Privacy

Facebook Defends Graph Search’s Privacy Controls For Teens

February 15, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>The site explains how search results for minors are displayed with its new search tool</b></p> <p>Facebook is working hard to assure users that Graph Search, its new search engine designed to uncover all sorts of information buried within the site, does not compromise the privacy rights of minors.</p>

Stem Cell Agency Supporters Back Changes

February 13, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>Proposed Changes To Oversight Panel For California's Stem Cell Agency Garner Backing</strong></p> <p> </p>

California Democrats Consider Giving Lawmakers More Say Over Initiatives

February 11, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The November election delivered California Democrats a coveted supermajority for governing the state.</p> <p>Now the party's leader in the Senate wants to use that political capital to give the Legislature more say in the voter initiatives that make their way to the ballot.</p> <p>Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg plans to unveil what he calls "a starting point ... to begin a very serious discussion about initiative reform" this month. Key to his proposal will be increasing lawmakers' involvement in the system.</p>

Group Calls For Physician Reforms

February 7, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>Consumer Watchdog Responds to Prescribing Issues</b></p>

Break Out the Champagne at Chevron!

January 31, 2013  ·  Judy Dugan

<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; "><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2473" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/chevron_refinery_fire.png" style="width: 300px; height: 200px; float: right; margin-right: 7px; margin-left: 7px;" width="641" height="428" />The <a href="http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/CalOSHA-Fines-Chevron-1M-Highest-in-History-189088471.html">news reports</a> were on the gee-whiz side this week as state job safety regulators announced nearly $1 million in fines--the largest ever!-- against Chevron for its refinery blaze last August.  But "largest ever" o

California Restricts Hiring After Dual-Paycheck Revelations

January 30, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>Gov. Jerry Brown's administration acts after learning that hundreds of employees were being paid for second state jobs in addition to their normal salaries.</b></p>

French Court Orders Twitter To Identify Racist Tweeters

January 25, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p>A French court has ordered Twitter to hand over any data that could help authorities there identify people who posted racist and anti-Semitic tweets on its website.</p> <p>The case, decided January 24 in the 17th Chamber of the Paris Criminal Court, stems from a complaint filed in October by the Union of French Jewish Students. The group acted after an uptick in anti-Semitic remarks were posted to Twitter under the hashtag #agoodjew.</p>

Speedy Google Fiber Gives Quick Buzz To Kansas City

January 25, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p>KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Smack in the middle of the nation, this city is about as far as possible from the hubs of high-tech innovation on both coasts.</p> <p>An effort last spring to excite new Web entrepreneurs in a place better known for cattle drives and barbecue sauce turned up just a dozen people.</p>

Facebook Spent $4 Million To Lobby U.S. Lawmakers In 2012

January 24, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>The social network is spending millions to advance a pro-Facebook agenda in the nation's capital. Cue the cynicism</strong></p> <p>acebook wined and dined U.S. lawmakers and racked up a tab close to $4 million during 2012, an increase of 196 percent over its courting costs in the previous year.</p>

California Stem-Cell Institute Reacts To Expert Recommendations

January 24, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<section> <div class="wpn-entry-content content"> <p>California’s US$3-billion stem-cell agency plans to make a few changes in response to an assessment last month by the Institute of Medicine, an outside panel of scientific experts.</p> <p>The governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) voted overwhelmingly to endorse a set of recommendations made by the chair of the board, Jonathan Thomas.</p>

Government Data Requests To Google Continue To Rise

January 24, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>Requests of all kinds have increased by more than 70 percent since 2009, the company says</b></p> <p>Governments continue to ask Google for more data about its users, with more than two-thirds of requests in the U.S. made through a subpoena, which usually doesn't require asking a judge for a search warrant.</p> <p><strong>[ALSO:</strong> <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/011913-google-sees-one-password-ring-265979.html">Google sees one password ring to rule them all</a><strong>]</strong></p>

Google, Other Tech Firms Among Top Lobbying Spenders In US

January 23, 2013  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>Google's spending on lobbying was up 70 percent in 2012, Facebook's up nearly 200 percent</b></p> <p>Google, AT&T and Verizon Communications were among the top corporate spenders on lobbying the U.S. government in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to <a href="http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldsearch.aspx">information released this week</a> by the U.S. House of Representatives.</p>