On the first day of GDPR enforcement, Facebook and Google have been hit with a raft of lawsuits accusing the companies of coercing users into sharing personal data. The lawsuits, which seek to fine Facebook 3.9 billion and Google 3.7 billion euro (roughly $8.8 billion in dollars), were filed by Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, a longtime critic of the companies’ data collection practices. [...]

Both Google and Facebook have rolled out new policies and products to comply with GDPR, but Schrems’ complaints argue those policies don’t go far enough. In particular, the complaint singles out the way companies obtain consent for the privacy policies, asking users to check a box in order to access services. It’s a widespread practice for online services, but the complaints argue that it forces users into an all-or-nothing choice, a violation of the GDPR’s provisions around particularized consent. [...]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/25/17393766/facebook-google-gdpr-lawsuit...

The Senate Wednesday voted to preserve net neutrality, with three Republicans joining all of the chamber’s Democrats and independents to block a Federal Communications Commission plan to undo Obama-era rules governing the internet. The vote is a major victory for net neutrality activists, but the plan still has a long way to go before it could take effect. [...]

The proposal passed narrowly in the Senate, where activists only needed to win over two Republicans. In the House, they'll have to woo more than 20 Republicans, even with unanimous Democratic support. Meanwhile, the White House has expressed support for FCC chair Ajit Pai's decision to reverse the Obama-era rules, and Trump denounced net neutrality in a 2014 tweet. It's a longshot, but it's not quite impossible. Trump is known to change his mind from time to time, and House Republicans could decide that voting against net neutrality would be politically problematic. [...]

https://www.wired.com/story/senate-approves-measure-to-save-net-neutrality

The US Senate today voted to reverse the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality rules, with all members of the Democratic caucus and three Republicans voting in favor of net neutrality. [...]

Markey said that net neutrality rules are needed because of events like Comcast throttling BitTorrent traffic and AT&T blocking Skype and other voice applications that compete against its mobile phone service.

" Net neutrality is the free speech issue of our time, " Markey said.

Large majorities of both Democratic and Republican voters support net neutrality, Markey noted. Thousands of small businesses wrote to Congress in support of net neutrality, and " millions of Americans sent letters, posted tweets, and made calls defending net neutrality, " he said. [...]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/senate-votes-to-overturn-aji...

The U.K.’s privacy watchdog searched the offices of Cambridge Analytica amid allegations that information on millions of Facebook Inc.’s users was scooped up without their consent, widening a probe that cut the internet giant’s share price more than 10 percent this week. [...]

The watchdog is leading the probe with the backing of the European Union’s remaining 27 regulators, who this week vowed to collaborate to get to the bottom of the “very serious allegation with far-reaching consequences.” [...]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-23/u-k-watchdog-gets-war...