online privacy

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FTC Tightening Web Privacy Rules for Kids

Biggest revamp in decade requires more consent from parents

(Newser) - A lot has changed online since 1998, when the FTC set up a privacy protection law for children online—and the federal organization believes it's time for an update. New rules expected within weeks would require companies to get parental consent for a wider range of data collection on...

Facebook Flags Chats of Alleged Sex Predator

Suspect arrested in Canada after conversations with girl, 13

(Newser) - Employees at Facebook helped nab an accused sexual predator after his computer chats raised red flags. The suspect, a 25-year-old male, was engaging in explicit chats with a 13-year-old girl, which caught the attention of Facebook staffers who alerted Winnipeg police. Authorities arrested the man, though not until after he...

Let&#39;s Nationalize Facebook
 Let's Nationalize 
 Facebook 
OPINION
Aug 16, 2012 11:50 AM CDT

Let's Nationalize Facebook

Let's make the site a force for good: Philip Howard

(Newser) - Facebook is capable of being a tool for the greater good, but right now, it's falling way short of that potential, writes Philip Howard at Slate . His solution: Let's nationalize it, even though the idea "might seem crazy." We could start with a public majority stake...

Everybody&#39;s Lying on Facebook

 Everybody's Lying on Facebook 
SURVEY SAYS
May 3, 2012 11:38 AM CDT

Everybody's Lying on Facebook

One-quarter of survey respondents admitted to altering their info

(Newser) - How to protect your privacy on Facebook? For an increasing number of users, the answer is simple: Lie. A quarter of respondents in a new Consumer Reports study admitted that they “alter personally identifiable information,” such as birthdate, on Facebook. Technically, that’s a violation of the social...

House Passes Controversial Cybersecurity Bill

CISPA vote defies White House veto threat

(Newser) - The controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act has passed the House, despite privacy concerns and a veto threat from the White House. CISPA, designed to make it easier for companies and the government to share information about cybersecurity threats, passed 248-168, which isn't a big enough margin to...

Strip-Search Case Proves Privacy Is Dead

Supreme Court is just following our lead

(Newser) - The Supreme Court's ruling upholding prisoner strip-searches is an indicator of a much wider trend. Such searches compromise human dignity, but in the court case, not even the dissenting justices argued against all strip-searches, writes Noah Feldman in Bloomberg . That's because "privacy, as we know it, is...

Obama Fan? His Voter Database Is Watching You
Obama Fan? His Voter Database Is Watching You
propublica
Mar 27, 2012 6:44 PM CDT

Obama Fan? His Voter Database Is Watching You

ProPublica is a little worried about how much we don't know about it

(Newser) - President Obama's re-election campaign has by all accounts an impressive voter database that is getting more comprehensive by the day. But exactly how much information it is storing about supporters and what it intends to do with the cache remain big unknowns because the campaign won't talk about...

FTC to Ad Firms: Get a Real 'Do Not Track' Option Online

Consumers need to be able to opt out of being monitored, watchdog says

(Newser) - When consumers say they don't want their online activity monitored by companies mining data out of their every click they mean it, the Federal Trade Commission warned yesterday. The consumer protection agency said that if technology and advertising companies can't voluntarily create an effective and easy to use...

Facebook to Employers: Stop Demanding Passwords

Company warns of possible legal action

(Newser) - Facebook has taken note of the recent trend of employers demanding that prospective or current employees hand over their passwords, and it issued a clear warning to such companies today: Knock it off. "As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just...

US, EU Launch New Google Privacy Probes

FTC investigates breach of Safari browser settings

(Newser) - Last month, it emerged that Google was skirting privacy settings on Apple's Safari browser; now federal, state, and European Union officials are investigating the since-halted practice, which centers on the installation of tracking files. Google faces a $16,000 fine per violation per day—which could add up to...

Girl, ACLU Sue School Over Facebook Flap

Suit alleges invasion of privacy after she has to hand over password

(Newser) - Maybe this kind of thing will start sounding familiar soon? A 12-year-old girl in Minnesota is suing her school with the help of the ACLU because she says administrators made her hand over her Facebook password and pored over her account, reports CNN . The move came after the girl got...

Some Employers, Schools Demand Facebook Logins

Maryland may ban practice

(Newser) - Some employers and colleges have found an ingenious way around Facebook's pesky privacy settings: Simply demand that applicants or students friend you, give you a tour of their account, or even divulge their usernames and passwords. MSNBC reports on a number of places instituting the troubling practices:
  • At Maryland'
...

Google&#39;s New Privacy Policy Is Live

 Google's New 
 Privacy Policy Is Live 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Mar 1, 2012 7:53 AM CST

Google's New Privacy Policy Is Live

What you can do about it

(Newser) - Google's new privacy policy, which Internet activists are not happy about , takes effect today—despite the fact that the EU has warned Google the changes might violate European law. France's privacy watchdog asked Google to delay rolling out the new policy, but Google refused, the BBC reports. Data...

Google Agrees to Honor 'Do Not Track' Button

Coalition of web giants agree not to use data for advertising

(Newser) - A coalition of Web companies headlined by Google has agreed to actually honor "do not track" options in browsers—sort of. The companies will still collect some user data, but they've pledged to ensure it's not used for advertising, employment, credit, health care, or insurance purposes, the...

How to Limit Google's Use of Your Search History

Electronic Frontier Foundation shows how before March 1 deadline

(Newser) - The Electronic Frontier Foundation isn't happy with Google's plan to expand its use of the information it gleans about you, and it provides a quick four-step process on how to keep that data more private. "Until now, your Google Web History (your Google searches and sites visited)...

UK to Demand Record of Every Call, Text, Email

Companies will have to keep complete record on every UK citizen

(Newser) - The UK government is working on an anti-terror plan that would require service providers to record and store details on every call, text, email, or even Twitter direct message sent by anyone in the country—along with all their complete browsing history. Companies would then keep that info on file...

Google Skirted Privacy Settings, Tracked iPhones

Ducked Safari's default block on user tracking

(Newser) - Google has been quietly using computer code to get around default privacy settings on Apple's Safari browser—both on iPhones and computers. Safari automatically prevents tracking techniques that other browsers allow, including the use of cookies. But Google coding "tricks" Safari into allowing the tracking, the Wall Street ...

Top Apps Download Your Whole Address Book

Twitter, Path blamed in privacy controversy

(Newser) - Leading smartphone apps are taking a lot more of our information than we realize. If you use Twitter's "Find Friends" feature, the company receives every phone number and email address in your address book—a fact that Twitter hadn't clarified, the Los Angeles Times reports. The company...

Experts Find Key Internet Encryption Flaw

Small but significant number of cases vulnerable

(Newser) - Oops. Now that millions of people have downloaded encrypted information like credit card and bank account numbers onto the Internet, a team of mathematicians and cryptographers have located a crucial flaw in online encryption. The flaw concerns the way the system generates random numbers to create a code critical to...

Google Privacy Shift Makes Android an Info Gold Mine

Google can collect all kinds of data to share with other platforms

(Newser) - Google's controversial new privacy policy could have an especially big impact on people carrying around Google in their pockets. Google will in March begin sharing info it collects across its platforms when users are signed in—and Android users essentially always are. "I guess it's theoretically possible...

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