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Netflix mentioned another European country was in its sights for this year and tonight it's announced the new region it will service is the Netherlands. As is its custom, it will be offering Dutch viewers a package of movies and TV shows for one low price, including its ever-growing slate of original series. There's no word yet on what that price will be, an exact launch date or what devices will be supported, but interested residents can sign up for alerts at Netflix.nl starting today.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Netflix
According to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the Dutch data authority College Bescherming Persoonsgegevens (CBP), the popular cross-platform messaging application WhatsApp violates privacy laws. A joint investigation between the two groups revealed that, with the exception of devices running iOS 6, the app requires access to a customer's address book in order to use the software. This stipulation results in non-user contact information being recorded to WhatsApp servers without permission, which contravenes Canadian and Dutch privacy laws. In September of 2012, the company added encryption to its services as a response to these investigations, but both the OPC and CBP remain concerned about unauthorized data collecting. As it stands, both organizations will continue to monitor WhatsApp's progress toward compliance, with the Dutch agency reserving its right to impose fines against the firm if necessary.
WhatsApp's violation of privacy law partly resolved after investigation by data protection authorities
Canadian and Dutch data privacy guardians release findings from investigation of popular mobile app
Ottawa, Canada and The Hague, The Netherlands, January 28, 2013 -The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the Dutch Data Protection Authority (College bescherming persoonsgegevens, (CBP)) today released their findings from a collaborative investigation into the handling of personal information by WhatsApp Inc., a California-based mobile app developer.
The coordinated investigation is a global first, as two national data protection authorities conducted their work together to examine the privacy practices of a company with hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. This marks a milestone in global privacy protection.
"Our Office is very proud to mark an important world-first along with our Dutch counterparts, especially in light of today's increasingly online, mobile and borderless world," said Jennifer Stoddart, Privacy Commissioner of Canada. "Our investigation has led to WhatsApp making and committing to make further changes in order to better protect users' personal information."
Jacob Kohnstamm, Chairman of the Dutch Data Protection Authority, adds: "But we are not completely satisfied yet. The investigation revealed that users of WhatsApp - apart from iPhone users who have iOS 6 software - do not have a choice to use the app without granting access to their entire address book. The address book contains phone numbers of both users and non-users. This lack of choice contravenes (Dutch and Canadian) privacy law. Both users and non-users should have control over their personal data and users must be able to freely decide what contact details they wish to share with WhatsApp."
Key findings and outcomes
The investigation focused on WhatsApp's popular mobile messaging platform, which allows users to send and receive instant messages over the Internet across various mobile platforms. While WhatsApp was found to be in contravention of Canadian and Dutch privacy laws, the organization has taken steps to implement many recommendations to make its product safer from a privacy standpoint. At this time however, outstanding issues remain to be fully addressed.
The investigation revealed that WhatsApp was violating certain internationally accepted privacy principles, mainly in relation to the retention, safeguard, and disclosure of personal data. For example:
In order to facilitate contact between application users, WhatsApp relies on a user's address book to populate subscribers' WhatsApp contacts list. Once users consent to the use of their address book, all phone numbers from the mobile device are transmitted to WhatsApp to assist in the identification of other WhatsApp users. Rather than deleting the mobile numbers of non-users, WhatsApp retains those numbers (in a hash form). This practice contravenes Canadian and Dutch privacy law which holds that information may only be retained for so long as it is required for the fulfilment of an identified purpose. Only iPhone users running iOS6 on their devices have the option of adding contacts manually rather than uploading the mobile address numbers of their address books to company servers automatically.
At the time the investigation began, messages sent using WhatsApp's messenger service were unencrypted, leaving them prone to eavesdropping or interception, especially when sent through unprotected Wi-Fi networks. In September 2012, in partial response to our investigation, WhatsApp introduced encryption to its mobile messaging service.
Over the course of the investigation, it was found that WhatsApp was generating passwords for message exchanges using device information that can be relatively easily exposed. This created the risk that a third party may send and receive messages in the name of users without their knowledge. WhatsApp has since strengthened its authentication process in the latest version of its app, using a more secure randomly generated key instead of generating passwords from MAC (Media Acess Control) or IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) numbers (which uniquely identify each device on a network) to generate passwords for device to application message exchanges. Anyone who has downloaded WhatsApp, whether they are active users or not, should update to the latest version to benefit from this security upgrade.
Next steps
The OPC and CBP have worked closely together, but have issued separate reports, respecting each country's data protection law (Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the Dutch Data Protection Act (Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens (Wbp)). Following the issuance of their respective reports of findings, the OPC and CBP will pursue outstanding matters independently.
Following investigation, the Dutch Data Protection Act provides for a second phase in which the CBP will examine whether the breaches of law continue and will decide whether it will take further enforcement actions. The Dutch legal framework contains the possibility to enforce the Dutch privacy law by imposing sanctions.
Under Canada's PIPEDA, the OPC will monitor the company's progress in meeting commitments made in the course of investigation. In most cases, companies are cooperative in meeting their obligations, and WhatsApp has demonstrated a willingness to fully comply with the OPC's recommendations. Unlike the CBP, the OPC does not have order making powers.
Filed under: Software
Via: Reuters
Once again, a decision has been made on an Apple versus Samsung patent dispute. This time, it's a Dutch court in the Hague, ruling that Samsung does not infringe on a Cupertino patent relating to certain multi-touch commands that the Korean firm implements in some of its Galaxy phones and tablets. This isn't the first time that the Netherlands-based court has found in favor of Samsung, and Apple had already lost a preliminary injunction on this same patent last year. Reuters also reports that the Hague court's decision comes in the same week that the International Trade Commission is expected to decide about further patent disputes between the two firms, which went in favor of Apple the last time around. At the very least, this long and bumpy ride isn't over yet.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile
Dutch court rules that Samsung didn't infringe on Apple multi-touch patent originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Reuters | Email this | Comments It’s pretty common for big groups to go out and eat together, and then split the tab afterwards. But the process of splitting up the bill can be pretty tedious, since someone usually has to break out the calculator (or calculator app) and add up the amount that each person has to pay.
But not with the Go Dutch Bill.
It’s a billing system that automatically churns out split-able (is there even such a word?) receipts so each member of the group can just grab the tab with their order and pay for it accordingly. It’s an extremely fun and novel concept, even though we’ll probably never see it come to light because it might be pretty complex to apply in practice.
But I’d love to be wrong on that one because this concept is totally awesome.
Go Dutch Bill was designed by Szu-Yu Liu and is up for the 2012 iF concept design award.
[via Yanko Design]
Dearest RIM, Microsoft, Intel and Sony:
Stop spending millions on mildly successful advertising campaigns. Just modify a delivery scooter to shout your brand name between gear shifts.
Respectfully,
A now-loyal Domino's Pizza customer.
This talking Domino's Pizza scooter will make your day infinitely more awesome (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Autoblog | Domino's Pizza Netherlands (YouTube) | Email this | Comments 
Continue reading PAL-V ONE makes maiden voyage, gives new meaning to 'Flying Dutchman' (video)
PAL-V ONE makes maiden voyage, gives new meaning to 'Flying Dutchman' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
PermalinkBBC News | PAL-V (PDF) | Email this | Comments 