Path confessed that it took users’ address book data without permission when the app loaded and admits it “made a mistake.” As part of its confession Path declared that it deleted all data it illicitedly collected. On Path’s About page it claims that its app accounts for “two million people sharing life with close friend [...]
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a Motion to enjoin Google from implementing new ToS and Privacy Policies on March 1, 2012. On February 8, 2012 EPIC filed a Motion for Temporary relief against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce Google’s March 2011 Agreement Containing Consent Order which included the FTC’s oversight on Google’s [...]
Privacy continues to be hot news, just look at Facebook’s S-1 disclosures in its Initial Public Offering (IPO) which among a myriad of “Risk Factors” includes this statement about privacy laws: Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, and other matters. Many of these [...]
EU officials announced that the new Google Privacy Policies may not insure compliance with EU laws and asked Google to halt these changes pending an investigation of the implications of personal data protection. Google’s new Privacy Policies are scheduled to go into effect on March 1, 2012 and the New York Times reported that EU authorities [...]
My video interview about business risks concerning Internet Privacy Policies is very timely since Google just announced a radical change in its Privacy Policies. You are welcome to view the video interview “Privacy Policies: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You” thanks to my friends at Financial Management Network (& parent SmartPros Ltd.). Of course [...]
A Judge in Boston sealed the court records after a brief hearing challenging the District Attorney’s subpoena to Twitter to get the identity of certain accounts. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the subpoena and was very disappointed in the sealing of the records. The New York Times reported: The police in Boston and the [...]
Earlier this week Carrier IQ representatives met with officials at the FTC, FCC, and with the staff of a number of Senators. For more details about Carrier IQ please read my eCommerce Times column “Carrier IQ and the US’ Escalating Privacy Risk Level.” The Washington Post reported that Carrier IQ Andrew Coward (senior vice president [...]
Google has a team of 60 engineers, & Microsoft has 40 people, fully devoted to avoiding violation of privacy laws in the US and around the world. At a recent legal seminar executives from Google and Microsoft described how many resources they devote to privacy law compliance. Google’s senior privacy attorney Keith Enright said that [...]
After the US government filed charges that Facebook violated US privacy law, Facebook finally confessed that it failed to protect the privacy of its 800 million active users. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) welcomes the public to submit comments on the settlement through December 30, 2011. Under the proposed consent order, which does not include [...]
US citizens expect the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect the country from potential threats, but the recent announcement that DHS will monitor Twitter & Facebook will surely cause privacy advocates great concern. Social Media has been used extensively in the government uprisings world-wide and DHS is now drawing up guidelines to monitor Social Media. [...]