It’s a day ending in the letter “Y,” so we’re not surprised that yet another breach of customer information is making the news: In the latest, a cyber security firm says information for at least 14 million Verizon residential and small business wireline customers was found on an unsecured web server, allowing anyone on the Internet to access it. Verizon says that figure was closer to six million customer records. [More]
privacy please
Facebook Promises To Quit Snooping On Private Messages For Ad-Targeting Purposes
By 3.3.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
More than three years after a group of Facebook users sued the social media network, claiming that it was sharing links sent in private messages with marketing companies in order to boost its ad revenue, The Zuck’s company has agreed to stop eavesdropping on those communications. [More]
FTC Chair Edith Ramirez Talks Privacy, Data Security
By 3.12.15
You may now be able to change your thermostat from another continent, your fridge might know when you need to buy more eggs, and your connected TV recommends shows and movies. But is your data being used for things other than keeping your house warm, your eggs in stock, and your kids entertained — and, just as importantly — is it secure? [More]
Restaurant Co-Owner Accused Of Creeping On Women With Camera Hidden In Bathroom
By 2.24.15
Police in Maryland say the co-owner of a local restaurant group took advantage of his customers in one of the most invasive ways possible, by allegedly setting up a video camera in the women’s restroom at one of his restaurants so he could secretly film them going to the bathroom. And cue those shudders, folks. [More]
Restaurant Fires Worker After Customer Says She Caught Him Taking Photos Of Her Breastfeeding
By 10.27.14
As if it’s already not hard enough to find a private moment to breastfeed a baby in public, a woman nursing her 2-month-old son at a Texas restaurant says she saw an employee of the eatery snapping photos of her during the breastfeeding session. [More]
TSA Replaces Backscatter Airport Scanners With Technology That Won’t Show Your Private Bits
By 5.31.13
We’ve come a long way, baby, and it seems the days of worrying over whether or not Transportation Security Administration agents were snickering at your nude image on an airport scanner are over. The backscatter scanners are gone — so now we can get back to worrying about what kind of funk we’re picking up in our socked feet during the security line walk instead. [More]
Microsoft Trying To Get A Grip On Customers’ Online Privacy Concerns With New Campaign
By 4.22.13
In a time when almost any aspect of our lives can be translated into online terms and our personal information collected, tracked and used like so much currency, many people are understandably concerned about privacy in the virtual world. Microsoft is attempting to show its customers that it’s on top of things with a new campaign dedicated to discussing online privacy. [More]
Facebook Agrees: Employers Should Definitely Not Be Asking For Your Passwords
By 3.23.12
We weren’t the only ones shocked to find out that employers have been asking job applicants or in some cases, actual workers, for the passwords to their Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts. Facebook has issued a statement addressing that practice, calling it “alarming.” [More]
FTC Commissioner Puts Verbal Smackdown On Facebook & Google Over Privacy
By 1.27.12
Aww, snap! Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill doesn’t care that her speech opening a forum on Data Privacy Day was being streamed on Facebook and likely Googled by many — she still put the verbal smackdown on those two companies for their problems protecting user privacy. [More]
Walgreens Lets My Ex-Husband Change My Account Information And View My Prescription History
By 1.6.12
Walgreens seems to think the “ex” in “ex-husband” is just a funny little arbitrary word that doesn’t mean much. Alice says she’s been divorced for three years, and separated for more than that, has moved twice and changed her phone number twice, and yet Walgreens still allows her ex-husband to change her account information to link with his. [More]
Facebook Agrees To Settle With FTC Over Privacy Violation Charges
By 11.29.11
Three years after the Federal Trade Commission leveled charges against Facebook, claiming the social networking site violated users’ privacy, a settlement has been reached. Part of the terms of the proposed settlement requires Facebook to undergo audits for 20 years. [More]
Obamacare Provides A Room To Pump Breast Milk In
By 4.11.10
Whether you are a proponent of breastfeeding or not, the reality is that working mothers who do nurse their children need a place to pump during the workday, and the bathroom just might not do. Luckily for them, the new health care bill signed by President Obama includes provisions for nursing women in the workplace. [More]
