EFF-Backed Service Reports on 'Erroneous' Website Takedowns

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has teamed up with data and design company Visualizing Impact to launch onlinecensorship.org, which collects and tracks content takedown requests.The site collects user-submitted reports of "erroneously or unjustly removed" content and writes reports about these takedown practices (in addition to featuring certain individual takedown stories).

Austria's Supreme Court to Hear Facebook Privacy Suit

Austrian student Max Schrems's attempt to bring a class-action lawsuit against Facebook over its privacy policies will head to Austria's Supreme Court to determine whether such collective legal action is allowed, his group said. The law student has claimed 500 euros ($531) in damages each for the more than 25,000 signatories to his lawsuit -- the latest in a series of European challenges to U.S. technology firms and their handling of personal data.

FCC Chairman Calls T-Mobile Data Plan 'Highly Competitive'

When T-Mobile announced its new Binge On perk, which lets you stream video on your mobile device without it eating into any of your allotted data, advocates for an open Internet were quick to voice concerns. Now, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has weighed in, and it turns out he has no problem with Binge On. In fact, he actually supports it.

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Starwood Hotels Blames Malware for 8-Month Data Breach

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said hackers stole customer credit-card and debit-card information during a data breach that lasted for nearly eight months and affected 54 locations, including a number of luxury properties. The company said that malicious software, known as malware, infiltrated payment systems at in-hotel restaurants and gift shops, collecting customer names, card numbers, security codes and expiration dates.

Facebook Meets with Belgian Privacy Regulators

Facebook Inc. executives met with Belgian privacy regulators to offer a more detailed defense of its practice of collecting data on nonusers in the country, in the wake of a court ruling there that it must halt the practice. The Belgian Privacy Commission brought the case against Facebook in June, accusing the company of raking in personal data of users as well as nonmembers, without asking for consent or adequately explaining how the data would be used.

Info on 6 Million Voters Disclosed by Georgia Secretary of State

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp will issue an alert formally notifying more than 6 million Georgia voters that their personal information, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, were illegally released last month by his office. The decision to send the notification comes two days after his office was alerted to the problem by two voters who filed a class action lawsuit alleging a massive data breach. The notification is also required by state law.

Clinton Wants Social Media Companies to Help Fight Terrorism

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton urged social media companies to help shut down the radicalization and recruitment happening online in a speech outlining her strategy for combatting the Islamic State after the Paris terror attacks. The former U.S. Secretary of State said private social media companies should assist in this effort by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts so they cannot be used to “plan, provoke or celebrate violence.”

Facebook Reactivates Account for Woman Named 'Isis'

Facebook Inc. said it erroneously disabled the personal account of a user named Isis Anchalee for about a day, an action the user claims was due to her name being spelt the same as the acronym used for the Islamic State extremist group. Anchalee, a software developer in San Francisco, posted a screenshot of a Facebook log-in page that showed a message "Account disabled"

Law Enforcement Urge Apple, Google to Help with Encryption

Apple Inc. and Google Inc. face renewed calls to create a workaround for smartphone encryption in the wake of the Paris attacks as Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. proposed a compromise that seeks to mollify privacy advocates. Vance and FBI Director James Comey echoed recent comments by CIA and Justice Department officials who cite the need for access to stay a step ahead of terrorists who may use encryption to hide planned attacks.

New York Probe of Fantasy Sports Sites Includes Yahoo

A probe by New York State's attorney general into the fast-growing, multibillion-dollar daily fantasy sports industry has been expanded to include online media giant Yahoo Inc., a person familiar with the matter said. The move coincides with a court filing by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman seeking a temporary injunction that would shut down DraftKings and FanDuel, leaders among online companies offering paid-for daily fantasy sports contests.