Twitter to confirm new accounts in spam fight

Yahoo – AFP, June 27, 2018

Twitter is among online platforms under pressure to do more to safeguard against
being used to spread misinformation or promote division (AFP Photo/DIPTENDU DUTTA)

San Francisco (AFP) - Twitter on Tuesday said it will begin asking for email addresses or phone numbers to confirm new accounts as part of a battle against manipulation, particularly by automated bots.

Adding a way to check that a real person is behind new accounts was described by Twitter as being among measures to fight abuse, trolls, and hateful content.

"This is an important change to defend against people who try to take advantage of our openness," Twitter executives Del Harvey and Yoel Roth said in a blog post.

The requirement will be rolled out later this year, and Twitter promised to make sure the change does not harm aspiring users in "high-risk" places.

Twitter recently began taking more steps to clean up spam and automated activity, and "close the loopholes they'd exploited," according to Harvey and Roth.

"We're also now automating some processes where we see suspicious account activity, like exceptionally high-volume tweeting with the same hashtag, or using the same @handle without a reply from the account you're mentioning," they said.

Twitter systems identified and challenged more than 9.9 million "potentially spammy or automated accounts" weekly in May, according to Harvey and Roth.

Twitter last month said that it was stepping up its long-running battle against online trolls, trying to find offenders by looking at "behavioral signals."

The new approach looks at behavioral patterns of users in addition to the content of the tweets, allowing Twitter to find and mute online bullies and trolls.

Even if the offending tweets are not a violation of Twitter policy, they may be hidden from users if they are deemed to "distort" a conversation, Twitter said.

Twitter already uses artificial intelligence and machine learning in this effort but the latest initiative aims to do more by focusing on the actions of certain users in addition to the content.

Twitter is among online platforms under pressure to do more to safeguard against being used to spread misinformation or promote division, as proved the case during the US presidential election in 2016, in which US intelligence says Russia meddled to help Donald Trump win.

US Supreme Court says warrant needed to get cell phone location data

Yahoo – AFP, Chris Lefkow, June 22, 2018

The US Supreme Court ruled that police need a warrant before obtaining cell phone tower
location data about a suspect from telecom companies (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

Washington (AFP) - In a landmark digital privacy case, the US Supreme Court ruled Friday that police need a warrant before obtaining cell phone location data about a suspect from telecom companies.

In a 5-4 decision, the nation's highest court said such data is protected under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, which guards against unreasonable search and seizure.

The case revolved about police acquisition of mobile phone location information about a robbery suspect, Timothy Carpenter, without a warrant.

Data from Carpenter's cell phone -- 12,898 location points over a period of 127 days -- was used to show the device was in the vicinity when several robberies took place, and the suspect was convicted.

Carpenter's attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued that the seizure of his cell phone location data records was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court reversed a lower court's ruling which said police did not need a warrant to obtain such data.

Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal justices on the court in the decision.

"We decline to grant the state unrestricted access to a wireless carrier's data base of physical location information," the court said in its opinion.

"The government's position fails to contend with the seismic shifts in digital technology that made possible the tracking of not only Carpenter's location but also everyone else's, not for a short period but for years and years," it said.

"Prior to the digital age, law enforcement might have pursued a suspect for a brief stretch," the court said.

"(But) when the government tracks the location of a cell phone it achieves near perfect surveillance, as if it had attached an ankle monitor to the phone's user," it said.

"Whoever the suspect turns out to be, he has effectively been tailed every moment of every day," it said. "Only the few without cell phones could escape this tireless and absolute surveillance."

'Groundbreaking victory'

Nathan Freed Wessler, an attorney with the ACLU who argued the case before the court in November, called the ruling a "groundbreaking victory for Americans' privacy rights in the digital age."

"Today's decision rightly recognizes the need to protect the highly sensitive location data from our cell phones," Wessler said.

"But it also provides a path forward for safeguarding other sensitive digital information in future cases -- from our emails, smart home appliances, and technology that is yet to be invented."

