privacy

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December 12, 2012
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Facebook Privacy Changes

Facebook to introduce better privacy controls, force everyone to be included in searches

By on December 12, 2012 at 12:55 PM.

Facebook to introduce better privacy controls, force everyone to be included in searches

Facebook (FB) is planning another round of privacy changes with a focus on making it easier to control what’s shared and what’s not, according to The New York Times. Sam Lessin, Facebook’s director of product told the publication that a new always-visible button called “Privacy Shortcuts” will be added that will let users quickly change settings for what they share. Users will also finally be able to block other users they don’t want to have any interaction with. More →

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Legal
September 13, 2012
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Congressional report says drones could spell the death of privacy

By on September 13, 2012 at 10:30 PM.

Congressional report says drones could spell the death of privacy

Congressional Report Drones

It’s not just paranoid people who should be freaked out about having unmanned spy drones hovering over their neighborhoods at all times, as a new report from the Congressional Research Service says that drones could effectively end privacy in the United States. Andrew Counts of DigitalTrends does an excellent job of going through the CRS report and finds a number of details that should unnerve anyone who cares one bit about their right to privacy. More →

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Security
September 7, 2012
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FBI plugs $1 billion into facial recognition tech to turn America into its own game of ‘Where’s Waldo?’

By on September 7, 2012 at 12:10 PM.

FBI plugs $1 billion into facial recognition tech to turn America into its own game of ‘Where’s Waldo?’

FBI Facial Recognition Technology

Hiding in plain sight is about to get a whole lot harder. New Scientist reports that the FBI is spending $1 billion to add facial recognition technology to its national fingerprint database as part of a broad upgrade aimed at making it easier to identify alleged criminals. While this sounds rather scary for civil libertarians, the FBI says that the facial recognition data base will only include official mug shots of known criminals, although New Scientist writes that there’s no guarantee the FBI will stick with this limited implementation. The site also reports that the database upgrade will “add biometrics such as iris scans, DNA analysis and voice identification” into the mix along with facial recognition tech.

More →

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Security
August 25, 2012
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Google assembling ‘red team’ to prevent future FTC fines over user privacy

By on August 25, 2012 at 5:30 PM.

Google assembling ‘red team’ to prevent future FTC fines over user privacy

Google Privacy Risks

Getting busted for allegedly violating your users’ privacy is never fun for any company, but for Google (GOOG) it recently became costly to the tune of a $22.5 million fine from the Federal Trade Commission. Never one to remain passive, Google has started scouting around for privacy experts who will comprise a new “red team” that will aggressively seek out user privacy risks within Google products.

More →

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Legal
August 23, 2012
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California cops barred from warrantless GPS, cellphone tracking

By on August 23, 2012 at 6:05 PM.

California cops barred from warrantless GPS, cellphone tracking

California Privacy Legislation

California’s state legislature has just passed a law requiring police to obtain a proper warrant before using tracking technologies such as GPS to gather information on suspects, Ars Technica reports. The legislation, which was co-sponsored by both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, now heads to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk for a signature, although Ars notes that Brown “vetoed California’s last attempt at enforcing stricter privacy rules in 2011, when he killed a bill that would have prevented police from searching the phones of apprehended suspects without a warrant.” More →

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Legal
August 17, 2012
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Police chiefs group says arming domestic spy drones with weapons would be bad

By on August 17, 2012 at 3:00 PM.

Police chiefs group says arming domestic spy drones with weapons would be bad

Domestic Spy Drones

Unmanned aerial drones are set to become a shiny new toy used by law enforcement officials to gather information, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be restrictions on how they’re used. The Hill reports that the International Association of Chiefs of Police on Thursday released a set of recommendations outlining how surveillance drones should and should not be used. Mercifully, the chiefs “strongly discouraged” equipping the drones with weapons since lobbing cruise missiles at jaywalkers could incite a public backlash. More →

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Internet
August 9, 2012
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Google to pay $22.5 million to settle FTC privacy charges

By on August 9, 2012 at 12:40 PM.

Google to pay $22.5 million to settle FTC privacy charges

Google FTC Safari Tracking

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday announced that Google (GOOG) has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $22.5 million to settle charges that it misrepresented itself to users of Apple’s (AAPL) Safari Web browser. Earlier this year, it was discovered that the Internet giant had been bypassing the security settings on Safari to install unwanted third-party tracking cookies on computers even when such actions were supposed to be blocked. “The record setting penalty in this matter sends a clear message to all companies under an FTC privacy order,” said Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of the FTC. “No matter how big or small, all companies must abide by FTC orders against them and keep their privacy promises to consumers, or they will end up paying many times what it would have cost to comply in the first place.” In addition to the civil penalty, Google is also required to disable all the tracking cookies that were wrongly placed on unsuspecting computers. The FTC’s press release follows below. More →

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Legal
August 8, 2012
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Court makes spying on Americans legal with new warrantless wiretap ruling

By on August 8, 2012 at 3:05 PM.

