New European Privacy Laws Will Mean That Many Readers In Europe Will Not Be Able To Read Articles That War News Updates Posts

Bloomberg: Blocking 500 Million Users Easier Than Complying With GDPR

For some of America’s biggest newspapers and online services, it’s easier to block half a billion people from accessing your product than comply with Europe’s new General Data Protection Regulation.

The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and The New York Daily News are just some telling visitors that, "Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries."

With about 500 million people living in the European Union, that’s a hard ban on one-and-a-half times the population of the U.S.

Blanket blocking EU internet connections -- which will include any U.S. citizens visiting Europe -- isn’t limited to newspapers. Popular read-it-later service Instapaper says on its website that it’s "temporarily unavailable for residents in Europe as we continue to make changes in light of the General Data Protection Regulation."

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WNU Editor: To say that this sucks is an understatement. I understand and respect the importance of having one's data private .... but I also understand and appreciate that many excellent web services and products are offered for free on the condition that they can use your data for marketing purposes. There is a need to have a balance .... but in the case of the European organization responsible for these new rules it appears that the word "balance" is not in their vocabulary .... it is their way or the the highway. For WNU readers of this blog in the EU .... this is going to hurt.

There Are Now 250 Million Surveillance Cameras Worldwide

Tarun Wadhwa, Market Watch: Facial recognition will soon end your anonymity

Nearly 250 million video surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the world, and chances are you’ve been seen by several of them today. Most people barely notice their presence anymore — on the streets, inside stores, and even within our homes. We accept the fact that we are constantly being recorded because we expect this to have virtually no impact on our lives. But this balance may soon be upended by advancements in facial recognition technology.

Soon anybody with a high-resolution camera and the right software will be able to determine your identity. That’s because several technologies are converging to make this accessible. Recognition algorithms have become far more accurate, the devices we carry can process huge amounts of data, and there’s massive databases of faces now available on social media that are tied to our real names. As facial recognition enters the mainstream, it will have serious implications for your privacy.

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WNU Editor: This is one of those stories that was unthinkable 20 years ago .... but it is now the norm.

The U.S. Government Wants To Access Microsoft's Email Overseas

The Guardian: Microsoft case: DoJ says it can demand every email from any US-based provider

Microsoft counsel addresses question of US search warrant for Hotmail emails stored in Ireland: ‘We would go crazy if China did this to us’.

The United States government has the right to demand the emails of anyone in the world from any email provider headquartered within US borders, Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyers told a federal appeals court on Wednesday.

The case being heard in the second circuit court of appeals is between the US and Microsoft and concerns a search warrant that the government argues should compel Microsoft to retrieve emails held on a Hotmail server in Ireland.

WNU Editor: One more chip away at our privacy.

More News On The U.S. Government Wanting Access To Microsoft's Email Overseas

Microsoft urges U.S. court to block warrant for emails held abroad -- Reuters
Microsoft argues email stored in Ireland not subject to search warrant -- USA Today
Microsoft Says Handing Over Irish Emails Could Start 'Global Free-For-All' -- NBC
Making Microsoft hand over Irish emails could start ‘firestorm’ -- Irish Times
Microsoft battles US over warrant for drugs case emails -- BBC
Microsoft Seeks to Block US From Accessing Email Overseas -- NYT
Microsoft Appeals US Government's Offshore Data Grab: 'This Is A Matter Of National Sovereignty' -- IBTimes
Microsoft Argues for Data Security in Landmark Court Appeal -- Bloomberg
Decision in Microsoft case could set dangerous global precedent, experts say -- The Guardian
Can the U.S. demand emails stored in Ireland? -- Politico

Mozilla To Offer A New And Free Web Tool To Monitor Who Is Following You On The Web

Lightbeam reveals the source of third-party adverts

Mozilla's Lightbeam Tool Will Expose Who Is Looking Over Your Shoulder On The Web -- The Independent

Just who is looking over your shoulder when you browse the Internet? Tomorrow, web users will be given a new tool to shine a light on the commercial organisations which track your every movement online.

Lightbeam, a download produced by Mozilla, the US free software community behind the popular Firefox browser, claims to be a “watershed” moment in the battle for web transparency.

Everyone who browses the Internet leaves a digital trail used by advertisers to discover what your interests are.

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My Comment: My web browser of choice is Mozilla. When this web tool is available I will download it and  try it .... expect a followup report later in the day.

Chipping Away At U.S. Freedoms And Privacy

Sen. Patrick Leahy previously said his bill boosts Americans' e-mail privacy protections by "requiring that the government obtain a search warrant." That's no longer the case. (Credit: U.S. Senate)

Senate Bill Rewrite Lets Feds Read Your E-Mail Without Warrants -- CNet

Proposed law scheduled for a vote next week originally increased Americans' e-mail privacy. Then law enforcement complained. Now it increases government access to e-mail and other digital files.

A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law, CNET has learned.

Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns, according to three individuals who have been negotiating with Leahy's staff over the changes. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.

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My Comment: I am old enough to remember that right after 9/11 there were demonstrations across America against legislation that would expand the power of the government over surveillance and privacy issues .... today .... there is not even a whimper as even more draconian laws are discussed (and passed) over American freedoms and the right to privacy. What happened?

U.S. Web-Tracking Plan Stirs Privacy Fears .... And ..... I Have A Personal Story On This Issue

From The Washington Post:

The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.

A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a "compelling need."

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My Comment: In my professional background (I have to pay my bills), I have been involved in the computer industry since the early 1980s. My background is very extensive and .... if I may be a bit modest .... nothing can pass and/or surprise me. If I cannot solve a problem, I know people who can.

After 9/11 I had a problem with one of my drives .... a nasty virus that I could not eliminate. I formatted the drive and then did a check. I found that there was something in the boot sector of my hard drive. Thinking it was the virus that messed up my hard drive, I then went through the motions of using my software to eliminate this problem.

Nothing worked. I even did a slow format using a motherboard that was designed to do these things .... it still did not worked.

I did not want to throw aside the hard drive, so I went to a friend who (because of his work with the Canadian government) had all the software and equipment to eliminate such headaches.

It was with him that I discovered that this anomaly had a whitehouse.gov address.

This incredibly sophisticated cookie (for a lack of a better term) was not the reason why my drive got infected .... the infection in fact helped me to notice it. Wondering how it got there, I then recalled that a month before I had visited the White House web site to read and browse its contents. I guess it planted this calling card then.

I knew at that time that the U.S. Government was prohibited from tracking its own citizens and their use of U.S. government web sites. But I am a Canadian citizen who lives in Canada .... thereby making me "out of U.S. jurisdiction" and a target for U.S tracking.

So .... has the U.S. been tracking what citizens from other countries have been doing when they visit American Government web sites .... from my own personal experience, I will have to say yes.

Have American's who live abroad also been swept into this web of tracking what people do ..... I will have to also say yes.

Is this legal .... hmmmmm .....