back to article EFF report identifies which internet firms 'have your back' on data

The annual Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) report on data protection among online firms has shown lax privacy standards among some of the biggest names in the business when the government comes knocking at the door. A total of 18 companies were assessed on their privacy policies and T&Cs, stated procedures for handling …

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  1. An0n C0w4rd

    Do published policy and actual behaviour agree?

    The report seems to focus on what the companies say they'll do. However, I don't think they looked for evidence that they do that in all cases. That may be nearly impossible to obtain, but the "inform user" gold star could very easily be made of fools gold if the companies don't follow through with their commitment.

    They also need to add a star explicitly for not holding data longer than needed. A lot of companies will fall foul of this, which just gives law enforcement even more data to pick through when they send their NSLs to sidestep all the pesky due process issues.

    e.g. Apple isn't really clear on how long they keep iMessage data from what I can see.

    While I can understand the lure of doing otherwise, I wish companies would segregate data to jurisdiction specific silos. e.g. EU customer data was retained in the EU and under the laws of the EU and not shared with other countries unless necessary (e.g. send an iMessage to someone outside the EU)

  2. Graham Marsden
    Trollface

    "gold stars...

    "...(a curiously child-like scoring system, in this hack's opinion)"

    Points at the Michelin Guide: "They started it!!"

  3. John Lilburne

    Here the snoopy bastards are the Google's and Facebook's that the EFF shills for. What one sees here is the guy shouting LOOK OVER THERE whilst their colleagues pick your pockets.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What a joke

    The Electronic Farce Federation, (EFF), don't represent my interest nor a reasonable and prudent social digital policy.

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge
      Mushroom

      Re: What a joke

      Bürger nicht verdient Privatsphäre oder Freiheit, sondern sie existieren, um die Ziele des Staates zu fördern!

      SEIG HEIL!

  5. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Comcast

      So did Comcast get one or two stars, Ian?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    UK ISPs?

    That report was all a bit American.

    Here in the UK I rather like AAISP's approach (disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing to do with them, but have recently been reading up on them with a view to becoming a customer)...

    "We have no so called black boxes to covertly monitor traffic and/or pass traffic monitoring to the authorities or anyone else. Obviously the law is such that we may have to add such black boxes, but we would resist as far as possible. We may even find we are not allowed to change this web page if ever that happens. However, I, as director, am happy to answer direct questions on this matter on irc (user RevK) or on twitter (@TheRealRevK) and you can get paranoid if I refuse to. If black boxes become mandatory we aim to find ways and services to maintain the basic human right to privacy." ( http://aaisp.net.uk/kb-broadband-realinternet.html )

  7. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    It's a start.

    I especially like Twitters stand on the French racist.

    Privacy is not just for people you like.

    I find such views repugnant (and he's French, so I might find him repugnant anyway, boom, boom).

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