Jun 6, 2016 | Regulation, Social media
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg briefly lost control of both his Twitter and Pinterest accounts this morning, after a hacking group broke in to both, defacing the pages. The hacking group, called ‘OurMine’ claimed they found Zuckerberg’s details in...
Jun 2, 2016 | Regulation
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has demanded revisions to a consumer data sharing deal between the EU and the US, intended to be a replacement for the long-running ‘Safe Harbour’ pact between the two regions. The EDPS said a data transfer...
Jun 1, 2016 | Regulation, Social media
Hundreds of millions of hacked account details from social networks MySpace and Tumblr have been advertised for sale online. In both cases, the logins appear to have been stolen several years ago but only recently came to light. The incident comes the same month it...
Jun 1, 2016 | Regulation
Microsoft is tightening password security by banning easy passwords, such as ‘123456’, following recent high profile security breaches. The move follows revelations about the recent LinkedIn data hack, which showed that the most popular passwords people...
May 31, 2016 | Regulation
The internet is about to get a bit more crowded (and cultural) with the introduction of a new .art domain dedicated to the creative industry. UK Creative Ideas Limited (UKCI) signed an agreement with ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, in...
May 27, 2016 | Regulation
Over half (52%) of consumers want biomentrics and other modern authentication methods over traditional passwords, according to new research. The study, from Gigya, entitled “Businesses Should Begin Preparing for the Death of the Password” is based on results of its...
May 26, 2016 | Online advertising, Regulation
Three UK is trialling ad-blocking technology on its network next month, for one day only. The one-day trial will test the ability of the technology to filter out advertising that damages our customers’ mobile browsing experience “without impacting their network...
May 24, 2016 | China, Regulation, Social media
Chinese government employees are inserting millions of deceptive messages into the streams of real social networks, to divert citizens’ attention from adverse or embarrassing news, according to new research. Gary King, a political scientist at Harvard...
May 19, 2016 | Regulation, Social media
A hacker is advertising what they claim is more than one hundred million LinkedIn logins for sale, forcing the social network to reset accounts. The IDs were reportedly sourced from a breach four years ago, which had previously been thought to have included a fraction...
May 18, 2016 | Regulation, Search engine marketing
How far would most small businesses go to beat their competition online? A new study has revealed the shocking (and illegal) lengths some would go to sabotage competitors’ search rankings. The study, carried out by Reboot Online, sent out an email to 84 UK businesses...
May 18, 2016 | CPG, FMCG digital marketing food and beverages, Regulation, UK
The BBC and UK government are facing and online backlash after it was revealed the broadcaster is to delete 11,000 online recipes. The move means that recipes by popular TV chefs such as Nigella Lawson, James Martin and Mary Berry will be removed from the BBC website....
May 16, 2016 | Regulation
Companies can now receive certification for using fraud-reduction techniques, following the launch of a new auditing process from the UK’s Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS). The independent body that defines best practice and standards for online ad...
May 12, 2016 | Online advertising, Regulation, Search engine marketing
Google plans to ban ads from so-called payday lenders in its search results, in a move the company hopes will limit what it calls a “harmful” industry. The search giant plans to stop allowing ads for loans due within 60 days or with an interest rate of 36%...
May 11, 2016 | Facebook marketing, Regulation, Social media
Facebook has launched its photo-sharing app in the EU and Canada after adapting its controversial facial-recognition software to work around each region’s privacy laws. The program – Moments – was released in some countries in 2015, but withheld...
May 10, 2016 | Facebook marketing, Regulation
Facebook has lost the first round in a court fight against some of its users who allege it “unlawfully” collected and stored users’ biometric data derived from their faces in photographs. The judge presiding over the case in a California federal...
May 5, 2016 | Regulation, Search engine marketing, UK
The NHS has given the medical records of 1.6 million patients to Google’s AI technology DeepMind, according to a news report. The New Scientist reports that the records have been shared with Google as part of a data-sharing agreement between the technology giant and...
Apr 29, 2016 | Regulation
Beautifulpeople.com – an elite dating site that only permits attractive people to sign up – has reportedly had private information about more than a million users leaked. The data breach is understood to have seen addresses, mobile phone numbers, sexual...
Apr 29, 2016 | Regulation
Consumers are increasingly worried about their online privacy and security, especially when it comes to how their personal data is handled by private corporations and governments, according to new global research. The survey commissioned by the Centre for...
Apr 28, 2016 | Regulation, Search engine marketing
Getty Images has formally complained to the European Commision’s antitrust officials about the multinational’s alleged anti-competitive behaviour. Getty has flagged up concerns about Google’s use of “scraped third party imagery” on its search...
Apr 18, 2016 | Online advertising, Regulation
British MPs have claimed that broadband ads are misleading, with just 10% actually getting the advertised speeds. A cross-party group of 50 MPs called the British Infrastructure Group (BIG) have strongly criticised the way that broadband is advertised in the UK. The...