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‘privacy’ Stories

Facebook: private messages never appeared on timelines

, Sep 24th 2012 Discuss [0]

Facebook is doing what it can to combat a particularly nasty rumor today, telling the BBC that private messages never appeared on public timelines like some users have claimed. Most of these users were from France, and say that private messages sent between 2007 and 2009 started appearing on their timelines. Your Facebook timeline, as you're hopefully already aware, is open for your friends to see (and everyone else using the service if your privacy settings allow it), so we can see why this would cause some controversy. Read The Full Story

Facebook ditches facial recognition in Europe after months of talks

, Sep 21st 2012 Discuss [0]

Facebook has already dealt with plenty of negative attention over its facial recognition technology, both here in the US and across the Atlantic in Europe. Things are looking up for those who don't want to be included in Facebook's facial recognition program, however, as the company has decided to stop using the tool in Europe. The Irish Data Protection Commission announced that Facebook was pulling the plug on facial recognition today, after privacy officials in Europe began reviewing Facebook to make sure it was complying with privacy requests and recommendations made back in December. Read The Full Story

Germany going after Facebook’s facial recognition again

, Aug 15th 2012 Discuss [2]

Facebook has already been on the wrong end of a privacy investigation in Germany, but it looks like the company's legal woes aren't quite over yet. The New York Times reports that German data protection officials have reopened their investigation into Facebook's facial recognition technology after it became apparent that Facebook wasn't going to change its policy. According to data protection commissioner Johannes Caspar, Facebook is building a database of user photos for its facial recognition feature, something that is illegal under European privacy law. Read The Full Story

FTC Facebook verdict: “express consent” required

, Aug 10th 2012 Discuss [0]

This week the FTC has settled its privacy complaint with Facebook with an agreement that the social network will obtain "express consent" before they share any information of said users outside its pre-written privacy settings. The agreement makes it so that Facebook must provide users with "clear and prominent notice" any time user information is shared. It also makes Facebook keep a "comprehensive privacy program" maintained and subject to biennial privacy audits. Read The Full Story

Blizzard hacked: Battle.net leaks emails and more

, Aug 10th 2012 Discuss [2]

Diablo developer Blizzard has warned gamers that their personal information may have been leaked, after the company was the target of a network hack. No financial information is believed to have been stolen, Blizzard said in a statement on the data breach, but some email addresses, personal security question answers, and authentication details for some types of connections were all extracted before the unauthorized access was blocked.

Read The Full Story

Google pays $22.5m in FTC Safari cookie fine

, Aug 9th 2012 Discuss [0]

Google will pay a $22.5m fine to the FTC after tracking Safari browser users who had opted out of cookies, the largest fine ever levied by the Commission but still a drop in the internet ocean for the search giant. The settlement, rumored back in July, will also require Google to deactivate any tracking cookies inappropriately placed on users' computers, and is being described by the FTC as "a clear message" that privacy rules are inescapable. Read The Full Story

Calm down, Google’s Gmail Search won’t flaunt your sexy emails

, Aug 9th 2012 Discuss [13]

Google has sent ripples of horror through email privacy activists, concerned that the company's decision to include messages in regular search results could lead to embarrassing previews during public browsing. Currently an opt-in system, the Gmail Search Field Trial promises to include relevant emails in among search results, including contacts and shared links; however, there are also safeguards in place just in case you don't want whoever is standing over your shoulder to see what mailing lists you're secretly signed up to.   Read The Full Story

Burner gives your iPhone disposable numbers

, Aug 9th 2012 Discuss [0]

Sharing your main number with unwanted parties can often be touchy, but carrying around a second phone just for a disposable number is also a pain. Burner is a new app that hopes to solve the problem, allowing users to create disposable phone numbers that can briefly be used for calls and texts. Users pay a small amount of money to buy credits from the company and are then able to buy numbers for different lengths of time, all accessible from the iPhone app while keeping their real phone number private. Read The Full Story

Apple to toughen identity verification for iCloud security

, Aug 8th 2012 Discuss [7]

Apple will toughen security measures for iCloud password recovery, the company has confirmed, after shortcomings in telephone support were cited as key to a high-profile hack of one journalist's digital life. The Cupertino firm had already frozen over-the-phone password resets earlier today, but has since told the LA Times that when the service is restored it will be following a new and more stringent security policy. Read The Full Story

Former NSA official blows whistle on agency’s data collection program

, Jul 30th 2012 Discuss [1]

With privacy being one of those hot-button issues now that we're living in a post-9/11 world, it can be hard to know who to trust when it comes to whether or not the government is collecting data on you. Take this weekend's development from the DefCon hacker conference, for instance: on the one hand, we have NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander telling attendees that the agency doesn't maintain files on American citizens, while on the other hand, we have former NSA official William Binney claiming during a panel discussion that the NSA does. Who do we trust in this case? We're not positive, but it sure does raise a few questions. Read The Full Story

Skype snipes back at security change claims

, Jul 27th 2012 Discuss [1]

Skype has hit back at allegations that it has opened up greater access of its instant messaging systems to law enforcement authorities, insisting that nothing has changed post-Microsoft acquisition. Concerns over Skype's transparency around monitoring and backdoor access surfaced earlier this week, when the company refused to comment on specific wiretap provisions; however, the truth is that you're no more likely to be monitored now - and in no greater depth - than you were before, Mark Gillett, Chief Development and Operations Officer at the company, explains on the official Skype blog. Read The Full Story

Microsoft unlocked Skype chat backdoor tip insiders

, Jul 26th 2012 Discuss [0]

Skype used a huge behind-the-scenes change in VoIP service architecture to add messaging monitoring systems, insiders claim, following Microsoft's acquisition of the company in 2011. According to the industry officials speaking to the Washington Post, the installation of server-based supernodes - hubs through which Skype traffic is routed to improve uptime and reliability as the service gains traction - has had the side-effect of making instant messaging conversations more easily tracked, much to the delight of the FBI and other law-enforcement organizations. Read The Full Story
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