Court makes spying on Americans legal with new warrantless wiretap ruling

U.S. Wiretapping Legality

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled in favor of President George W. Bush’s controversial Terrorist Surveillance Program, which allows the government to spy on Americans without a warrant. The court reversed an earlier decision in which two American attorneys were awarded more than $20,000 in damages and their lawyers $2.5 million in legal fees after they proved the government had spied on them without warrants. The earlier lawsuit was the first and only case that successfully challenged the controversial program. More →

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Security
August 2, 2012
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Court slams TSA, demands hearings to discuss nude body scanners

By on August 2, 2012 at 1:40 PM.

Court slams TSA, demands hearings to discuss nude body scanners

Court Orders TSA

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wants to know why the Transport and Security Administration has broken its promise to hold public hearings to create rules and regulations for its use of nude body scanners, Wired reports. You know, the ones that make it amazingly easy for people to sneak things onto airplanes. The court last year ordered the TSA to “act promptly” to hold public hearings on the controversial body scanners that have been set up at airports across the United States. But more than a year after receiving the court’s order, the TSA has yet to hold even one public hearing discussing any restrictions on how the scanners are used. The TSA has said that it doesn’t expect any sort of hearings to get started until 2013, Wired says. More →

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General
July 24, 2012
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Skype’s own privacy policy says it can spy on users’ IMs

By on July 24, 2012 at 9:30 PM.

Skype’s own privacy policy says it can spy on users’ IMs

Skype Privacy Policy Spying

There have been a lot of questions going around over the past few days about whether Microsoft (MSFT) and Skype are able to eavesdrop on their users’ conversations after some hackers accused the company of changing its architecture to make it easier for companies to snoop on users. Now, ZDNet’s Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has combed through Skype’s own privacy policy and has found out that it is at the very least keeping track of its users’ instant messages. More →

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social
June 27, 2012
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‘We Know What You’re Doing’ website outs drug users, boss-haters and more on Facebook

By on June 27, 2012 at 10:35 AM.

‘We Know What You’re Doing’ website outs drug users, boss-haters and more on Facebook

Facebook Privacy App Exposes Facebook Status

Facebook’s repeated privacy snafus always make the news and cause a stir among users, but a surprising number of Facebook members throw caution to the wind when it comes to online privacy. As noted by Digital Trends, a new website dubbed “We Know What You’re Doing” uses Facebook’s Graph API to collect public status updates that likely shouldn’t be made public, and then displays them for all the world to see. Under headings like “Who wants to get fired?” and “Who’s taking drugs?” the site shows us just how careless people can be on Facebook. A few gems: “Totally hungover don’t like it HELP.” -Claire D. “God is peace and love# God smoke cannabis!!! :o .” -Rahim L. ”Im getting so mad right now I hate my boss Jay I hope he dies better yet I feel like killin him if you in a bad mood don’t take it out on everyone at the job like wtf its way to hot to take your s**t-_-.” -Anastasia R. More →

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Internet
June 19, 2012
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Apple looks to stop Big Brother ‘dataveillance’ with new tech

By on June 19, 2012 at 1:10 PM.

Apple looks to stop Big Brother ‘dataveillance’ with new tech

Apple Privacy Big Brother Tracking

Apple was recently granted a patent by the United State Patent and Trademark Office for a method of helping users keep their personal information hidden, Patently Apple reported. In the modern age of the Internet, data is extremely valuable and millions of websites collect personal information in what is often referred to as “dataveillance.” Automated programs can monitor virtually every action a user makes while browsing the Internet, forming an electronic profile of individuals. This information is extremely valuable for targeted and agressive advertisements. Apple’s newly patented technology looks to protect users by employing techniques that aim to trick electronic profiling with a method for processing a cloned identity over a network. The clone’s actions are then processed by trackers in order to pollute the information they gather. A diagram outlining Apple’s process follows below. More →

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Legal
June 8, 2012
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Google Street View can keep up its Swiss watch, court rules

By on June 8, 2012 at 6:35 PM.

Google Street View can keep up its Swiss watch, court rules

Google Street View Legal Switzerland Court Rules

Anyone familiar with the Swiss knows that they’re a private sort of folk who don’t care much for the meddling of outsiders. This is a country, after all, that didn’t join the United Nations until 2002 for fear of losing its traditionally neutral stance in foreign entanglements. So you can imagine that Switzerland, which the New York Times says has “some of the strictest privacy safeguards in the world,” didn’t care much for Google snooping around its streets with its camera trucks taking pictures of everything in sight for its Google Street View Project. But the Swiss Federal Supreme Court Friday ruled that Google does indeed have the right to film and post pictures of Switzerland’s public spaces even if it can’t guarantee with 100% certainty that all the people it records will have their faces blurred out to protect their identities. However, the court also ruled that Google would have to lower its cameras to decrease the chance of peering over peoples’ fences and into their private residences. What’s more, Google will have to make sure to blur out schools, women’s shelters, prisons and other locations that the state deems to be sensitive. More →

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