privacy

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Street View Catches Britons in Compromising Positions

Google removes several pictures at resident's request

(Newser) - Google has scrubbed several embarrassing photos from its Street View map feature following the rollout of the service in the UK yesterday, the Telegraph reports. Google received numerous complaints about certain snapshots, including one of a man leaving a sex shop. Google noted that Street View has tools for the...

Documentarian Films Through Prosthetic Eye

(Newser) - A one-eyed documentarian is planning a film on privacy shot using a camera implanted in his prosthetic organ, the AP reports. Rob Spence, who plans to become a "human surveillance machine," got the idea when he realized how small his cellphone camera was. His eye muscles will move...

Calif. Bill Restricts Internet Maps to Foil Terrorists

(Newser) - A California assemblyman wants his state to force Internet mapping services to distort the images of schools, government buildings, and similar institutions because they could be terrorist targets, the AP reports. Republican Joel Anderson introduced the measure after reading that terrorists used services such as Google Earth and Microsoft's Virtual...

Airport Body Scanners May Replace Metal Detectors

(Newser) - Full-body scanners may eventually replace standard metal detectors at airports, USA Today reports. The feds are experimenting with machines that look through clothing for hidden guns or bombs—especially those made of plastic that can elude metal detectors. Tulsa's airport has the scanners now, and San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami,...

Expert on Vanishing Acts Sees Rising Demand

(Newser) - Frank Ahearn just may be the world's top expert on vanishing without a trace—either finding people who have done so or helping others pull off the trick. In a profile of him and his craft, the Times of London notes that the California man has gotten so many inquiries...

Court: Naked Have Right Not to Be Taped

Man argued that nude lover had no right to privacy from hidden camera

(Newser) - Shucking off your clothes in front of somebody doesn't strip you of your privacy rights, a Wisconsin court ruled yesterday. The court ruled against a man who claimed that because his then-girlfriend was often nude in front of him, it was legal for him to secretly videotape her with a...

Status Update: Everyone Else's Life Is More Exciting

Writer bemoans the constant barrage of jealousy from Facebook

(Newser) - Remember those holiday letters, the ones informing you of all the exciting things your friends did while you sat at home? Facebook brings you that jealousy 24/7, writes Patricia Beauchamp in the Washington Post. While she’s “wondering how much she could get for a box of gaucho pants...

Yahoo Will Keep Searchers' Info Only 3 Months
Yahoo Will Keep Searchers' Info Only 3 Months
ANALYSIS

Yahoo Will Keep Searchers' Info Only 3 Months

Search firm now holds information for less time than Google, Microsoft

(Newser) - Yahoo will shorten the amount of time it will keep users’ personal data, Stacey Higginbotham reports for GigaOm. The firm will scrub page views, ad views, and search data after 90 days, though it will keep data flagged as suspicious for twice as long. Google and Microsoft recently proposed changes...

Verizon Staffers Breached Obama Cell Phone Records

Company probing extent of data breach after snooping uncovered

(Newser) - Verizon has suspended all employees who accessed Barack Obama's personal cell phone records after learning that some workers snooped into the account without authorization, the Washington Post reports. Company executives, who didn't specify what kind of information had been viewed, apologized to the president-elect. Verizon is investigating and has notified...

10 Volunteers Go Public With Their DNA

Database will divulge what really makes a Harvard man, and other genetic secrets

(Newser) - Ten volunteers, including some rather well known ones, are exposing themselves online, the New York Times reports, by making their DNA available for anyone to peruse. The goal of the Personal Genome Project is to start making genetic information—along with personal traits called phenotypes—publicly available, a move whose...

Victorious Max Mosley Bares All
Victorious Max Mosley Bares All

Victorious Max Mosley Bares All

'Sex is funny' but tabloids are ravenous, says S&M-loving motorsport boss

(Newser) - When a British tabloid exposed Max Mosley's predilection for rough sex under the headline "F1 Boss Has Sick Nazi Orgy With 5 Hookers," he surprised everyone by going to court—and winning a record $120,000 in damages. Now the head of world motorsport tells the Guardian that...

Surveillance Plan Moves Forward, Despite Concerns

Homeland Security program would allow local government to access spy photos

(Newser) - A Government Accountability Office review raises concerns about plans for domestic satellite surveillance, the Wall Street Journal reports, but Homeland Security will proceed anyway. A bill allows the agency to provide satellite imagery for emergency and scientific purposes, but could be expanded to include surveillance and border control. The department...

Court: Cops Wrong to Tape Man's Sex With Comatose Wife

Privacy law violated in sexual assault case

(Newser) - A Wisconsin court today threw out evidence against a man police videotaped having sex with his comatose wife in her nursing-home room, the AP reports, arguing that authorities violated his constitutional rights. The court ruled that David Johnson, 59, who’s been charged with felony sexual assault, had an expectation...

Cindy McCain, Lonesome Cowgirl

Candidate's wife likes her privacy, and her past isn't easy to unravel

(Newser) - Cindy McCain is a classic Western loner who chose to raise her kids as a self-styled “single parent” in Phoenix rather than join John in Washington as he served in the Senate. She may be a size zero, but she has "unusual grit": she drives a race car,...

Big Apple Is Big Brother, Privacy Advocates Warn

(Newser) - Anti-terrorism measures planned for New York City have civil liberties groups worried, the Guardian of London reports. Operation Sentinel calls for cameras to be placed at every bridge and tunnel into Manhattan to photograph every vehicle entering and leaving. Details would then be kept on a huge city database.

Cops Knocked Over Using GPS to Tail Suspects

Privacy advocates question warrantless, undetectable tracking

(Newser) - As GPS units become cheaper and easier to use, police forces around the country are turning to the technology to easily track suspects. The Washington Post examines the advantages of this new crime-fighting weapon, and the privacy concerns it’s raising among critics. Cops can easily attach a GPS device...

Duke Seeking More Privacy for British Royals

Legal challenge aims to set boundaries for 'public interest'

(Newser) - The Duke of Edinburgh is using a recent ruling by Britain’s High Court—one that sided against the press in the unfortunate Max Mosley Nazi sex scandal—as the basis for a legal challenge to win more privacy for the royal family, the Daily Telegraph reports. Prince Philip is...

Mosley Wins Privacy Suit over 'Nazi' S&M Orgy

Formula 1 boss wins $120,000 in damages against tabloid

(Newser) - Max Mosley has won his lawsuit against a British tabloid for exposing a sadomasochistic orgy he took part in and falsely claiming it had Nazi overtones, reports the Guardian. In a landmark decision, the head of world motorsport was awarded $120,000 in damages—thought to be a record in...

Printers Let Big Brother Connect Privacy Dots

Watchdogs worry about anti-counterfeit marks left by laser models

(Newser) - The growing popularity of laser printers has privacy watchdogs worried, USA Today reports. Many such printers have a feature, designed to foil currency counterfeiters, that puts a signature of microscopic dots on each page. In the US, only the Secret Service can decode the information, but there are concerns the...

Calif. Mulls Pay-as-You-Drive Insurance to Cut Costs, Miles

Option available in 34 states seen to help costs, environment; invasiveness an issue

(Newser) - An alliance of insurance companies and environmentalists are pushing to bring  pay-as-you-drive auto-insurance, available from a handful of companies in other states, to California in a big way, the Los Angeles Times reports. The system, which charges premiums based on mileage, as recorded by a GPS tracking device, gives drivers...

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