Tag Archives: Big Data

Google to Microsoft Face User-Request Overload in Europe

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“The European Union’s top court yesterday ruled citizens have a ‘right to be forgotten’ online, meaning people may ask search-engine owners to remove personal information and request that a court or data-protection authority step in if a company doesn’t comply. The EU decision doesn’t spell out what types of information must be removed and doesn’t provide exemptions for data that are true or from a reputable source.   The ruling opens the way for European users to flood the firms with Web takedown requests, adding costs and time to what they already do in content removal.  Google and others may now have to [charge] a fee for European users to cover the costs of staff to comb through requests.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-14/google-to-microsoft-face-user-request-overload-in-europe.html

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New European ruling game-changing for U.S. companies

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“The judgment was handed down by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union. The court ruled that Google, if asked to do so, must amend links to information shown to be outdated or information deemed to be irrelevant.  The case followed complaints from a man in Spain who argued that when Google’s search results revealed details published in a local newspaper about an auction of his repossessed home, that infringed on his privacy rights.  The European high court effectively said that any company that gathers or indexes information about European citizens is subject to its laws, even if the company has no physical presence in that nation.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/05/13/google-search-european-court-of-justice/9027645/

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U.S. Government Calls for Limits on Companies’ Use of Web Data

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“The White House, hoping to move the national debate over privacy beyond the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities to the practices of companies like Google and Facebook, released a long-anticipated report on Thursday that recommends developing government limits on how private companies make use of the torrent of information they gather from their customers online.  Because the effort goes so far beyond information collected by intelligence agencies, the report was viewed warily in Silicon Valley, where companies see it as the start of a government effort to regulate how they can profit from the data they collect from email and web surfing habits.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/us/white-house-report-calls-for-transparency-in-online-data-collection.html?_r=0

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AT&T and Verizon received one gov. data request per minute last year

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“Companies including Apple, Facebook and Google recently updated their privacy policies to disclose all government data requests to the individual users in question, a move meant to appease web denizens worldwide. While US telecoms like AT&T and Verizon haven’t announced plans to do the same, the Washington Post pored through the companies’ transparency reports to turn up a new stat. According to the publication, in 2013 AT&T and Verizon received more than one request every 60 seconds. This number is based on AT&T’s reported 301,816 requests from state, local and federal authorities, and Verizon’s reported 321,545 requests.”

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/06/att-verizon-data-request-per-minute/

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Is cloud computing the next tech bubble?

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“While the media circus around ‘the cloud’ continues and another baby-faced 20-something CEO gets ready to ring the opening bell on Wall Street, investors need to start getting real about the current bubble in tech stocks.  Here’s a heaping helping of reality to get you started, direct from Box’s filing with the SEC:  ‘We have a history of cumulative losses, and we do not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future.’  If that’s not bad enough, the company plans to raise just $250 million in its IPO — not even enough to cover two years of losses at the current cash bleed.  Like many Silicon Valley firms, Box is implementing a dual class structure.  I mean, what could go wrong?”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cloud-computing-the-next-tech-bubble-2014-03-27

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Google: Gov. requests for user information up 120% over four years

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“Government requests for user information in criminal cases have increased by about 120 percent since we first began publishing these numbers in 2009. Though our number of users has grown throughout the time period, we’re also seeing more and more governments start to exercise their authority to make requests.  We consistently push back against overly broad requests for your personal information, but it’s also important for laws to explicitly protect you from government overreach. That’s why we’re working alongside eight other companies to push for surveillance reform, including more transparency.”

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/transparency-report-requests-for-user.html

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Microsoft is using your data to target political ads on Xbox Live

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“Microsoft is trying to persuade politicians to take out targeted ads on Xbox Live, Skype, MSN and other company platforms as midterm elections begin heating up around the country. The ads, which would appear on the Xbox Live dashboard and other Microsoft products, combine Microsoft user IDs and other public data to build a profile of Xbox users. Campaigns can then blast ads to selected demographic categories, or to specific congressional districts. And if the campaign brings its own list of voter e-mail addresses, Microsoft can match the additional data with individual customer accounts for even more accurate voter targeting.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/03/07/microsoft-is-using-your-data-to-target-political-ads-on-xbox-live/

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In phishing attack, Microsoft’s unmentionables aired by hacktivists

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“Billing invoices and other documents show Microsoft charging the FBI hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to comply with legal requests for customer information, according to The Daily Dot. The stolen Microsoft material was provided by members of the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a hacking group that has compromised social media accounts and occasionally private networks of eBay and Viber, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post, the Associated Press, The Financial Times, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and Forbes. The group has proven itself to be extremely effective in waging highly targeted phishing attacks that extract login credentials.”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/03/taken-in-phishing-attack-microsofts-dirty-laundry-aired-by-hacktivists/

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Google, Facebook, Microsoft: steady rise in surveillance data requests

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“Google, Facebook, and Microsoft were among the technology companies to release new figures Monday showing a rising number of requests for their users’ data coming from a secretive U.S. surveillance court.  Depending on the company, the content might include private messages, documents, photos or videos.  By releasing the new numbers, the companies hope to become more transparent about the government data requests they receive tied to national security.  ‘Publishing these numbers is a step in the right direction,’ said Richard Salgado, Google’s legal director for law enforcement and information security, in a blog post breaking out the figures.”

http://www.infoworld.com/d/security/google-facebook-and-microsoft-show-steady-rise-in-surveillance-data-requests-235612

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Exposed: Covert, Real-Time Spying on Youtube, Facebook, Blogs

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“The British government gave the U.S. lessons in how to spy on users of popular websites, including Youtube and Facebook, in real-time and without the consent of users or cyber companies.  The report unearths a slide presentation by British intelligence agency GCHQ, given to their U.S. counterparts in August 2012, detailing their ‘Squeaky Dolphin’ program that allows them to glean information from ‘the torrent of electronic data that moves across fiber optic cable and display it graphically on a computer dashboard,’ according to the NBC article.  Facebook and Google said they were not aware that governments were surveying this information and they had not granted permission.”

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/01/27-6

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