Legal Topic Center

Legal news, in-depth articles and more

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are secret backers behind European Privacy Association

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have been confirmed as the secret backers behind the European Privacy Association (EPA) which was accused of a lack of transparency by an independent watchdog on Thursday.
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Bitcoiners rally to enlighten Washington

Washington's biggest problem when it comes to Bitcoin may just be that policymakers on the Hill don't know enough about it, yet.

Lawmakers press Google on Glass privacy

Members of a U.S. congressional group on privacy wrote Thursday to Google CEO Larry Page requesting information on how the futuristic device handles privacy issues.

German online copyright law to take effect in August

A German online copyright law that will give publishers the exclusive right to the commercial use of their publications on the Internet will come into effect on Aug. 1.

Larry Page wants to see your medical records

A day after breaking an almost year-long silence on a medical condition that had affected the way he speaks, Google co-founder Larry Page said Wednesday that people should be more open about their medical histories.

Researchers uncover large cyberfraud operation targeting Australian bank customers

Security researchers from Russian cybercrime investigations firm Group-IB have uncovered a cyberfraud operation that uses specialized financial malware to target the customers of several major Australian banks.

In e-book case, Apple says publishers had already taken measures to counter Amazon

Concerned about Amazon.com's low pricing of e-books, publishers had taken measures as early as 2009 such as "windowing," a practice of delaying e-book releases to benefit sales of hardcover editions, Apple said in a filing in an e-book price-fixing lawsuit.

Court orders names to be withheld before release of Aaron Swartz records

A federal court has modified a protective order to allow disclosure of the court records of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, but ruled that names and other personal identifying information of those involved in his arrest and prosecution should be redacted.

Lookout will intercept privacy-invading mobile ad networks, apps

Mobile security vendor Lookout plans to start flagging as adware mobile apps that use aggressive ad networks if they don't obtain explicit consent from users before engaging in behavior that potentially invades privacy.

Academic institutions urged to take steps to prevent DNS amplification attacks

Colleges and universities are being encouraged to scrutinize their systems to keep them from being hijacked in DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks.

Does your cloud vendor protect your rights?

When an organization's data is in the cloud, requests to provide access to it for legal reasons are more complicated.

How to Recover From a Twitter Hack

Do you know what to do if your Twitter account is hacked? Here are four steps to take to regain control of your account and ensure it doesn't happen again.

BYOL: Bring your own liabilities

What are the legal ramifications of allowing staff to bring their own mobile devices to work and where is the dividing line between organisational and employee risk?

A matter of trust

It would be an understatement to say there are some New Zealanders who don't completely trust our government. There are probably more who have not yet completely overcome their mistrust of ICT.

12 simple steps to safer social networking

Confession time: I'm an inveterate social media junkie. From Facebook to Instagram to Diaspora, whenever a newA communication platform rolls around--or comes back around--I'm ready to leap aboard.

Chinese Government's Link to Cyber Espionage Clearer Than Ever

It's a common belief in the information security world that the Chinese government is behind many of the advanced persistent threats that target companies around the world in an effort to steal their IP and trade secrets. Now one security firm has come forward with years of evidence to link a prolific APT group to a unit inside the Chinese government.

Should you risk jailbreaking your iPhone?

Chances are, if you don't know the dangers involved, you shouldn't jailbreak.

Outlook 2013 ... Even more interesting than 2012!

Gibbs reviews his predictions from last year and surveys the more than 400 predictions that he's been sent by IT professionals

Patent fights color mobile market, to continue in 2013

Over the past year, patent battles have been fought by tech companies in courtrooms all over the world. The litigation is far from over though, however, and will continue throughout 2013. This is what's at stake on the patent battlefield in the near future.

Amid uproar, Instagram says it will not sell users' photos

Instagram vowed on Tuesday to revise new proposed terms of service following a strong backlash from users worried that it would use their photos in advertisements without their permission.