online privacy

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Google Taking Heat for Swiping More Personal Data

New privacy policy will hurt consumers, say critics

(Newser) - Google's new privacy policy, designed to unify its various services, is not expected to be announced until March 1, but already consumer advocates are warning that the digital giant will be tracking and combining more information about us than ever before, reports the Guardian . Google says its new rules...

Facebook Cited in 33% of Divorces

Flirting, cheating ways often uncovered online

(Newser) - All that flirting on Facebook is leading to a sad but hardly surprising outcome: divorce. One-third of divorce filings based on unreasonable behavior are citing Facebook these days, and such filings are up by half over the past two years, says the law firm Divorce-Online. "People contact ex-partners and...

Google's Photo ID Feature Calms Privacy Fears

Security experts applaud opt-in requirement

(Newser) - Google has quietly launched a facial recognition service for Google+, but unlike Facebook's more intrusive photo ID feature , Google is earning praise from privacy experts for keeping Find My Face an opt-in feature, reports eWeek . Like Facebook's Tag Suggestions, which launched about a year ago, Find My Face...

Facebook Glitch Allowed Access to Private Photos

... and Mark Zuckerberg himself learned the hard way

(Newser) - A temporary glitch allowed Facebook users to view others' private photos with a surprisingly easy trick, reports ZDNet . It's been fixed, but not before some of Mark Zuckerberg's own private photos got pilfered and reposted on blogs, like here at Launch. The trick: You could report an image...

Blame Yourself for Facebook's Lack of Privacy

Site is all about sharing, so stop expecting a 'silver bullet' fix: Farhad Manjoo

(Newser) - Facebook is submitting to a government crackdown on privacy, and Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges “a bunch of mistakes” on that front. But the site’s privacy issues are as much our own fault as Zuck’s, writes Farhad Manjoo in Slate . The “idea that we can control the audience...

Facebook Settles Privacy Case With FTC

It agrees to independent audits for 20 years

(Newser) - Facebook is settling with the FTC over charges it deceived consumers with its privacy settings to get people to share more personal information than they originally agreed to. The charges go back to at least 2009, when Facebook changed its privacy settings so that information users may have deemed private,...

How Facebook Watches You
 How Facebook Watches You 
Nov 16, 2011 2:12 PM CST

How Facebook Watches You

Social media giant tracks your previous 90 days of browsing

(Newser) - Facebook is watching you—even if you’re not a Facebook user—but insists it’s less nefarious than rivals who do the same thing. The social networking giant uses tracking cookies to keep a running log of every page users have visited for the past 90 days, engineering director...

Burger King Twitter Fight Is the 'Day Privacy Died'

World is a reality show, 'and you're the star': David Pell

(Newser) - Catch that story about a couple arguing in Burger King that blew up on Twitter? At Gizmodo , David Pell is not amused. Sure they were arguing in public, but did they really deserve to have their spat turned into a national story, he asks in a post headlined "The...

FTC May Require Facebook Privacy Features Be Opt-In

Settlement also reportedly calls for 20 years of privacy audits

(Newser) - Facebook and the FTC are apparently near a settlement over allegations that the social network misled users when it altered privacy settings in 2009. Under the settlement, Facebook would need “express affirmative consent” to make “material retroactive changes,” insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . Translation from Business ...

Lawmakers Want FTC to Investigate Facebook

Letter cites more privacy concerns over tracking of cookies

(Newser) - Two longtime critics of Facebook on Capitol Hill want the FTC to investigate the company over new privacy allegations, reports Politico . Democrat Ed Markey and Republican Joe Barton sent their letter after an Australian blogger reported that Facebook keeps collecting data on users even after they are logged out. Gawker...

Apps Need Your Facebook Login? Count Me Out

Mark Zuckerberg continues his assault on privacy: Mat Honan

(Newser) - Once again, Facebook has reinvented itself , but its goal hasn’t changed: Mark Zuckerberg wants to “drag us all into publicly sharing everything from everywhere with everyone all the time,” writes Mat Honan at Gizmodo . And it’s getting even harder to keep your online activities private. The...

Researchers Use Facebook to Identify Passersby

Facial-recognition software makes it a breeze

(Newser) - Online privacy concerns are migrating to the real world. A researcher at Carnegie Mellon was able to identify 31% of students passing by with the help of facial recognition software, reports Mashable . First he collected 25,000 photos from Facebook profiles. Then he asked passersby to pose for a quick...

Microsoft Video Slams Snooping 'Gmail Man'

Pokes fun at Google for scanning your inbox

(Newser) - You’d never tolerate your mailman behaving the way Gmail does: That’s the message of a chuckle-inducing video—believed to be made by Microsoft—that takes direct aim at the email service’s advertising techniques. Mocking Gmail for scanning your inbox as a way to target advertising, the video...

New Trend: Facebook Foreclosures?

It's already happening across the pond

(Newser) - In Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and England, mortgage lenders have been allowed to serve foreclosure notices via Facebook, in most cases when the defaulting borrowers couldn't be located elsewhere. In at least two such cases, the borrowers reacted right away, thus allowing the foreclosures to proceed. And Facebook seems...

Google+ to Let Users Keep Gender Private

Site wants the information, but it can be hidden

(Newser) - As Google works out its social-networking kinks, it has announced a new privacy setting: Google+ users will soon be able to keep their gender hidden from others. "Gender can be a sensitive topic, especially on the Internet," says a Google product manager in an online video. Starting this...

Facebook Is Starting to Feel Like a &#39;Stalker&#39;
Facebook Is Starting to Feel Like a 'Stalker'
OPINION
Jun 15, 2011 12:31 PM CDT

Facebook Is Starting to Feel Like a 'Stalker'

Little blue box is everywhere, and it's a 'little creepy': Mary Schmich

(Newser) - Facebook is calling into doubt a new estimate that it has lost 6 million users in the US, but the numbers wouldn't surprise Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune one bit. She uses Facebook a lot herself and has what she calls a typical love-hate relationship with it. The...

Look Out: Facial Recognition Goes Global on Facebook

You'll have to opt out if you don't want photos of you tagged

(Newser) - Facebook has expanded its photo tagging system to users worldwide, reports Sophos , and the security firm's Graham Cluley sees it as more evidence that the company "is eroding the online privacy of its users by stealth." Facebook doesn't automatically tag photos of you with its facial...

Zuckerberg Wants Under-13s on Facebook

Educational benefits mean age limit should be lifted, founder says

(Newser) - Pre-teens have a lot to gain from social media sites, says Mark Zuckerberg, and he tells an education summit that he'd like under-13s to be able to use Facebook. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act bans websites that collect information about users from signing up users under 13,...

That 'Like' Button Is Tracking You

But Facebook and other companies claim it's an unintentional side effect

(Newser) - Those ubiquitous “Like” buttons are a convenient way to quickly share hilarious videos and buzzed-about articles with all your Facebook friends—but they’re also a convenient way for Facebook to track you, the Wall Street Journal reveals. Facebook’s “Like,” Twitter’s “Tweet," and...

Facebook Smear Campaign a Bust, but Questions Valid

Google Social Search is too broad—but Facebook could do something about it

(Newser) - Facebook's recent "smear campaign" against Google may have been bad PR, but the social media giant had a good point—Google's "social search" function can be problematically thorough, even when users takes steps to protect their privacy, writes Lauren Indvik at Mashable . "I have always...

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