BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Microsoft’s internet phone call and messaging service Skype can be considered a telecoms operator as it offers a paid-for service and has a deal with network operators to carry calls, Europe’s top court said on Wednesday. A Belgian court and the Belgian Institute of Postal and Telecommunications Service (IBPT) had sought guidance …
Facial recognition software is coming under increasing scrutiny from civil liberties groups and lawmakers. Now Amazon, one of the most visible purveyors of the technology, is facing pressure from another corner as well: its own shareholders. As part of Amazon’s annual meeting in Seattle on Wednesday, investors are voting on whether the tech giant’s aggressive …
Facebook Inc quickly rejected a call from co-founder Chris Hughes on Thursday to break up the world’s largest social media company in three, while lawmakers urged the U.S. Justice Department to launch an antitrust investigation. Hughes co-founded Facebook in 2004 at Harvard with Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz. He left Facebook in 2007, and has said …
Benin held parliamentary elections Sunday leaving citizens without access to opposition candidates and the internet. Social media platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as Spacetel—Benin’s leading internet provider—was shut down according to NetBlocks (a digital monitoring organization), Quartz Africa reports. VPNs were also blocked. This makes Benin the latest African country alongside …
Russia is considering whether to disconnect from the global internet briefly, as part of a test of its cyber-defences. The test will mean data passing between Russian citizens and organisations stays inside the nation rather than being routed internationally. A draft law mandating technical changes needed to operate independently was introduced to its parliament last …
CIA-linked software firm Palantir will help the UN’s World Food Programme analyse its data in a new partnership worth $45 million, both organisations announced Tuesday, drawing immediate flak from privacy and data protection activists. The California-based contractor, best known for its work in intelligence and immigration enforcement, will provide software and expertise to the UN’s …
The first massive European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fine has finally been enforced. Google is the recipient of a €50m (approx. $56.8 million USD) fine from the French data protection authority, CNIL. The fine follows complaints from privacy activists in late May last year. Max Schrems and his None Of Your Business (NOYB) …
MADRID: The Spanish Senate approved Wednesday a controversial online data protection law which critics say will allow political parties to target voters with ads based on their internet browsing history. The law was approved in Spain’s upper house of parliament with 220 votes in favour and 21 against. It aims to make Spanish law comply with …
During the ICANN 63 in Barcelona, David Redl, the chief U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), gave his input into the Donut’s hiring of ICANN’s GDD Chief Akram Attalah. The US Rep suggested there should be a cooling off period for ICANN employees to maintain ethics. NTIA has sent a follow-up letter which appears …
Could this be a conflict of interest scenario?, ICANN recently lost its first president of ICANN’s Global Domains Division Akram Attalah to Donuts to assume the role of CEO. He joined former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade who resigned from his post in March 2016 and joined ABRY Partners, a Boston-based private equity investment firm which …