Preying on that guilty feeling...

https://cybernews.com/privacy/the-rise-in-sextortion-online/?web_view=true

The Rise In Sextortion Online

… As millions of people around the world were confined to their homes as a result of state-issued guidance to half the spread of the virus, porn networks responded by opening up their archives for free to users. In response, Pornhub reported an 18% increase in traffic, with spikes typically coming hot on the heels of social distancing measures being introduced.

It should perhaps come as no surprise, therefore, that incidents of sextortion are also on the rise. New research from Michigan State University reveals that it has increased significantly during the last few months, with the lockdown playing a major part in the rise.

Sextortion is when intimate images or videos are captured without the permission of the individual, and those images are then used to extort money from the victim. Why the increase in pornographic viewing during the lockdown makes us particularly vulnerable to this kind of extortion is that it doesn’t necessarily require the attackers to actually have intimate images of us. The mere risk that such images may have been taken without our knowledge is often enough to encourage victims to pay up. Attackers are tapping into the fear of not knowing whether the threat is a real one or not.

...and no one noticed?

https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/19/gedmatch-investigating-dna-profile-law-enforcement/

Gedmatch investigating after users’ DNA profile data made available to police

Gedmatch, the DNA analysis site that police used to catch the so-called Golden State Killer, was pulled briefly offline on Sunday while its parent company investigated how its users’ DNA profile data apparently became available to law enforcement searches.

… Gedmatch issued a privacy warning to its users and put in new controls to allow users to opt-in for their DNA to be included in police searches.

But users reported Sunday that those settings had changed without their permission, and that their DNA profiles were made available to law enforcement searches.

… “The acknowledgement of an issue is a start, but if a ‘resolution’ means simply correcting the error, there are many questions that remain,” Elizabeth Joh, a professor of law at University of California, Davis School of Law, told TechCrunch.

“For instance, does Gedmatch know whether any law enforcement agencies accessed these improperly tagged users? Will they disclose any further details of the breach? And of course, this isn’t simply Gedmatch’s problem: a privacy breach in a genetic genealogy database underscores the woefully inadequate regulatory safeguards for the most sensitive of information, in a novel arena for civil liberties,” she said. “It’s a mess.”

I might learn something.

Challenges to Student Data Privacy: The Post-COVID Era of Distance Learning Through Technology

Albany Law School Online Graduate Programs presents:

Challenges to Student Data Privacy:

The Post-COVID Era of Distance Learning Through Technology

Thursday, July 23, 2020 1 – 2:30 p.m. Zoom (Link to be sent in confirmation email)

More information on the panel of speakers and registration linked from here.

Think before you legislate? What a concept! (Or perhaps they did think it through.)

https://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2020/07/open-letter-to-boston-city-council.html

Open Letter to the Boston City Council: Privacy Concerns About Boston's Facial Recognition Ban

I commend the Boston City Council for unanimously passing a ban on the use of facial recognition technology by any agency under the City of Boston’s authority. The actions taken by the City Council are the first step in reducing racial discrimination and misidentification by the Boston Police Department and other City agencies.

While the ordinance bans city officials from using facial recognition obtained by non-city agencies, it does allow the Boston Police Department to use information by other third-party agencies. This creates a loophole for city agencies to rely on non-government entities to collect data using facial recognition surveillance programs and still be compliant with the ordinance.

Setting limits.

https://www.securityweek.com/germanys-top-court-reins-state-access-online-data?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Securityweek+%28SecurityWeek+RSS+Feed%29

Germany's Top Court Reins in State Access to Online Data

Germany's highest court on Friday said security services had too much unfettered access to people's online data and ordered legislation to be revised to set higher hurdles.

German intelligence services and police agencies currently have the right to ask telecom and internet companies for user info ranging from names and birth dates to passwords and IP addresses, to help their investigations in areas like counterterrorism and cyber crime.

But the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe agreed with complaints brought by privacy activists that the access to data was excessive and an unconstitutional violation of citizens' right to telecoms privacy.

… Judges said they agreed that intelligence bodies sometimes needed to pull personal data from smartphones or other devices to maintain public security.

But they said this should only be done in cases of "a specific danger" or "an initial suspicion of criminal conduct" in the context of an investigation, and not to facilitate investigators' work "in general".

Perspective. We (the US) used to be interested in space.

The United Arab Emirates just launched its first ever mission to Mars

The UAE launched its Emirates Mars Mission on Monday, from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 6:58 am local time (Sunday evening US Eastern Time). If the mission successfully reaches Mars, the UAE will join a very small list of nations to have gone to the red planet.