Privacy groups urge UN to adopt digital surveillance resolution
Five human rights groups urged the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to adopt a new resolution against indiscriminate mass surveillance.
Stories by Loek Essers
Sierra Wireless files complaints about Nokia's patent licensing
Canadian wireless modem maker Sierra Wireless has filed complaints with the European Commission (EC) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) claiming that Nokia is behaving unfairly in patent licensing.
Berlin court rules Google privacy policy violates data protection law
Google's privacy policy and terms of service violate German data protection law, the Regional Court of Berlin ruled Tuesday. The clauses are too vaguely formulated and can restrict the rights of consumers, said the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV), which brought the case..
US Supreme Court declines to review NSA phone spying case
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the Electronic Privacy Information Center's petition for it to review a National Security Agency (NSA) phone record data collection program.
Skype, Microsoft cleared in Luxembourg NSA investigation
Luxembourg's data protection authority cleared Microsoft and its subsidiary Skype of data protection violations related to the U.S. National Security Agency's Prism spying program, the agency said Monday.
Google to warn users of 13,000 search terms associated with child pornography
Google will display warnings above the search results for 13,000 terms it believes are associated with more explicit child sexual abuse terms, it announced Monday. Microsoft said it will take similar action on its Bing search engine, and on Yahoo searches powered by Bing.
Motorola's push mail patent ruled partly invalid in Germany
The German Federal Patent Court has branded as partly invalid a Motorola message synchronization patent that was used to force Apple to switch off iOS push email services in Germany for more than a year.
Europe allows in-flight 3G and 4G broadband
The European Commission gave airlines permission to offer their passengers Internet access via 3G and 4G connections so they can send emails and surf the Web while in flight.
Belgium, Netherlands investigate alleged NSA spying on bank payments data
The Belgian and Dutch Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) said Wednesday that they will investigate the security of SWIFT, which runs an international bank messaging system, following allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency unlawfully accessed SWIFT data.
Suse Linux Enterprise expands regular support to 10 years
Suse Linux Enterprise (SLE) version 11 and up will come with 10 years of general support instead of the seven years offered up to now, in a move that matches services from competitors.
Microsoft abandons employee-ranking system
Microsoft is abandoning a ranking system that has been blamed for hampering innovation and pitting employees against one another.
Google Glass wearers to get access to tunes, new earbuds
Google Glass users will soon be able to play their favorite tracks from Google Play, listening to them via a set of special earbuds.
Amazon.com to offer Sunday delivery in the US through US Postal Service
Amazon.com is getting the U.S. Postal Service to deliver packages on Sundays to its customers, adding an additional facility to help it compete in the Internet retail market.
Facebook expands in Europe as it scoops up new employees
Facebook is moving to bigger offices in London and Dublin to accommodate its rapidly expanding European workforce.
Privacy group files OECD complaints over UK telco spying
Privacy International has filed complaints against U.K. telecommunications companies for assisting British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) with mass interception of telephone and Internet traffic that passes through undersea fiber optic cables.