Month: April 2017

News Roundup, April 26 By Eli Siems   U.K. Parliament concluded an inquiry into algorithmic decision-making. James Davenport contributed. “Buzzfeed is building a team of writers to sell you stuff you didn’t know you wanted,” mainly by producing familiar lists and slideshows about products and linking to partners like Amazon.com.…

PRG NEWS ROUNDUP: APRIL 12 by Caroline Alewaerts A research from New York University and Michigan State University reveals that smartphone fingerprint sensors may not be as secure as we think. The researchers managed to digitally create fake fingerprints (“MasterPrints”) that could match real fingerprints up to 65% of the time.…

Kartik Prasad Information Privacy Law Professor Ira Rubinstein April 12, 2017 Transparency Reports and the FREEDOM Act. The Snowden revelations showcased how Sections 215 and 702 was abused by the NSA in bulk collection of phone metadata. The FREEDOM Act (the Act) sought to curtail this practice by banning the NSA from directly collecting the metadata.…

Junjie Yan Information Privacy Law Professor Ira Rubinstein April 13, 2017 Title of Blog Post: Implications of the upcoming repeal of Internet privacy protections Article: Brian Fung, The House just voted to wipe away the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections Wash.…

Ambar Bhushan Information Privacy Law Professor Ira Rubinstein April 13, 2017 Lone Wolf 4th Amendment Challenge To NSA Bulk Data Collection Put On Ice Tennessee lawyer Elliot Schuchardt’s lawsuit alleging that the NSA was collecting and storing “massive quantities of email and other data created by United States Citizens” has been removed from the District Court’s active docket, The Pennsylvania Record reports.…

Cecilia Coelho Romero Information Privacy Law Professor Ira Rubinstein April 12, 2017 The end of unrestrained bulk metadata collection after Snowden’s revelations The USA Patriot Act enacted in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks allowed through its Section 215 the bulk metadata collection, which generated much debate in American society about the proper balance between national security and civil liberties.…

Jian Wu Information Privacy Law Professor Ira Rubinstein April 11, 2017 Title of Blog Post: China’s Cybersecurity Law Goes into Effect June 1, 2017 Article: Katherine W. Keally, China’s Cybersecurity Law Goes into Effect June 1, 2017—Are You Ready?, NACD Online (March 21, 2017), https://blog.nacdonline.org/2017/03/chinas-cybersecurity-law-goes-into-effect-june-1-2017-are-you-ready/…

Caroline Alewaerts Information Privacy Law Professor Ira Rubinstein April 10, 2017 Uncertain Future of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Reduced to only one member since the beginning of the year, many news reports warn that the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) may have become a dead shell, and will remain so unless decisions are made to replenish it.…

Alessandro Cocco Information Privacy Law Professor Ira Rubinstein April 8, 2017 The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (“FISA”) governs foreign intelligence, and introduces a legal regime different from the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”, the statute governing surveillance for domestic law enforcement purposes).…

by Eli Siems The NY Times reports on an ongoing struggle between banks and tech companies over the fate of your financial data. On Monday, Amazon.com launched its new Amazon Cash service, allowing customers to add paper cash to an Amazon account at a physical retail location.…