Big US tech firms calls for reform on snooping

WASHINGTON — Six of the biggest US technology firms are urging the U.S. Congress to rein in the National Security Agency by requiring more transparency about surveillance and improved privacy protections.

In a letter to a Senate committee, the tech giants applauded the introduction of the USA Freedom Act aimed at ending bulk collection of phone records and improve privacy protection in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

“Recent disclosures regarding surveillance activity raise important concerns both in the United States and abroad,” said the letter signed by Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and AOL.

The companies, which have failed to win efforts to disclose details of their cooperation with US surveillance programs, said more transparency would “help to counter erroneous reports that we permit intelligence agencies ‘direct access’ to our companies’ servers or that we are participants in a bulk Internet records collection program.”

“Transparency is a critical first step to an informed public debate, but it is clear that more needs to be done. Our companies believe that government surveillance practices should also be reformed to include substantial enhancements to privacy protections and appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms for those programs.”

The letter dated Thursday and addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee came days after a news report said the NSA has tapped into key communications links from Yahoo and Google data centers around the world.

The Washington Post, citing documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with officials, said the program can collect data at will from hundreds of millions of user accounts, including from Americans.

The report said the program dubbed MUSCULAR, operated jointly with NSA’s British counterpart GCHQ, indicated that the agencies can intercept data flows from the fiber-optic cables used by the US Internet giants.

The NSA disputes key details of the report.

The bill proposed by Senator Patrick Leahy and Representatives James Sensenbrenner and John Conyers, with other co-sponsors.

Leahy and Sensenbrenner said in a joint statement they welcomed the wide support for their bill.

“The breadth of support for our bipartisan, bicameral legislation demonstrates that protecting Americans’ privacy not only cuts across the party divide, but also addresses concerns raised by the technology industry and other advocates,” Leahy and Sensenbrenner said.

“The time is now for serious and meaningful reform. We are committed to working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to get this done so we can restore confidence in our intelligence community and protect the privacy rights of our citizens.”

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital rights advocacy group, meanwhile urged other companies to speak up.

“This is a defining moment and other companies must now step up to support genuine FISA reform or explain to their users why they are not,” said Leslie Harris, president and chief executive of CDT.

source: interaksyon.com

US toughens online privacy rules for children

WASHINGTON DC — US regulators unveiled new rules Wednesday aimed at strengthening online privacy protection for children, to reflect the growing use of mobile apps and social networks.

The Federal Trade Commission said its updated rules require online services to get consent from parents if they are aimed at children under 13 or know that they are collecting personal information from young children.

But FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act would not include stricter proposals which would have made companies liable for “plug-ins” such as the Facebook “like” button or Twitter’s “tweet” button.

“The Commission takes seriously its mandate to protect children’s online privacy in this ever-changing technological landscape,” said Leibowitz.

“I am confident that the amendments to the COPPA Rule strike the right balance between protecting innovation that will provide rich and engaging content for children, and ensuring that parents are informed and involved in their children’s online activities.”

Leibowitz told reporters that websites will still be able to direct ads to children, and that “the only limit we place is on behavioral advertising,” which is based on a person’s browsing activity.

“Until you get parental consent, you may not build massive profiles of children to deliver advertising,” the regulator said.

The rules close some loopholes on online operators who can be liable for violations of the law, which was passed by Congress in 1998.

But the regulations note that, in light of comments received on a draft, the FTC decided the rules should not encompass platforms such as Google Play or the App Store, that offer access to “someone else’s child-directed content.”

Third-party plug-ins will be responsible only where they have “actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from users of a child-directed site.”

Leibowitz said the FTC “struggled with this” issue and sought to avoid rules which clamped down on operators to force them to create a “sanitized” Internet for older children and adults.

“We think where we ended up was both balanced and very very strong,” he said. “We did two rounds of comments because we wanted to get it right and we wanted to listen to everybody.”

The proposal drew hundreds of comments, including some who feared Facebook could be held liable if it allowed young children to hit the “like” button without getting parental consent.

Senator Jay Rockefeller, who joined the news conference unveiling the updated rules, said they were as strong as the law allowed.

“The FTC really went as far as they could,” Rockefeller said.

“There will be groups that will complain about it and so will I. But we can’t do anything about it because the FTC is governed by law.”

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, which lobbies for greater privacy protections, called the FTC move “a major step forward” but warned that it may not be effective.

“We are concerned about possible loopholes that could undermine the intent of the rules,” he said, adding that his group would maintain “file complaints against any company that violates the new rules.”

source: interaksyon.com