The European Union’s data privacy regulator group said this week that an IP address “has to be regarded as personal data” when it’s used to identify a person. Although this has no bearing on how IP addresses are used in the United States, it might trigger a change in data collection policies for companies like Google that use IP addresses in order to serve relevant search results and ads.
internet
Facebook's Privacy Practices Under Investigation In U.K.
By 1.22.08
Facebook is being investigated by the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) over their jacked-up cancellation policies, which keeps your user data on Facebook’s servers even after you’ve closed your account. Facebook says its privacy policies are well within ICO regulations, and that they are taking the “concerns of the ICO and our user’s privacy very seriously.”
By 1.18.08
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Bandwidth caps could make Video Relay Service calls much more expensive for deaf consumers.
“…it will not bode well for their Deaf customers who depend on VRS (Video Relay Service) to make their phone calls. All of sudden, it gets a lot more expensive for Deaf people to have internet at home.
Best Buy Private Label Digital Photo Frame Ships With Trojan Pre-Installed
By 1.17.08
Engadget reports that they have a leaked internal memo from Best Buy about a digital photo frame that shipped with a Trojan pre-installed
Time Warner Cable Testing Bandwidth Caps In Texas
By 1.17.08
Ars Technica reported yesterday about a memo from Time Warner Cable (that first showed up on a DSL Reports forum and has since been verified by Retuers) that indicated TWC might soon launch a trial program of bandwidth caps and tiered pricing, aka “Consumption Based Billing.”
The Problem With Using "Free" Online Services: Random Censorship
By 1.17.08
Laura used Picasa to share photographs of her mastectomy with members of her support group, as well as family and friends. Now they’re gone, deleted without warning because some anonymous jackass flagged them as inappropriate. [Update: Pics are back up! Google apologized and reinstated the entire album, along with comments.] The first problem with this is that it’s hard to figure out which category of “inappropriate” surgical pictures fall under: obscenity, pornography, promotions of hate, incitement of violence, spam, malicious code, or viruses?
Target Refuses To Talk To Bloggers And "Non-Traditional Media Outlets"
By 1.16.08
A Target billboard depicting a woman spreadeagled over a Target logo with her vagina centered squarely on the bullseye has some parents and feminists all riled up. One of them, Amy from ShapingYouth.org, contacted Target to see if they realized, you know, that their ad had a woman’s crotch centered on a bullseye.
Researches Claim To Reverse Netflix's Anonymization
By 1.15.08
Researchers from Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin say they can reverse Netflix’s anonymous data (which was released in to the public as part of a contest to see if someone could design a better rating system) by comparing it to only a few ratings on IMDb. The result? Specific users can be identified and linked to their (ostensibly) private ratings.
Releasing the data and just removing the names does nothing for privacy,” Shmatikov told SecurityFocus. “If you know their name and a few records, then you can identify that person in the other (private) database.”
Dreamhost Is "Very Very Sorry" For $7.5 Million Billing Error
By 1.15.08
Dreamhost would like you to know that its very very sorry for accidentally billing its customers $7.5 million it wasn’t actually owed. You see, someone typed 2008 when they really meant 2007 and their billing system decided to charge all of their customers in advance for the entire 2008 calendar year. This included debiting huge amounts of money from people’s checking accounts and all the “worst possible scenario” situations you could possibly imagine.
Netflix Lifts Restrictions On Downloadable Movie Rentals
By 1.15.08
Netflix has removed the monthly limits on all but its lowest-cost plan in an apparent attempt to position itself more competitively against Apple, which is expected to announce a downloadable movie rental service tomorrow. Now for as little as $8.99 per month you can watch as many movies on your PC as you can download.
Filing A Police Report On Craigslist Scammer Leads To His Arrest
By 1.11.08
Awhile back, I sold a ton of video games on Craigslist here in San Francisco. A buyer contacted me and agreed to purchase them and I was delighted. I didn’t have the time to post everything on eBay separately and I wanted to get the transaction over as quickly as possible. A week later, I received a Wal-mart money order in the mail and shipped off the packages.
FiOS Installation Woes: 5 Attempts In Almost Two Months
By 1.9.08
David and Jenn were sick of Comcast’s unreliable service and decided to switch to Verizon FiOS. It only took 5 appointments and nearly two months.
By 1.9.08
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Inspired by Radiohead’s recent digital experiment, British violinist Tasmin Little is releasing her next album online for free, sans DRM shackles. “I’ve done this with no intention of making money… I want to make [classical music] more accessible.”
Ungifting: The Art Of Selling Your Crappy Gifts To People With Bad Taste
By 1.7.08
If your family gave you something crappy this year, why not help the item find its intended audience by selling it online? The Chicago Tribune caught up with one woman who did just that. She didn’t want to return the singing penguin figurines her mother purchased from QVC, because she didn’t want to hurt mom’s feelings, so she sold them on eBay.
New Downloadable Movie Book Tests Yahoo/Adobe Ad System
By 1.7.08
Remember the announcement in November that Yahoo and Adobe were testing out a new ad system inside pdf documents? (No? It only got 1,200 hits.) Well, they are, and the big question then was how Yahoo and Adobe would determine what sorts of ads were placed in the documents, and how they’d appear. Now there’s a free (or rather, ad-supported) downloadable book—“200 documentaries you must see before you die”—that lets you test the new ad system out for yourself.
Geeks.com Website Hacked, Customer Data Stolen
By 1.7.08
If you bought anything from Geeks.com in at least the last year or so, you might want to start paying close attention to your credit card statements—the company sent out an email on Friday telling former customers that they “recently discovered on December 5, 2007 that customer information, including Visa credit card information, may have been compromised.” Full email after the jump.
Finance Website Buxfer Lets You Store Sensitive Data On Your Own Computer
By 1.5.08
With its new Google Gears functionality, Buxfer might finally be the answer for people who want the bells and whistles of an online personal finance website (hello Mint!)—charts, pretty colors, and general infoporn goodness—without having to blindly trust an unknown company with sensitive data such as bank account or credit card numbers (goodbye Mint!). The service uses Google Gears to store account login information and credentials on your own computer, then syncs the data collected with the Buxfer servers, writes VentureBeat.
Does Urban Outfitters Have A Secret In-Store Website?
By 1.4.08
Reader Chaely C tried to return a gift to Urban Outfitters, only to find that the website in the store showed that her item was on sale for $19. Chaely knew her friends paid $58 for the item via Urban Outfitter’s website, and told the cashier this.
