online privacy

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Google's Harsh Words for China Just Marketing

Company is doing poorly, and saw convenient rights-related out

(Newser) - The stand Google took against Chinese censorship and web-based malevolence yesterday is as much about the search giant’s self interest as any deep moral ideals, Sarah Lacy writes. “I’m not saying human rights didn’t play into the decision,” but it was surely an afterthought. First...

Privacy Groups Complain to FTC About Facebook

Online advocates want new policies rolled back

(Newser) - Facebook's new privacy settings are the subject of a complaint filed to the FTC. The social-networking site's latest revamp makes it harder to shield information and photos from the general Facebook public. That hasn't sat well with 10 privacy groups, who filed the complaint in order to compel the site...

Some Facebook Privacy Settings Are Lost for Good

The new controls are causing lots of embarrassment for people

(Newser) - In its quest to "simplify and enhance the privacy experience" on Facebook, the company appears to have stripped away key features forever, writes Ryan Tate writes on Gawker . Now, you can't:
  • Hide group/page memberships: Thanks, FB, says one user who must decide whether to defriend grandma or let her
...

How to Restore Your Privacy on Facebook

The new settings are a pain to reverse, but a little work gets it done

(Newser) - Maybe the worst thing about Facebook's new privacy settings is how hard they are to reverse, writes Ryan Tate. Even Mark Zuckerberg himself seems to be having a little trouble with it. Fear not, Tate provides instructions at Gawker on how to hide your photos—those posted by you as...

Facebook Privacy Rollback Reveals Founder's Pics

Guarded Zuckerberg's partying ways revealed

(Newser) - Facebook’s much-maligned push to get users to make everything public has had the delicious and possibly unintended consequence of broadcasting all of Mark Zuckerberg’s embarrassing pictures to the world. Until now, Facebook’s founder had kept a closed profile, with only one photo of himself visible to the...

Privacy Advocates Hijack 300 Facebook Groups

Protesters say it's too easy to gain access to personal information

(Newser) - A group advocating for social-networking privacy has hijacked nearly 300 Facebook groups over the past few days to point out weaknesses in the site’s control of personal information. The protesters renamed all the Facebook groups “Control Your Info,” pointing out that after administrators of groups step down,...

Facebook Gives Death a Makeover
 Facebook Gives
 Death a Makeover
Oct 29, 2009 2:08 PM CDT

Facebook Gives Death a Makeover

Gravestones are so 1.0, site spins; try memorializing your page

(Newser) - Facebook has responded to yet another qualm arising from its revamp last week. This one was actually sort of serious: Users were inundated with suggestions that they “reconnect” with friends who—though their Facebook pages were still active—had in reality shuffled off this mortal coil. “Would that...

Facebook Refuseniks Still Sorta Use It

They object in principle but end up using it by proxy

(Newser) - The Washington Post today profiles an increasingly rare breed: people in their 20s and 30s who don't use Facebook or other such sites. And though the “refuseniks” interviewed have different rationales—privacy, “morals and beliefs,” being “old-school in the personal touch way,” many share something...

Facebook Beefs Up Privacy Protection

Canadian concerns prompt changes in how apps get info

(Newser) - In response to criticism by the Canadian government, Facebook is enacting far-reaching changes in how third-party applications gain access to personal data, TechCrunch reports. Currently, Facebook applications ask users once, upon installation, for approval to access personal information. Under the new rules, the apps will have to ask repeatedly as...

Obama Rethinks Ban on Tracking Web Visitors

(Newser) - Privacy groups are up in arms over a White House proposal to allow tracking technology to be used on government websites, the Washington Post reports. Supporters argue that social networking sites have used cookies and other tracking tools to spectacular effect, but the ACLU says the proposal is a “...

Facebook Crosses Line on Privacy ... Again
Facebook Crosses Line
on Privacy ... Again
ANALYSIS
Jul 28, 2009 12:54 PM CDT

Facebook Crosses Line on Privacy ... Again

Recognize that face in an ad? It could be your friend—or you.

(Newser) - Imagine Peter Smith’s surprise when an ad for “hot singles” on Facebook featured a picture of … his wife. The site blames that flap on a third-party company violating policy, but the incident underscores Facebook’s notoriously unclear privacy settings, writes Bob Sullivan for MSNBC: “A hard-to-spot...

Facebook Streamlines Clunky Privacy Settings

(Newser) - Facebook is starting a pilot program to test a more user-friendly version of its sprawling privacy controls, CNET reports. The 40 different settings now occupy six separate pages, and are so complicated that many users ignore them completely. “These can add up and pile up and not be as...

Social Sites Don't Delete Photos Promptly: Study

7 sites left photos up after purportedly removing them

(Newser) - Uploaded photos remain on social-networking sites long after users think they’ve deleted them, a study finds. Researchers put photos on 16 popular sites and then deleted them. A month later, the BBC reports, the photos were still accessible using their direct URLs on seven of those sites, including Facebook—...

Assembly Votes Surprise Non on French Web Piracy Law

(Newser) - The French legislature has put a stop—for now—to an anti-piracy law that would deny Internet access to repeat offenders, AFP reports. The law, a pet of President Nicolas Sarkozy, would deal the ultimate blow to illegal downloaders after three strikes, and replace the current regime of fines and...

Facebook's Utopian Dream Hides Something Sinister

(Newser) - The recent scrap over Facebook’s privacy policy seems to be at odds with the site’s friendly, familial face, Vanessa Grigoriadis writes in New York. But the company’s aborted move to claim ownership of user content in perpetuity reveals a vague something about its ambitions. “Facebook’s...

British Village Chases Out Google Street View 'Spy'

Mob of wealthy villagers feared Google could help burglars case their houses

(Newser) - Google's attempt to add the scenic English village of Broughton to Street View was foiled by angry villagers, the Guardian reports. Residents, fearing that internet closeups of their homes would be an invitation to burglars, formed a human barrier to block the Google camera car after being alerted by a...

Facebook Changes Irk Users—Again

Twitter-esque feed makes site jumbled, members complain

(Newser) - The latest changes to Facebook are barely a week old and are already prompting the ire of users, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Updates from friends now appear on the homepage in a real-time, Twitter-esque feed, which users complain crowds out more important messages, like friend requests. A user group,...

Facebook: Uh, Never Mind That Last Update

Privacy protests result in a swift U-turn on terms of service

(Newser) - Facebook has done an about-face and withdrawn its new terms of service following a public outcry, CNET reports. The fine-print update appeared to give the site perpetual rights to users' content, prompting threats of a federal complaint from a major privacy watchdog and mass desertion from tens of thousands of...

New Facebook Fine Print Irks Users in Privacy Tug-of-War

Clause giving site permanent license to content slammed

(Newser) - An outcry over a terms of service change has forced Facebook's founder to reassure users that they still own and control their own information, the New York Times reports. The update—which remains unchanged—removed a provision that said users could delete their content at any time, and added a...

Photo-Humiliation Site Sparks Facebook Fury

'Paparazzi for the masses' site YoBusted accused of extortion, copyright infringement

(Newser) - Facebook isn't laughing about a site trying to cash in on people's funny photos, reports BusinessWeek. YoBusted features embarrassing photos sent in by users, often lifted from Facebook. Anybody who wants his or her photo removed has to sign up for a $20-a-month membership. Any "friend" who sends in...

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