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon described the ruling as a "BIG win for privacy."

"I've argued for years that the sheer volume of information about every single American that's collected by our phones and computers requires a fundamental rethinking of the idea that giving your information to a company means the government can get it too," Wyden said.

In its opinion, the court left open the possibility of warrantless collection of data in what it described as "urgent" situations such as "bomb threats, active shootings and child abductions."

Consumers group hauls 1,000 fake websites from the net

DutchNews, June 21, 2018

Dutch consumers lobby group Consumentenbond has succeeded in forcing a further 1,000 fake websites targeting Dutch consumers offline since March, the organisation said on Thursday. 

SIDN which registers domain names in the Netherlands told Consumentenbond that two large foreign issuers of domain names had pulled the suspect websites. In March, 850 names were removed from the internet, following the publication of a list of 2,000 suspect companies. 

The websites were offering brand name clothing or luxury products at huge discounts. But in reality they were selling counterfeit items or failed to deliver completely. 

Nearly all the 2000 webshops identified by the Consumentenbond were registered at only four domain names companies.  The shops removed were all under the aegis of US-based GoDaddy or PDR of India, both domain name brokers.

Google buy more land in the Netherlands, may build new data centre

DutchNews, June 15, 2018

Google’s parent company Alphabet has bought 70 hectares of land in Noord-Holland province, which it may use to develop a new data centre, business news agency Bloomberg said on Friday. 

The company told Bloomberg it is still considering what to do with the site, but that a decision will be made soon. The location of the land was not given but it is thought to be close to Amsterdam. 

Google already has a major data centre in Eemshaven in the north of Groningen and said earlier this year it would spend €500m to expand its operations there. 

In May, the Dutch Data Centre Association warned that the shortage of electricity in areas where data centres are concentrated is threatening the industry’s expansion in the Netherlands. 

The situation is particularly acute around Amsterdam ‘where expanding the electricity grid is no longer possible,’ the association said. 

The Netherlands needs to develop an emergency plan or the country’s position as a ‘digital leader’ will be under threat, DDA director Stijn Grove said.

Visa outage blocks transactions across Europe

Yahoo – AFP, June 1, 2018

Visa users took to social media to complain of problems processing transactions
in Europe June 1, 2018 (AFP Photo/ALAIN JOCARD)

London (AFP) - Payment systems giant Visa was struggling to process transactions in Europe on Friday and said it was rapidly trying to fix the issue.

The blockage has left some customers stuck at the tills in stores across the continent and queueing at cash machines.

"We are currently experiencing a service disruption which is preventing some Visa transactions in Europe from being processed," a Visa spokesman told AFP.

"We are investigating the cause and working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation."

The spokesman could not say how many Visa users across Europe had been affected.

Visa users took to social media to complain and banks tried to explain the situation their customers.

HSBC bank's UK Twitter account said: "From what we understand there are still intermittent issues but services are slowly recovering."

Paymentsense, which provides card machines, online payment gateways and virtual terminals to some 60,000 independent businesses in Britain and Ireland, advised users to try paying via contactless transactions.

"We have been informed that Visa has corrected the outage and transactions are now starting to go through. There is still some intermittency however, we believe this is due to a backlog of transactions," it said.

"We now understand that contactless transactions have a better chance of going through."

It is understood the Bank of England is aware of the issue and is in touch with Visa.

The Royal Bank of Scotland's Twitter help account said cash machine withdrawals were unaffected.

"This is an industry wide issue which is being investigated as a matter of urgency and we apologise for any inconvenience. ATM and MasterCard transactions are not impacted," it said.

Queues in shops

In a Primark store on Berlin's Alexanderplatz, frustrated customers were queueing for 20 minutes to pay. Staff did not know why transactions were not going through.

However, in the neighbouring store, transactions were being processed without any problems.

Sandra Foy, who owns a bookshop in Manchester, northwest England, told Sky News television: "I run a small business and the loss of any business is a big deal for us.

