15 posts and columns on user data

News Byte

With Policy Changes Coming, Facebook Aims to Clarify Privacy Terms

in Social on May 11 at 3:15 pm PT

Facebook has launched a stand-alone page dedicated to answering user questions on the site’s ten different policy documents. The page comes in advance of upcoming changes to the social network’s privacy policies, changes the site has made after an audit from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner.

Report: Which Data Do People Really Care About Keeping Private Online?

in Social on January 18 at 8:30 am PT

It’s never a good idea for sites and apps to abuse or lose track of users’ personal data. But not all personal data was created equal.
Forrester

Voices

Google Reports Surge in Government Requests for User Data

in News on October 25, 2011 at 2:53 pm PT

U.S. government requests for data on Google users for the first half of 2011 increased 29 percent over the previous six-month time frame, according to a report released by Google today.

News Byte

Yahoo Reverses Course on Data Retention

in News on April 18, 2011 at 12:30 pm PT

Privacy advocates have long pressed search companies and ISPs to minimize the time they keep user data, and in late 2008, Yahoo won plaudits for cutting its retention time for most customer information down to 90 days. Today, however, the company did a 180, announcing that by mid-July it will start retaining raw search log files for 18 months and will re-evaluate the retention time for other data. The intent, Yahoo said, is to balance privacy with the personalization features of a more social Internet. Unmentioned, but also part of the broader debate: The desires of law enforcement here and in Europe.

Facebook Moves Could Disallow Apps From Running Google Ads

in Social on February 10, 2011 at 12:07 pm PT

Facebook announced this week it will begin enforcing a policy that requires app developers to run advertising from a list of approved providers. The list does not include Google’s AdSense and DoubleClick.

News Byte

Android Apps Transmitting Private Data

in News on September 30, 2010 at 10:55 am PT

A new study shows that many popular Android apps transmit private user data to advertising networks without the user’s consent or knowledge. Researchers from Duke, Penn State and Intel Labs developed an application called TaintDroid, which detects such transmissions, and tested 30 apps from the Android Market–half of which were found to be sending GPS coordinates to remote servers. The developers of the TaintDroid application plan to make it available to the public to enable user awareness of data collection.

Mr. Schmidt, There’s an Inspector Lestrade on Line One

in News on June 22, 2010 at 8:15 am PT

Add Scotland Yard to the list of agencies investigating the collection of user data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks by Google’s Street View cars.

State AGs to Probe Google’s “Deeply Disturbing Invasion” of Wi-Fi Data

in News on June 21, 2010 at 12:26 pm PT

Looks like “no harm, no foul” isn’t good enough for state regulators when it comes to the inadvertent collection of user data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks by Google’s Street View cars. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said today that his office is spearheading a multistate investigation into Google’s Wi-Fi data-gathering debacle.

No Harm, Big Foul: Google Intercepted Passwords and Email Extracts

in News on June 21, 2010 at 7:31 am PT

Google’s troubles over the inadvertent collection of user data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks by its Street View cars are mounting. According to a preliminary analysis by the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty, the payload data fragments Google intercepted and stored included “data that are normally covered by…banking and medical privacy rules.”

A “Do Not Call The FTC About Facebook Privacy” Registry? Great Idea, Tim.

in News on May 10, 2010 at 10:50 am PT

Perfect. Facebook has enlisted a former senior Bush administration regulator to defend its privacy practices in Washington. Tim Muris, who served as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission from 2001 to 2004 and created the popular U.S. Do Not Call Registry, is advising the company, whose privacy disclosures and fast and loose handling of user data are increasingly drawing scrutiny on Capitol Hill.

Google’s Bungled Buzz Launch “Irresponsible,” Says FTC Commissioner

in News, March 17, 2010 at 12:44 pm PT

What We Really Need Is a "Stopping Congress From Exploiting For-the-Children Politics" Bill

in News, February 20, 2009 at 3:02 pm PT

One–Make That Two–Words: Plastic Logic

in News, September 8, 2008 at 11:00 am PT

Der Googel Krome Ist in der Schmutz

in News, September 8, 2008 at 8:55 am PT