Broadband Privacy Rules – 5 Myths

With the repeal of the FCC rules on broadband privacy and security, there’s been a lot of misinformation floating around the web. Here’s my attempt to clarify some of the issues. The Rules Gave Preferential Treatment to Edge Providers Like Google One of the reasons given to justify the repeal of the FCC broadband privacy and…

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Broadband Privacy Regulations – Repeal and Retrace

On March 28, 2017, the United States Congress voted to repeal regulations issued by the FCC which would have required Internet Service Providers to obtain the consent of their customers before they could sell their information. Currently, if you visit a website like Facebook, Twitter, or Google, the website collects the fact that you have visited,…

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An Offer You Can’t (But Must) Refuse – WikiLeaks and Secure Code

Julian Assange has offered to help make your product more secure. Julian Assange has offered to make you a felon. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has released information about the CIA’s “Vault 7” Swiss Army knife toolkit for rooting and hacking into computers, phones, routers, networks, and IoT devices. These include a wealth of theoretical, known, and “zero…

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Uber, Greyballing and Honeypots – Sauce for the Goose?

The New York Times recently reported that ride sharing service Uber used a tactic – approved by their lawyers – called “greyballing” – to thwart efforts by law and code enforcement agencies from catching Uber drivers and the company operating in prohibited areas. Without commenting on the legality of the particular service itself, the case raises the question…

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Supreme Court – Meet Social Media

Once again the United States Supreme Court steps into the thicket of how and when the States may regulate the content and actions of users of social media. In oral arguments on February 27, the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of a North Carolina law that prohibited the use of Facebook or other social media sites…

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Phone Check – White House Demands Inspection of Employee Phones – What’s In YOUR Cell Phone?

It has been reported that Presidential spokesperson Sean Spicer called an emergency meeting of his staff to hunt for leaks.  At that meeting, reportedly approved by and supervised by White House counsel, Spicer demanded that the staffers produce their cell phones (government and personal) for examination to determine whether or not they were the leakers,…

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