"Not knowing when this is going to be sorted out is incredibly frustrating."

The BBC posted a picture of a London supermarket worker standing outside holding a sign reading: "cash only".

It cited Elle Gibbs-Murray, from Bridgend in south Wales, as saying she was stuck in traffic on the Severn Bridge between England and Wales for 45 minutes as drivers were unable to pay the toll by card.

Alex Neill, Which? consumer magazine's managing director of home products and services, said: "Clearly this issue will be a huge inconvenience to customers and it must be resolved urgently. Visa and the banks need to ensure no-one is left out of pocket due to this outage.

"We strongly advise people to keep any evidence of extra expenses they've incurred in order to claim them back."

Amazon blocks Australia from global sites over tax

Yahoo – AFP, 31 May 2018

Amazon said Australian shoppers wanting to use its global platforms will
instead be directed to its smaller Australian site

US internet giant Amazon will block Australian shoppers from its international websites to counter new tax laws on online purchases, it announced Thursday.

New rules require internet retailers like the American behemoth to collect a 10 percent goods and services tax on everything bought from overseas sites from July 1, including under the current tax-free threshold of Aus$1,000 (US$760).

As a result, Amazon said Australian shoppers wanting to use its global platforms will instead be directed to its smaller Australian site, which offers much less for sale.

Amazon reportedly baulked at the massive administrative burden of tracking GST from all overseas transactions.

"While we regret any inconvenience this may cause customers, we have had to assess the workability of the legislation as a global business with multiple international sites," it said in a statement.

The retailer said it would compensate by opening a "global store" for Australians, adding an extra four million items previously available only on its American website.

"This will allow us to provide our customers with continued access to (our) international selection and remain compliant with the law," it said.

But even with the changes, the number of products available will be a fraction of what's on sale globally.

The new tax rules were brought in after years of lobbying by struggling local retailers, which have to apply GST to all online and store sales,

Low consumer confidence and tepid wage growth have also hit traditional brick and mortar retail operations.

Amazon only launched a local Australian site last December, shipping from a warehouse in Melbourne with another planned in Sydney.

It had around Aus$1 billion in sales from Australia annually through shipping from overseas ahead of the launch, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the new laws "level the playing field for Australian businesses".

"The government doesn't apologise for ensuring multinationals pay a fair amount of tax here in Australia," he said.

Related Article:

EU aims to tax internet giants at 'two to six percent': France

Heightened debate in US as EU privacy rules take effect

Yahoo – AFP, Rob Lever, May 25, 2018

New EU privacy rules require online services such as Facebook to get consent
for how personal data is accessed and shared (AFP Photo/Mladen ANTONOV)

Washington (AFP) - Amid a global scramble to comply with new EU data protections laws, the debate on privacy has intensified in the United States with some calling for similar measures for Americans, and others warning the rules could fracture the global internet.

US tech firms, and virtually all companies with online operations, will need to comply with the rules if their sites are used in the European Union, or face hefty financial penalties.

Some American firms, including news sites like the Los Angeles Times and New York Daily News, blocked access in the EU because they were unable to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect Friday.

Other US websites have shut down entirely, and some have hired consultants to help shut off access for any users in Europe.

Large US tech firms have pledged compliance with the EU rules, and have in many cases promised to extend the same protections worldwide.

But legal challenges filed in Europe accused Google and Facebook of failing to abide by the new law.

Why not in US?

Some US activists argue that the implementation offers an opportunity to give more privacy and data protection benefits to Americans.

New EU data protection rules are likely to radically change how websites use
and share personal information and track users (AFP Photo/Pau Barrena)

"We see no reason why US companies, as they strive to comply with the new European policies, cannot extend the GDPR standard to American consumers," said Katharina Kopp of the Center for Digital Democracy, one of 28 activist groups endorsing a letter in that vein to major US and global companies.

