online privacy

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Yahoo Will Keep Searchers' Info Only 3 Months
Yahoo Will Keep Searchers' Info Only 3 Months
ANALYSIS
Dec 17, 2008 3:38 PM CST

Yahoo Will Keep Searchers' Info Only 3 Months

Search firm now holds information for less time than Google, Microsoft

(Newser) - Yahoo will shorten the amount of time it will keep users’ personal data, Stacey Higginbotham reports for GigaOm. The firm will scrub page views, ad views, and search data after 90 days, though it will keep data flagged as suspicious for twice as long. Google and Microsoft recently proposed changes...

Watchdog Wants More Privacy From Google
Watchdog Wants More Privacy From Google
ANALYSIS
Nov 4, 2008 2:31 PM CST

Watchdog Wants More Privacy From Google

Incognito mode should be default setting on Chrome browser

(Newser) - Nonprofit Consumer Watchdog is urging Google to make the “incognito” setting—which can limit the search giant’s ability to pin down users’ locations and keep tabs on their search and other data—the default mode on its new Chrome browser, Chris Thompson writes in the Big Money. It...

UK: Web Phone Service Gives Criminals Edge

Authorities want to expand their online snooping powers

(Newser) - Criminals and terrorists are using VoIP services like Skype to evade law enforcement, sources tell the Times of London, and officials are lobbying for increased access. Police often rely on phone records as evidence, but online calls often leave no trace. “Communications data forms an important element of prosecution...

Hey Dummy, Think Before You Post That Pic

From work dodging firemen to jail happy juniors, some things should not be shared

(Newser) - A picture may have been worth a thousand words before Facebook and YouTube came along, but in the Internet age the price can be much steeper for going public with one’s—er—privates. PC World presents 12 online photos that cost their owners dearly:
  • “A defense attorney’s
...

Explorer 8's Privacy Feature Boon to Users
Explorer 8's Privacy Feature Boon to Users
ANALYSIS
Aug 27, 2008 4:05 PM CDT

Explorer 8's Privacy Feature Boon to Users

... though advertisers surely won't like Microsoft's addition

(Newser) - The privacy features available with the next version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer will appeal to users “paranoid or perverted,” Peter Bright writes on Ars Technica, but will “go some way to curtailing the power of large Internet companies to monitor how people are using the web....

Google Must Turn Over YouTube Records: Judge

Data dump includes users' names and IP addresses

(Newser) - A judge has ordered Google to give Viacom records of all videos ever watched on YouTube, including users’ names and IP addresses, Wired reports. Viacom is seeking the data to bolster its $1 billion lawsuit against Google for allowing copyrighted Viacom clips on YouTube. The media giant believes the data...

YouTube Divorcee Hubby Goes to Court

NY Theater mogul 'mortified' to see 'whole life' on Web

(Newser) - "I felt absolutely awful, I was humiliated, I was embarrassed, I was hurt," the husband of YouTube sensation Patricia Walsh-Smith said yesterday in a New York divorce court. "I felt violated in every sense of the word." Philip Smith was telling his side of the story—...

Writing About Your Kids? Set Some Limits

Some have age limits, others won't address certain topics

(Newser) - Writers can throw themselves head-first into the nasty, permanent archive that is the Internet—but what of their kids? Emily Bazelon polled writers for Slate and found that while details may differ, the general policy is, the more privacy the better. "The blog medium has a certain kind of...

Who's Afraid of Google Health?
Who's Afraid
of Google Health?
OPINION
May 23, 2008 11:51 AM CDT

Who's Afraid of Google Health?

Concerns over personal privacy "misguided"

(Newser) - Google's new health record-sharing service has privacy advocates' hearts racing. But the benefits outweigh the risks, both in costs and potential lives saved, James Gibney argues in the Atlantic. Ready access to personal health records could prevent medical errors like incorrectly prescribed meds while saving billions in related  costs.

