handful of states. In fact, using it could be a felony depending where you live. Chevrolet, for its part, is apparently attempting to skirt any legal issues that may arise by notifying dealerships and giving them letters to pass out to customers. The correspondence alerts owners about the possible privacy issue, as noticed by Jalopnik when a sample was posted to Corvette Forum.
White House cybersecurity chief is proud to know nothing about cybersecurity
Even if their intentions are good, there's a reason that we don't let amateurs do brain surgery or design housing complexes. That logic doesn't seem to apply at the highest levels of government, however, after Michael Daniel boasted that about his lack of knowledge in his specialist field. In an interview with GovInfoSec, the White House cybersecurity co-ordinator has revealed that he's not technically-minded, but that he doesn't "have to be a coder in order to do really well." He added that "being too down in the weeds at a technical level could actually be a bit of a distraction." Sure, being able to see the wood for the trees when you're in charge of the nation's electronic safety is a good thing, but as Princeton's Ed Felten remarked, there'd be uproar if the attorney general bragged about a lack of legal expertise. Maybe we'll start working on our application to become the next surgeon general, after all, we have seen at least four episodes of ER.
GameStop confirms new four-tiered trade-in pricing policy
GameStop announced a new trade-in pricing policy today, which simplifies the company's current pre-owned purchasing structure. Set to launch August 18, the program will enforce four price points "depending on whether a customer chooses cash or in-store credit for their items and whether they are a PowerUp Rewards Pro member," the announcement states. The announcement serves as a confirmation of last week's report of an incoming change to GameStop's trade-in program, which stated that the flat rates for traded goods would rise by 20 percent, on average. As an example, GameStop noted that a game valued at $20 would be bumped to $22 for PowerUp Rewards Pro members that opt to receive in-store credit and drop to $16 for non-members only seeking cash for their games. GameStop's senior VP for pre-owned business Jason Cochran said the previous trade-in structure included 10 different price points. [Image: GameStop]
Judge rejects Silicon Valley anti-poaching settlement on suspicions of conspiracy
Remember the class-action lawsuit that Adobe, Apple and Google faced over no-hiring deals? Well, it turns out that the $324.5 million settlement the trio reached isn't going to be honored by the judge. As The New York Times reports, judge Lucy H. Koh has rejected the low-ball figure because, among other reasons, it reeks of an "overarching conspiracy." Koh notes that there's ample evidence to support this and that late Apple CEO Steve Jobs may even have been the prime suspect in said conspiracy. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Koh says affected employees would receive a proportionally lesser amount than those who were involved with last year's $20 million case against Lucasfilm, Intuit and Pixar. After the lawyers take their as-much-as $81 million cut, the left-over tally would apparently only leave a couple of thousand dollars per plaintiff according to NYT. Unless the Silicon Valley companies involved can come up with an amount that seems more reasonable to the judge (the initial employee-proposed amount was $3 billion), the trial will move forward come this September 10th.
Italy tells Google it has 18 months to change how it handles your data
Google has already drawn fire from various European nations for allegedly violating users' privacy through its unified data policy, but Italy is more than willing to join the fray. The country's data protection agency has given Google 18 months to obey local laws and change how it handles your personal info. The crew in Mountain View now has to get your permission before it creates a profile; it also has two months to honor any requests to delete your data on active servers, and six months to scrub that content from backups.
Why Tesla Motors can't sell cars in most of the United States
Tesla Motors makes beautiful, quality electric automobiles. Don't just take it from us; Consumer Reports rated the Tesla Model S the "best overall" car in its 2014 Top Picks report (which includes all non-electric cars as well). Yet, despite Tesla CEO Elon Musk's ongoing effort to expand his EV empire, state after state in the United States is pushing back. Not because those states are against electronic vehicles, Musk or even Tesla; it's about the way Tesla wants to sell its cars. Specifically, it's about money.
Google Glass gets no special treatment under UK data collection laws
Google Glass is now available for general consumption in the UK, which means us Brits can start debating all the privacy and legal issues associated with people carting around cameras on their face. In reaction to the wearable's launch, The Information Commissioner's Office -- the independent regulator of data protection, privacy and freedom of information rights -- has decided to clarify exactly how Glass fits into current legislation. And, quite understandably, the spectacles don't have their own set of special rules. Anything you record through Glass for personal, non-commercial use complies with the Data Protection Act, just like using a regular camcorder or taking a picture with your smartphone in a public place. Similarly, companies and other organisations need to comply with all the same rules governing the collection and processing of images and video they do currently.
Sprint fined $7.5 million for violating your 'Do Not Call' requests
Sprint's bank account is going to be a bit lighter thanks to the FCC's recent announcement that the telco has failed to comply with customer "do-not-call" requests. The Now Network has to pay a $7.5 million fine (the largest ever) for violating your pleas for its unwanted phone-and-text telemarketing to stop, with acting chief of the enforcement bureau saying the settlement "leaves no question that protecting consumer privacy remains a top priority." What's more, the carrier also has to follow a two-year plan to ensure that it keeps following government requirements to protect said privacy. This follows a 2011 settlement that cost Sprint $400,000. Back then, it said that the do-not-call violations were the result of a server failing to process the consumer requests. This time, Sprint tells CNET that the errors were of the "technical and inadvertent human" variety, and that there's been a significant capital investment to ensure they don't happen again in the future. [Image credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images]
Germany wants Google to stop sharing customer data between services
Google's privacy-related woes in Europe aren't over just because France has issued a fine over a lack of transparency -- if anything, they're getting worse. Germany now says it will order the search firm to stop pooling user data, such as search histories and video viewing habits, under unified accounts. This strategy gives Google overly "in-depth" profiles of its customers and denies the right to limit what the company can see, according to a data protection officer speaking to Bloomberg.
Missouri is close to banning Tesla's direct-to-customer sales
The US as a whole may strongly believe in free trade, but that seems to go out of the window whenever Elon Musk is involved. According to KOLR 10 News, Missouri's legislature has sneakily included a ban on Tesla Motors' direct-selling model, shortly before the long-standing bill was passed through the Senate. Apparently, Bill HB 1124 previously was concerned with the sale of off-road and all-terrain vehicles. However, between being passed by the house on April 17th and being passed by the senate on May 7th, a new provision was included that essentially blocks Tesla's dealership-free business. Missouri isn't the first state to do this, as lobby groups have already enacted similar legislation in New Jersey, Arizona and Texas. Given that the FTC has already come out in favor of Tesla, we suspect the company will move to block the bill reaching the House floor, and has advised the locals to do the same. [Thanks, Andrew]
