The biggest news this morning is that, as promised, Apple delivered the update to iOS yesterday that “fixes” the location-tracking problem that got the company in all of its recent hot water. So, if you’re on iPhone/iPad and don’t want Apple knowing where you’ve been, it’s time to download the update and rectify the situation… [AP]

But fortunately or unfortunately (depending on who you are), it’s really all about Sony this week in digital privacy. In relation to the company’s recent [multiple] data breaches, resulting in the theft of data on millions of users, the company is also facing scrutiny from several governmental players, both here and to the North…

First, it “detailed” the hack that led to the aforementioned data theft to Congress… [Mashable]

But, it’s not just the federal government that’s on top of Sony about this, as New York’s Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman also just subpoena’d the company for said breach/data theft… [NY Times]

And then, Canada’s Privacy Czar admonished the company, but also used the situation to call for the power to fine companies for these types of data breaches… [Vancouver Sun]

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]

So, you probably remember how last Thursday, we mentioned that Apple has the iPhone set up to store location data on users whereabouts. Well, that’s not a practice exclusive to Apple’s OS. Apparently, Google’s Android OS is programamed to store user location data as well, and while Apple only periodically collects this data on iPhone users, it sounds like Android transmits the data to Google much more often (“at least several times an hour”)… [WSJ]

And if you’re curious to know where Google stores this information on your Android phone, this is the article for you (or you could just watch the video above)… [Laptop Magazine]

But fortunately (and if you’re an Android owner you may have been shouting this at your screen when you read the description of the first story), Android’s location-tracking is opt-in and anonymized. So, if Google is tracking you, it’s only because you volunteered for it, and the good news is, if you’re having second thoughts, you can always opt out… [TechCrunch]

If there was a timelier release of study results, I haven’t seen it – last Thursday, Nielsen released a report revealing that “many Americans have strong concerns about losing some privacy by using location-based mobile services.” The study goes on to detail that the groups most concerned with location privacy are women, and individuals who are 45+… [NY Times]

So, here’s the part of our (seemingly daily) routine in which we talk about the latest country to go after Google for one alleged privacy violation or another. Earlier last week, The Netherlands finally challenged the company on its Street View wi-fi practices of 2010. Rounding out the week, Belgium became the latest European nation to investigate Google’s [previous] Street View efforts within its borders… [AFP]

Of course, Apple is also finding itself on the business end of another nation’s privacy scrutiny. Apparently South Korea launched an investigation this morning to determine whether or not the aforementioned location tracking practice violates Apple’s privacy policy… [Economic Times]

This next bit of news certainly doesn’t surprise me, but maybe you’ll have a different reaction…According to the founder of the “Future of Privacy Forum think tank,” less than 1% of Firefox users have employed the new “Do Not Track” feature in its latest release… [paidcontent.org]

Finally, rounding out today’s all out blitz of news about location tracking – SimpleGeo is apparently a source for location data that has data on about 20 million locations that it has just made open source (released into the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero license) for anyone to use/integrate into apps. Which sort of makes you wonder if all that is available for free, why Apple and Google feel the need to build their own proprietary databases… [Fast Company]

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]

Perhaps you heard a couple weeks back about the Gawker security breach, through which tons of registered users’ information was culled and posted publicly on the web for anyone to download. Well, apparently the same thing happened recently with Mozilla’s add-ons site… [SecurityWeek]

After such a year in online privacy, everyone should be acutely aware of the dangers of oversharing, or at least doing so publicly. In that spirit, here’s a reminder to check out what Facebook applications you have given access to your account over the last couple of years. Even the ones you don’t use could be sharing your info… [All Facebook]

Naturally, after a report in the Wall Street Journal recently about how iPhone apps are collecting/sharing personal info, Apple and a number of app makers have been hit with a class action suit alleging privacy violation… [Apple Insider]

Finally, here are a couple of articles taking a look back at all of the online privacy threats we saw/experienced in 2010, in case you missed any of them… [CNET | PC World via Network World]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation participated in several panels at the Internet Governance Forum in Lithuania this week, advocating for government to protect the data web service providers store about you the same way it protects the data you store on your hard drive, among other things [EFF Deeplinks Blog]

