This Week in Privacy, provided by SurfEasy, is a curated report of the week’s top news stories relating to your privacy, prepared just for you. We know that our Opera and SurfEasy users are privacy-conscious consumers, and we feel that an important part of protecting your rights is to help you stay informed of news related to your online security.

NSA struggling to recruit new employees

Prime candidates such as tech professionals and hackers have turned away from opportunities at the agency due to moral and ethical concerns.

Surveillance State Repeal Act urges against “backdoor” to encryption

A bipartisan group of lawmakers are pushing the bill, which proposes that manufacturers do not have to allow the government to bypass privacy technology.

Microsoft to remove “do not track” as default browser setting

The company has announced that, going forward, Internet Explorer and Spartan will not have the setting turned on by default.

France accused of tabling Patriot Act-style surveillance law

Privacy advocates have criticized French plans to expand digital surveillance as badly thought out and rushed.

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