Can a court order stop a torrent file?

Building privacy filters against constant surveillance

Do you remember the time when important events were described by journalists, re-enacted by actors, or retold by witnesses? Lucky snapshots were rare, and viral videos and citizen journalism were alien concepts. Now we are increasingly presented with pictures that give us every angle of an explosion, CCTV cameras catching a meteorite, the incredible [...]

Ban the Glass?

Imagine a device that records your location at all times, that can be used to take videos and pictures of any event and upload it to social media with little concern for privacy of the subjects.

Were you thinking of Google Glass? I was actually thinking of the worse threat to human privacy ever invented:

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Privacy is dead

Privacy is dead. There is no such thing as privacy. We are all under constant, unending, crushing surveillance.

Depressed? You should be. This is the powerful conclusion reached by security guru Bruce Schneier in this brilliant op-ed for CNN. Schneier writes:

“The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or [...]

Report by European body cautious about “right to be forgotten”

The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has released a report on the possible implementation of the right to be forgotten. “The right to be forgotten” is one of the elements of the new proposed regulation (January 2012) on data protection of the European Commission. The right allows people to ask for digitally held [...]

Do trolls have privacy rights?

On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a troll…

The Internet is going through one of its cyclical soul-searching periods, prompted by a spat between popular websites Reddit and Gawker. A journalist for Gawker published an article in which the identity of a notorious troll on Reddit was doxxed, that is, his real identity was [...]

Facebook privacy statement hoax

I have been seeing different versions of the following legal-looking privacy statement on Facebook popping up through my timeline:

“Facebook is now a publicly traded entity. Unless you state otherwise, anyone can infringe on your right to privacy once you post to this site. It is recommended that you and other members post a similar [...]

CISPA is a threat to the world

The United States Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has passed in the US House of Representatives despite vocal online opposition, and the surprising threat of veto from the White House. H.R. 3523 drew criticism because it is purported to be a threat to privacy as it encourages Internet services to share user [...]

Council of Europe adopts human rights framework for social media and search engines

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has announced that it will adopt two sets of recommendations that favour human rights approaches for search engines and social media platforms.

In Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)3, the Committee has adopted a series of impressive-sounding policies that recognise the growing importance of search engines, and the need [...]

Is disturbed by Facebook Timeline

So, Facebook’s Timeline is upon us, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Well, in theory one can quit, but I’ve been there, done that. Still, I find Timeline so disturbing that I’m seriously considering giving up on FB again altogether. The thing about the new interface is that it shows [...]