Chat control approved in EU

 It is a sad day for liberty and privacy in the EU.

Online platforms must monitor activity related to child abuse and take measures to limit the risks. take measures to limit for child abuse. 

Failing to do so, they can be fined. Platforms which are said to have a high risk of containing such material can be forced to implement measures by a national governing authority.

This implies that they will be required to scan all communication. Child abuse is being abused as an argument to scan all communication.

In Belgium we have a long standing right for private communication in postal letters (briefgeheim). We are now losing a part of our freedom. 

 

Google to destroy data colleced in incongnito mode after lawsuit

After settling a lawsuit, Google will destroy tracking information it collected on websites containing google tracking (analytics) or advertising info for users browsing in incognito mode.

It only collected information if

• users had a google account, even if the were not logged into it
• users were not using firefox, which has better privacy

Data will be deleted on about 136 million users.

Separte from the lawsuit, Google is also phasing out usage of third party cookies in Chrome. Currently you can configure chrome to block third pary cookies, it just is not the default as it is in Firefox and Safari.

More...

Citizens being tracked to map Corona spread

We all know the technologies of Google to track your location history.
The register reports that governements are deploying these technologies to track where people infected with corona where before and with whomm they had contact.
China has such a system in place and Iran is reportedly doing the same.
The Israeli caretaker government also has enabled this, without consent from parliament or the relevant committees. The data are under strict oversight and limited to thirty days.
In America the Trump administration is talking to Google and Facebook to supply these data.
Governments all over the world are eagerly taking the opportunity to  overrule privacy rights of citizens.

Berlin traffic jam

Streets in red indicate traffic jams on Google Maps.

Firefox 72: get rid of push notification popups

In Firefox 72 you can now avoid random websites asking to send you notifications. Automatically say no in options> privacy and security, scroll down to notifications and click settings...
Then:

Additionally Firefox has enhanced security by making fingerprinting more difficult.

Developer features:

• debugger watchpoints: breakpoints on property changes.
• experimental CSS motion path feauture: an easier way to animate than transform.

Dutch government recommends against using Microsoft products that do not comply with GDPR

A report by Privacy Company, commissioned by the Dutch government, has found privacy risks in Office 365, Windows 10 Enterprise and mobile apps, that are possible violations of GDPR.
The Dutch government discourages the use of this software.
In a reaction on previous remarks, Microsoft made modifications to Office 365 Pro Plus, which is now in line with GDPR.

more...

GDPR compliance of dominant IT consumer platforms

ForbrukerRadet, the Norwegian Consumer Counsils, published a report Deceived By Design on privacy compliance with GDPR in the dominant IT consumer platforms.

youronlinechoices.com: an industry funded joke

With GDPR in operation, a lot of sites refer to youronlinechoices.com to manage your advertising cookies. On the homepage of the site you can select your country and language and then go to your advertising preferences. Sometimes you are directed to the preferences page directly.

The site lists (for me) 116 advertising sites, with for each company an on/off status. The site is a self-regulating, industry funded site.
Only... it does not work. For the 116 sites, only 14 show a response, the rest time out.

The site allows you to switch advertising on/off for individual companies. As it is not practical to click 116 buttons, there is a handy option to switch them all on or off.
Only... it does not work. Just like you could expect, the operation times out.

Most companies have an edaa certified label. You can click on the label to see the certification the advertising company received.
Only... it does not work. This is what you get:

Sorry, the page you are looking for either doesn't exist or something has gone wrong. Please go back to the home page and try again. Thank you.

At the bottom of the page there is a feedback mail adress. I signaled the problems to them.
Only... it does not work. After more then a month i did not even get a mail confirming the receipt of my message.

So much for industry self regulation.

I'll start listing companies using this bogus site to manage your privacy here:
- rabobank.be

Hotmail, SkyDrive privacy

Microsoft identified a former employee as the source of some press leaks of software under development (among others,  Windows 8).
Micorsoft did so by searching the hotmail and Skydrive data of the journalist and the employee.
This is remarkable, as Microsoft launched the Scroogled campaign site against Google guaranteeing: Outlook.com is different—we don't go through your email to sell ads.
According to the terms of service of its Communication Services Microsoft has every right to go through your data:
Microsoft reserves the right to review materials posted to the Communication Services and to remove any materials in its sole discretion.
So, the terms of service do not include the campaign assurance that Microsoft will not go through your data for specific goals like selling ads, they may do so whenever they feel like it.
They do include motives that may trigger the of your data in the terms of service:
Microsoft may access, disclose, or preserve information associated with your use of the services ... [to] protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers.
So anything that has to do with licensing of software, music etc. may cause your data to be searched and any legal claim by a Microsoft customer (that's the entire business world) may lead to data disclosure.
Indeed, in the campaign, Microsoft does not claim that they will not go through your email. They just don't go through it with the purpose of selling adds.

IT Users have to explictly agree on conditions

Applications that present "I agree" boxes that are already checked will not have any legal value in the latest draft report of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation act.
Users have to take an explicit action to express their agreement.
Looks like a good idea to me.
Another important element in the act is The right to be forgotten. This allows users to remove content they put online earlier.

More elements in the draft...

Google cuts gmail for youngsters

My friends daughter is eleven years old and Google has closed down access to her email.
Without any warning she loses all stored emails and contacts. 
She has 30 days to prove she is at least twelve years old (which she isn't) before all gmail contents will be permanently removed.
The only thing my friend can do is lie about her age. He has to do this by making a $0.3 credit card payment to Google to prove the lie has been told by someone who is old enough to own a credit card.

Google has been pushing users to convert their Google accounts to Google+ accouonts.
But privacy restrictions for social accounts are much stricter for children.
So now Google is kicking all children who have converted to Google+ out.

This experience shows that free Google services come without any guarantee and Google can decide to throw away all your work  at any time.
We have seen this in the past with other free Google services

• Google apps: I had to give my credit card number when i signed up for the free Google Apps. When it became paying my application was below the paying limits, still Google started taking small amonts from my credit card. Without any justification, invoice or contact person I could turn to for an explanation. In the end I had to get a new credit to make this stop.
• iGoogle retirement

idPhone

The Arabian Emirates is planning to incorporate the ID card in residents mobile phones.
This opens unprecedented possibilities for monitoring the population

• Through the mobile phone operator the government will know the location of every single citizen
• The ID card will also work using NFC. NFC allows the contents to be read from a short distance (currently max 20cm, and for practical purposes 4 cm), even if your battery is dead. If they improve this distance a bit it will be very easy to register everybody passing a checkpoint.

All in all this allows a small group of people to effectively monitor and control a large group of people.

German states use spyware to eavesrop on suspects

While a laptop was being checked when passing through German customs, spyware was allegedly installed on the computer by the authorities.
More...