Technology Law & Regulation – Page 3 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: John Ribeiro| Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2017 03:45:00 -0800

Members of Congress reintroduced bills that would place curbs on warrantless access by the government to electronically generated geolocation information of Americans, including on the use of cell-site simulators that can capture cellphone data.

A bill introduced Wednesday, called the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act, aims to create clear rules for when law enforcement agencies can acquire an individual’s geolocation information, generated from electronic devices like smartphones, GPS units and Wi-Fi equipped laptops.

Another bill, the Cell Location Privacy Act of 2017, requires law enforcement, including local, state and federal agencies, to obtain a warrant for the use of cell-site simulators, with exceptions such as the use of the technology in emergencies or for foreign intelligence surveillance. It also imposes a fine or imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both, for any one knowingly using a cell-site simulator, except under certain exceptions like a warrant.

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ComputerWorld Independent

U.S. proposal to collect travelers' passwords alarms privacy experts

February 9, 2017 admin Data Privacy, Security, Technology Law & Regulation

To better vet foreign travelers, the U.S. might demand that some visa applicants hand over the passwords to their social media accounts, a proposal that’s alarming privacy experts.

“If they don’t want to give us the information, then they don’t come,” said John Kelly, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, on Tuesday.

Kelly mentioned the proposal in a congressional hearing when he was asked what his department was doing to look at visa applicants’ social media activity.

He said it was “very hard to truly vet” the visa applicants from the seven Muslim-majority countries covered by the Trump administration’s travel ban, which is now in legal limbo. Many of the countries are failed states with little internal infrastructure, he said.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Court denies U.S. government appeal in Microsoft overseas email case

January 25, 2017 admin Data Privacy, Security, Technology Law & Regulation

A U.S. appeals court will not reconsider its groundbreaking decision denying Department of Justice efforts to force Microsoft to turn over customer emails stored outside the country.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a 4-4 decision Tuesday, declined to rehear its July decision that denied the DOJ access to the email of a drug trafficking suspect stored on a Microsoft server in Ireland. Microsoft has been fighting DOJ requests for the email since 2013.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Pompeo sworn in as CIA chief amid opposition from surveillance critics

January 25, 2017 admin Data Privacy, Security, Technology Law & Regulation

Mike Pompeo was sworn in late Monday as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency amid protests from surveillance critics who worry about his conflicting views on a number of key issues.

The oath of office was administered by Vice President Mike Pence after the Senate voted in favor of his confirmation in a 66-32 vote.

Critics of Pompeo, a Republican representative from Kansas, are concerned that he may weigh in with the government on a rollback of many privacy reforms, including restrictions on the collection of bulk telephone metadata from Americans by the National Security Agency under the USA Freedom Act. There are also concerns that the new director may try to introduce curbs on the use of encryption and bring in measures to monitor the social media accounts.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Yahoo pushes back timing of Verizon deal after breaches

January 25, 2017 admin internet, IT Industry, Security, Technology Law & Regulation

Verizon’s planned acquisition of Yahoo will take longer than expected and won’t close until this year’s second quarter, the internet company said on Monday.

The $4.8 billion deal was originally slated to close in the first quarter, but that was before Yahoo reported two massive data breaches that analysts say may scrap the entire deal.

Although Yahoo continues to work to close the acquisition, there’s still work required to meet closing the deal’s closing conditions, the company said in an earnings statement, without elaborating.

Verizon has suggested that the data breaches, and the resulting blow to Yahoo’s reputation, might cause it to halt or renegotiate the deal.

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