News

2018

December

11

• Equifax data breach was "entirely preventable". A scathing new report finds one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history was "entirely preventable." A 14-month congressional investigation slammed credit rating agency Equifax for lacking preventative measures in a

10

• Your apps know where you are (and aren't keeping it secret). Many consumers know that apps can track people’s movements. But as smartphones have become ubiquitous and technology more accurate, an industry of snooping on people’s daily habits has spread and grown

05

• Quora discloses data breach affecting 100 million users. Quora, a widely used question-and-answer website, announced that a “malicious third party” had compromised the account information of 100 million users. Names, email addresses and encrypted passwords were among the compromised information, Quora chief

• How Trump appointees curbed a consumer protection agency. One year after Mick Mulvaney’s arrival, he and his political aides have constrained the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from within, achieving what conservatives on Capitol Hill had for years been unable to do,

• This watchdog agency is smaller, quieter and less active under Trump. Under the Trump administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has seen its role diminished. “People wondered when I got — when I took the job if I was going to try and shut

• Divulgan documentos de Facebook sobre privacidad de datos. Los documentos internos de Facebook que fueron divulgados por una comisión del Parlamento de Gran Bretaña ofrecieron la evidencia más clara hasta ahora de que la red social ha

04

• Marriott says up to 500 million customers' data stolen in breach. In one of the largest cybersecurity breaches in history, Marriott International said Friday that information on up to about 500 million of its customers worldwide was exposed in a breach of its Starwood guest reservation database

• Recomendaciones de una periodista para cuidar tu privacidad en línea. ¿Cómo utilizan los periodistas de The New York Times la tecnología en sus empleos y su vida cotidiana? Kate Conger, reportera de temas tecnológicos para The New York

03

• Is your holiday gift spying on you?. From baby monitors to drones, a new guide invites consumers to score products on a privacy scale that slides from "Not Creepy!" to "Super Creepy!" The guide is timely; as consumers

November

28

• Betsy DeVos’s harassment rules protect schools, not students. Institutions have been lobbying for less liability when it comes to sexual misconduct on campus. Now they’re finally getting it.

21

• Taking the initiative to protect one's privacy on social media was covered in our National Conference sessions (Chinese). 當今社會進入大數據時代，流動通訊發達，環顧左右，差不多人人都（手）機不離手，天天登入社交媒體平台，跟眾親友分享生活點滴，很多時卻忽略了私隱及資料保障的重要性。「消費者行動（Consumer Action）」十一月十四至十五日在芝加哥舉行的第九屆全國社區組織理財培訓大會上，有資訊科技人員提醒用戶應該提高警戒，設法掌控私隱外洩，不要隨便公開個人資料。早前遭發現讓劍橋分析公司非法取用五千萬用戶數據，其後又被發現第三方用家可進入不公開群組，從而蒐集組內成員個人資料的「臉書」，也有派員擔任大會講者，討論如何保護數據及提高消費者對數據的控制。

• The FCC's controversial plan for unwanted robocalls, texts. The U.S. government said Tuesday that it plans to take aim at the scourge of unwelcome phone calls and spam text messages plaguing millions of consumers—but one of its proposals drew sharp

15

• Identity theft tax refund fraud amounted to $1.6 billion annually (Chinese). 網路犯罪分子一直把國稅局視為肥羊，該局統計，線上盜賊企圖於2016年盜用身分騙退稅至少122億元；儘管國稅局已警覺，擊退多數不法企圖，仍讓歹徒一年得手至少16億元。不過，好消息是2016年資料顯示，退稅盜竊數量已自2012年開始穩定減少。

13

• 34 civil rights, consumer and privacy groups release privacy principles (Call for comprehensive federal legislation to protect consumer privacy). Public interest privacy groups urge Congress to pass legislation that ensures fairness, prevents discrimination, advances equal opportunity, protects free expression and facilitates trust between the public and companies that collect their personal data.

• Facebook failed to police how its partners handled user data. Facebook failed to closely monitor device makers after granting them access to the personal data of hundreds of millions of people, according to a previously unreported disclosure to Congress last month.

• The law that lets Europeans take back their data from Big Tech. Tech companies' reign over users' personal data has run largely unchecked in the age of the internet. Europe is seeking to end that with a new law.

October

26

• A dark consensus about screens and kids. The people who are closest to a thing are often the most wary of it. Technologists know how phones really work, and many have decided they don’t want their own children anywhere near

• The Amazon selling machine. The e-commerce company has so much information about us that it’s become expert at shilling us things we didn’t even know we needed. No wonder its advertising business is booming.

25

• Yahoo to pay $50M, other costs for massive security breach. Yahoo has agreed to pay $50 million in damages and provide two years of free credit-monitoring services to 200 million people whose email addresses and other personal information were stolen as part of the biggest security breach

• Children’s online privacy provides blueprint for public policy. In the wake of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal and other recent tech industry controversies, Congress finally appears ready to begin tackling comprehensive online privacy legislation. As this debate heats up, we also mark the 2