"NatWest suspends Get Cash app "

The bank NatWest has suspended its "Get Cash" application, which appears to have been used to commit fraud. Somewhat disappointingly, the bank does not appear to be in a hurry to provide refunds, blaming user behaviour rather than a platform which would appear to have a security problem enabling third party registration.

I'm a geek, but it makes even me think that ensuring the continuity of cash is a good idea!

"Facebook page shows Belfast women walking home after night out"

A piece on the BBC about a Facebook page showing photographs of women walking home after a night out, coupled with what is reported as some derogatory comments.

Fair depiction of actions in a public setting, or invasion of privacy? Censorship by the university or legitimate protection of students' privacy?

EU policy-makers roll out red carpet for cloud adoption

from the article:

At the start of 2012, the commissioners announced plans to create a new legal environment that should make it simpler for cloud providers to offer solutions that support innovation and mobility while also providing security and data portability.

At the heart of this plan is a new approach to data protection that means it will no longer matter where the data is or where the provider is based: "In Madrid, Mumbai or Mountain View", as Kroes put it. If the customer is based in the EU, EU data protection standards will apply.

In short, says Reding, cloud service providers will need to offer "privacy by design" as standard.

for full text see here,  also related article see here.

Topless Kate pictures: Duke and duchess sue French magazine Closer

So it seems that publishing photographs of Prince Harry naked in a private hotel room is fine, but topless photos of Kate Middleton in France is not...

More details of the (rather rare) threat from the Royal Family to sue the French magazine "Closer" for the publication of topless photos of Middleton here — personally, I am not sure that publication of either set of photographs, whether the subjects are "visible from the street" or not, are in the public interest, such that the right to privacy should be overridden.

The Sun - the only British newspaper to publish recent pictures of Prince Harry naked - said it had no intention of publishing the images.
"The circumstances are very different to those relating to the photos of Prince Harry in Las Vegas. As we said at the time, he was at a party in a hotel suite with a large group of strangers and one of those present released a photograph into the public domain," said the Sun's editor Dominic Mohan.

How far does one need to hide from camera lenses to gain a right to privacy? Should one need to hide at all?

Free Wi-Fi... if you don't mind being analysed and targeted

It's becoming increasingly difficult to fund the operation of a mobile network, and I've wondered for some time whether, rather than being a chargeable service, mobile operators might soon become data generators, making money from selling data about user activity to third parties, and receiving advertising commissions from third parties.

Like Facebook, mobile-for-advertising could be a compelling proposition, as there's a clear consumer benefit — a measurable exchange of value, with privacy on one side, and connectivity on the other.

It seems that this has come to fruition in the UK: O2, the Telefonica subsidiary, has launched a free Wi-Fi service, where a user pays with their data, rather than in money.

In return for 10GB of free Wi-Fi per month, you just need to agree to:

"information about you and your use of the Service including, but not limited to, how you conduct your account being used, analysed and assessed by us and the other parties identified in the paragraph above and selected third parties for marketing purposes including, amongst other things, to identify and offer you by phone, post, our mobile network, your mobile phone, email, text (SMS), media messaging, automated dialling equipment or other means, any further products, services and offers which we think might interest you."

You can opt-out at any time, but it would seem that (not unreasonably) this means that you lose access to the service.

Yes, we should be afraid of facial-recognition software

Just came across this articles, which I found interesting, that the identity of a person can be discovered with a facial recognition software, impacting privacy, security,etc.. if used without control and juridical measures.
Full text here.

EU data protection will STIFLE business, moans gov.UK

The European Commission has not calculated the full costs to businesses of changes to the EU data protection regime, the Government has said.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said that the Commission's assessment on the impact its draft General Data Protection Regulation would have on businesses does "not properly quantify the costs which would be imposed on business through compliance with the proposals."

It added that the commission had also "potentially" overstated the benefits of creating a single data protection law to govern across the EU.

Full text here.