Europe considers tough online privacy law

Europe is considering a new law that would require Internet companies like Amazon and Facebook to obtain consent from consumers to  use their personal data. The law would force companies to delete personal data forever at the consumer’s request or face fines for failing to comply. -db From The New York Times, January 23, 2012, [...]

Hackers wage war on behalf of WikiLeaks

Hackers have disrupted the Web sites and services of a number of companies including MasterCard, Visa and PayPal for withdrawing services in support of WikiLeaks. -db New York Times December 8, 2010 By Ashlee Vance and Miguel Helft A hacking free-for-all has exploded on the Web, and Facebook and Twitter are stuck in the middle. [...]

Opinion: Online freedom threatened by Amazon decision to drop WikiLeaks

The Electronic Freedom Foundation argues that in denying WikiLeaks access to its site, Amazon is doing what the government cannot legally do, engage in censorship. -db Electronic Freedom Foundation Commentary December 2, 2010 By Rainey Reitman and Marcia Hofmann The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression against government encroachment – but that [...]

Amid furor Amazon pulls pedophilia guide from its site

After defending their right to sell “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure”, Amazon relented and pulled the book from Amazon.com. -db CNN November 12, 2010 By Emanuella Grinberg (CNN) — “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct” was pulled from Amazon.com, a spokesman confirmed Thursday, after thousands of users [...]

First Amendment case: Amazon fights to keep records of customer’s purchases private

Amazon.com has refused to turn over records of customer purchases to North Caroline tax authorities to protect the privacy of those who buy books of a personal and sensitive nature. -db Courthouse News Service April 22, 2010 By June Williams SEATTLE (CN) – Amazon.com is fighting a request by North Carolina tax authorities for records [...]

Microsoft aggressive in competing with other vendors for open government market

Microsoft is using Sharepoint, Bing, SQL, and Azure to command a share of the traffic on open government while Google and Amazon are joining Microsoft in offering to host public data on their cloud services. -DB Information Week December 15, 2009 By J. Nicholas Hoover With the open government movement in full swing and the [...]

FBI investigated programmer after he helped obtain federal court records

A 22-year-old programmer found out this week from a Freedom of Information Act request that the FBI investigated him for helping put public documents online. -DB Privacy Digest October 6, 2009 By Mac Ronin When Aaron Swartz, a 22 year-old programmer, decided last fall to help an open government activist amass a public and free [...]