Privacy

Instagram is rolling out an update of its terms of service that gives it more control over users' photos. The changes have unleashed a storm of criticism on various social networks. The new policies are privacy measures that will help Instagram integrate more easily with its parent company, Faceboo...

TECH TREK

Pope Gives New Meaning to 'Followers'

Pope Benedict XVI made his Twitter debut on Wednesday in front of a congregation of more than 1 million faithful. Benedict has eight separate accounts to deliver messages in various languages, including Polish, Portuguese, Arabic and English. His inaugural tweet: "Dear friends, I am pleased to get...

Facebook has introduced a number of changes to its privacy controls, positioning them as easier for users to manage. For example, a new icon on the toolbar will allow users to ask three questions: Who can see my stuff? Who can contact me? and How do I stop someone from bothering me? For further info...

Facebook has elaborated on the changes it wants to make to its Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This new explanation is in response to the user feedback it has received thus far on a proposal it made late last month. The crux of its proposed change is to scrap its user ...

SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY

Bill Closing Email Privacy Loophole Clears Committee

A bill to protect email privacy cleared a key U.S. Senate committee last week, buoying the spirits of privacy advocates. The proposed law would close a loophole in the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which allows the government to peep on email more than 180 days old without a warrant. "...

Those who want to post reviews on Google Play will be required to use a Google+ account, the parent company of both announced on Tuesday. The new rules will be implemented with the latest version of Google Play, which the company is now introducing for Android devices. They have already been impleme...

Surveillance of Internet users by governments around the world is on the rise, Google concludes in its latest Transparency Report, which details government requests it receives for information about its users. The United States tops the list of countries making requests for user data. "This is the s...

eBay is taking another stab at the Chinese market. The retailer's new Chinese site, which is a joint venture with luxury retailed xiu.com, is described as low-key but stylish, and focuses on mid-range to high-end products such as clothing, handbags and accessories. Banana Republic, Clinique and Gues...

Facebook has rolled out a round of security features intended to better educate new users about what information they can keep private and how. Now, when new users sign up for the site, they will have the option to take an online privacy tour to get information on its privacy policies. It will inclu...

The FTC hopes to nip facial-recognition problems in the bud before things go too far. The agency offered guidelines for companies developing the technology in a staff report released this week. The purposes for using facial recognition tools range from identifying a criminal to displaying a highly c...

TECH TREK

UK Blocks Extradition of UFO-Seeking Hacker

Gary McKinnon, a 46-year-old British computer hacker who admits to accessing U.S. government computers in 2002, will not be extradited to the U.S. UK home secretary Theresa May reportedly said that McKinnon was "seriously ill" and that the extradition request should be withdrawn. McKinnon says he ha...

The Federal Trade Commission is working on an update of the rules governing the online collection of personal information, which have remained pretty much the same since 1998. The changes to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, however, are likely to do as much to invade children's privacy ...

SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY

Feds Back Projects to Bolster Online ID Verification

When Paul Steiner published his 1993 cartoon in The New Yorker with the caption, "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog," little did he know it would become a mantra among security professionals, especially those concerned about authenticating identities on the Net. The job of finding ways to i...

Despite pending appeals, on Friday Twitter handed over an Occupy Wall Street protester's tweets to a New York criminal court judge. The capitulation comes after months of attempts by the social networking company to fight a subpoena from prosecutors by claiming that micro-blog posts were private con...

The FBI soon will begin offering client software for its nationwide facial recognition database at no charge to law enforcement agencies in the United States. This is the fourth element in its seven-increment Next Generation Identification Program. The facial recognition system was deployed as a pil...

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