Tag: Government

(Dec 10, 2018) The U.S. House Oversight Committee released a report Monday on last year's data breach of Equifax, saying the incident was "entirely preventable" and that the company mishandled its response, according to Politico. "Equifax failed to fully appreciate and mitigate its cybersecurity risks," the Congressional report states. Two factors led to the breach: The company's structure allowed gaps between IT policy development and operations, and the company grew too fast, creating a series of legacy syst... Read More

(Dec 10, 2018) European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee Chair Claude Moraes has called for tougher regulation against social media platforms after the U.K. Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee released internal Facebook documents revealing the tech company gave some companies special access to user data, CNBC reports. Moraes said the European Commission needs to update competition rules to “audit the advertising industry on social media.” “Facebook is now on n... Read More

(Dec 7, 2018) The Business Roundtable, a group of more than 200 retailers, tech companies and financial institutions, plans to release recommendations for a federal U.S. privacy law, The Washington Post reports. The Business Roundtable seeks for data-collection requirements to be universal across all industries and for the Federal Trade Commission to receive more enforcement authority and resources. The group also recommends a streamline of current federal data-collection laws to avoid any regulatory conflict... Read More

(Dec 7, 2018) The Italian Competition and Market Authority announced it has fined Facebook and Facebook Ireland 10 million euros for its violations of the country’s Consumer Code. The authority alleged Facebook failed to properly inform users of its data-collection practices and that the social media platform shared the information with third parties. Facebook was also penalized for its use of the “active platform” function, which gave the company the ability to access external websites and apps through a use... Read More

(Dec 7, 2018) Statistics Canada has delayed its plan to gather the financial data and personal information of 500,000 Canadian citizens, The Globe and Mail reports. The agency also announced it has suspended its acquisition of personal credit records from TransUnion. Statistics Canada’s decisions come after the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada announced it would launch an investigation into the data-collection plans. “Statistics Canada has put this project on pause, and informed TransUnion to that... Read More

(Dec 7, 2018) Former Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart looks at the advances the country’s privacy laws have gone through since her tenure ended in 2013, Legaltech News reports. Stoddart said Canada has taken “sweeping actions” to penalize companies for violations of the country’s privacy regulations. On Canada’s new data breach notification law, Stoddart believes it is “certainly a challenge for many Canadian organizations. While some are well prepared, this regulation demands among other thin... Read More

(Dec 7, 2018) The Canadian federal government has discussed different methods to protect citizens’ data, CTV News reports. Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains said one idea the government may consider is the installation of third-party trusteeships that would be in control over data rather than tech companies, Politico PRO Canada originally reported. During an international conference hosted by startup Element AI, Bains said the conversations are still in development. "It's ... Read More

(Dec 6, 2018) After Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said his party cannot back the complete Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill last week, Labor and the Coalition have reached an in-principle agreement on the bill, the Guardian reports. The deal limits that the bill's power is used only in “serious offences” and adds safeguards to law enforcement agencies’ ability to demand backdoor access to encrypted products. Dreyfus said the bill was “far from perfect and t... Read More

(Dec 6, 2018) Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila offered her opinion on claims the country’s government is using the EU General Data Protection Regulation to force the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project to reveal its sources, EUobserver reports. "If these rights are not observed, if there is (sic) transgressions on confidentiality and private life, these things need to be sanctioned according to European rules," Dancila said. The prime minister added while Romania’s constitution allows for ... Read More

(Dec 6, 2018) The U.S. Census Bureau has released a framework on its efforts to adopt a “formal privacy” approach, The New York Times reports. The agency’s main focus has been on the incorporation of differential privacy in its data-collection practices. The Census Bureau rolled out a differential privacy method in its 2018 End-to-End Census Test in Rhode Island, its only opportunity to do so before the next census in 2020. The main challenge for the agency has been to find the right level of “noise” for citi... Read More