European consumers’ fridges are sending them GDPR notifications
about 16 hours ago
USA Today redirects all EU users to a ‘no ads’ experience, other news sites block EU visitors
about 2 days ago
Amazon smart speaker recorded woman’s private conversation and sent it to her husband’s contact
An Amazon smart speaker recorded a woman’s personal conversation and sent it to one of her husband’s contacts in Seattle without her permission, according to a report by Kiro 7 news. According to the report, Danielle, who doesn’t wish to disclose her surname, only discovered the device was distributing personal conversations after her husband’s contact […]
The latest WordPress upgrade includes new GDPR-related privacy features
WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system, has announced a range of new privacy features in WordPress version 4.9.6, its latest upgrade. The features have been released in advanced of the GDPR, the European Union’s new privacy laws, which comes into force on 25th May. Users are being notified of the new features by […]
Future of WHOIS data still unclear as ICANN announces temporary solution to GDPR
ICANN, the organization tasked with managing the internet’s domain name space, has announced a “temporary specification” to bring the WHOIS into compliance with the EU’s new regulation. ICANN’s new rules determine what information should and should not be made available through the WHOIS, a public database of domain registrants. Over the past year, ICANN has […]
ICO fines University of Greenwich £120,000 for data breach
The UK’s Information Commissioner has fined the University of Greenwich £120,000 for a data breach from 2004 that involved nearly 20,000 staff and students. The fine has been issued in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and doesn’t relate to the EU’s new GDPR. The circumstances surrounding the fine involve a student creating a […]
Yahoo!, HuffPost, Forbes among first organizations to implement new EU consent solutions
Yahoo!, HuffPost and TechCrunch, all of which are part of the umbrella company Oath Inc., have begun serving consent request to users of their platforms in attempts to comply with the EU’s GDPR, which comes into force on 25th May. Other organizations, including Forbes.com, have also begun serving consent requests. Oath properties appear to be […]
‘GDPR privacy policy template’ is now a ‘breakout’ trending search term on Google
As businesses across the world struggle to institute processes in time for the GDPR coming into force on 25th May, some webmasters appear to be taking the easier route by searching for templates in an attempt to solve their compliance woes. According to Google Trends, “GDPR privacy policy template” is now one of the top […]
Yelp files complaint with the European Commission over Google’s local search results
Yelp, an online directory of local businesses, has filed a complaint with the European Commission over Google’s local search results, according to a report in the Financial Times. In the complaint, Yelp claims Google is favouring its own local results over those of competing organizations. It’s the second complaint filed by the San Francisco based […]
New study: 73 percent of Americans ‘too afraid’ to ride in a self-driving car
73 percent of Americans are “too afraid” to ride in a self-driving car, according to a survey of 1,014 U.S. citizens published by the American Automobile Association (AAA). Surprisingly, trust among millennials has declined faster than among any other group. The number of millennials “too afraid” to ride in a fully autonomous self-driving car has […]
Coalition of advocacy groups calls on the FTC to ‘break up Facebook’s monopoly’
A coalition of advocacy groups has launched a campaign calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “break up Facebook’s monopoly”. The coalition is comprised of groups including MoveOn, SumofUs, Demand Progress, The Open Markets Institute and Content Creators Institute. It has launched a website, freedomfromfb.com, and, according to Axios, is spearheading a “six figure […]
North Korean defectors were targeted through Google Play
A group of hackers dubbed “Sun Team” developed malware for the Android operating system that sought to target North Korean defectors, according to a report from internet security firm McAfee. The report states the malware was labelled as “unreleased,” uploaded to Google Play in January 2018 and was available to download for two months. Upon […]
The Obamas have signed a multi-year deal with Netflix to produce original programming
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have signed a multi-year deal to produce original programming for Netflix, according to an announcement posted on the streaming platform’s website. The multi-year contract will comprise both TV shows and films, however, according to a report in the New York Times, the former President has […]
The many ways the GDPR will change the web forever this week
Over the course of this week you’ll likely start to notice some changes across websites. These changes will be a consequence of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on Friday 25th May. From reading online commentary, small business owners appear to be particularly confused and disproportionately affected by the new […]
Students hack school system to change grades
Two students at Bloomfield Hills High School hacked the school’s student information system to change their grades, and those of approximately 20 other students, according to an announcement on the school’s website. While in the system, they also took the opportunity to change their attendance records and refund their lunch purchases. According to the announcement, […]
Leaked images show new Facebook tool that lets users create content for advertisers
Leaked images initially discovered by AllFacebook.de show a new Facebook tool that lets Facebook users (“creators”) team up with advertisers to produce content for their followers. According to a TechCrunch report, Facebook has confirmed the authenticity of the leaked images. The new tool is called “Branded Content Matching” and it lets advertisers search for audiences […]
New report finds news websites load significantly more third-party content than other websites
News websites load significantly more third-party content and place more third-party cookies than other websites, according to a new report by the Reuters Institute. The presence of third-party content on a website, e.g. some social sharing buttons, video embeds, etc., helps facilitate the collection of users’ data. The data collected is often shared between services […]
Google drops “don’t be evil” phrase from its code of conduct
Google has as good as confined its widely recognized motto, “don’t be evil,” to the scrapheap of internet history, according to a Gizmodo analysis of the company’s code of conduct. In an age when company mission statements have become ever less memorable and ever more highfalutin – Starbuck’s mission statement is now: “to inspire and […]
Webmasters utilizing Google AdSense have just 6 days left to comply with new rules
Publishers have only 6 days left to institute processes for obtaining consent from their users to serve personalized ads, or risk being banned from Google AdSense. The rules are outlined in Google’s draft EU consent policy, which is due to be updated when the EU’s GDPR comes into force on 25th May. The new policy […]
News organizations criticize Facebook over its rules for handling political ads
News Media Alliance, a trade group representing over 2,000 news organizations including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times, has released an official statement criticizing Facebook’s new approach to managing political advertisements. Facebook’s new policy is a response to criticism from news organizations and public institutions about the nature of […]
Popular email marketing platforms disagree over how to interpret the GDPR
Email marketing platforms have begun implementing new features and functionality, as well as providing informational resources, to assist customers concerned about compliance with the European Union’s GDPR. And there appears to be some disagreement. In response to widespread concern about GDPR compliance, email marketing platform MailChimp has begun offering what it refers to as “GDPR-friendly” […]
Weary SEOs are speculating about yet another Google algorithmic update
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals have been in speculation mode over the last few days about an alleged algorithmic update that has seen some websites lose visibility on Google. The latest alleged update(s) follows the “broad core” algorithmic update confirmed by Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, in April. According to Sullivan that update took place on […]