• A small email provider and its customers have mobilized to force the Swiss government to put its new invasive surveillance law up for a public vote in a national referendum in June. https://theintercept.com/2016/01/25/how-a-small-company-in-switzerland-is-fighting-a-surveillance-law-and-winning/
• The FTC has settled a case against developers accused of purchasing a game called “Running Fred” and turning it into Adware: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/ftc-calls-game-over-on-running-fred-020916.html
• The Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University has created theDataMap,  an online portal for documenting flows of personal data. http://observer.com/2016/02/harvard-datamap-personal-info/,http://thedatamap.org/.
• France’s data protection authority has ordered Facebook to stop transferring user data to the US, following a ruling from the European Union that invalidated a longstanding trans-Atlantic data transfer agreement: http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/9/10950768/facebook-france-data-transfer-privacy-order
• James Clapper has acknowledged for the first time that agencies might use a new generation of smart household devices to increase their surveillance capabilities. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/09/internet-of-things-smart-home-devices-government-surveillance-james-clapper
• Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla and for an 11-day stint, its CEO, yesterday announced a new browser called “Brave,” that blocks outside online ads and ad tracking: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3025252/web-browsers/brave-is-the-name-ad-blocking-the-game-of-new-browser.html
• The President is setting up a Federal Privacy Council: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/09/executive-order-establishment-federal-privacy-council
• Bills have been proposed in South Dakota, Virginia, and Florida to limit transgender students’ use of restrooms consistent with their gender identity:  http://www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tip-sheet-february-10-2016
• The President is directing his Administration to implement a Cybersecurity National Action Plan that takes near-term actions and puts in place a long-term strategy to enhance cybersecurity awareness and protections, protect privacy, maintain public safety as well as economic and national security, and empower Americans to take better control of their digital security:https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/09/fact-sheet-cybersecurity-national-action-plan
• The Obama administration on Thursday implemented changes to the U.S. visa waiver program made in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris that spurred fears extremists could enter the country undetected: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-01-21/us-restricts-visa-free-travel-to-enhance-national-security

The discovery that the university is monitoring UC Berkeley network traffic has sparked outrage among faculty members who see such undisclosed surveillance as a significant threat to privacy.http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/technology/at-uc-berkeley-a-new-digital-privacy-protest.html, http://www.dailycal.org/2016/02/02/web-cyber-controversy/.

A federal judge in the Western District of Washington determined that users have no expectation of privacy when using Tor, because Tor does not give its users complete anonymity–a user has to give their IP address to their Internet Service Provider to connect to the Tor network. http://motherboard.vice.com/read/confused-judge-says-you-have-no-expectation-of-privacy-when-using-tor-playpen-fbi-michaud. Full text of the opinion can be found here: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2699886/140-Michaud-Order-Denying-Mtn-to-Suppress.pdf.

Oral Roberts University now requires their students to wear tracking devices to monitor their fitness.http://www.newson6.com/story/30920656/wearing-fitness-trackers-now-mandatory-for-oru-freshman

A group from Stanford showed that the MEMS gyroscopes found on modern smart phones are sufficiently sensitive to measure acoustic signals in the vicinity of the phone, making it possible to identify speaker information and even parse speech.

https://crypto.stanford.edu/gyrophone/

NBC attempted to glean Netflix’s viewership ratings with the help of tech firm Symphony, which measures TV viewing using audio content recognition technology—software loaded on to user’s phones that tracks viewership by capturing the soundtrack of the program.

http://www.vox.com/2016/1/13/10764818/netflix-ratings

The U.S. Senate is currently considering passing the Judicial Redress Act, which would allow citizens of European nations and other designated allies the ability to request corrections of inaccuracies in data held by a number of U.S. agencies, verify their data has not been improperly disclosed, and seek civil judicial recourse in certain circumstances.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/258852-senate-should-pass-the-judicial-redress-act-now

On December 15th, the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union reached an informal agreement in trialogues with the European Parliament on the ‘Data Protection’ Package which will set out new European rules on privacy in the digital age.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-6321_en.htm

Asylum Seekers in Germany will receive an identification card that stores biometric information, medical history, and job skills, among other data.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-cabinet-approves-id-card-plan-for-migrants-1449663398

Ideas for Presentations:

• Year in Review of U.S. Security Bills
• Discussion of the Net Neutrality Decision

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Google alleging the company has been collecting and data mining children’s data and Internet searches on their Google-sponsored Chromebooks, despite signing a legally enforceable Student Privacy Pledge.

