internet privacy

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White House Plans Internet Privacy Watchdog

New consumer protection laws to be drafted

(Newser) - The Obama administration is stepping up efforts to increase regulation of the Internet and protect users' privacy. New laws to bring protections in line with today's technology are being drafted, along with plans to create a new position to oversee the administration's efforts, sources tell the Wall Street Journa l....

13 Things You Should Never Post on Facebook
13 Things You Should
Never Post on Facebook
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Nov 6, 2010 1:01 PM CDT

13 Things You Should Never Post on Facebook

C'mon, now: You know not to post your phone number ... right?

(Newser) - Love bragging to your Facebook friends that you and your roomie are about to embark on a 10-mile run? Stop. You're basically broadcasting to thieves that your home is theirs for the taking for the next 90 minutes. On the Huffington Post , Catharine Smith and Bianca Bosker list 12 more...

Google: We Accidentally Grabbed Emails, Passwords

Street View privacy flap worse than reported

(Newser) - First MySpace , now Google: Apparently today is the day for Internet privacy flaps. Google, which admitted in May its roving Street View cars collected data about websites people visited on unprotected WiFi networks, admits now that the cars actually collected even more personal data—including complete emails and passwords,...

MySpace Leaks User Data, Too
 MySpace Leaks User Data, Too 
Oct 23, 2010 9:03 AM CDT

MySpace Leaks User Data, Too

But, apparently, it's not quite as bad as Facebook

(Newser) - Poor MySpace: Even in a privacy flap, it has a hard time competing with Facebook. In the wake of the latest Facebook privacy uproar—some apps on the social networking site have been leaking user data —comes news that MySpace has similar problems. Both MySpace itself as well as...

Congress Has Some Questions for Zuckerberg

 Congress Has 
 Some Questions 
 for Zuckerberg 
facebook privacy breach
Oct 19, 2010 8:30 AM CDT

Congress Has Some Questions for Zuckerberg

Two representatives get involved in the latest privacy breach

(Newser) - Congress is getting involved in the latest Facebook privacy snafu. Following Monday’s revelation that many popular Facebook apps are transmitting identifying information to dozens of companies, two House members are asking the social networking site for more information about how applications handle user details. Facebook has until Oct. 27...

Facebook Privacy: Deleted Photos Are Not Immediately Deleted
Those Deleted Facebook Pics? Not Actually Deleted
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 17, 2010 4:12 PM CDT

Those Deleted Facebook Pics? Not Actually Deleted

Sixteen months later, one writer's photo can still be found

(Newser) - Despite all Facebook’s talk about improving privacy, it still takes an awfully long time for photos to actually be deleted from the site. Jacqui Cheng experimented with deleting one of her photos from Flickr, Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook last year . Flickr and Twitter removed the photos within seconds—meaning...

HTML5: Who Needs Privacy?
 HTML5: Who Needs Privacy? 
Oct 11, 2010 2:59 PM CDT

HTML5: Who Needs Privacy?

New web standard leaves your computer wide open

(Newser) - There’s been plenty of worry over the years about Internet privacy, “but the alarmists have not seen anything yet,” warns the New York Times in a front-page story on the dangers of HTML5. The new web standards will bring tons of new features—“It’s going...

Colbert Rips Facebook/Google for Selling Us Out

'They're mining our privacy for profits'

(Newser) - Stephen Colbert managed to get serious yesterday as he blasted the "invasive" personal data mining undertaken by Google and Facebook to "sell our private lives to the highest bidder." The harsh dig came at the end of a long hilarious riff about how Facebook users now must...

We Need an Alternative to Facebook

 We Need 
 an Alternative 
 to Facebook 
opinion
May 8, 2010 12:55 PM CDT

We Need an Alternative to Facebook

In this one, privacy would actually matter

(Newser) - It's time for a revolt against Facebook, writes Ryan Singel. Mark Zuckerberg may think privacy is an outdated concept, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to play along. As Singel puts it in Wired : "Facebook has gone rogue, drunk on founder Mark Zuckerberg’s dreams of...

Senators to Facebook: Privacy Changes Suck

Oh, and fancy an FTC investigation?

