Politicians should be wary of regulating the internet November 7, 2018 The internet is under scrutiny like never before. On Monday, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, architect of the world wide web, warned of his invention’s detrimental effect on society and democracy, and launched a “Magna Carta” so people can use it “freely, safely and without fear”. Then yesterday, the UK information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, gave evidence to [...]
This Halloween, businesses must tackle their demons and embrace the AI boogeyman October 31, 2018 Business leaders are an easily spooked bunch. Economic turbulence, new competitors, and workplace skill deficits are just a few of the things that can give us a fright at any time of year, without the added frisson of All Hallows’ Eve. But a new fear has emerged this year: customer data – namely how it’s [...]
The value of the average data breach fine in the UK doubles in one year October 29, 2018 The average value of fines issued by the UK’s data watchdog doubled over the last year to reach £146,000, according to new figures released today by City law firm RPC. Additionally, the total value of fines imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the twelve months to 30 September 2018 rose to just under £5m. [...]
European Parliament calls for a full audit of Facebook over its data breach track record October 25, 2018 The European Parliament has today called for a full audit to be carried out on Facebook to assess the security of its users' personal data and the firm's data protection policies, in light of this year's string of data breaches. MEPs have today adopted a resolution which urged Facebook to allow EU bodies to carry out [...]
Apple chief Tim Cook calls for GDPR-style privacy in the US October 24, 2018 Apple chief executive Tim Cook praised EU privacy laws in a rare speech in Brussels today, and demanded that the US follow its lead. Appearing at an international data protection conference, Cook said it was "time for the rest of the world" to get up to speed on data privacy with the EU's General Data Protection [...]
Google preparing to appeal EU’s €4.3bn Android fine October 9, 2018 Google is expected to challenge European competition authorities tomorrow, as the deadline to appeal the EU's record-breaking €4.3bn fine against its parent firm Alphabet comes to pass. The tech giant was charged by regulators over "serious illegal behaviour" with its Android operating system in July. Brussels ruled that Google had forced smartphone makers to favour its own [...]
Irish regulator to probe Alphabet’s Google+ data leak October 9, 2018 Ireland's Data Protection Office today said it will seek answers from Google over the data leak from its failed social media platform Google+, which could have exposed the profile information of at least 500,000 users. Google said last night it was shutting down Google+ for consumers, after it discovered and patched the bug back in [...]
Heathrow fined £120,000 for leaving security staff’s personal data on an unencrypted memory stick October 8, 2018 Heathrow must pay a £120,000 fine after an employee lost a memory stick containing dozens of staff’s personal details. The details of up to 50 security personnel, and 10 people’s names, dates of birth and passport numbers, were exposed on the memory stick, which was found by a member of the public. Read more: Heathrow [...]
Irish regulator to investigate Facebook over data breach with an expected fine of up to $1.6bn October 2, 2018 The Irish Data Protection Office has opened a probe into Facebook over last week's cyber attack, which saw more than 90m accounts potentially affected. Ireland's data regulator will launch the case against Facebook under General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), as it confirmed that less than 10 per cent of the users affected were inside the [...]
Equifax fined maximum £500,000 for data breach affecting 145m people September 20, 2018 Credit rating agency Equifax has received the maximum possible fine of £500,000 for a data breach affecting up to 15m Brits. UK data protection regulator the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the penalty reflected its opinion that the US giant “has no excuse” for failing to follow its own internal policies and the law, [...]