Cybersecurity News
YouTube’s fine and child safety online | Letters
Fining YouTube for targeting adverts at children as if they were adults shows progress is being made on both sides of the Atlantic, writes Steve Wood of the Information Commissioner’s OfficeThe conclusion of the Federal Trade Commission investigation into YouTube’s gathering of young people’s personal information (‘Woeful’ YouTube fine for child data breach, 5 September) shows progress is being made on both sides of the Atlantic towards a more children-friendly internet. The company was accused of treating younger users’ data in the same way it treats adult users’ data.
YouTube’s journey sounds similar to many other online services: it began targeting adults, found more and more children were using its service, and so continued to take commercial advantage of that. But the allegation is it didn’t treat those young people differently, gathering their data and using it to target content and adverts at them as though they were adult users.
Continue reading...Data breach may affect 50,000 Australian university students using 'Get' app
Students using events app Get, previously known as Qnect, may have had their personal data exposed online
The personal details of an estimated 50,000 students involved in university clubs and societies around Australia may have been exposed online, in the second breach of its kind for the company holding the data.
Get, previously known as Qnect, is an app built for university societies and clubs to facilitate payments for events and merchandise. The app operates in four countries with 159,000 active student users, and 453 clubs using it.
Continue reading...Guardian investigations: how tech helps tackle big data … and big lawyers
Our head of investigations explains how a new IT system, Giant, has the power to find needles in journalistic haystacks
There aren’t too many places to hide at the Guardian. The offices are open-plan and most of the meeting rooms have glass walls.
There is one room, however, that has a special status. In recent years, when we have been involved in big investigations, this is the place where reporters and editors have relocated for months on end.
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