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‘privacy’ Stories

Google $7m Street View fine shows how little we care about privacy

, Mar 13th 2013 Discuss [0]

If you've heard about Google's latest fine at the hands of privacy seekers across the USA, you know good and well that their Street View cars are roaming around your neighborhood with their sensors on. But what are we doing to prepare for these traveling information collectors? Apparently not a whole lot, as part of the penalty being leveraged against Google is a requirement that they inform the public how to turn on the security on their own personal wifi hubs. Read The Full Story

Facebook News Feed update’s privacy changes: the one

, Mar 8th 2013 Discuss [0]

This week the Facebook developer team revealed a series of changes (read: feature additions) to their News Feed that'll allow you to see a much more simplistic and aesthetically beautiful vision of what your friends, associates, and likeables are sharing. The immediate reaction from many will be that this, like so many Facebook updates before, will once again adversely affect what the easily startled call their "online privacy." In fact this newest change only changes one thing for those of you that want to remain as "private" as you were before - the location of the Privacy Settings button. Read The Full Story

Google reveals number of National Security Letters sent in last 4 years

, Mar 5th 2013 Discuss [0]

Google has revealed the number of National Security Letters (NSL) that it has received in the last four years alone. The numbers are a general estimate of NSLs sent to Google by the government. The FBI sends NSLs to various entities, including businesses, internet service providers, credit card companies, and more. They demand that those entities deliver confidential information about their customers such as phone numbers, e-mail addresses, purchase history, web history, and more. Anything is fair game as long as it pertains to the FBI's investigation. Read The Full Story

Evernote will implement two-factor authentication soon

, Mar 5th 2013 Discuss [0]

Evernote is planning on implementing two-factor authentication with its services soon in light of its recent security blunder. Evernote was hacked over the weekend and its users' emails, usernames, and passwords were all compromised. The company had to initiate a password reset on all accounts in order to protect its users information. While all of the accounts were compromised, Evernote says that there were no signs of personal notes or account details being accessed Read The Full Story

Forget creepy Intel: SHORE unlocks your face at a glance, and it’s already in use

If you thought Intel’s plans for a viewer-watching Web TV box were intrusive, you might want to bury your face in your hands (and leave it there permanently) after seeing Fraunhofer‘s clever and creepy SHORE facial ID system. On show at CeBIT, SHORE can not only identify a face in a still image or real-time video stream, but figure out gender, age, and even what mood the person is in: happy, surprised, angry, or sad. Meanwhile, while Intel’s home entertainment tracking system is already mired in controversy, Fraunhofer tells us commercial implementations of SHORE are already out in the wild.

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Microsoft ending “Scroogled” TV campaign against Google

, Mar 4th 2013 Discuss [0]

Looks like Microsoft is slowly winding down its "Scroggled" advertising campaign against Google. Microsoft's senior director of online services, Stefan Weitz, says that the company will be ending its Scroogled television advertisements, but will keep the website up and running, which means that the whole campaign isn't dead, but it could spell the end soon. Read The Full Story

Evernote hacked: Emails, encrypted passwords stolen

Cloud notetaking service Evernote has been hacked, the company has revealed today, with an unidentified attacker compromising servers and extracting usernames, email addresses, and encrypted passwords. The attack has forced a mandatory password reset, meaning all users must change their password before they can log back into their account, but Evernote says there is no evidence of either notes being viewed by a third-party, or payment details of Evernote Premium or Business users being accessed.

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Rockefeller introduces Do Not Track bill, is backed by Consumer Watchdog

Senator Jay Rockefeller has introduced a Do Not Track bill, which would require the FTC to make standards regarding consumers' ability to opt-out of having their information collected. This is following the first Do Not Track report we saw back in 2011, which was a variant of the current bill. Consumer Watchdog has jumped into the mix, backing the bill. Read The Full Story

Here’s how Intel’s Web TV viewer-tracking works

, Feb 26th 2013 Discuss [0]

Intel's decision to track viewers of its upcoming Web TV service using a camera-equipped set-top-box, tracking living room demographics and better tailoring commercials, left privacy advocates worried, and we've stumbled across a live demo at Mobile World Congress. The proof-of-concept, part of Vodafone's Connected City installation, shows just how the Intel-powered system uses a webcam - mounted above the TV - to identify not only faces but direction of gaze, with real-time statistics that feed into a playlist. Check out a video demo after the cut. Read The Full Story

European regulators tell Google to get its privacy policy issues sorted

Early last year when Google revealed that it would be combining its privacy policy across all its services, many people cried foul, stating that such a move allowed it to gather far too much information about its users. Google contended that the short, simpler privacy policy is something that users prefer, and that having one policy across multiple products and/or services is not uncommon. European regulators quickly jumped on the change, however, and after some back and forth, they still aren't satisfied with how Google has handled the issue. Read The Full Story

Mega now accepts Bitcoin as payment, also hints at e-mail, chat, voice expansion

, Feb 16th 2013 Discuss [0]

Kim Dotcom has just announced through Twitter that Mega, his successor to Megaupload, will now be accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cloud storage services. You can purchase your Mega service with Bitcoin through Mega's newest reseller, Bitvoucher. Bitcoin is a P2P digital currency that allows you to instantly make a payment to anyone, anywhere in the world. It does not operate under a central authority, such as banks or the government, but instead is operated by only the Bitcoin network. This allows everyone to be able to use its services, and it also allows users to make payments that cannot be traced by the government. Read The Full Story

iOS 6.1 vulnerability allows anyone to bypass lockscreen

, Feb 14th 2013 Discuss [0]

Apple's new iOS 6.1 firmware, even with all of its new features, is still trying to fit in and become a solid upgrade to iOS 5.x. However, it's had its fair share of problems, including battery life issues and connectivity problems. Tack one more on, though, because now it looks like anyone can break into your device, even if you have it password protected. Read The Full Story

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