Senator Ed Markey and three fellow lawmakers introduced a resolution this week that would call on firms to offer the same protections of the European law in the US.

"The American people are going to wonder why they are getting second-class privacy protections," said Markey.

The law establishes the key principle that individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used, and give consumers a right to know who is accessing their information and what it will be used for.

Companies can be fined up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for violations.

Cumbersome, confusing

GDPR critics argue the law is confusing and cumbersome, and could lead to unintended effects on both sides of the Atlantic.

Daniel Castro of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank, called GDPR "a confusing and impractical set of rules" that offers consumers little benefit.

Some analysts fear that news organizations unable to comply with EU data 

rules will cut off some users, resulting in a "splinternet" where different information 

is available depending on one's region (AFP Photo/Karen BLEIER)

"Instead of hiring engineers, companies are hiring privacy lawyers," Castro said in a blog post with researcher Alan McQuinn.

Ryan Radia of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said that although GDPR was aimed at Big Tech, it is likely to strengthen the grip of large internet firms.

"This will result in greater market concentration, as small firms and startups will find it difficult to comply with the increased regulatory cost burden," Radia said.

Amy Webb, a fellow at Harvard's Nieman Foundation and founder of the Future Today Institute, warned the new law could lead to a "splinternet" with different kinds of data available in various regions of the world, and could be particularly cumbersome for news organizations.

"It's plausible within a decade, we could find ourselves stuck in a new digital divide, where many disparate splinternets behave and function differently, depending on where in the world the net is being accessed," she said in a blog post this week.

Webb said news organizations could find it especially difficult to comply because of the need for consent in organizing feeds and promoting content.

"The business model for news, already tenuous, could be further weakened," she said.

Henry Farrell, a George Washington University professor who follows transatlantic relations, said the entire business model of the tech sector could be at risk from GDPR.

"This is a fundamental attack on the 'two sided market' profit model that e-commerce companies have pioneered of providing services to individuals, while watching their behavior and feeding up access or data to advertisers," Farrell said in a tweet Friday.

Chip machinery maker ASML wins first order from China

DutchNews, May 16, 2018

Photo: ASML 

Chipmachine marker ASML of Veldhoven has won its first-ever order from China, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Wednesday. 

The paper said Chinese Semiconductor Manufacturing International has ordered a $120m extreme ultraviolet lithography machine from ASML which never identifies its customers. Citing Nikkei Asian Review the FD said this is the latest in a series of orders for the EUV machines from ASML. 

Taiwan-based TSMC has ordered eight of the EUV machines, Samsung six and Intel three while GlobalFoundries of the US has ordered one. At the presentation of first-quarter figures in April, ASML said it had booked orders for 20 of the machines. 

EUV technology allows the industry to continue to print smaller features onto ever-more complex chips. It is carried out in a vacuum using a plasma to produce EUV light using highly sophisticated mirrors instead of lenses to project the circuit patterns onto silicon wafers. 

Today’s silicon chips have features as small as 40 nanometers – less than a few hundred atoms across – and ASML says EUV lithography tools will be used to print even smaller 

Using EUV to print transistors this small is equivalent to printing an image the size of a human eye on the surface of the earth from a space shuttle . . . and then printing another image on top of the first one with perfect alignment, the company says.

EU data laws set to bite after Facebook scandal

Yahoo – AFP, Cédric SIMON, May 14, 2018

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg tells the US House Committee on Energy and
Commerce how the company will boost personal data protection as the EU's
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect May 25 (AFP Photo/
SAUL LOEB)

Brussels (AFP) - New European Union data protection laws take effect on May 25 to protect users' online information, in what Brussels touts as a global benchmark after the Facebook scandal.

The laws will cover large tech companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook that use personal data as an advertising goldmine, as well as firms like banks and also public bodies.

One major change is that consumers must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used, while they can also specifically ask for their personal information to be deleted.

Firms face huge fines of up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for failing to comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

"It's your data -- take control," the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, urges the bloc's 500 million citizens in guidelines for the new rules.

