Data

Troy Hunt: How Your Data Is Collected and Commoditised via “free” Online Services

I get a lot of people popping up with data breaches for Have I been pwned (HIBP). There’s an interesting story in that itself actually, one I must get around to writing in the future as folks come from all sorts of different backgrounds and offer up data they’ve come across in various locations. Recently someone sent me a list of various data breaches they’d obtained, including this one: …


New System Could Save Streaming Music Services a Ton of Lawsuits

A new online system could save streaming services a few headaches — and perhaps a few lawsuits — by giving music publishers direct involvement in the often messy process of mechanical licensing. Back in December, Spotify was hit with a $150 million class-action lawsuit from a group of artists — led by musician David Lowery — who said that the streaming giant failed to obtain licenses for its …


Class Action Denied in AT&T Data Throttling Lawsuit

AT&T won’t face a class action lawsuit over throttling speeds for customers with unlimited smartphone data plans. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen handed down that ruling after determining the plaintiffs must all deal with AT&T individually because their contracts prohibit class action cases. AT&T dodges class action status in iPhone data throttling lawsuit Customers filed the lawsuit …


Home Depot Offers $19M to Settle Customers’ Hacking Lawsuit

Home Depot offers $19M to settle customers’ hacking lawsuit The 2014 hack of the home-improvement retailer’s payment systems exposed more than 50 million credit card accounts. More than 50 million Home Depot customers’ credit cards were exposed to theft in a massive hack in 2014. Home Depot says it’s willing to pay as much as $19.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by shoppers …


Home Depot to Pay $19.5 Million Over Big 2014 Hack Attack

Home Depot Inc. agreed to pay at least $19.5 million to compensate U.S. consumers harmed by a 2014 data breach affecting more than 50 million cardholders. The home improvement retailer will set up a $13 million fund to reimburse shoppers for out-of-pocket losses, and spend at least $6.5 million to fund 1-1/2 years of cardholder identity protection services. Home Depot also agreed to improve …


UC Berkeley Students File Lawsuit Against Google Alleging Illegal Scanning of Emails

In March 2014, Google fell under fire for scanning emails in Apps for Education, a collection of online tools and services that include Google Drive and Google Mail. Now, nearly two years later, four UC Berkeley students and alumni filed a lawsuit against Google Inc. on Wednesday, alleging that UC Berkeley emails were the target of such data mining between 2012 and 2014. In 2014, nine …



This Man Wants to Upend the World of High-Frequency Trading

When developers at a top U.S. stock exchange needed help debugging a program that puts time stamps on quotes and trades in July, they could have hired a high-profile consulting firm. Instead, they called a customer who runs a company out of a small office in a Chicago suburb who had weeks earlier called the exchange’s dealings with high-frequency trading firms “completely illegal” on Twitter. …


Seagate Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Failure Rates of 3TB Drives

A class-action lawsuit was filed against storage drive maker Seagate today, alleging that certain 3TB models are failing more than they should. The complaint alleged that the drives failed “at an unprecedented rate,” and consumers who bought the defective drives faced broken hardware and significant loss of data. And while Seagate promised purchasers that it would replace the failed hard …


UC Berkeley Students File Lawsuit Against Google Alleging Illegal Scanning of Emails

In March 2014, Google fell under fire for scanning emails in Apps for Education, a collection of online tools and services that include Google Drive and Google Mail. Now, nearly two years later, four UC Berkeley students and alumni filed a lawsuit against Google Inc. on Wednesday, alleging that UC Berkeley emails were the target of such data mining between 2012 and 2014. In 2014, nine …