Well, Google is mad as hell…er, at least not gonna take it anymore…”it” being Switzerland’s supreme court ruling that requires the company to blur images of people in Google Street View. The company apparently threatened to “wipe” all photos of Swiss people from Street View entirely if Switzerland’s court did not overturn the decision…and away we go! [AP]

But of course, that’s not all for Google today. Apparently, the Justice Department is also investigating Google Advertising for some type of undisclosed violation that may or may not relate to privacy… [NY Times]

And because we can’t go a week without someone somewhere in the US suing Apple – another suit was filed against the company, as well as Pandora Media and The Weather Channel, alleging that those companies apps have/had been sharing users’ location information with 3rd party ad networks without those users’ consent… [CNET]

Interestingly, while Congress seemed to have taken such umbrage with Apple and Google’s practice of collecting iOS and Android device users locations, apparently the Justice Department has nothing bad to say about the practice…in fact, it wants Congress to introduce a bill that would require mobile providers to collect such information in order to help it catch criminals… [InformationWeek]

So I feel like we’ve mentioned this a lot here, but there was a time when Facebook apps “leaked” users’ information to app makers. Apparently now, however, that “problem” has been fixed, and it should be business as usual…until the next Facebook privacy “fiasco,” that is… [WSJ]

Nevertheless, we’re not done with Facebook yet today…I’m sure you’ll all be interested to hear about how Facebook apparently hired the PR firm Burson-Marsteller to pitch a story about how Google products (specifically something called “Social Circle”) violate users’ privacy…classy move all around, guys… [Business Insider]

Oh, but there’s more…not about Facebook specifically, but rather, its users. Apparently, according to Consumer Reports’ recently released, “2011 Consumer Reports State of the Net Survey” a third of Facebook users under 18, are actually under 13. But even more interesting (and relevant) is that about one in every five ["active"] US Facebook users uses ZERO privacy controls… [PC World]

And finally, not to keep you hanging too long on how yesterday’s hearing on Apple and Google’s mobile location tracking went – apparently by the end of the three hour hearing, Senator Al Franken, who convened the hearing and has been significantly involved in privacy legislation since becoming head of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, remained unconvinced that users’ privacy was “being respected” (in that users don’t have the ability to opt in or [more importantly] out), given the practice… [PC Mag]

So, obviously the biggest thing going on in digital privacy today is the Congressional hearing called by Senator Al Franken. As we’ve mentioned a couple of times, the events of the last couple of weeks have really spurred quick movement in the area, and testifying at today’s hearing will be representatives from Apple, Google, the FTC, the Justice Department, and “a consumer advocate”… [USA Today]

But at the aforementioned hearing, the powers that be ought not to think too narrowly on the subject of mobile privacy, singling out apps as the problem. Clearly there are much broader digital privacy concerns and implications at play here, and so Congress should be thinking about how it can introduce a comprehensive bill that covers all of the different privacy issues through the web, mobile, social networking and any other relevant aspect of digital… [CNET]

Either way, as we noted yesterday, there’s now a second digital privacy bill in the mix that incorporates the spirit of the FTC’s “Do Not Track” mechanism for protecting users. If you were wondering how said bill was received by privacy advocate groups, as you might expect, that would be warmly. It’s also important to note that it’s not advocating a strict “Do Not Track” that wouldn’t allow companies to track users at all, but rather it would require companies to offer users the ability to opt out, and respect such decision unless absolutely necessary for its site to function… [Ars Technica]

Not long ago, we mentioned that the upcoming version of Google’s Chrome browser will include a feature that allows users to delete the infamously pesky Flash cookies that we’ve also noted in the past can be quite a pain to get rid of. Well, the beta version of that release is apparently now available… [Google Chrome Blog]

And with all of the scrutiny on cookie tracking over the last year or so, many (mostly in advertising) have been concerned that if new legislation bars companies from cookie’ing users, digital commerce may suffer greatly. But even if that were to happen, Buyosphere may have a better way. Instead of companies “silently” collecting data on users, Buyosphere allows users to provide information to companies on what types of things are relevant to them…which, of course, in the end is pretty much the same thing, but what separates the cookie method from Buyosphere is the transparency and control… [Mashable]

Speaking of the practice of cookie’ing – as you may remember, we’ve mentioned that the EU has proposed a ban on said practice. Well, apparently the UK’s Information Commissioner thought publishing “guidance on the implementation” of the new proposal would help everyone better understand what the proposed regulation actually meant. Unfortunately, by this account, it did not…in any way… [WSJ]

Well, despite the fact that “Do Not Track” did not end up making it into the bill John Kerry and John McCain recently introduced to Congress, it still seems to be getting to be a hot time for the concept. Indeed, not only is West Virginia Senator John Rockefeller considering introducing a “Do Not Track” bill himself, but the battle continues over California’s “Do Not Track” law that we mentioned had been introduced not long ago… [Washington Post - Rockefeller Bill | Sacramento Bee - California Bill]