The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg told US lawmakers last month the firm plans to fall into line with the EU rules as it seeks to rebuild its reputation after the breach, which affected 87 million users.

'Living in a jungle'

The scandal has proved a godsend for the EU.

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova told AFP in an interview that the incident fueled "a campaign" for the new European law in a way that she could never have done.

She said the EU was setting a global benchmark for data protection as many Americans who once criticised Europe as too set on regulation now see the need for the GDPR.

European Justice Commissionner Vera Jourova faces the press ahead of the 

May 25 coming into force of the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (AFP 

Photo/Emmanuel DUNAND)

The Facebook scandal showed "that we really are living in the kind of jungle where we are losing ourselves," the Czech commissioner added.

But not everything has run smoothly.

At least eight of the 28 EU countries will not have updated their laws by May 25.

The lack of preparedness comes despite the fact that the new laws were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to the rules.

This "will create some legal uncertainty," Jourova said, blaming countries for neglect rather than resistance to the law.

Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter have all started in the last few weeks to alter their terms of use, but the situation appears more complicated for small- and medium-sized firms.

'Brave choice'

In Germany, the chamber of commerce and industry expressed fears smaller companies may react defiantly to what they call "excessive red tape" under threat of fines.

The new EU law establishes consumers' "right to know" who is processing their information and what it will be used for.

Individuals will be able to block the processing of their data for commercial reasons and even have data deleted under the "right to be forgotten."

They will have to be warned when there is unauthorised access, with the law establishing the key principle that individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used.

Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.

In return, EU officials argue that digital firms will benefit from regulation that restores consumer confidence and replaces the patchwork of national laws.

European leaders have backed the new laws.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech in Germany last week that he welcomed the "brave choice" of the new law, calling it a cornerstone in a new "digital sovereignty."

Google to show who is behind US political ads

Yahoo – AFP, May 4, 2018

Google announces new rules for placing online US election ads on the social
media platform (AFP Photo/Lionel BONAVENTURE)

San Francisco (AFP) - Google on Friday said that people looking to place US election ads on its platform will need to show identification, and make clear who is paying.

Policy changes being rolled out come as online ad 'duopoly' Google and Facebook strive to avoid being used to spread misleading or divisive ads aimed at voters.

"Our work on elections goes far beyond improving policies for advertising," Google senior vice president Kent Walker said in a blog post.

"We're investing heavily in keeping our own platforms secure and working with campaigns, elections officials, journalists, and others to help ensure the security of the online platforms that they depend on. "

Google promised last year to make political advertising more transparent.

New policies for US election ads were a 'first step' in fulfilling that vow, according to Walker.

Google said that it will require anyone seeking to buy election ads in the US to prove they are legal residents, as required by law.

"That means advertisers will have to provide a government-issued ID and other key information," Walker said.

Ads will have to clearly disclose who is paying for them, according to Walker.

Google later this year will release a new report showing who is buying election-related ads on the platform and how much money is being spent.

The California-based firm also said it is building a searchable library of election ads bought at Google and who paid for them.

Facebook last year announced that only authorized advertisers would be permitted to run election ads at the leading social network and its photo and video-sharing service Instagram.

In April, Facebook extended that rule to "issue ads" such as hot-button political topics in the US.

"We are working with third parties to develop a list of key issues, which we will refine over time," Facebook vice presidents Rob Goldman and Alex Himel said in a blog post.

"Advertisers will be prohibited from running political ads — electoral or issue-based — until they are authorized."

Political ads will be marked as such, and include information about who paid for them, according to Facebook.

The social network also added a requirement that pages with large numbers of followers be verified, to make it harder for people to use fake accounts to influence politics.

"We know we were slow to pick up foreign interference in the 2016 US elections," Goldman and Himel said in the post.

The updates at Facebook were "designed to prevent future abuse in elections," they explained.

Related Article:

Cambridge Analytica to close after Facebook data scandal