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Congress pressures Google on Glass privacy concerns
- As I’ve said before, Google is garnering a ton of press from Glass – a product that isn’t slated for release until sometime in 2014. While the majority of attention has been positive, some have called into question what could…
India launches national surveillance system, monitors Internet, calls, texts
- Last month, India's government deployed what is known as the "Central Monitoring System". The several-million dollar surveillance initiative gives Indian government agencies unprecedented power to silently monitor communications, not the least of which include Internet activity, text messaging and phone…
McAfee patents anti-piracy filter
- A recent patent published by McAfee describes what amounts to an anti-piracy system. Titled "Detect and prevent illegal consumption of content on the internet", McAfee's approach would employ a centralized blocklist-style system to issue warnings for -- or entirely block…
Senate committee votes in favor of ending warrantless email searches
- A bipartisan Senate committee convened on Thursday to discuss updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, or ECPA, to be in line with the current Internet age.
CISPA passes House (again), White House threatens veto (again)
- The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is once again making the rounds. The bill passed the House on Thursday with a 288-127 vote. Although there appears to be a fair amount of bi-partisan support for the bill, it may…
Google privacy director Alma Whitten to step down after three years
- Google recently announced privacy director Alma Whitten will step down from her position with the search giant after three years on the job. She was hired by Google in 2003 and took over as the company’s Director of Privacy in…
Weekend tech reading: Are you giving up your privacy too easily?
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Say you’ve come across a discount online retailer promising a steal on hand-stitched espadrilles for spring. You start setting up an account by offering your e-mail address -- but before you can finish, there’s a ping on your phone. A text message. You read it and respond, then...
Microsoft's transparency report details law enforcement requests
- Microsoft is following in the footsteps of other tech giants like Google and Twitter by releasing a transparency report that outlines requests for information from law enforcement officials. In it, Redmond said they received 75,378 requests for customer information across…
Google settles Street View privacy case for $7 million
- Google has come to an agreement with 38 states and the District of Columbia to settle a dispute regarding the company’s use of Street View vehicles to secretly collect personal information as it roamed the streets. The search giant has…
CISPA cybersecurity bill returns, still ignores privacy rights
- It's back. The U.S. House Intelligence Committee has reintroduced its controversial "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act" in a second attempt to pass the bill. Originally unleashed last year, CISPA slipped passed Congress but was aborted by the Senate following a…
Weekend tech reading: CISPA to be reintroduced Wednesday
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The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee plan to re-introduce on Wednesday a controversial cybersecurity bill that has faced pushback from the White House. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and ranking member Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.)...
Microsoft's latest Scroogled campaign goes after Gmail
- Microsoft’s “Scroogled” campaign gained plenty of attention last year when it called out the search giant’s shopping tactics with regards to advertisements. Redmond is back on the offensive with yet another Scroogled campaign, this time taking aim at privacy concerns…
Twitter's second transparency report details takedown requests
- Twitter’s transparency report covering the second half of 2012 was just released, highlighting requests the microblogging platform receives from governments and rights holders. Specifically, the report covers information requests from governments, government requests for content removal and copyright notices related…
Skype calls purportedly being tapped, Skype-based malware spreads
- In terms of security, privacy and trust, it looks like 2013 is shaping up to be a tough year for Skype. The latest ding against the Microsoft-owned company comes from Reporters Without Borders' online censorship project leader Grégoire Pouget, who…
IE mouse tracking flaw allows sites to record cursor movements
- Spider.io reported today that Microsoft has no "immediate plans" to fix the potential Internet Explorer vulnerability which allows any website operator (or advertiser, hacker etc...) to track a visitor's mouse cursor movements. Microsoft's security team has acknowledged the issue but…
U.N. communications body adopts eavesdropping standards
- Despite concerns voiced by Germany, a number of Internet eavesdropping techniques were approved for use by the International Telecommunication Union. The ITU is the specialized U.N. body charged with the facilitation and regulation of information and communication technologies. Cdt.org provides…
Privacy bill reportedly rewritten to allow warrantless surveillance
- An update to the 26-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) is due for a vote next week. But it seems that rather bringing it up to modern standards while guaranteeing protections for people’s digital communications, the rewrite actually expands the…
Yahoo! is latest company to ignore IE10's Do-Not-Track setting
- Microsoft's decision to enable Do Not Track in IE10 by default is still managing to elicit industry criticism. Yahoo is the latest company to ignore IE10's on-by-default DNT policy, joining Apache in not recognizing the browser's DNT setting. Yahoo reasons that…
Verizon draws media attention for selling customers' usage data
- A new report claims Verizon Wireless is selling usage data about their customers to third party marketers. Information including app usage, geographical location and Internet browsing activity is all fair game. Furthermore, the carrier says they may even link the…
Apple resumes ad tracking efforts in iOS 6, here's how to turn it off
- With the introduction of iOS 6, Apple also rolled out a new method of tracking users for advertisers and developers: IFA, IDFA or "ID for advertisers". Although the technology cannot be used to personally identify a user, it does however…
FTC settles with computer rental stores who spied on users
- Seven computer rental companies and a software developer have settled federal charges that they spied on customers. Developed by the now-defunct DesignerWare LLC, PC Rental Agent was installed on as many as 420,000 computers by more than 1,617 rent-to-own stores…
New privacy bill would require search warrant for e-mail, cell tracking
- Several technology companies including Apple, Google, Intel, Microsoft and Twitter are backing a new privacy bill that was recently introduced in the US House of Representatives. Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren’s bill would require law enforcement officials to obtain a search…
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