(Newser) - It's not just tech geeks freaking out about the new Facebook changes; apparently they're causing hand-wringing in the very halls of Congress. Four Democratic senators—Chuck Schumer, Al Franken, Mark Begich and Michael Bennet—have sent an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg complaining that the changes give users less control...

Google Execs Convicted Over Abusive Video

Italian court wants content monitored

(Newser) - When a video of an autistic Italian teen being beaten turned up on a Google-owned video site, Italian authorities stepped in to prosecute and convict the bullies—and Google. In a verdict with far-ranging implications for Internet freedom, an Italian judge today found three Google executives guilty of privacy violations...

How to Restore Your Privacy on Facebook

The new settings are a pain to reverse, but a little work gets it done

(Newser) - Maybe the worst thing about Facebook's new privacy settings is how hard they are to reverse, writes Ryan Tate. Even Mark Zuckerberg himself seems to be having a little trouble with it. Fear not, Tate provides instructions at Gawker on how to hide your photos—those posted by you as...

Critics Rip Facebook Privacy Revamp

 Critics Rip Facebook 
 Privacy Revamp 
once again...
Dec 10, 2009 8:36 AM CST

Critics Rip Facebook Privacy Revamp

Say new settings deceive, manipulate users

(Newser) - The revamped privacy features that Facebook unveiled yesterday may make it easier for you to limit who sees your beach vacation photos and thoughts on breakfast cereal—but the move actually pushes users to share their personal information with all 350 million fellow users, say privacy advocates angry over the...

Your Boss Can't Read Your Email, Courts Say

Judges start to sympathize with employees in privacy disputes

(Newser) - No matter what your employers tell you, they probably can’t spy on your emails without telling you, recent court rulings suggest. While in the past courts have often sided with corporations on issues of email privacy, lately they’ve been more sympathetic to employees, the Wall Street Journal reports....

Privacy Advocates Hijack 300 Facebook Groups

Protesters say it's too easy to gain access to personal information

(Newser) - A group advocating for social-networking privacy has hijacked nearly 300 Facebook groups over the past few days to point out weaknesses in the site’s control of personal information. The protesters renamed all the Facebook groups “Control Your Info,” pointing out that after administrators of groups step down,...

Facebook Beefs Up Privacy Protection

Canadian concerns prompt changes in how apps get info

(Newser) - In response to criticism by the Canadian government, Facebook is enacting far-reaching changes in how third-party applications gain access to personal data, TechCrunch reports. Currently, Facebook applications ask users once, upon installation, for approval to access personal information. Under the new rules, the apps will have to ask repeatedly as...

Switzerland Shows Google Street View a Stop Sign

(Newser) - A Swiss government official is demanding that Google immediately remove any image of Switzerland from its "Street View Maps," and the company said today it would discuss the matter with the privacy rights regulator. Switzerland's federal data protection commissioner says Google's pictures violate the country's strict privacy laws...

Facebook Sued for Privacy Breach

(Newser) - A group of Facebook users has sued the social networking company for violating consumer privacy laws by harvesting personal information for commercial purposes and failing to compensate clients, reports CNET. "Plaintiffs and the general public desire and expect a level of privacy, which Facebook has failed to satisfy,"...

Obama Rethinks Ban on Tracking Web Visitors

(Newser) - Privacy groups are up in arms over a White House proposal to allow tracking technology to be used on government websites, the Washington Post reports. Supporters argue that social networking sites have used cookies and other tracking tools to spectacular effect, but the ACLU says the proposal is a “...

Facebook Crosses Line on Privacy ... Again
Facebook Crosses Line
on Privacy ... Again
ANALYSIS
Jul 28, 2009 12:54 PM CDT

Facebook Crosses Line on Privacy ... Again

Recognize that face in an ad? It could be your friend—or you.

(Newser) - Imagine Peter Smith’s surprise when an ad for “hot singles” on Facebook featured a picture of … his wife. The site blames that flap on a third-party company violating policy, but the incident underscores Facebook’s notoriously unclear privacy settings, writes Bob Sullivan for MSNBC: “A hard-to-spot...

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