In-brief: Proposed legislation to prevent manufacturers from denying owners and independent repair people to fix and maintain software-based products is being sidelined by opposition from private firms like equipment maker John Deere, Motherboard reports.
In-brief: One in four Americans was the victim of data theft, but policy makers can’t find the spirit to act. What if I said that there was a disease that affected one in four adults in the U.S.? This disease caused pain and hardship and the costs of curing it were considerable – ranging to thousands of dollars per patient? And, again: one in four people contacted this disease – 25% of the adult population?Most epidemiologists would consider a disease that widely spread to be an “epidemic.” After all, the CDC considers an influenza outbreak to be an “epidemic” when around 7% of morbidity (deaths) in a given observation period are due to the flu. Here in the U.S., however, there’s a long-standing affliction bearing down on a quarter of the population, but nary a mention of the words “epidemic.” In fact, officials who monitor this disease are loath to […]
In-brief: Five states are considering “right to repair” legislation that would allow independent shops and consumers to service their own connected stuff. No surprise: Apple isn’t happy about it.
In-brief: Smart TV maker VIZIO agreed to pay $2.2 million to the FTC and the State of New Jersey to settle charges that it collected the viewing history of some 11 million smart televisions without users’ consent. The settlement stems from a 2014 case and requires the company to “prominently disclose and obtain affirmative express consent” for data collection and sharing.
The problems that surround cyber attribution came into sharp relief in recent weeks, as the Department of Homeland Security and FBI attempted to pin attribution for the hacking of Democratic party organizations on hackers affiliated with the government of Russia, with only mixed success. Attribution was again an issue after The Washington Post -citing the DHS and FBI report- said Russians had hacked their way into the U.S. electrical grid by way of a Vermont utility. That report was eventually walked back as more evidence emerged about the incident. Pointing the finger of blame – it turns out – is easier said than done in matters of cyber espionage and cyber war. Now the folks over at Cyberscoop point to a new bill designed to boost the government’s ability to do cyber attribution and foster government-industry ties. New cybersecurity legislation aims to bolster the U.S. government’s attribution capabilities as well […]