Feds Want to Help Cover Your Web Tracks

FTC aims to limit companies' ability to watch consumers

(Newser) - The Federal Trade Commission is considering guidelines governing how online advertisers target consumers based on their Web surfing—and some lawmakers want them to be mandatory, the Washington Post reports. Privacy advocates are pushing to limit behavioral tracking, but some Internet companies say that could mean sites won’t be...

Facebook Sets Safeguards Against Sexual Predators

Site adds more than 40 new protective measures

(Newser) - Facebook has implemented more than 40 additional measures to protect users from pedophiles and online bullying, the AP reports. The site now limits results for older users searching for minors, and has banned sex offenders from registering. "Building a safe and trusted online experience has been part of Facebook...

Facing Suit, FBI Drops Secret Order

Feds sought user's activity records from Internet archive

(Newser) - Facing a lawsuit, the FBI has withdrawn a secret order demanding that an Internet library turn over a user's records—only the third time the bureau has backed down from such a demand, known as a "national security letter." The San Francisco-based Internet Archive, which stores old versions...

EU Takes Aim at Search Engines Over Personal Data

Companies should delete users' info within six months, advisory group says

(Newser) - A European advisory body has sharply criticized Internet search companies’ use of personal data, the BBC reports. Its recommendations, likely to be adopted by the European Commission, say search companies should delete users’ information within six months. The opinion comes alongside reports of a new kind of computer cookie that...

Google Pushes Privacy Reforms

Firm hopes to allay concerns about its DoubleClick buy

(Newser) - Google is working to ease concerns about privacy infringement in online advertising, ComputerWorld reports. The online giant hosted a meeting for the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum, a group working to get a bill protecting online consumers’ information passed in Congress. Google will also file comments concerning the FTC’s proposed...

After Beacon 'Screw Up' Facebook Ups Privacy

Online chat coming too

(Newser) - Facebook is launching a series of new privacy features today, allowing users to better pinpoint who can see which parts of their information, PC World reports. Privacy has been a watchword at Facebook ever since the PR disaster that was the Beacon advertising platform, which tracked users online. “With...

Web Inventor: Don't Track Me, Bro
Web Inventor: Don't Track
Me, Bro
Mar 17, 2008 5:35 PM CDT

Web Inventor: Don't Track Me, Bro

Internet creator decries spyware: 'You can't have' my data

(Newser) - He may have created a web that's worldwide, but Internet founder Tim Berners-Lee is very proprietary when it comes to tracking programs, such as Phorm, that allow ISPs to monitor their customers. Berners-Lee says he’d drop any company caught mining his data. “It’s mine—you can’t...

As Press Closes In, 'Kristen' Clams Up

Online profiles attract publicity, good and bad

(Newser) - The woman introduced to the world this week as a prostitute named “Kristen”—aspiring singer Ashley Alexandra Dupre—is trying to maintain some privacy as she keeps close tabs on her Facebook and MySpace accounts, CNN reports. After the New York Times revealed her identity, she began cleaning...

The Internet Is Watching You
The Internet Is Watching You
Mar 10, 2008 12:30 PM CDT

The Internet Is Watching You

Biggest companies gather data on the average user hundreds of times a month

(Newser) - Long gone are the days of Internet anonymity. Big Web companies know all about you, says a study commissioned by the New York Times. The Internet giants track users’ behavior across sites, gathering details on a typical person several hundred times a month. That information lets them target content and—...

OMG! Parents Friend Kids on Facebook

Some are cool with it; others horrified

(Newser) - What to do when their father starts talking about “getting poked" is a question many high school and college kids are asking themselves these days. It's a modern-day dilemma: Do teens allow their folks into their friends network on Facebook and grant them access to blogs, photos, and messages?...

Google Health Will Be Ad-Free
Google Health Will Be Ad-Free
Mar 1, 2008 10:02 AM CST

Google Health Will Be Ad-Free

Medical-records service now being tested will profit by increasing search traffic

(Newser) - The newest member of the Google family, Google Health, will not have advertising, CEO Eric Schmidt said this week, but will earn its keep from the traffic it draws to the company’s search engine. The new service stores health records, allowing users to share test results, prescriptions and other...

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