Posts Tagged ‘privacy’

All businesses using cookies in their websites will have to comply with new laws initiated by the EU’s ePrivacy Directive, failing which they risk payment of fines of up to £500,000. Cookies are data files that enable tracking of a user’s online activities. The deadline for introducing the new laws is 25th May, but the [...]

Large technology businesses including Google, Facebook and eBay are fighting a new law in France (Google translation) that would require internet companies to keep user data for a year. The French Association of Internet Community Services (ASIC) is to challenge the law infront of the State Council. Data must be retained so that it can [...]

270,000 businesses start up in Britain every year, and the new Start Up Britain intitiative hopes to promote entrepreneurship by offering reading material, business resources, discounts and a variety of other assistance.  Some legal resources are also available, to help new businesses steer a clear path through swathes of regulation, manage risk, and to offer [...]

In 2009 there was a controversial view that “Privacy is dead and social media hold smoking gun”.Essentially, the author presents a somewhat pessimistic view of Privacy’s position in the public sphere. He considers it to be a choice between either having privacy and not sharing with others or sacrificing privacy for the benefit of participating [...]

Now, with the availability of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, employers can learn a lot more about potential employees than was previously possible. Whilst before, a resume and references were the critical ways to screen candidates, now employers can find out a lot more about people they are thinking of hiring simply by [...]

It’s easy to forget about things as you focus on the look and feel of the website and a good privacy policy could quite easily be one of them. But a privacy policy is essential for your website, as data protection and other laws give people a right to know how you’re going to use [...]

Since it’s birth the Internet has relied upon the interaction of its users for content – now social media and Web 2.0 technologies have propelled user generated content to the forefront, and concern is mounting over the impact of allowing people to post material online anonymously. Reuters recently became the latest site to prohibit anonymous [...]

Facebook’s new ‘places’ application has sparked another debate over privacy. The new feature, which arrived today for UK users, encourages people on Facebook to share their location with other members of the social networking site. Although those who do share their location with others choose to do so, there is a concern that encouragement to [...]

Recent online campaigns by Facebook users, such as ‘Quit Facebook Day’ illustrates the uneasiness and increasing lack of trust of Facebook as a custodian of people’s private lives. At the end of April this year four US senators sent a complaint letter to Facebook raising the alarm about the growing exposure of users, the complexity and bias of their privacy settings. In July 2009 Canada’s Privacy Commissioners Office found Facebook in contravention of their privacy laws and a request for investigation of Facebook was made by the EPIC to the Federal Trade Commission on grounds of Unfair Deceptive Trade Practices.

Can an Online Service Provider be held liable for illegal activities that occur by users on their service? In the US, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides an exemption for ISPs who inadvertently provide the facilities which are used by others for infringement purposes. In Europe Directive 2000/31/EC (‘Directive on electronic commerce’) has a similar exemption for online service providers. Essentially, the resounding principle in both laws is that a service provider should not be in any way responsible when they were not aware of the fact of the infringement and when made aware they took steps to remove the content.