And while we’re talking about what’s going on in Washington, perhaps you remember that tomorrow is the big day for location privacy on Capitol Hill. Specifically, Senator Al Franken had convened a hearing on location-tracking and the recent revelations from Apple and Google regarding such tracking. So, naturally, Apple will be participating, sending its VP of Software Technology Bud Tribble to handle the Committee’s inquiries… [CNET]

But all this activity and interest in the area of digital privacy is probably not a bad thing, considering that consumers really had no legislative protection for/from the recent serious security breaches of Sony’s Playstation Network and Online Entertainment Network, as well as that of Epsilon, the email provider for a number of major businesses, and others… [NY Times]

Oh, and about that Sony breach…apparently Sony may not have seen the last of those skilled hackers (or others, for that matter)… [CNET]

So, obviously most of our coverage this week has focused on Apple and Google’s iOS/Android location-tracking privacy situation. And we’ve mentioned how Apple first stated pretty matter of factly that it does not track users, then blamed it on a glitch they are planning to fix in a forthcoming OS update. But apparently, in addition to all of that, Steve Jobs himself will actually be testifying in Al Franken’s hearing on mobile privacy… [Mac Observer]

However, that may not be enough for one Congressman. Rep. Jay Inslee of Washington actually wants the FTC to investigate this location-tracking issue further (although he seems to have focused solely on Apple…maybe no one told him about Google’s role in the issue), advocating potentially adding another layer to the scrutiny… [CNET]

But the scrutiny brought upon Apple because of this location tracking issue isn’t just coming down in the US. In fact, several European nations are already investigating Apple’s iPhone/iPad to see if the devices violate their privacy rules, which if you remember can be (and most often are) stricter than those here in the States…basically meaning this could turn into what last year’s Street View debacle was for Google (which it is still feeling the effects of, as you may well know), only for Apple… [Bloomberg]

And while we’re on the subject, Mashable both breaks down “What Locationgate Says About How Consumers Perceive Information Privacy” and asks “Are You Satisfied with Apple’s Response to the iPhone-Tracking Debacle”… [What Locationgate Says | Are You Satisfied with Apple's Response]

Finally, one thing we have yet to mention this week was that recently, Sony’s Playstation Network was hacked, and indeed the hackers got a hold of the Network’s users’ personal data, including “their names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and PlayStation user names and passwords” and potentially even their credit card numbers…eek… [NY Times]

It just never seems to end for Google and privacy. Frankly, we could probably dedicate an entire blog to just the web giant and its privacy trials and tribulations. But as for the former – trials – apparently in a case that’s the first of its kind, Spain’s Data Protection Agency is suing Google on behalf of about 90 Spanish citizens who want links to information about them that Google has indexed taken down… [AP]

But it isn’t just Spain that’s less than thrilled with Google lately. Yesterday, we mentioned how The Netherlands was the latest country to take issue with its 2010 Street View chicanery. Today, we want to highlight how on Monday, the FTC “called out” Google for being the only major browser that has yet to adopt “Do Not Track” technology – something Firefox, Internet Explorer, and even Safari have rolled out to users… [ComputerWorld]

And yet, despite all of it, Google apparently is atop the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s new privacy report card, along with Amazon and Twitter… [ZDNet]

Oh, and just to update you on something we mentioned yesterday – Sophos’ open letter to Facebook, and Facebook’s latest privacy improvements – not surprisingly, Sophos was underwhelmed by Facebook’s efforts… [eWeek]

So, I’m not sure this should really shock iPhone owners, if they think about the services/apps their iPhone provides, but it was revealed yesterday that your iPhone tracks your every move, with timestamps, in a “secret” file that gets transferred to your computer’s hard drive when you plug your iPhone in to it… [Guardian]

And one person who was particularly concerned with this revelation apparently was Senator Al Franken, recently tapped to head the Senate’s new Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, who wrote Apple a letter pointing out the dangers of storing this information on phones unencrypted, and posed a series of corrollary questions for the company… [AdWeek]

Well, we mentioned on Friday how last week the Senate sent Facebook yet another letter strongly encouraging it not “to become a digital phonebook” (ie, not to let developers have access to users’ mobile phone numbers and addresses). Following that, Minnesota Senator Al Franken (who was part of the letter writing) also wrote this Huffington Post column to the same effect… [Huffington Post]

But while it might have been appropriate for Franken to do so, given that he was selected to head the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on “Privacy, Technology, and the Law,” West Virginia senator Jay Rockefeller, who we also mentioned last week scheduled a hearing this week on digital privacy is adamant that his Senate Commerce Committee should be the body heading legislative digital privacy efforts… [WSJ]

As we mentioned yesterday, Microsoft will be including a “Do Not Track” feature in its forthcoming Internet Explorer 9. And yesterday, PC World sat down with Microsoft’s Corporate VP in charge of IE, Dean Hachamovitch, to talk about that and other browser privacy issues/features… [PC World]

And one thing we missed yesterday was that with digital privacy at the forefront of legislative efforts right now, the Senate has created a new subcommittee panel, chaired by Minnesota’s Al Franken, covering “Privacy, Technology and the Law”… [AFP]