Could Dutch Police Be Allowed To Hack Suspects Very Soon?

A new Dutch law proposed to the Dutch parliament would allow Dutch police to hack suspects (yes, even via WhatsApp!). Needless to say, it created a firestorm. Those opposing it consider the concept law to be a breach of privacy, while supporters applaud it as an important step towards security. The main question is: why is this new law necessary? And what does this Hack Law entail?

Funny enough, nobody really knows. Although the new Hack Law has been announced by the government, the Dutch House of Representatives still has to approve.

What is known, that the police should have extensive leeway to hack suspects as part of the broader picture to fight terrorism. Furthermore, the threshold for allowing police hacking should be low in order for it to be effective.

However, some academics, such as Professor Nico van Eijk, reason that hacking is not really an anti-terrorism measure. (Personally, I disagree).
De Dutch intelligence services AIVD and MIVD that are fighting terrorism, are already allowed to hack. Therefore, granting the same rights to the police would just be an extension of an existing and accepted practice.

It is not clear yet what the parameters for hacking by the police will be. Funny enough, the proposed concept is already two years old; the threshold for tapping into Internet and telephone traffic is therefore far from new.

Opponents of the concept law claim that the police could use security vulnerabilities in software on the devices of suspects. That might be true, but security vulnerabilities could also be used by hackers; just compare it to a faulty lock on your windows that allows crooks as well as the police to easily enter your premises.

Will the concept law pass? Quite likely, considering the recent attacks in Paris and Beirut.

This blog post was written by Debra De-Jong of Tip Top Lawyer

 http://www.tiptoplawyer.com

Be Careful Whom You Review - Amazon Is Suing Fiverr Reviewers for False Reviews

It seems like a dream come true. To promote your business or product, you turn to Fiverr et al and purchase the services of review writers to hammer out and post great endorsements for your product and/or services.

A true win-win, agreed? Not exactly, Amazon got wind of the fake reviews and took action. It is suing 1,114 people that it suspects of posting fake reviews on its website, stating: "While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon’s brand."

In its lawsuit, Amazon names 1,114 defendants as “John Does” (which I assume also includes “Jane Does”). The reason for that is simple: Amazon does not know their real names, since many suppliers on Fiverr use a “username” to sell their services. It seems that there are a slew of providers on Fiverr.com who offer to write and distribute false reviews. More the pity, since my own experience with Fiverr for graphic design and video clips has been more than excellent! Amazon has also included the defendants' account pseudonyms in its law suit, just to be safe. In general, the company is seeking a judgement to uncover those real identities.

Amazon explains its legal action by stating: "Amazon is bringing this action to protect its customers from this misconduct, by stopping defendants and uprooting the ecosystem in which they participate.”

This legal action is just the latest in a slew of Amazon law suits against several websites suspected of selling fake reviews. As a lawyer and entrepreneur, I don’t blame Amazon at all. Let’s face it - Amazon has been working hard to achieve high quality of service (QoS), and individuals/companies buying rave reviews does not help (to say the least!).

Fiverr itself is not being sued and works together with Amazon to solve the problem. In the complaint, Amazon made it clear that it is not blaming Fiverr. “Although Amazon has successfully requested removal of similar listings from Fiverr in the past, the removal of individual listings does not address the root cause of the issue or serve as a sufficient deterrent to the bad actors engaged in creating and purchasing fraudulent product reviews.”

Needless to say, Fiverr is not happy as well and stated: "We have worked closely together to remove services that violate our terms of use, and respond promptly to any reports of inappropriate content. We facilitate close to a million transactions a month, across more than 100 categories of services, such as graphic design, copywriting, voiceover, multimedia editing and coding. These services are being consumed by businesses who depend on them to thrive."

To read the full court filing, follow this link Amazon Complaint

Debra De-Jong - Owner of Tip Top PR and Tip Top Lawyer