http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:24:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/23/techcrunch-lastfm-data-was-leaked-after-all-to-the-riaa/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/23/techcrunch-lastfm-data-was-leaked-after-all-to-the-riaa/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 16:05:12 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/23/techcrunch-lastfm-data-was-leaked-after-all-to-the-riaa/ TechCrunch ran a story back in February were they claimed that Last.fm data was handed over to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). The data dump in question was being analyzed to find information about unreleased music tracks that have been played by users. They received lots of fire for that article from Last.fm developers and the Internet community. The Last.fm crew denied that data was handed over to the RIAA and the story cooled after.

Today, TechCrunch ran the follow up story citing a second source and offering some clarification why the Last.fm staff members denied the leak. According to the story it was CBS, not Last.fm directly, that leaked the data dump to the RIAA, or as is suggested one of the music labels.

CBS seems to have given in to the demand because of fear that the streaming rates could be negatively impacted if they did not.

We believe CBS lied to us when they denied sending the data to the RIAA, and that they subsequently asked us to attribute the quote to Last.fm to make the statement defensible. Last.fm’s denials were strictly speaking correct, but they ignored the underlying truth of the situation, that their parent company supplied user data to the RIAA, and that the data could possibly be used in civil and criminal actions against those users. We believe that the outrage they aimed at us for reporting the story, which was materially correct, should have been aimed at CBS instead. But Last.fm never spoke publicly of the real facts of the story.

If data has been leaked – and the article speaks of IP addresses and usage data – then this could very well be a privacy disaster for Last.fm and CBS.

Tags: cbs, data leak, last.fm, riaa, techcrunch

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/05/23/techcrunch-lastfm-data-was-leaked-after-all-to-the-riaa/feed/ 3 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/12/uk-sensitive-information-need-we-say-more/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/12/uk-sensitive-information-need-we-say-more/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:32:48 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/12/uk-sensitive-information-need-we-say-more/ The massive increase in data collection throughout the world has not led to responsible data storage laws. That is an imbalance that becomes obvious especially in one country these days. The UK is amassing heaps of data about their citizens for their fight against terrorism (and other causes) but is failing miserably over and over again when it comes to securing that data.

Think of past stories like top secret information in a digital camera that got sold for a few pounds on eBay or the discovery of an USB stick outside a pub containing information about 12 million British citizens.

This time it was mere paper that was responsible for a data leak. Most users would think that pre-computer age politicians would know how to handle at least secure information on paper properly. This is apparently not the case as police chief Bob Quick managed to carry a document marked secret in public which immediately caught the attention of bystanding photographers.

The document, which can be viewed on the Guardian’s website contained information about an anti-terrorist raid. The details were extensive including names, addresses and command structures. The raid had to be conducted in bright daylight because of the security leak.

As Dante, who send me a link to the story points out: “It’s not just electronic security that
counts. It’’s also what happens when a user prints out the data.”

Tags: bob quick, data leak, data privacy, data security, information, privacy, Security, united kingdom

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