Five great industry news stories from this week you may have missed.
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Digital privacy law is being updated for the first time in decades, and it's imperative we get it right
Over the past year, Canadians — just like much of the world — have increasingly lived their lives online. The pandemic has not only magnified the value of the internet, but also what's wrong with it. At this fraught moment in our digital society, Canada has a major opportunity to address much of what's wrong online. Several weeks ago, Canadian legislators in the House of Commons introduced Bill C-11 to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act.
A recent opinion piece by Vass Bednar and Mark Surman laid out the three factors which must be implemented in order for the Bill to succeed: clear and actionable language, strong enforcement and accountability, and giving Canadians the option to demand more from Big Tech collectively rather than on their own. Read the full article here.
For more information on Bill C-11, check out Sean Lynch's recent article What the New Digital Charter Implementation Act Means for You (and Your Data).
An Absurdly Basic Bug Let Anyone Grab All of Parler's Data
The social media platform Parler rose to prominence as an outlet for free speech. However, it lacked the most basic security measures and even ordered its posts by number in the site's URLs so that anyone could easily, programmatically download the site's millions of posts.
A recent article published by Wired explains how the social media platform, which quickly became a haven for disinformation, hate speech and calls for violence, was successfully hacked before Amazon Web Services cut off their hosting on Sunday night. In the days and hours leading up to the shutdown, a group of hackers scrambled to download and archive the site, uploading dozens of terabytes of Parler data to the Internet Archive.
What is Signal? The basics of the most secure messaging app.
WhatsApp recently communicated with its users that their data was being shared by its parent company, Facebook. As a result, an influx of new users have joined Signal. Known for its end-to-end encryption and independent structure as a non-profit organization run by a foundation — not a big tech company — Signal has previously been the communication method of choice for activists, people in the hacker community and others concerned about privacy. Learn the basics of Signal in Mashable's recent article.
Not sure how your method of private messaging measures up? Check out Chris Plauschinn's blog, How secure are your private messages? Six top platforms ranked., which breaks down the security of each major messaging program, including Signal.
Financial Surveillance in 2020 and Looking Ahead to 2021
With many companies forced to send their employees home to work remotely in April 2020, surveillance teams were faced with the challenge of staying ahead of misconduct and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements from afar. For surveillance operations to effectively pivot, it became a requirement to add into scope all new communication channels that their firms chose to use — including collaboration tools like Slack and video conferencing tools like Zoom — to conduct business in a remote environment. A push for AI in surveillance and cloud computing, Relativity states, will become priorities in the new year. Read their full list of predictions for 2021 here.
7 Reasons why 2021 will be even bigger and better for remote workers
2021 is poised to be even bigger, and better, for those who continue to enjoy a flexible work arrangement. A recent Fast Company article lists the top seven ways experts expect remote work to expand and improve in the year ahead, including access to more tools and resources, enjoying work-life separation, increased diversity and even the potential to earn more.
