Smartphones vs. coronavirus: Is privacy always going to be the loser?
In Europe, officials, doctors and engineers are looking at how smartphones could be enlisted in the war against the spread of the new coronavirus. One obvious attraction for health officials is the possibility of using smartphones to find out with whom someone diagnosed with COVID-19 ...
One victim of COVID-19 pandemic may be privacy rights
Digital surveillance and smartphone technology may prove helpful in containing the coronavirus pandemic, but some activists fear they also could bring lasting harm to privacy and digital rights. From China to Singapore to Israel, governments have ordered electronic monitoring of their citizens' movements in an ...
French court cancels fine on Google over right to be forgotten
Google won a battle over the right to be forgotten after France's top administrative court canceled a fine of €100,000 ($111,000) for failing to remove contentious search results globally. France's Council of State threw out the 2016 penalty, following guidance from the European Union's highest ...
Japan's government adopts bill to tighten rules on personal data
The government on Tuesday adopted a bill requiring companies to obtain consent from users when handing over personal data, such as internet browsing history, to third parties. The bill, approved at a Cabinet meeting, requires consent when it is clear that the data can be ...
Japan's transplant services work to maintain donor-patient anonymity in age of social media
One of the most important rules in donating organs or bone marrow is to maintain the anonymity of the donor and recipient, including from each other. But with more people using the internet and social media, there are cases in which identities may be revealed, ...
Why Singapore's admired coronavirus playbook can't be replicated
A day after Jeanhee Kim learned of a coronavirus case in her Singapore apartment block, she was visited by a distinguished-looking man she later learned was a senior government minister. Kim, a 51-year old American who had just relocated to the island as the outbreak ...
Google's British users will lose EU data protection, sources say
Google is planning to move its British users' accounts out of the control of European Union privacy regulators, placing them under U.S. jurisdiction instead, sources said. The shift, prompted by Britain's exit from the EU, will leave the sensitive personal information of tens of millions ...
Nancy Pelosi warns Europe that Huawei represents Chinese state police
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepped up U.S. warnings about Beijing's global telecommunications ambitions, saying Chinese operator Huawei Technologies Co. must be prevented from controlling the next generation of wireless networks. Pelosi said autocracy in China makes Huawei a threat to Western countries as they prepare ...
Japan's cities and prefectures split on whether to disclose travel details of coronavirus patients
When a tour bus driver became Japan’s first case in the outbreak, it sparked a nationwide debate on how closely patients’ privacy should be protected.
Coronavirus brings China's surveillance state out of the shadows
When the man from Hangzhou returned home from a business trip, the local police got in touch. They had tracked his car by his license plate in nearby Wenzhou, which has had a spate of coronavirus cases despite being far from the epicenter of ...
