Obama appeals to Silicon Valley for help with online anti-extremist campaign

By Roberta Rampton and Dustin Volz WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Sunday called on Silicon Valley to help address the threat of militant groups using social media and electronic communications to plan and promote violence, setting up renewed debate over personal privacy online. “I will urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice,” Obama said in a televised Oval Office speech

Read more

VTech hack exposes ID theft risk in connecting kids to Internet

By Jim Finkle and Jeremy Wagstaff BOSTON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Parents who gave their child a Kidizoom smartwatch or a VTech InnoTab tablet may have exposed them to identity theft after Hong Kong-based VTech said hackers stole the personal information of more than 6 million children. Shipments of toys that connect to the Internet will rise 200 percent over the next five years, according to estimates by UK-based Juniper Research. It's not clear what the motive was for the VTech breach nor whether it has resulted in any identity theft so far

Read more