In 2011, Sony had several major security breaches: Sony Online Entertainment, Sony Pictures, and Playstation Network all were attacked and private data was successfully stolen. Their handling of the attacks, particularly the larger PSN one, was widely criticized.
Many users are either unaware or acutely aware of how many sites and services have financially or personally sensitive information on… → Read More
In 2012, Facebook will be making 45 privacy-related changes to comply with the recommendations of an audit by Ireland’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) released today. Below I’ve compiled a roadmap of all the changes Facebook will implement based on the the 149 pages of DPC recommendations and how the social network says it will address them. → Read More
After a 3 month audit by the Office of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), Facebook has issued a statement that “a DPC report demonstrates how Facebook adheres to European data protection principles and complies with Irish law.” Still, Facebook has committed to making a wide range of changes to its privacy policies and features. These include deleting or anonymizing retained user data… → Read More
More and more of us are getting comfortable sharing our real-world identities online, but the tools for helping us maintain our online privacy and security are still catching up to our behavior. Witness the porn-and-violence spam links attack that caused many users to accidentally share and see nasty images in their news feeds.
German company Secure.me has a solution, that it has recently… → Read More
A superficial comparison of privacy policies around the web by privacy service company TRUSTe has produced a few interesting statistics. Of course the most interesting bits are usually buried deep in the agreements and authorize things like the use of your child’s likeness for doll faces. Nothing sinister like that was discovered, but the standout stats should cause a bit of head-shaking. → Read More
Vehicle assistance service OnStar has always struck me as slightly creepy, but I can appreciate its utility unfamiliar locations and emergency situations. And the notion of a company tracking your location constantly is apparently as reassuring to some as it is disturbing to me.
But I doubt even those optimistic souls would find it reassuring to learn that OnStar now reserves the right to… → Read More
When researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden announced at the Where 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara a few weeks ago that iPhones and 3G iPads are storing records of where their users are and where they’ve been, the news created quite a stir. Google also stores a similar list on Android devices, so naturally questions have swirled in the last few weeks around how both Apple and Google are… → Read More
Last week, we invited big-thinkers Reid Hoffman and Tim O’Reilly into the TechCrunch Studios to talk about Hoffman’s definition of “Web 3.0″– a torrent of innovation that’s going to be unleashed by all of this personal data being collected about us. In the first segment we talked about the scary implications of this wave of companies, and in the second segment we talked about the… → Read More
It’s time for the much-awaited part two of our sit down with Internet big-thinkers Reid Hoffman and Tim O’Reilly. We invited the two in the studio last week to talk about what Hoffman has called “Web 3.0″– the use of an explosion of data being collected about our real lives online.
Last week, we talked about the undeniably scary aspects of Web 3.0– data and privacy and how we can trust… → Read More
Netflix, the Internet darling, has come under fire from various privacy advocates. The company has been the subject of five (!) separate lawsuits in the past two months, all of which center on some of its privacy policies. The lawsuit alleges that Netflix holds onto customer data like rental habits and credit card numbers long after people had cancelled their membership. → Read More
The days of cookies surreptitiously tracking your every movement online could be coming to an end. A European law goes into effect this May that would require Web sites to get “explicit consent” from its users before putting a cookie, or cookies, on their system. A reasonably big deal, yes. → Read More
Besides the radical new interface, one of the bigger features of Internet Explorer 9 is its “do not track” feature. At the name suggests, it lets you decide, either manually or by subscribing to a pre-compiled list, which sites you exclude from tracking your Web browsing. So if you visit a site that employs a third-party ad service that tracks your every move—why is that… → Read More
Here’s a fascinating privacy debate for y’all to chew on this Friday afternoon. A public official in Australia was sacked after it was discovered that he had searched for “knockers” on his work-provided computer. The computer had been running monitoring software, Spector360, that took screenshots every 30 seconds, so it found him looking for “knockers” even though he had deleted his… → Read More
Here’s a bit of a sticky situation: Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that they are allowing apps and ad partners to identify specific users — a breach of Apple’s privacy policy and supposedly of privacy itself.
Apple’s privacy policy touches on this directly, yet leaves plenty of room for movement on their side, which is really what the suit is all about, though Apple is… → Read More
Here’s a bit of a sticky situation: Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that they are allowing apps and ad partners to identify specific users — a breach of Apple’s privacy policy and supposedly of privacy itself.
