Amazon Reverses Course, Encryption Returning for Fire Devices. Amazon.com Inc. will restore encryption as a security option on its tablets and other devices that use the Fire operating system, following a customer backlash driven by increased sensitivity about data protection as Apple Inc. grapples with the FBI over access to a terrorist’s iPhone. Amazon removed encryption from the devices in late 2015, possibly to reduce costs for its tablets and electronic readers. The devices aren’t intended for communication of sensitive data, although they can be used to access the Internet and e-mail. Some customers complained about the change after they updated their Fire software on older devices and saw encryption was no longer offered. Amazon reversed course late Friday night, saying in an e-mail that it would restore encryption as an option on Fire devices with a software update “this spring,“ without being more specific.
The Recorder. Chiffrement et données personnelles : le... The FBI Has Succeeded In Uniting Silicon Valley...Against The FBI. <img src="<a pearltreesdevid="PTD1941" rel="nofollow" href=" class="vglnk"><span pearltreesdevid="PTD1942">http</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD1944">://</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD1946">pixel</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD1948">.
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</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD1970">gif</span></a>" style="display:none" height="1" width="1" alt="Quantcast" /> None. Apple vs FBI: Microsoft, Google and others rally behind iPhone maker as it moves motion to vacate court order. Silicon Valley's tech giants may be staunch rivals in the marketplace but are displaying a rare united front in backing Apple's battle against the FBI. Google, Facebook, Twitter and even Microsoft are rallying behind the iPhone-maker against the San Bernardino order that Apple has challenged. Apple filed a motion to vacate the order passed on 16 February to aid FBI in decrypting an iPhone 5C used by Syed Farook, who along with his wife Tashfeen Malik, shot and killed 14 people in San Bernardino in December 2015.
"This isn't a case about one isolated iPhone. No court has ever authorised what the government now seeks, no law supports such unlimited and sweeping use of the judicial process. The order goes on to mention what Apple CEO Tim Cook has constantly harped upon — the bigger threat of privacy infringement. Many reports indicate that Google, Twitter and Facebook, whose CEOs have already lent support for Apple, will join with Microsoft.
The other side. Gates 'disappointed' in reports he sides with FBI in Apple case. The co-founder of Microsoft commented Monday on the ongoing battle between Apple and the FBI over breaking into an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino, California, attackers. Bill Gates said, "It's a good debate to be having. " (Feb. 22) AP Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says he was 'disappointed' in reports claiming he sides with the FBI in its battle with Apple over breaking into an iPhone, saying they did not reflect his view on the issue. During an interview with The Financial Times, Gates disputed concerns by Apple CEO Tim Cook that creating software to break into the phone of one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings would become a "master key" for access to any iPhone.
"This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information," Gates told The Financial Times. However, during an interview later Tuesday with Bloomberg, Gates seemed to dispute headlines claiming he agrees with the FBI in this situation. Julie Brill: Why the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield will work - The Digital Post. The Digital Post speaks with FTC Commissioner Julie Brill about the new ‘Safe Harbour’, the implications of the EU privacy reform, and privacy issues arising from the boom of the Internet of Thing.
The Digital Post: The European Union and the United States of America have reached an agreement on a new Safe Harbour data treaty. What are in your view the main achievements of the deal? What would have been the concrete risks if an agreement weren’t signed? Julie Brill: The main achievement of Privacy Shield is that it provides strong privacy protections for European consumers and creates a framework for more parties to engage in active supervision and stronger enforcement cooperation. Privacy Shield will also establish more active supervision of the program in practice, so that the Department of Commerce, the European Commission, European data protection authorities (DPAs), and the FTC can detect and address any issues that come up.
Picture Credits: Josh Hallett. China's Huawei backs Apple in fight over encryption. Reform Government Surveillance. Apple supported by Google and WhatsApp in FBI encryption fight. Google CEO Sundar Pichai doesn't think Apple should help the FBI hack the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone either. When he drives his BMW 3 Series for Uber, Jasper Fu is not really there for the money. Once, when a wealthy lady angered him by accusing him of taking a longer route to earn a higher fare, he finished the ride on the app early, and drove her home for free.
He earns 3,000 yuan ($469) a month by driving two hours a day on average—that’s just one tenth of the salary he earns as a sales manager. “I don’t like driving,” the 33-year-old with a pony tail, stud earrings, and a 108-bead Buddhist bracelet told me at a Shanghai cafe in early November, “but I like to talk to people.” Fu is also known as “190 cm,” his nickname on WeChat, which refers to his height, a point of pride. “Under no other circumstance can I find a stranger to talk with me for like 10 to 20 minutes,” he said. Uber is having a hard time in China—and burning over $1 billion a year there, as CEO Travis Kalanick said in a recent interview. On paper, Uber’s business in China looks like it is getting crushed by its Chinese rival. Why Google Trailing Apple on Encryption Support Is a Human Rights Issue. A leading privacy activist says Google’s lack of support for strong encryption makes second-class citizens out of people who can’t afford Apple devices.
A new iPhone without a cellular contract costs at least $650, while a new smartphone powered by Google’s Android software can be as little as $50. According to the ACLU’s principal technologist, Chris Soghoian, another gulf between the two is that Apple devices also better protect people’s data against criminals and surveillance. At MIT Technology Review’s EmTech conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, he warned that the combination of those differences has created a looming civil rights problem. “We now find ourselves in not just a digital divide but a digital security divide,” he said. “The phone used by the rich is encrypted by default and cannot be surveilled, and the phone used by most people in the global south and the poor and disadvantaged in America can be surveilled.”
