Articles from November 2011

Since we can’t really go a post without mentioning Facebook around here, might as well start there – as you may or may not have heard by now, at the end of last week, Facebook actually opened up to USA Today about how it “tracks” users across the web (you probably remember that recently it has been accused of doing so even if they’re not logged in), and how it uses the data it collects to “help improve security and its plugins”… [USA Today via Mashable]

Well, if “the Feds” thought the legislation that would allow them to obtain peoples’ cell phone records without a warrant was going to sneak by, apparently they would be wrong – as it only took a district court judge but one page to strike down the law as unconstitutional… [WSJ via Gizmodo]

While we haven’t spent much time talking about it here, one of the bigger digital privacy debates is whether or not to institute electronic health records. To that end, Pew Research Center apparently recently revealed survey results indicating that a majority of people would be open to the idea if it meant better “coordination of their care,” or helped “support real-time decisions in their care”…among other things… [InformationWeek]

But one thing we spend a good deal of time talking about is the privacy around digital advertising and how regulating it may or may not shake out. Well, if it helps at all, apparently the FTC’s former Chief Privacy Officer, Marc Groman, is leaving the Commission to become the Network Advertising Intiative’s – a group “promoting self-regulation in online advertising” – new Executive Director (and General Counsel)… [NY Times]

Perhaps you remember last year’s Google Street View wi-fi sniffing fiasco, wherein everyone was up in arms at the search giant for identifying and cataloging peoples’ wi-fi networks. Well, not totally related, but at least somewhat – apparently under increasing pressure, Google recently decided to allow users all around the world to keep the names and locations of their wi-fi routers out of its database… [NY Times]

And while we’re catching up on the usual suspects – Facebook apparently despite allegedly focusing on giving users more/better privacy controls, and being investigated by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, is “holding back” more user data (from users) than before it came under the aforementioned authority’s scrutiny… [IT World]

Elsewhere in general web privacy, earlier this week, the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) – the pseudo-governing body of teh interwebz – announced its latest privacy standards recommendations regarding “do not track.” And according to this post, it seems like they’re on the right track, but may be missing the mark in that they put too much responsibility on users who may or may not really fully understand their privacy on the web… [The Next Web]

Finally, a couple of notes on mobile privacy…

First, according to a recent survey conducted by London-based mobile security firm AdaptiveMobile, despite the fact that most consumers report being concerned about mobile privacy (and wanting more protective mobile privacy options), 75% of them don’t currently take any steps to ensure their mobile privacy. Among other stats, iPhone users apparently to be the most ignorant of their mobile privacy, with almost 70% unaware of the information the free apps they’ve downloaded can access… [PC World]

But mobile privacy isn’t just on consumers minds, apparently US regulators are now inquiring with the major mobile smartphone providers (or at least Microsoft, anyway) about what/how much they do to police what information the apps users on their smartphone platforms can access. Obviously the implication is that mobile privacy will likely start to emerge as another governmental concern, along with the as of yet unresolved web privacy issues… [PC World]

We feel like we’ve been following this saga for a while now, but it may not actually be as long as we’re thinking. Either way, apparently the Supreme Court began hearing one of the cases that has been circulating in the country regarding GPS tracking and whether or not law enforcement should be able to install GPS tracking devices on suspects’ cars without needing a warrant. It sounds like the initial reaction from the Court was that there absolutely should be a warrant issued before doing so, but a definitive answer is obviously still yet to come… [Washington Post]

However, an answer has come down in one of this country’s district courts, indicating that if federal agents want access to users’ Twitter data, they can get it without a warrant. The case involved three Wikileaks “associates,” and the presiding Judge stated that “voluntarily chose to use Internet technology to communicate with Twitter and thereby consented to whatever disclosures would be necessary to complete their communications”… [WSJ]

Back to privacy on the web, apparently the FTC has been working with the advertising industry on expanding the program the latter implemented last year to educate consumers on what data it might be collecting on them as well as how they can opt out of such collection. Pointing out that there were other forms of “tracking” beyond just serving ads based on users’ browsing habits, the Commission urged the industry to expand the initiative to other forms of tracking (like “collecting data on consumers’ Internet browsing to determine eligibility for employment, credit, medical treatment or insurance”), which apparently it did in response (although this expansion won’t take effect until 2012)… [BusinessWeek]