Apple’s privacy policy touches on this directly, yet leaves plenty of room for movement on their side, which is really what the suit is all about, though Apple is… → Read More
Google has taken the very brave decision to delete all the Wi-Fi data it had accidentally collected in the UK. The move signals the end to the long-running feud between Google and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. → Read More
Parts of Europe have been, for whatever reason, more wary of Google’s Street View service than others. The occasional lawsuit hasn’t prevented the march of progress, though Italy’s new regulations may cause more of a hassle than the occasional grumpy homeowner. The Privacy Authority President, Francesco Pizzetti, described the outrage:
“There has been strong alarm and also hostility in a lot of… → Read More
What a time to be alive, particularly for those of you in the UK. The Government has resurrected plans to store every single e-mail sent, Web site visited, and telephone call made. This, of course, is a direct contradiction of what the ruling Coalition (Cameron’s Conservative Party and Clegg’s Liberal Democrats) had previously stated, that it would “end the storage of internet and email records… → Read More
Another day, another Facebook privacy scandal. At this point accusing Facebook of violating its users’ privacy is like accusing the sun of being hot, or of accusing Leo Messi of being good. Why bother? But a study put together by TRUSTe, the “leading Internet privacy services provider,” says that teenagers today, generally speaking, know what they’re doing when it comes to protecting… → Read More
Here’s an interesting tidbit for you: whenever an iOS device connects to a Wi-Fi network, it automatically makes a connection back to the mothership. While the URL looks harmless, the potential for abuse is staggering. Of course, is anyone really surprised that Apple wants to check up on you whenever you use one of their devices? → Read More
Location-based service Echo Echo recently posted the above image to their blog in a (successful) attempt to garner some media attention as the debate around online privacy continues to rage.
As extreme as their “If Mark Zuckerburg Cared About Privacy” example is, it does call attention to the needless complexity of various web service privacy agreements, settings and policies.
In the wake of an… → Read More
There’s a fun and charming story on Advertising Age about a woman and her friends having a fun and charming dinner together. All is well and good until Facebook Places, the new location-based service that promises to revolutionize something or other, spoils the fun. It seems that people don’t exactly want their exact location broadcast to all of their Facebook friends, especially without their… → Read More
George Orwell’s novel 1984 begins with Winston Smith, the main character, seeing posters saying BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. In 2010, that could be replaced with FACEBOOK IS WATCHING YOU. Or rather, YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK ARE WATCHING YOU. You and your friends can now post where you are and share this information, if you so chose.
Facebook showed off the power of this new location feature at… → Read More
Less than one hour after Facebook struck the ceremonial gong, signaling the official birth of Places, the ACLU of Northern California was ready to cry foul play.
In a 429-word post titled, “Facebook Places: Check This Out, Before You Check In,” the ACLU branch rips the new feature for a perceived lack of user control, complaining (in dramatically bold font) that “in the world of Facebook Places… → Read More
Google’s in an odd bind these days. It’s far and away the biggest Internet company out there, and with that size and position comes great responsibility, to echo the sentiment found in Spider-Man. It drew heat yesterday—and rightly so—for joining forces with Verizon to help draw up “rules” for the Internet, as if the Internet needs rules be successful. Now the Wall Street… → Read More
Google has been cleared of any wrongdoing relating to Wi-Fi snooping in the UK. Well, partially cleared. The country’s Information Commissioner’s Office, whose job is to “uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals,” has said that “it is unlikely that Google will have captured significant amounts of personal data”… → Read More
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13648673&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1 I doubt anybody is going to keep this Firefox plugin installed for very long (the point is made after a few minutes), but big red boxes and airhorns blasting you in the face are a good way of saying “HEY. Your information is being… → Read More
If Blizzard wanted to spark a discussion, well, job done. The company’s plan to bring Real ID to its message boards has done nothing if not freak people out. Do keep freaking out. → Read More
Don’t worry, this isn’t that post. You know, the one where it turns out Apple is Big Brother, in league with the NSA and Interpol. I expect that shortly, though. No, this is just an update to let you know that unless you opt out, you’re likely making your exact location available to anyone in Apple’s rolodex. Here’s the relevant portion of the privacy policy, recently updated. → Read More
You know, I’m somewhat conflicted when it comes to this Google story. Yesterday it emerged that France had discovered that Google’s Street View cars had surreptitiously collected private citizens’ passwords and other sensitive data. Today we’ve learned that several states here in the U.S., led by Connecticut, plan to investigate Google over this whole Wi-Fi fiasco. Normally you don’t want giant… → Read More
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