Privacy

Yahoo Leads Charge Against ‘Do Not Track’ Proposal

April 18, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Companies that market online are fighting a new standard, proposed last week by privacy advocates at a meeting in Washington, that would bar businesses owned by the same parent corporation from sharing customer information.</p> <p> For example, the proposed rule would prevent See’s Candies and insurer Geico, both of which are owned by Berkshire Hathaway, from sharing customer data with one another. Online companies say the rule would upend routine business practices, and impose huge new costs, thereby harming Internet advertisers and customers.</p>

Google Spends More On One Day of Lunch Than It Will On FCC Fine

April 17, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> The FCC is <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/04/16/google-street-view-fcc/">fining Google $25,000</a> for impeding an investigation into personal e-mails and other data collected via the company’s Street View cars.</p> <p> But that’s far from a punitive fine for the search giant. In fact, it is less than the company spends on one day of lunch for its employees.</p>

Consumer Groups Slate Google’s Tiny Wi-Spy Fine

April 17, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <b>Google’s $25,000 FCC fine for “hypocritical” obstruction is small change, say critics</b></p>

Consumer Watchdog Demands FCC Release Uncensored Google Wi-Spy Decision, Decries Internet Giant’s Hypocrisy For Deliberately Obstructing Investigation

April 16, 2012  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> <img class=" size-full wp-image-2877" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/images_fcc.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 200px;" width="300" height="300" />SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today demanded that the Federal Communications Commission release an uncensored version of its highly redacted decision to fine Google $25,000 for deliberately impeding and delaying its investigation of the Wi-Spy scandal.<br /> <br />

Sergey Brin Pounds Fists Against Walled Gardens

April 16, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Google cofounder Sergey Brin spoke out about his biggest concerns regarding the freedom and openness of the Internet during a recent interview. He named government censorship, overreach from entertainment companies anxious to eradicate piracy, and walled-off platforms as some of the Net's biggest problems of the day.</p>

Is a Do Not Track Agreement Possible? Only If Industry Makes Concessions,Too

April 14, 2012  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> <img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2203" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images_johndrawingname.gif" style="width: 133px; height: 200px; float: right;" width="133" height="200" />Around <a href="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/dbwg/details?group=49311&public=1">50 representatives of various Internet stakeholders</a> squared off for three days in Washington DC this past week as the <a href="http://www.w3.org/2011/tracking-protection/">W3C (World Web Consortium) Tracking Protection Working Group</a> tried to set a standard for what Do Not Track means.<br /> <br />

The Most Fraudulent States In America: 24/7 Wall St.

April 11, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

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Industry, Privacy Advocates Offer Competing Views of ‘Do-Not-Track’

April 10, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Jeff Chester with the Center for Digital Democracy calls this week’s meeting of the World Wide Web Consortium’s "do-not-track" working group the “privacy showdown at the D.C. corral.”</p> <p> While it’s unlikely to spark a Wild West gun battle on K Street, the three-day meeting hosted in Washington by Microsoft will highlight the broad differences between what online advertisers and privacy advocates believe a do-not-track option should mean to Internet users.</p>

Franken, Consumer Groups Urge Obama to Push for New Online Privacy Rules

April 3, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and a host of public interest groups urged the Obama administration to fight for new measures to regulate how Web companies handle users' private data.</p>

Girls Around Me App: It’s Complicated

April 3, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> The app Girls Around Me pulls information women publicly post on their social network profiles, collates it, and delivers it to the app's users, complete with geolocation. Critics call it creepy, but some also say it's a wakeup call for people to zip up their online privacy settings. Others are concerned that the conversation surrounding Girls Around Me seems to imply there's something wrong with women posting publicly on the Web.</p>

Have We Reached The Tipping Point On Online Privacy?

April 2, 2012  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> <img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2203" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images_johndrawingname.gif" style="width: 133px; height: 200px; float: right;" width="133" height="200" />Over the weekend <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-privacy-poll-20120331,0,2763981.story"><em>The Los Angeles Times</em> published</a> a new poll suggesting that we may have reached the tipping point on online privacy, finally forcing policymakers to take notice and react to ease people's concerns.<br /> <br />

‘Girls Around Me’ Shows a Dark Side of Social Networks

April 2, 2012  ·  Mark Reback

<p> The makers of the mobile app Girls Around Me came under fire Monday for helping men to "stalk" unsuspecting women, but the incident also reveals how much we still have to learn about what social networks reveal about us.</p>