Google CEO Larry Page has called out Facebook for its overly-possessive attitude toward user data, arguing that the social network is "holding users hostage" with its shortage of export options. Page criticized the site while appearing on the Charlie Rose show, telling the host that "I think it’s been unfortunate that Facebook has been pretty closed with their data," VentureBeat reports. While Google is willing to open up, Page insists, there's still no sign that Facebook will ever do the same.
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‘privacy’ Stories
Facebook sued for $15bn over privacy
Facebook opened the markets this morning starting off with a value of $42 a share, but the world keeps on turning. Bloomberg is reporting the Facebook is being sued for $15 billion over a claim that privacy was violated by tracking internet usage. The lawsuit has been filed in California, and combined 21 individual cases that were spread out across the United States.
Twitter joins “Do Not Track”
If you did not already know it, Twitter has been tracking your every move since the dawn of 140 characters, the FTC announcing just this week that they’re now part of the “Do Not Track” initiative capturing the internet. This Do Not Track project has the Federal Trade Commission pushing for “opt-out” features on all web-based project that would otherwise track user data without question. Twitter is the latest group to join in on the Do Not Track fun with an option to turn off user tracking inside the Firefox web browser first and foremost.
French watchdog probing Google further over privacy
Google rolled out a controversial new privacy policy in March that allowed the search giant’s various services to share information between themselves. The policy draw criticism from privacy advocates, and now a French watchdog will be visiting Google in order to further probe the policy. The Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés, or CNIL, wasn’t satisfied with Google’s initial explanation and will be asking further questions.
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Facebook may serve ads on third-party sites
Facebook may soon be serving you targeted ads on third-party websites. Erin Egan, Facebook's privacy head, recently announced some proposed changes to the social networks privacy policy and followed up with a question-and-answer web chat earlier today. During the session, Egan emphasized that the company's policy always allowed for serving of ads off Facebook.
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Facebook “enhances transparency” in their Data Use policy
The folks at Facebook have both released a news update and have created a fun meet and greet video which surrounds their most recent update to their Data Use Policy. This privacy matter is always one Facebook users galore should be following closely because it has everything to do with the data they release themselves on the daily to the biggest social network in the world. What this update includes is responses to feedback in-video as well as assurances that Facebook has had all sorts of positive feedback from their most recent round of updates to all policies.
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US drones “accidental” surveillance can be kept for 90 days
Officially, the United States does not use its significant fleet of unmanned drones for surveillance on US soil. But a clause in the Air Force's policy on accidentally collected surveillance is raising eyebrows. According to the guidelines given to operators, photos and video of US citizens taken without their consent can be kept for up to 90 days, in which it will be analyzed to determine whether or not it can be kept under current domestic spying laws.
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1 in 4 Facebook users lies over privacy concerns
With Facebook's ever-changing privacy and security system, it's hard enough to tell who has access to your real life information and when. According to a survey from Consumer Reports, many users aren't worrying too much about it, because the information on display is somewhat less than accurate. The survey indicates that one out of every four Facebook users lied about basic information in their profile, for fear of having their identity stolen. This isn't the old age or height fibbing - it's a natural response to the fear instilled by modern-day identity thieves.
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Google FTC fine over Safari breach could be $10 million+
After the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concluded that Google violated Internet privacy standards in the way that it interacted with Apple's Safari Web browser, the question is now how much the search giant will have to pay in fines. Based on the huge number of individual instances of privacy violations, Google could technically be forced to fork over millions and millions of dollars.
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FBI details “Going Dark” for web surveillance
The FBI have drafted a proposed law which would extend the abilities of the 1994 CALEA act which established their ability to tap phones across the USA. This law would work with communications companies across the states to establish a threshold for number of users which, once met, would require said communications company to activate surveillance-friendly functions on their network for use by the FBI. There are two ways that you, the reader, can take this news - one of them, believe it or not, is fairly positive.
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Google Street View cases may be reopened in Europe
Google may have avoided any messy legal trouble with the FCC in the United States over the Street View case, but Europe isn’t quite done with the search company just yet. The New York Times reports that privacy groups in the UK, France, and Germany may reopen their investigations into the Street View case after it was revealed that the engineer behind the project knew exactly what the capabilities were.
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Street View engineer warned Google in 2007
In the case of FCC vs Google Street View that's been going on for some weeks, months, and even years now, a "lone engineer" has been identified and called out on his role in the so-called scandal. This fellow is being called "Engineer Doe" by the FCC but has been discovered this week as being a software engineer by the name of Marius Milner by the New York Times. The importance of this man's name is a whole lot less important than his activities before the event at hand, including two separate instances where he warned Google about the capabilities and actions of his own "Wardriving" software working with Google's Street View cars.
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