China Clamps Down on Webcam Voyeurism

China’s cyberspace watchdog said authorities have arrested 59 people and seized 25,000 illegally controlled webcams in a crackdown on illegal camera voyeurism. (AFP file photo)
China’s cyberspace watchdog said authorities have arrested 59 people and seized 25,000 illegally controlled webcams in a crackdown on illegal camera voyeurism. (AFP file photo)
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China Clamps Down on Webcam Voyeurism

China’s cyberspace watchdog said authorities have arrested 59 people and seized 25,000 illegally controlled webcams in a crackdown on illegal camera voyeurism. (AFP file photo)
China’s cyberspace watchdog said authorities have arrested 59 people and seized 25,000 illegally controlled webcams in a crackdown on illegal camera voyeurism. (AFP file photo)

China’s cyberspace watchdog said on Monday that authorities have arrested 59 people and seized 25,000 illegally controlled webcams in a crackdown on illegal camera voyeurism.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement that it and other government bodies including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security and State Administration of Market Regulation have been stepping up efforts to crackdown on voyeuristic behavior including “trading private videos”.

Online content platforms including Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba’s UC Browser have “cleaned up” more than 8,000 pieces of illegal voyeuristic information and punished 134 illegal accounts, the CAC said.

E-commerce platforms like JD.com, Alibaba’s Taobao and Xianyu took offline a total of 1,600 cameras that had been advertised or sold illegally, according to CAC.



Italy's Antitrust Takes Aim at Google over Personal Data Usage

FILED - 09 January 2024, US, Las Vegas: The Google logo can be seen on the Internet company's pavilion at the CES technology trade fair. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
FILED - 09 January 2024, US, Las Vegas: The Google logo can be seen on the Internet company's pavilion at the CES technology trade fair. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
TT

Italy's Antitrust Takes Aim at Google over Personal Data Usage

FILED - 09 January 2024, US, Las Vegas: The Google logo can be seen on the Internet company's pavilion at the CES technology trade fair. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
FILED - 09 January 2024, US, Las Vegas: The Google logo can be seen on the Internet company's pavilion at the CES technology trade fair. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa

Italy's antitrust agency said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into online search giant Google and its parent company Alphabet over alleged unfair commercial practices involving users' personal data.
The request for consent that Google sends to its users to connect its multiple services "could constitute misleading and aggressive commercial practice", the watchdog said.
This "incomplete and misleading," information supplied to users fails to clarify the impact their consent may have on the use their personal data, the antitrust authority, which is in charge of overseeing consumer rights, added.
Google offers a wide range of online tools, including video platform YouTube, email service Gmail, and Maps.
The antitrust body said Google presented its request for users' consent in a way that could limit their freedom of choice, by inducing them to agree to a combined usage of personal data by different Google services.
"We will analyze the details of this case and will work cooperatively with the authority," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
Under Italian legislation companies found in breach of consumer rights rules face fines ranging from 5,000 euros to 10 million euros.