privacy – The News Desk

Paris prepares for 100-day countdown to the Olympics. It wants to rekindle love for the Games

15Apr

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Entertainment

Paris prepares for 100-day countdown to the Olympics. It wants to rekindle love for the Games

PARIS -- In Paris' outskirts, a bright-eyed young girl is eager for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to end.That's because the swimming club where 10-year-old Lyla Kebbi trains will inherit an Olympic pool. It will be dismantled after the Games and trucked from the Olympic race venue in Paris' high-rise business district to Sevran, a Paris-area town with less glitter and wealth. There, the pieces will be bolted back together and — voila ! — Kebbi and her swim team will have a new Olympic-sized pool to splash around in.“It’s incredible !” she says. “I hope it’s going to bring us luck," adds her mother, Nora.In 100 days as of Wednesday, the Paris Olympics will kick off with a wildly ambitious waterborne opening ceremony. But the first Games in a century in France’s capital won't be judged f...

House Votes to Extend—and Expand—a Major US Spy Program

12Apr

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Technology

House Votes to Extend—and Expand—a Major US Spy Program

A controversial US wiretap program days from expiration cleared a major hurdle on its way to being reauthorized.After months of delays, false starts, and interventions by lawmakers working to preserve and expand the US intelligence community’s spy powers, the House of Representatives voted on Friday to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for two years.Legislation extending the program—controversial for being abused by the government—passed in the House in a 273–147 vote. The Senate has yet to pass its own bill.Section 702 permits the US government to wiretap communications between Americans and foreigners overseas. Hundreds of millions of calls, texts, and emails are intercepted by government spies each with the “compelled assistance” of US communication...

Roku suffered another data breach, this time affecting 576,000 accounts

12Apr

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Technology

Roku suffered another data breach, this time affecting 576,000 accounts

has in as many months. While it was looking into a previous incident in which 15,000 accounts were affected, the company learned that another 576,000 accounts had been compromised.In both incidents, Roku believes that the attackers used a method called credential stuffing. "It is likely that login credentials used in these attacks were taken from another source, like another online account, where the affected users may have used the same credentials," the company says.Roku added that, in fewer than 400 cases, attackers used victims' Roku accounts to buy streaming subscriptions and Roku devices using stored payment methods. However, the hackers did not gain access to full credit card numbers or other payment information.The company has reset the passwords for all affected accounts and in...

GOP Group Blocks Surveillance Law Update In House

11Apr

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Politics

GOP Group Blocks Surveillance Law Update In House

Rebellious House Republicans on Wednesday turned back an effort to renew an anti-terror surveillance law that’s been used in the past to spy on Americans, leaving its fate up in the air less than 10 days before it’s set to expire.The fight over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — and particularly the post-9/11-era spying provision Section 702 — has pitted both Republicans and Democrats worried about civil liberties against a similarly bipartisan group that sees the law as a crucial tool in the country’s national security toolbox.Nineteen Republicans bucked party leaders and voted against allowing the renewal bill and amendments to be debated on the House floor, stalling its progress with a 193-228 vote.“The constitutional liberties of Americans have to come first. We don’t bend th...

Trump Loyalists Kill Vote on US Wiretap Program

10Apr

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Technology

Trump Loyalists Kill Vote on US Wiretap Program

For the third time since December, House Speaker Mike Johnson has failed to wrangle support for reauthorizing a critical US surveillance program, raising questions about the future of a law that compels certain businesses to wiretap foreigners on the government’s behalf.Johnson lost 19 Republicans on Tuesday in a procedural vote that traditionally falls along party lines. Republicans control the House of Representatives but only by a razor-thin margin. The failed vote comes just hours after former US president Donald Trump ordered Republicans to “Kill FISA” in a 2 am post on Truth Social, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, under which the program is authorized.The Section 702 surveillance program, which targets foreigners overseas while sweeping up a large amount of U...

A Breakthrough Online Privacy Proposal Hits Congress

8Apr

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Technology

A Breakthrough Online Privacy Proposal Hits Congress

Congress may be closer than ever to passing a comprehensive data privacy framework after key House and Senate committee leaders released a new proposal on Sunday.The bipartisan proposal, titled the American Privacy Rights Act, or APRA, would limit the types of consumer data companies can collect, retain, and use to what they need to operate their services. Users would also be allowed to opt-out of targeted advertising and have the ability to view, correct, delete, and download their data from online services. The proposal would also create a national registry of data brokers, and force those companies to allow users to opt out of having their data sold.“This landmark legislation gives Americans the right to control where their information goes and who can sell it,” Cathy McMorris Rodgers,...

Google Just Denied Cops a Key Surveillance Tool

16Dec

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Technology

Google Just Denied Cops a Key Surveillance Tool

A hacker group calling itself Solntsepek, previously linked to the infamous Russian military hacking unit Sandworm, took credit this week for a disruptive attack on the Ukrainian internet and mobile service provider Kyivstar. As Russia’s kinetic war against Ukraine has dragged on, inflicting what the World Bank estimates to be around $410 billion in recovery costs for Ukraine, the country has launched an official crowdfunding platform known as United24 as a means of raising awareness and rebuilding.Kytch, the small company that aimed to fix McDonald’s notably often-broken ice cream machines, claims it has discovered a “smoking gun” email from the CEO of McDonald’s ice cream machine manufacturer that Kytch's lawyers say suggests an alleged plan to undermine Kytch as a potential competitor....

A Civil Rights Firestorm Erupts Around a Looming Surveillance Power Grab

29Nov

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Technology

A Civil Rights Firestorm Erupts Around a Looming Surveillance Power Grab

United States lawmakers are receiving a flood of warnings from across civil society not to be bend to the efforts by some members of Congress to derail a highly sought debate over the future of a powerful but polarizing US surveillance program.House and Senate party leaders are preparing to unveil legislation on Wednesday directing the spending priorities of the US military and its $831 billion budget next year. Rumors, meanwhile, have been circulating on Capitol Hill about plans reportedly hatched by House speaker Mike Johnson to amend the bill in an effort to extend Section 702, a sweeping surveillance program drawing fire from a large contingent of Democratic and Republican lawmakers favoring privacy reforms.WIRED first reported on the rumors on Monday, citing senior congressional aide...

28Nov

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Business

The CFPB Targets an Antiterror Tool

Nov. 28, 2023 12:53 pm ETI led an investigation for the Federal Bureau of Investigation that caught a terrorist plotting an attack on U.S. soil. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is moving to block access to an essential tool my team used.The CFPB is considering a proposal that would effectively ban credit-reporting companies from selling credit-header data to law enforcement agencies. These data include identifying material such as a person’s name, current and former addresses, Social Security number and phone numbers—but not financial information. The CFPB’s proposal would force law-enforcement officers to subpoena this information—a process that can take weeks or months—instead of obtaining instant access. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990c...

We Can’t Return to a Pre-9/11 Mindset on Foreign Surveillance

24Nov

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Business

We Can’t Return to a Pre-9/11 Mindset on Foreign Surveillance

By Michael B. Mukasey and Jamil N. JafferNov. 23, 2023 12:09 pm ETThe U.S. faces threats from every corner of the globe. Chinese-made fentanyl and its chemical precursors pour through the southern border, and the Communist Party menaces in the Indo-Pacific. Iran’s terrorist proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, fire on American allies and troops in the Mideast. North Korea tests ballistic missiles. Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine. Each of them endangers Americans at home to boot.America’s security depends on our ability to understand and respond to these threats. Yet Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, the primary method for gathering intel against such threats, expires Dec. 31. Letting it lapse over misplaced concerns about Americans’ privacy wou...