Online privacy

The Department of Immigration & Customs Enforcement is taking new steps in its plans for monitoring the social media accounts of applicants and holders of U.S. visas. At a tech industry conference in Arlington (VA), ICE officials explained to software providers what they are seeking: algorithms that would assess potential threats posed by visa holders in the United States and conduct ongoing social media surveillance of those deemed high risk. The comments provide the first clear blueprint for ICE’s proposed augmentation of its visa-vetting program.

Google is ending a practice in which certain Android cellphone location information was captured, following an online investigation that raised questions about how the information might impact your privacy.  The report states that software on Android phones gathers location data and sends it back to Google, even if you’ve actively turned off location settings on your phone, haven’t used any apps, or even if you haven’t inserted a SIM card from your carrier.

Many people realize that smartphones track their locations. But what if you actively turn off location services, haven’t used any apps, and haven’t even inserted a carrier SIM card? Even if you take all of those precautions, phones running Android software gather data about your location and send it back to Google when they’re connected to the internet. Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google.

In addition to ditching its own network neutrality rules, the Federal Communications Commission also plans to tell state and local governments that they cannot impose local laws regulating broadband service. This detail was revealed by senior FCC officials in a phone briefing with reporters, and is a victory for broadband providers that asked for widespread preemption of state laws. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposed order finds that state and local laws must be preempted if they conflict with the US government's policy of deregulating broadband Internet service, FCC officials said.

If you have the uncomfortable sense someone is looking over your shoulder as you surf the Web, you're not being paranoid.

Mobile industry lobby group CTIA urged the Federal Communications Commission to preempt state laws on privacy and network neutrality in a recent meeting and filing. Comcast and Verizon had already asked the FCC to preempt such laws; CTIA represents AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile USA, Sprint, and other mobile companies. Carriers are urging the FCC to preempt states in the same regulatory proceeding that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai started in order to overturn the commission's net neutrality rules.

Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT), joined by six other Sens, introduced comprehensive consumer privacy legislation to protect Americans’ sensitive personal information against cyberattacks and to ensure timely notification and protection when data is breached. Sen Leahy’s Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2017 would require companies to take preventive steps to defend against cyberattacks and data breaches, and to quickly provide consumers with notice and appropriate protection when a data breach occurs.

A senior adviser for the European Union's top court told an Austrian privacy activist that he can't sue Facebook on behalf of 25,000 people. The adviser said that activist Max Schrems could sue the company on his own but that a class action suit would likely fall flat in court. Schrems has accused the social network of violating European privacy laws, taking aim at what he sees as invalid privacy policies and data-sharing agreements the company has with US intelligence agencies.

 CTIA - The Wireless Association is joining Verizon and Comcast in asking the Federal Communications Commission to prohibit states from subjecting broadband providers to privacy rules. "The Commission ... should preempt any state or local broadband-specific regulation, irrespective of whether the state or locality claims that its regulation promotes or supplements federal goals," CTIA said.