Privacy Articles - Software Expert Witnesses & Litigation Consultants

February 26, 2019 • by Quandary Peak Research

ACLU vs. Government: Should There Be Rules Governing Hacking?

The rise of mobile technology means we are rarely disconnected from a vast ecosystem of services and content. With more people online sharing more than ever, personal data has become currency, and entire business models are predicated on harvesting and deriving insight from that information. But technology companies have lost the benefit…

Legal Troubles Don’t Mean Diminished Ambitions for Big Tech

Big Tech took some unprecedented hits in 2018. For the first time in memory, previously unassailable companies found themselves squarely in government and public crosshairs alike, answering for a series of (often data-centric) misdeeds. But even as questions loom and skepticism increases, these issues – and the ensuing public backlash – remain…

Amazon, Apple, Bloomberg, and…Chinese Spies?

The story feels like something out of a novel or a movie. In October, Bloomberg Businessweek published a lengthypiecedetailing how Chinese spies had, during the manufacturing process, installed chips in servers purchased by major tech companies—creating “a stealth doorway” into their respective networks. The report alleged that two of the companies were…

The U.S. Justice Department vs. California on Net Neutrality

As expected, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the state’s comprehensive net neutrality bill into law on September 30. His signature opened the door for the expected flurry of lawsuits from opponents, including one filed the same day in the District Court for the Eastern District of California by one of the state’s…

U.S. Cities Turn to ‘Cyber Insurance’ in Response to Hackers

While social media, ecommerce, healthcare, and more have all benefited from (or were made possible by) technology, the transfer of our lives to the internet has come at a cost. With more of our sensitive information online than ever – data that is tremendously valuable for both companies and individuals – there…

Facebook Under Fire from British Lawmakers

Policymakers worldwide show no signs of letting up their increased scrutiny of Facebook. A British parliamentary committee investigating Russian election influencing campaigns has recommended sweeping regulations on tech companies, while accusing the social media giant of being disingenuous or outright obstructing lines of questioning. “Facebook should not be in a position of…

California’s Sweeping New Privacy Laws

California state legislators passed a sweeping digital privacy law at the end of June, giving consumers increased control over their online data. The legislation also gives internet users in the state greater insight into how their information is collected and spread by technology companies. The bill, which evolved from draft into law…

Facebook’s Data-Sharing Partnerships and the Limits of Privacy Protections

Our world runs increasingly on data. Concurrent with the rise of tools developed to analyze and glean insights from massive reams of information is the ascendance of data as a kind of currency—an aggregation of potential insights to help companies sell products, services, and more. Tech giants like Amazon, Google, Apple, and…

Europe’s New Privacy Laws Mean Field Day for Lawyers and Activists

The European Union’s new data-protection rules are officially in effect. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the world’s most stringent set of regulations to protect internet users’ online data, and its effects are reverberating far beyond Europe. In this post we examine the details of the GDPR, the circumstances that led…

How Viable are VPNs for your Online Privacy Needs?

In a recent piece on internet privacy legislation, Quandary Peak’s editorial team addressed the Congressional vote in March to overturn Obama-era internet privacy laws. In short, the new law gives telecommunications companies greater flexibility in how they can track, collect, and sell customer data. From a consumer standpoint, the implications of this…