privacy

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Germany Goes After Facebook Over Privacy Law

'Friend Finder' could get the social networking site a hefty fine

(Newser) - Facebook faces legal action in Germany over the nation's strict privacy laws, Monsters and Critics reports. A privacy commissioner has charged that the site's "Friend Finder" breaks German law. The software looks at the address books of users and sends emails to friends asking them to join Facebook. That...

Palin Builds Fence to Block Snoopy Writer's View
 Palin Builds Fence to 
 Block Snoopy Writer's View 
FORGET THE WELCOME WAGON
May 28, 2010 7:43 AM CDT

Palin Builds Fence to Block Snoopy Writer's View

Says she needs to protect her family

(Newser) - When Sarah Palin's would-be unauthorized biographer, Joe McGinniss, moved in next door , the Palin family made a not-so neighborly move: They built a great big fence. The former governor tells AP she needs to protect her family's privacy. Why, she asks on Facebook, would McGinniss need to look at "...

What We've Lost Along With Privacy
 What We've Lost 
 Along With Privacy 
peggy noonan
May 21, 2010 4:48 AM CDT

What We've Lost Along With Privacy

Exposure isn't making us better—it's making us phonier

(Newser) - There was no defining event—like the fall of the Berlin Wall, with sledge hammers and cement dust—but privacy is gone just as certainly, Peggy Noonan writes, and the glare of exposure hasn't made us better. People are forced to reveal everything about themselves—or have it done for...

Facebook Handing Advertisers Names, Hometowns

Firms can trace users' identities, jobs, sex preferences

(Newser) - Despite promises to the contrary, Facebook and MySpace are supplying information to advertisers that can be used to find an individual's name, age, hometown and occupation, reports the Wall Street Journal . Typically on the Web, advertisers receive nothing more than an unintelligible string of letters and numbers "identifying" an...

Google Sorry Its Street Cars Snooped Too Much

This won't help its 'Don't Be Evil' mantra

(Newser) - Google has pronounced itself "profoundly sorry" for the revelation that its roving street-map vehicles have been inadvertently collecting data about websites people visit over unprotected WiFi networks. The company says it's ditching the data and fixing the problem. (See its explanation and apology here .) Some early reaction:
  • "
...

'Follow' Hack Causes Twitter Pandemonium

Privacy gap closed, but not before some opportunistic hijinks

(Newser) - If your Twitter account lists no followers or follow-ees, thank the happy-go-lucky iPhone acquirers at Gizmodo , who tipped the tech world to a vulnerability this morning. It's no longer working, but the web interface allowed the attention-starved to type "accept" and the Twitter name of any account, thereby gaining...

Facebook Readies Location Feature - Advertising Age - Digital
 Soon, Facebook Will 
 Know Where You Are 
location-based apps coming
May 7, 2010 12:18 PM CDT

Soon, Facebook Will Know Where You Are

Social networking site readies location-based technology

(Newser) - The latest evidence Facebook is trying to take over the world: The site will soon launch geolocation applications, directly competing with Foursquare and other location-based social networks. What does that mean for you? Soon, telling all your friends you’re at McDonald’s will be even quicker and easier. Mickey...

Democrats' ID Card Plan: Get Your Fingerprints

'Biometrics' a big part of immigration reform proposal

(Newser) - Now it's the Democrats' turn to be accused of trying to violate civil liberties in the name of immigration reform. A crucial part of their plan calls for what amounts to a high-tech national ID card. It would have a "biometrics" component—namely fingerprints—and every worker would need...

Spying School District Has Thousands of Secret Pix of Kids: Lawsuit

Official who saw photos called them a school 'soap opera'

(Newser) - The suburban Philly school district that spied on its students by giving them laptops with webcams to take home is getting sorrier and sorrier. A lawsuit by one of the students claims the district snapped thousands of images of kids, including pictures of them sleeping and in various states of...

Your Credit Card Is Spying on You
Your Credit
Card Is
Spying on You
Apr 7, 2010 6:38 AM CDT

Your Credit Card Is Spying on You

Visa and other companies judge you based on what you buy

(Newser) - Visa knows if you’re going to get a divorce. It knows that you just moved and, most importantly, it knows if you’re going to miss a payment—maybe before you do. Credit card companies have developed eerily accurate models for predicting consumer behavior based on the things they...

Hard-up MySpace Turns to Selling User Data

'Sounds like desperation to me'

(Newser) - In a scenario privacy advocates have warned about, MySpace has started selling user data to third parties—and you may be surprised to hear what a low price your private data goes for. A whopping 24 hours of MySpace's data stream is sold for a mere $30 by one firm,...

Japan Tests Billboards That See You, Adjust Ads

'Minority Report'-style technology scans passing faces

(Newser) - Some Japanese malls are already testing a personalized billboard technology eerily similar to the one seen in Minority Report. The new billboards, developed by Japanese electronic company NEC, scan the faces of passing shoppers, quickly determine their age and gender, and then display demographic-appropriate ads, the Daily Telegraph reports.

School Gives Kids Laptops, Spies on Them Via Webcam

Lawsuit slams HS for watching kids at home

(Newser) - A well-heeled Philadelphia school district gave out laptops to students—then used the webcams attached to covertly spy on them, both at school and at home, according to a class-action lawsuit. The case, Blake J. Robbins v. Lower Merion School District, was filed after one of the school’s vice...

78% of Americans Favor Full-Body Scans
 78% of Americans 
 Favor Full-Body Scans 
POLL SAYS
Jan 11, 2010 11:10 AM CST

78% of Americans Favor Full-Body Scans

Most value possible anti-terrorist effect over privacy

(Newser) - A huge majority of Americans support the use of full-body scanners in airports, casting privacy concerns aside for the chance of increased air security, a USA Today poll finds. More than two-thirds of frequent fliers say they are comfortable going through the scanners, and a whopping 78% say they should...

Debate Rages Over 'Strip Search' Airport Scans

Detroit bomb plot pits security against privacy

(Newser) - Next-generation body scanning devices are coming to more American airports, triggering another heated debate over privacy versus security in the wake of the terror attack on a Detroit flight. Experts say the devices, which can detect objects under clothes, could have stopped the attempted Detroit attack. Critics warn that the...

Privacy Groups Complain to FTC About Facebook

Online advocates want new policies rolled back

(Newser) - Facebook's new privacy settings are the subject of a complaint filed to the FTC. The social-networking site's latest revamp makes it harder to shield information and photos from the general Facebook public. That hasn't sat well with 10 privacy groups, who filed the complaint in order to compel the site...

Supreme Court Takes Text Message Privacy Case

Police Sgt. Jeff Quon's case goes before high court

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court will take a case that could decide how much privacy workers have when they send text messages from company accounts, the justices said today. They will review a federal appeals court ruling that sided with California police officers who complained that their department improperly snooped on...

Facebook Gives Users More Privacy Control

Don't want future employers to see those party pictures? Done!

(Newser) - New Facebook privacy settings will give users fine-grain control over who can see specific pieces or areas of content—so you can share your drunken party photos with a select group of friends, but keep them invisible to the general public. The site is also enacting bigger changes: regional networks...

Rocket Scientists See Red Flag in Background Checks

Contentious case likely to advance to Supreme Court

(Newser) - A case brought by workers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory could help determine a government standard for employee privacy. The rocket scientists have won a district court ruling against a Bush-era homeland security initiative that instituted background checks for all employees. The employees consider the checks not just intrusive...

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....

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