And maybe this isn’t privacy so much as it is security, but if you’re really worried about other people accessing your Facebook or Twitter accounts, AT&T Safe has an iPhone app for you, which sends a notification to your iPhone every time someone (including you) tries to acces your account, and requires some type of verification for the login to proceed (in the example it’s double top secret voice authentification and a password) [Gizmodo]

Just in case you hadn’t already noticed, the government is taking online privacy very seriously lately. So much so that the White House has created a subcommittee to advise it on the issue [Washington Post]

Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that the Electronic Privacy Information Center recently graded the Obama Administration a C in consumer privacy…although it gave the administration a B in cybersecurity [CMIO]

And a somewhat long saga finally ends in North Carolina, as a judge ruled yesterday that Amazon does NOT have to turn over customer records for North Carolina customers who made purchases through Amazon.com between 2003 and 2010 [CNET]

Remember that Firefox extension we mentioned yesterday that allowed anyone to access your social networking presences through insecure wi-fi networks? Apparently it’s been downloaded 104,000 times already, in just 24 hours… [TechCrunch]

And iPhone owners – if you think putting a password on your phone will keep unauthorized users out, you might want to read this… [Wired]

Augmented Reality apps are all fun and games, but have we stopped to think about the privacy implications? Personally, I don’t think having an augmented reality app that shows you where sexual offenders live is an invasion of privacy, considering there is a public registration for those individuals, but I can see where they’re going with this… [GigaOm]

Finally, today in Eric Schmidt-isms – Google’s CEO said in a CNN interview that if people don’t want to be captured by Google Street View, they can just move. Probably not the daftest move, but maybe a little more harmless than it seems… [Search Engine Watch]

Last week, we mentioned a recent study that revealed a decent subsection of Android apps that were “misusing personal information.” Well, it turns out that’s not a practice that is just exclusive to Android – it’s also happening with 3rd party iPhone apps [Engadget]

In advance of any actual legislative action, a large advertising group has unveiled its program to alert users to which/when ads are using their personal information and allow them to opt out of such tracking [NY Times]

The New York Times had a nice little piece about Facebook guru Mark Zuckerberg‘s right hand woman over the weekend in which it highlighted all the ways she helps keep the company running like a well-oiled machine. But one place where she probably isn’t going to help (users, anyway) is privacy… [Gawker]

In the wake of last week’s Rutgers suicide tragedy, NJ is proposing stiffer penalties for invasion of privacy to combat the ease with which it can be facilitated in today’s digital world [NJ.com]

The “7 Biggest Facebook Fails” in honor of The Social Network being a box office hit… [MTV Clutch Blog]

A quick look at the majority of Apple‘s iOS4′s privacy implications [PC World]

But beyond that, the EFF warns that Apple’s latest patent application is basically a way for Apple to spy on iPhone users. Technically, I believe the patent is for technology that will allow Apple to detect whether an iPhone has been jailbroken (and “punish” its user), but since the technology would allow Apple to record a user’s voice, take a user’s picture using the iPhone’s camera or apparently even detect a user’s heartbeat (why that would help them identify jailbroken users is far beyond me), it could obviously have this effect [EFF Deeplinks Blog]

“5 Tips to ‘Secure’ Your Foursquare Check-ins” [CIO]

A refresher on how retailers/supermarkets, etc. gather consumer purchasing data from loyalty card programs and how manufacturers use that data [News OK]

In July 2009 (note: BEFORE Facebook‘s US privacy fiasco), Canada’s Privacy Czar told Facebook it needed to bring its privacy settings in line with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Now that the clock has run, the Czar is set to determine whether the improvements Facebook has made over the last year has effectively done so… [Montreal Gazette]

The Shopkick iPhone app, which will be debuting next week, looks well positioned to usher in the next generation of geolocation devices. Shopkick offers promotions to shoppers as they move from store to store, and event within stores. As a geolocation device it is extremely well positioned to influence consumer behavior. It tells retailers when you are actually inside a store. The app will offer “kickbucks” coupons redeemable for goods in return for playing along. All of this has privacy rights advocates concerned since it means a further surrender of personal data to retailers and others.