By Adriana Lee |
The Senate began debating a new immigration reform measure recently, and it has privacy hounds up in arms. The legislation involves creating a national database of biometric information on every adult in the United States. What exactly do they mean by “biometric information”? Well, in…
By Adriana Lee |
Tech users may be more blasé than ever about privacy matters and tracking features, but even the most indifferent might feel ill at ease if they lived in India. The country, which is responsible for much of the talent that has become modern technology’s lifeblood,…
By Todd Haselton |
Should Google Glass be banned? There’s certainly an argument to be made, especially if you’re concerned that anyone can be walking around snapping photos of you or recording your every move. In fact, we talked a bit about this during our latest Tech on the…
By Todd Haselton |
LivingSocial was recently the target of a massive security attack that left the hackers with identities of more than 50 million users, according to AllThingsD and an internal memo obtained by the news outlet. The identifying information includes names, birthdays, email addresses and passwords. The company…
By Adriana Lee |
There were rumblings that Google Glass would be ready for a late 2013 release, and that was certainly the presumption that most of us in the tech biz had. But now new remarks from Google Chairman Eric Schmidt are pegging a later timeframe in 2014.…
By Todd Haselton |
Google was recently slapped with a 145,000 Euros fine in Germany after a court ruled that it was illegally collecting private data from its users. The company was collecting and storing data related to private Wi-Fi networks as its Google Street View cars cruised down…
By Todd Haselton |
Apple recently confirmed that it stores the questions you ask Siri, and the responses the voice engine provides, on its servers for two years. This might seem like a massive privacy concern, especially since Apple is literally storing clips of your voice, Wired said, but Apple doesn’t…
By Adriana Lee |
The known Internet is a playground for anyone who’s into breaking news, kitten videos and Amazon products. But few realize that there is a second Internet — a mysterious, dangerous and isolated Web that operates outside the public’s awareness. It stands to reason that anything…
By Todd Haselton |
A judge in May ordered Apple to show all of its location tracking documents after it was discovered that the firm was keeping a log of user location data without express permission. Now Apple is facing the music yet again in the case, because the…
By Adriana Lee |
If you didn’t know about this special day, then join the club. Happy Data Privacy Day is not as well known as, say, Black Friday (or even Flag Day), but perhaps it should be. It’s a scary world out there, and as the Webs…
By Adriana Lee |
If you’ve flown anywhere over the past few years, then chances are, you’re seen or been imaged by those TSA-endorsed full body scanners. The machines have kicked up quite a storm among passengers and privacy advocates, who compare the much-too explicit x-ray systems to invasive…
By Adriana Lee |
As promised, Instagram has announced that its user agreement will revert to its previous version starting January 19. The move comes after a public outcry last December over revised terms that insinuated user images could be pulled into advertising without consent or compensation. Truth is, the old…
By Adriana Lee |
Should children be inventoried, like products in a supply chain, or tracked like livestock? Depends on whom you ask. One privacy advocate’s nightmare scenario might be another Texas magnet school’s “innovative” student program. For a year now, the Student Locator Project, a pilot program at San Antonio’s John…
By Adriana Lee |
It’s like the ultimate prank, one that’s guaranteed to turn you into the most loathed contact this side of the social webs. Turns out, nearly anyone can freeze another’s Facebook page via “Memorialization.” The feature is intended to hold Facebook profiles for deceased people, so that…
By Adriana Lee |
Do you know exactly what info you’re transmitting and to whom? Not so fast there. It may be in vogue for companies to revise — and in the best of circumstances, clarify — their privacy policies, but that doesn’t mean everything’s crystal clear for the…
By Adriana Lee |
There has been quite some der-rama in mobile photo-land lately, with Instagram’s latest PR/privacy/ToU fail. When the service issued a revamped Terms of Use, users absolutely freaked out and blamed new parent company Facebook for the “changes” that would allow companies to grab user images…
By Todd Haselton |
Facebook-owned Instagram recently updated the terms of service (ToS) for its users, and they’re pretty wild. The social network’s new powers run the gamut from being able to provide your information to advertisers to using the photos that you upload in ads. Insanity! The New York…
By Adriana Lee |
Before Senator Al Franken became a politician, his exploits on TV and in movies drew a fanbase and a chuckle. (He was good enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it, people liked him.) But when he buckled down and become a public servant, he stopped joking…
By Adriana Lee |
To Web-savvy users, the idea of privacy may seem quaint. Even so, there’s something unsettling about seeing indisputable proof that governments all over the world are trying to surveil users or influence data. But that’s just what Google delivered in its sixth bi-annual Transparency Report,…
By Adriana Lee |
With years of photo uploads, status updates and the accumulation of friends, you’ve amassed quite a collection of info inside Facebook, whether you know it or not. And the social network hangs on to every bit of that. It can be pretty bracing to see…
By Todd Haselton |
Want to flame some developer on Google Play because you spent $0.99 and didn’t think the app was up to snuff? That’s fine, but know that your full name and picture will be published next to your review soon. Google’s move can be seen…
By Adriana Lee |
Tech’s a strange thing. One day, an innovation is a military advancement, the next, it’s a feature on a luxury car. It’s a world where a secret government project later winds up in the hands of every 13-year-old with a mobile phone. And so it…
By Todd Haselton |
Hackers recently discovered that anyone was able to reset the password for a Skype user’s account, allowing them to quickly and easily gain access to the VoIP service. Now, Microsoft, which owns Skype, has pulled the password reset page, which provides an easy albeit temporary…
By Todd Haselton |
AT&T and T-Mobile are the first two carriers in the United States to offer a joint database that will be used to block stolen cell phones accessing either carrier’s network. The database is live as of early this week, but the initiative started earlier this…