Link: Google Deceptively Tracks Students’ Internet Browsing, EFF Says in FTC Complaint

Mark Zuckerberg announced the birth of his daughter with the creation of a $45 billion dollar charity initiative in an open letter he posted on the social network earlier this week. The initiative has sparked criticisms from critics wary of the charity’s LLC status, which gives Zuckerberg and Chan more flexibility in how the money can be used.

Link: Mark Zuckerberg Vows to Donate 99% of his Facebook Shares for Charity and Zuckerberg, Chan $45B Pledge is Not for Charity, but a Company

Facebook authorities have agreed to meet with the Banglesh government to increase cyber security measures. In particular, the deal will focus on measures to stop violence against women occurring over, or because of information spread through the social network.

Link: Facebook, Bangladesh to Meet for Cyber Security Deal

Yahoo briefly experimented with blocking people using ad-blocking software. Users who tried to log in to their Yahoo mail were prompted to turn off their ad blocker. The experiment was abruptly discontinued following complaints.

Link: Yahoo Mail Tried to Block Ad Blockers, and it Might Have Backfired

Austrian privacy campaigner, Max Schrems, has filed complaints with the data protection agencies of Ireland, Germany and Belgium, demanding they stop Facebook from transferring data of EU citizens over to the United States.

Link: Max Schrems Demands Facebook Stop EU to US Data Transfer Due to Snooping

The Republic of Kazakhstan will require that all Internet users within the country install national security certificates, which could be used to track traffic going in and out of the country.

Link: Kazakhstan Announces Plan to Spy on Encrypted Internet Traffic

The NSA’s bulk surveillance expired as of midnight on November 30^th. Under the new system, NSA analysts and law enforcement will be required to get a court order to gain access to phone records. All metadata that has been collected through the program will be preserved through February 29^th.

Link: NSA to Shut Down Bulk Phone Surveillance Program by Sunday

New lending startups are looking at potential borrowers’ phone records to assess creditworthiness, using variables such the number of texts sent and received, miles traveled, or even how frequently they charge their phone, in lieu of absent credit histories.

Link: Lending Startups Look at Borrowers’ Phone Usage to Asses Creditworthiness

There was a congressional hearing on the new email privacy bill earlier this week.

Link: Congress Wants to Protect Your Emails from Warrantless Searches

In the wake of the attacks on Paris, debate in the United States has again looked determining the appropriate balance between privacy and security, especially with regard to encryption.

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/18/the-paris-attacks-have-shifted-the-momentum-in-the-privacy-surveillance-debate/.

Similarly, European politicians have begun discussing the issue with regard to airline passenger data.

Link: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/europe-shaken-by-paris-attacks-weighs-security-with-privacy-rights/?_r=0

New technology permits device cross- by including a unique sound in a TV commercial that a mobile application containing the SilverPush “audio beacon” recognizes. That app would typically be brand-specific. Once the sound is heard, the application knows what the user is watching.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/11/16/silverpush-ultrasonic-tracking/

A court in Brussels decided on Monday that Facebook would no longer be able to collect and store personal information from Belgians who do not have a Facebook account; Facebook announced that it would appeal the ruling.

Link: Facebook to Appeal a Belgian Court’s Ruling on Data Privacy

Walmart experiments with facial recognition technology to spot potential thieves.

Link: Walmart’s Use of Sci-fi Tech to Spot Shoplifters Raises Privacy Concerns

Goethe-Institut New York to host symposium on “Images of Surveillance: The Politics, Economics, and Aesthetics of Surveillance Societies” December 4-6, 2015

Charges announced in “one of the biggest cyber crimes in history”.

Link: Charges Announced in J.P. Morgan Hacking Case

Data Transparency Lab to take place at MIT November 16-17, 2015

Judge Leon deems NSA bulk telephony metadata collection program unconstitutional.

Link: Judge Deals a Blow to N.S.A. Data Collection Program

Microsoft announces that it will offer its European customers to store their personal data in Germany, responding to privacy concerns.

Link: Microsoft Offers EU Customers Option to Store Data in Germany

Research by longtime PRG participant Luke Stark and Data & Society’s Alex Rosenblat about the on-demand economy in the context of Uber’s rideshare service is quoted in the Wall Street Journal:

Link to WSJ: At Uber, the Algorithm is More Controlling than the Real Boss

Link to SSRN article: Uber’s Drivers: Information Asymmetries and Control in Dynamic Work

Supreme Court hears Spokeo case: Is Digital Injury “Real” Injury? Thoughts on Spokeo v. Robins

UK passes controversial draft Investigatory Powers Bill: Surveillance Bill Triggers Alarm over Sweeping Powers for Spies

PRG’s own Scott Skinner-Thompson publishes article in Slate on a recent DOED decision on trans-inclusion in locker rooms: The Department of Education’s Common-Sense Approach to Transgender Inclusion