SafeGov.org has released the results of a survey conducted by Brunswick Insight in May 2013 on Australian parents’ views of cloud services and online privacy in schools.

In 2012, the media erupted with news about employers demanding employees provide them with their social media passwords so the employers could access their accounts. This news took many people by surprise, and it set off a firestorm of public outrage. It even sparked a significant legislative response in the states.

When global information and analytics provider IHS Inc. lost several terabytes of information regarding U.S. chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials to an Iranian hacking group this past February, the company had no way of quickly and securely communicating the incident to the appropriate government agencies. This inability of companies to easily share cyber threat information with the government and other businesses is a key barrier to protecting our nation against ever-increasing internet-based attacks.

SafeGov.org and Ponemon Institute study shows UK schools moving rapidly to adopt Cloud Computing, but overwhelmingly reject business models that allow cloud providers to mine student data for profit.

Cloud computing allows dramatic flexibility in information processing—and on a global basis. Its technology permits data transmissions that span the globe. Computing activities now shift from country-to-country depending on load capacity, time of day, and a variety of other factors. These decisions are sometimes made in real time and by machines rather than humans.

On May 10th, the 2nd Annual Higher Ed Privacy & Information Management Forum was held at George Washington University Law School, co-hosted by the Cornell University and sponsored by SafeGov.

This video produced by EletsTV was filmed at a "Cloud Computing and Government" symposium held in New Delhi, India on April 30th. This video features SafeGov's Jeff Gould speaking about the challenges of implementing cloud computing solutions for public sector customers in international markets.

I had the pleasure of having the opportunity to interview Kathleen Styles about cloud computing in education. Styles is the first chief privacy officer of the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Previously, she served as the chief of the Office of Analysis and Executive Support at the U.S. Census Bureau. Without further ado, here’s the interview.

On April 2 the French privacy authorities (known by their acronym CNIL) announced that France, and the privacy authorities in five other European countries (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United-Kingdom ), had agreed to simultaneously begin enforcement actions against Google under their respective domestic privacy laws. The enforcement actions follow a months-long investigation of Google’s privacy policy to determine whether the policy met the requirements of the European Data Protection Directive. It also follows a 4-month delay in enforcement during which the European authorities had hoped Google would modify its practices. This decision is quite significant.

Following last month’s final meeting between Google and European regulators at which “no change” in Google’s attitude was seen by European Union (“EU") regulators, at least five European countries began their own investigations into Google’s global privacy policy, promising coordinated enforcement action by summer.