Elsewhere, apparently earlier this week, Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed that despite all of the criticism and scrutiny his social network has received regarding its privacy practices, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are violating users’ privacy far more egregiously than Facebook, pointing out (or asserting, anyway) that Facebook only “tracks” data you volunteer to it, while Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s search engines and ad networks are indeed collecting info on you “behind your back” (ie, without you necessarily volunteering that info overtly)… [Huffington Post]

But despite what he might be saying, that doesn’t change the fact that apparently Facebook has been negotiating with the FTC over said privacy controls. Apparently once a settlement is reached, Facebook may have to make all future changes effecting privacy “opt-in,” as opposed to its current practice of opting users in by default… [Ars Technica]

Somewhat related, or at least tangentially related, apparently the EU’s Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has said that she is planning to insert language into the EU’s controlling data privacy law making it so that even non-EU companies must comply with the law’s data collection regulations, which as this story points out, will pretty much necessitate a conflict between our country and the one across the pond… [NY Times]

In case you were wondering whether Boomers or Millenials are more concerned with their own privacy and security on the web, apparently both groups are about equally concerned. According to a recent study, 77% of the former and 69% of the latter are “concerned about their information’s misuse online,” and 81% of Boomers as well as 66% of Millenials do not feel “very secure” when buying things on the web… [Mashable]

Finally, Anonymous’ crusade marches on…apparently one of the group’s latest target was a Finnish neo-nazi website, which it hacked in order to collect the names of those found in the site’s membership application database. But apparently that wasn’t the only Finnish site the Anonymous collective hacked, and indeed it apparently did so for sites unrelated to neo-nazism to show the relative security of Finnish peoples’ data online, which it claimed (and more or less proved) was lax… [Telegraph]

Cool new privacy control from Flickr – you may already know that depending on your phone’s settings, when you take a picture with your phone’s camera, it may actually contain metadata showing exactly where the photo was taken. So, if you take a picture of something while you’re at home and share it on the web (through Twitter or Facebook, for example), you could be exposing your address to all sorts of people. But, Flickr is now allowing users to set up “geofences” around different locations, so that basically, if I set up a geofence around my home, I can then set who of my friends can see that I uploaded a picture from that location… [Mashable]

And now, we get to the obligatory Google portion of our show…first item of Google news – apparently now, if you’re wondering why Google is serving you a specific ad in search results or Gmail, with a click of the new “Why This Ad” button you’re able to find out, and should you want to block a certain company’s ads, you can do that using the “Why These Ads” button… [Google via Gizmodo]

Also filed under Google today – “Google’s Business Model Is In Conflict With Your Privacy”… [Business Insider]

A recent Carnegie Mellon study of privacy tools on the web (for example, AdBlock Plus or the built in features in IE 9 and Firefox 5) “revealed” that those tools are plagued with usability issues that actually in many circumstances make a privacy situation worse for consumers, including random default settings not necessarily geared to the typical web user, and the fact that most of the instructions on how to use the tools aren’t exactly the easiest things to read and understand… [WSJ]

So, you may have heard that Facebook rolled out a security feature that allows your friends to help you gain control of your profile back should it be “hacked” and hijacked by someone else. Well, it turns out that actually may be a bigger problem than anyone might have thought, as Facebook revealed the stat that about 600,000 accounts are “compromised” every day… [Mashable]

But perhaps even bigger Facebook news is that Germany’s Hamburg Data Protection Agency recently indicated (yesterday) that it seems Facebook is indeed creating user tracking profiles for users, even those who have cancelled their accounts (for two years after, apparently), which was a problem recently intimated by an Austrian law student, and that is currently also being investigated… [NY Times]

So, some quick Anonymous news for you – apparently in addition to its proposed takedown of Facebook, scheduled for Saturday, Anonymous had also said it would attempt to take on the Zetas drug cartel on that day after the cartel had kidnapped one of its members, threatening to reveal the names of “the names, addresses and photos of taxi drivers, journalists and police officers on the payroll of the criminal gang”… [Gizmodo]

But then, it retracted that threat, claiming basically that it didn’t want anyone to die, mainly those people whose names it was threatening to reveal, without any objective corroboration of their involvement with the Zetas… [TalkingPointsMemo]

Finally, you may remember all that we’ve written about Verizon Wireless’ recent move to access more of its customers data, including location data as well as browsing data. Well, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (a consumer privacy advocacy group) has apparently publicly challenged the move, decrying Verizon amassing a vast customer base on long term contracts, and then all of a sudden changing its “data use and disclosure practices.” Of course, for its part, Verizon responds that none of the data it might share with others about its customers would be personally identifiable, and customers can opt out if they don’t want their data disclosed at all… [Online Media Daily]