online privacy – News Stories About online privacy - Page 13

PR Firms Target Customers' Google Reputations

Jul 2, 2007 3:00 PM CDT

PR Firms Target Customers' Google Reputations

Imagemakers offer services to improve web persona and dodge bloggers

(Newser) - If your first hit on Google feels like a mafia hit, don't despair. Firms like ReputationDefender and Reputation Management offer clients an enhanced image on the top search engine by creating links, sites, YouTube videos, and MySpace profiles that promote positive Google results, and lower the pageranks of defamatory comments.

German Privacy Laws Threaten Gmail Service

Jun 25, 2007 11:27 AM CDT

German Privacy Laws Threaten Gmail Service

Facing new data rules, firm would rather switch than fight

(Newser) - Google will halt Gmail service in Germany next year if the country enacts aggressive surveillance legislation pending in the Bundestag. The law, which reflects EU regs on data retention, would compel telecom companies to keep records of Internet and phone activity for 6 months, Der Spiegel reports. A company consultant...

Internet Users Slam Chinese Censorship

Jun 20, 2007 4:32 PM CDT

Internet Users Slam Chinese Censorship

As top sites are banned, web surfers rail against 'Great Firewall'

(Newser) - Frustration with government curbs on the Internet is growing among China's 140M web users. Wikipedia has been banned, and the censors recently shuttered photo-sharing web site Flickr, after a user uploaded a picture of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Tens of thousands of human monitors and an elaborate filter system...

Google Amps Up Privacy Protections

Jun 13, 2007 11:29 AM CDT

Google Amps Up Privacy Protections

Search engine vows to 'radically redesign' security features

(Newser) - Google promised to step up its privacy protection yesterday, after European officials rebuked the search giant for storing data that could reveal political opinions, religious beliefs, and sexual preferences. Google will limit the amount of time it retains user data to 18 months and will "radically design" its cookie...

Google Flunks Privacy Probe

Jun 11, 2007 10:33 AM CDT

Google Flunks Privacy Probe

"Don't be evil" motto questioned after search giant rated worst on web for user protection

(Newser) - Google ranks dead last among Internet sites for protecting user privacy, a new study by watchdog group Privacy International concludes. In its 6-month analysis of top e-commerce, social networking, e-mail, and search sites, PI singled out Google for what it called a "entrenched hostility to privacy," citing fuzzy...

New iTunes Offerings Raise Privacy Worries

Jun 5, 2007 11:23 AM CDT

New iTunes Offerings Raise Privacy Worries

DRM-free tracks contain purchaser's name, email address

(Newser) - Apple's announcement that iTunes would make DRM-free music available omitted a significant detail: The personal information embedded in regular tracks is also in the non-privacy-protected tunes. That raises privacy concerns, the AP reports, including the possibility that the unencrypted information might make it easier for music companies to crack down...

Feds Launch Search Into Google Deal

May 29, 2007 4:54 AM CDT

Feds Launch Search Into Google Deal

FTC starts preliminary antitrust probe into $3 Billion DoubleClick buy

(Newser) - The FTC has initiated an antitrust probe into search behemoth Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of a major online ad company, sources tell the New York Times. Both competitors and privacy advocates are chafing at the proposed deal between Google, which stores users' search histories, and DoubleClick, which keeps track...