Thursday, 30 June 2016

Facebook wins appeal over tracking non-members in Belgium

Facebook can resume tracking Belgians online even if they don't have an account with the social network, an appeals court has ruled.

The Brussels Court of First Instance had previously ordered Facebook to stop placing its "datr" cookie in Internet users' browsers unless they were Facebook members. It ordered the company to pay a fine of €250,000 per day until it complied with this interim ruling.

But on Wednesday the appeals court overturned the cookie ban and the fine on the grounds that such interim orders can only be made in urgent cases. In this case, Belgium's privacy commission waited until 2015 to forbid something Facebook began doing in 2012, suggesting it hadn't acted with urgency.

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Time is short to stop expansion of FBI hacking, senator says

The U.S. Congress has a small window of time to stop proposed changes in federal court rules that will expand the FBI’s authority to hack into computers during criminal investigations, a senator said Thursday.

The rule changes allowing expanded FBI searches of computers, approved by the Supreme Court in April, go into effect in December unless Congress votes against them, and getting Congress to move in a contentious election year will be difficult, said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and a critic of the changes.

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Driverless cars take to streets of virtual Coventry

Driverless, automated cars are being tested in a new simulator at the University of Warwick.

Facebook gives friends higher priority in News Feeds

Facebook is to give posts by users' friends and family greater prominence - a move that may challenge professional publishers.

Symantec security software had 'critical' flaws

Computer security company Symantec patches eight security holes discovered in its own security software.

Facebook 'hack' victim exposes passport scam

An identity thief gains access to a Facebook account by sending a fake passport and asking the social network to turn off log-in approvals.

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

How iOS 10 will collect and use your data

Apple believes there shouldn’t be a tradeoff between intelligent software and privacy. iOS 10 is the first to incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence without sacrificing privacy.