Fourteen Americans (with the help of an advocacy group) are complaining to the FCC that their names were used without permission to file fake comments on the proposed net neutrality overhaul.

A letter [PDF] sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and signed by the 14 people claims that their names and addresses were used to post comments in support of the planned Title II elimination for ISPs.

“We are disturbed by reports that indicate you have no plans to remove these fraudulent comments from the public docket,” they write.

“Whoever is behind this stole our names and addresses, publicly exposed our private information without our permission, and used our identities to file a political statement we did not sign onto.”

The letter does not name any specific company or group as being behind the filings.

A quick check of the names on the letter with the FCC’s comment site found that nearly all were indeed used to file form comments. One of the signed names does not appear to be associated with any comments on file right now, while another name was connected with eight identical comments.

The letter is part of a campaign being conducted by digital rights group Fight for the Future to expose what it claims are hundreds of thousands of fake comments posted by or on behalf of telcos who support Ajit Pai’s planned overhauls.

Source: US citizens complain their names were used for FCC robo-comments • The Register

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The European Parliament has approved a draft law that geo-blocking, the act of offering an online content service in one European Union (EU) country and that country alone, will be scrapped in the first half of next year.

Coupled with the recent law to end mobile roaming charges in the EU as of next month, the OTT industry as a whole stands to flourish in Europe over the next few years. However, the losers here will be the content creators, which argue that the removal of geo-blocking will weaken the financial value of content, as well as the pay TV operators, as the ruling will trigger a small spate of cord cutting for consumers with two or more properties in multiple EU countries. But the move is also a hammer blow to content pirates.

Source: EU axes geo-blocking: Upsets studios, delights consumers • The Register

There is a lot more worthwhile on the pros and cons – overall I am happy to see the digital single market catch up to the physical single market.

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De Europese Commissie wil dat internetaanbieders en hostingpartijen, maar ook platformen zoals Facebook, monitoren wat hun gebruikers publiceren. Elke tekst, foto en filmpje dat gebruikers wil zetten zou dan eerst door een filter van de entertainmentindustrie gehaald moeten worden. Hoe zoiets in de praktijk zou moeten werken is volstrekt onduidelijk.

Source: Massaal verzet tegen omstreden EU contentfilters – Emerce

They want ISPs and hosts as well as content providers such as Facebook to filter all posted content through an entertainment industry filter before posting online. How this will work – technically as well as who has oversight over what the entertainment industry deems inappropriate – is unclear. This kind of censorship on a massive scale is exactly why we fought the Nazis and the Cold War: for a free and open society.

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British police have charged a man under antiterror laws after he refused to hand over his phone and laptop passwords.

Muhammad Rabbani, international director of CAGE, was arrested at Heathrow in November after declining to unlock his devices, claiming they contained confidential testimony describing torture in Afghanistan as well as information on high-ranking officials. CAGE positions itself as a non-profit organization that represents and supports families affected by the West’s TWAT (aka The War Against Terror).

On Wednesday this week, he was charged under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000: specifically, he is accused of obstructing or hampering an investigation by refusing to cough up his login details.

“On 20 November 2016, at Heathrow Airport, he did willfully obstruct, or sought to frustrate, an examination or search under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, contrary to paragraph 18(1)(c) of that Schedule,” London’s Metropolitan Police alleged. “He is due to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 20 June.”

If found guilty, Rabbani could face up to three months in prison and a fine of £2,500 (US$3,242). He has said he will fight the case and is hopeful of winning. He claims he has been stopped under Schedule 7 about 20 times and has always refused to hand over his passwords. However, it appears that the Met is now ready to test this case in court, so formal charges have been brought.
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What makes Schedule 7 rather tricksy is that no evidence is required to pull someone over for questioning under the law. Usually, Brit officers must have at least reasonable suspicion of a crime before collaring a suspect, but under these antiterror rules, they can hold and quiz people for up to nine hours with no evidence at all.

Source: Bloke charged under UK terror law for refusing to cough up passwords

Welcome to the Brexit concentration camp

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The European Banking Federation (EBF) has asked the EU Commission to support a ban on “screen scraping”.

Screen-scraping services, seen as a first-generation direct access technology, allow third parties to access bank accounts on a client’s behalf using the client’s access credentials.

The Revised Directive on Payment Services (PSD2) introduces a general security upgrade for third-party access to a client’s data.

Earlier this month, 65 European fintech firms made their opposition to this known, stating in a manifesto (PDF) that “[T]he only functioning technology used for bank-independent [payment initiation services] and [account information services] must not be foreclosed.”

Privacy of client data, cybersecurity and innovation are all at risk if European Banking Authority (EBA) standards are dismissed and screen scraping continues, the EBF argues.

The proposal requires banks to opt for either creating a “dedicated interface” that lets third parties access bank accounts on behalf of clients, or to upgrade their client interface. The EBF wants to see PSD2 delivered within the framework of (EBA) standards and the end of screen-scraping.

The European Commission appears to be willing to go against the EBA advice and allow screen-scraping to continue.

Source: Banking association calls for end of ‘screen-scraping’

Then there is some ridiculous analogy to putting a diesel engine on an aircraft. Having to recode your fintech software to PSD2 – which may be incomplete and missing important functionality – is expensive and thus weeds out the crop of fintech companies. In my experience it’s usually better for customers to have large amounts of competing products than to be locked into a mono- or duopoly.

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Ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers experiencing fainting spells, dizziness, seizures, abnormal breathing and chest pains, according to incident reports obtained by the Guardian. Hundreds more were called for injuries and other medical issues.
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However, some Tesla workers argue the company’s treatment of injured workers discourages them from reporting their injuries. If workers are assigned to “light duty” work because of an injury, they are paid a lower wage as well as supplemental benefits from workers’ compensation insurance, a practice that Tesla said was in line with other employers and California law. Tesla said some injured employees are also able to undertake “modified work” on regular pay.

“I went from making $22 an hour to $10 an hour,” said a production worker, who injured his back twice while working at Tesla. “It kind of forces people to go back to work.”

Source: Tesla factory workers reveal pain, injury and stress: ‘Everything feels like the future but us’ | Technology | The Guardian

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