Google CEO: FBI's request of Apple could set a 'troubling precedent' "Forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users' privacy," Pichai tweeted after calling Cook's post "important. " He goes on to note that Google understands and respects the challenges law enforcement faces, but he believes that "giv[ing] law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders" is entirely different than "requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices & data. " Pichai also calls Google's products "secure" and says that they "keep your information safe" and said he's looking forward to a "thoughtful and open" discussion about the issues that the FBI's order have raised. Most of Cook and Pichai's contemporaries like Microsoft's Satya Nadella haven't yet made any public statements on the matter, but it wouldn't surprise us to hear other major software and hardware providers throw support behind Apple on this front, as well.
AT&T CEO calls for Congress to decide on encryption policy, says it’s not Tim Cook’s decision. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is the latest to weigh in on the issue of data encryption policy with the executive telling The Wall Street Journal that Apple CEO Tim Cook and other tech execs should leave the decision making on encryption policy up to Congress: “I don’t think it is Silicon Valley’s decision to make about whether encryption is the right thing to do. I understand Tim Cook’s decision, but I don’t think it’s his decision to make”… I personally think that this is an issue that should be decided by the American people and Congress, not by companies,”…The AT&T chief said his own company has been unfairly singled out in the debate over access to data.
“It is silliness to say there’s some kind of conspiracy between the U.S. government and AT&T,” he said, adding that the company turns over information only when accompanied by a warrant or court order. But the issue is once again in the spotlight as it becomes a topic of interest during recent presidential debates. Encryption row: Google, WhatsApp, and Mozilla support Apple in FBI fight. Prominent figures from Silicon Valley giants Google, WhatsApp, and Mozilla have all offered various degrees of backing to Apple's "backdoor" encryption fight against the FBI and US government.
The executives appeared to broadly agree that Apple should contest a judge's ruling, which said it must create a way to access information held on a locked iPhone 5C. The judge said Apple should be able to unlock the phone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook to provide information to the FBI. Google CEO Sundar Pichai posted a series of tweets saying the order could create a "troubling precedent" and he supported Tim Cook. He said: "We build secure products to keep your information safe and we give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders. "But that’s wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices & data.
Could be a troubling precedent. " Rules need to catch up with tech to protect privacy: Microsoft. NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over increasing intervention by governments to access consumer data, software giant Microsoft today said regulations need to keep pace with rapidly changing technology to secure and protect privacy of individuals. Microsoft, like its peers Google, Apple and Facebook, has been strongly advocating for protecting security of customers and their information. "Governments have a fundamentally important role in striking a balance between privacy and security. We want to live in a world where the public is safe and where privacy rights are secure.
Governments need to strike a balance especially in democratic societies," Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith told reporters here. He added that it is of fundamental importance that governments access the information of people through proper legal processes that respect the rule of the law. The "unprecedented step" would threaten the security of its customers, Cook wrote in an open letter to customers. ?tag=nl. The CEOs of Google and WhatsApp have thrown their support behind Apple's decision to fight against a US Federal Court order requiring the company to develop a special version of iOS to help the FBI access data on a terror suspect's iPhone.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai took to Twitter to warn that compliance with the court order could compromise a user's privacy. "We know that law enforcement and intelligence agencies face significant challenges in protecting the public against crime and terrorism. We build secure products to keep your information safe and we give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders," he said. "But that's wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices and data. Could be a troubling precedent. " Pichai said he was looking forward to a thoughtful and open discussion on what he regards as an important issue.
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum posted on Facebook his support for Apple's stance. Google, WhatsApp and Snowden back Apple against FBI | Technology. Tech giants Google and WhatsApp and whistleblower Edward Snowden are backing Apple’s stance over the encryption technology used in its iPhone smartphones. Apple has been ordered by a US federal magistrate to help the FBI unlock the iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters, but in a letter published on the company’s website, chief executive Tim Cook said his company would fight the move.
Now Google chief executive Sundar Pichai has given the stance his backing. “Important post by @tim_cook. Forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users’ privacy,” wrote Google’s boss, as part of a short series of tweets addressing the issue. “We know that law enforcement and intelligence agencies face significant challenges in protecting the public against crime and terrorism. We build secure products to keep your information safe and we give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders. “We must not allow this dangerous precedent to be set. As of today, Google, Apple and Amazon won a big battle to bring you cable TV. Big Cable has just been dealt a big — and maybe mortal — blow. If you are a Comcast or Time Warner Cable subscriber, you're familiar with that trapped feeling: you don't really have any options to get cable besides your set-top box, and the customer service pains and high costs that go with it.
On Thursday, the U.S. government took its first big, official step to end that system. The Federal Communications Commission has adopted a series of proposed rules that would allow customers to begin using cable boxes from companies other than their cable provider. In fact, consumers will be able to get cable TV from a multitude of devices, when the technology catches up. That could include Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV and Roku boxes. That means you could have an Apple TV and, assuming you have a cable subscription, grab your Comcast subscription and throw it in there alongside Netflix, Hulu and Spotify. Consumers would still need a cable subscription, but they could watch cable nearly anywhere.
Facebook and Twitter back Apple in phone encryption battle with FBI | Technology. Facebook and Twitter stepped into the battle with the FBI, with both companies pledging that they “stand with Apple” and will “aggressively fight” attempts to weaken encryption. Apple is heading deeper in to a legal battle with the FBI, which is attempting to access encrypted information on an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers. “We condemn terrorism and have total solidarity with victims of terror. Those who seek to praise, promote, or plan terrorist acts have no place on our services,” Facebook said in a statement Thursday. “However, we will continue to fight aggressively against requirements for companies to weaken the security of their systems.
These demands would create a chilling precedent and obstruct companies’ efforts to secure their products.” Shortly before, Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted: “We stand with @timcook and Apple (and thank him for his leadership)!” “I’m on both [sides].