Once upon a time, in a faraway land (Europe), some countries decided that it would be worth setting in stone (in an international treaty) the protection of persons when information on them were being used (automatically processed by computer). The Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic[…]
While China’s new surveillance policy purports to be a “credit system,” it in fact considers nearly every aspect of public and private behaviour in determining each citizen’s social score. These data points are not random, and have historical and cultural significance to the Chinese people, including the concept of “saving face,” or maintaining a good[…]
It is often forgotten that laws concerning data privacy serve purposes other than protecting privacy alone. Research conducted by this writer in New Zealand over the last decade has conclusively established in the first place that the vast majority (around 80% in one study) of litigation brought under the Privacy Act 1993 (the Act) was[…]
As more of our personal data is held in centralized, remote storage, it has become a tempting target for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Through various investigatory powers, these government agencies can demand that social media companies, e-mail providers, ISPs, and other intermediaries turn over sensitive records and message content. Are governments abusing their investigatory[…]