The Federal Trade Commission is giving a bit of pre-marriage advice to Facebook and one of its many betrothed, messaging app WhatsApp, which said “I do” to Facebook’s $19 billion (with a “b”) proposal back in February. Given Facebook’s past transgressions, the FTC felt that maybe it was worth reminding the giddy-in-love couple that there are laws about what they can and can’t do with users’ data. [More]
privacy
Kindly Dinosaur Nags Facebook Users To Check Their Privacy Settings
By 4.2.14
Meet Facebook’s new mascot of accidental oversharing: a kindly blue dinosaur that shows up and gently prods you to think about the privacy settings on your posts. Why a dinosaur? We’re not sure, but it’s definitely cuter than a cartoon annoyed family member or an adorable rendering of a publicly gossiped-about friend. [More]
Don’t Recycle Your Personal Information Into Identity Thieves’ Hands
By 3.24.14
Recycling paper: it’s supposedly better for the environment han tossing your old paperwork in a landfill, so it makes us feel good. All of our old paperwork is a bountiful harvest for someone who isn’t making brown paper napkins, though. If you aren’t careful, your personal and financial information could get recycled right into someone else’s hands. [More]
Google Beefs Up Gmail Security In Attempt To Keep Out Any Prying Eyes (Cough, NSA, Cough)
By 3.21.14
In a move that’s likely to make mass-surveillance of its email customers a whole lot harder to pull off, Google announced that it’s just beefed up security for Gmail by only using an encrypted HTTPS connection for all incoming and outgoing messages. [More]
Predictive Models, Secret Scores: How Computers Decide Who You Are & What To Sell You
By 3.20.14
Savvy consumers all know that their lifetime debt history ends up in their credit score, and that lenders use that score to try to predict if someone is a good bet for a big loan like a mortgage. But even the most-connected consumer may not realize how many hundreds of other scores we all now trail in our wakes too, thanks to the advent of big data. Do you know, to the last decimal, how likely are you to buy jewelry? To sign up for cable? To have a kid in the next year? Someone, somewhere, is tallying all of that information about almost everyone. But good luck finding out what’s out there, who’s scoring it, and if your numbers are even actually about you at all. [More]
WhatsApp Founder: Just Because Facebook Bought Us Doesn’t Mean We’re Selling Users Out
By 3.17.14
Amidst concern from users and industry trade groups over private information changing hands between WhatsApp and its new overlords at Facebook, the wireless messaging service’s CEO and founder is attempting to assuage fears in a new blog post promising that the company won’t sell users out. [More]
Facebook, WhatsApp Acquisition Face Privacy Hurdle After EPIC Files FTC Complaint
By 3.7.14
Mergers and acquisitions routinely face opposition and complaints. Facebook’s $19 billion deal to buy messaging system WhatsApp has been able to stay rather unopposed, until now. [More]
Tinder Fails For Months To Inform Public Of Security Flaw That Reveals Users’ Exact Location
By 2.19.14
UPDATE Feb. 20: Tinder sent Consumerist the following statement the day after this story originally ran. It’s from CEO and founder Sean Rad. [More]
Child Protection Advocacy Group Rejects Facebook Privacy Lawsuit Settlement, Asks Court To Reconsider
By 2.13.14
Facebook is notorious at this stage for playing fast and loose with users’ privacy. In 2013, the social sharing behemoth faced and settled a class-action lawsuit regarding its privacy practices. Today, one of the advocacy groups awarded a share of the settlement has reversed their stance, refused the payment, and is asking the court to reconsider the deal. [More]
Al Franken Isn’t Too Keen On Google Glass Face-Recognition App
By 2.6.14
Some people wouldn’t have a problem with you shooting photos and video of the people you pass as you stroll down the street sporting your Google Glass headgear. But if you could use a facial recognition app on that same device to glean personal information about complete strangers, it’s probably not going to be as warmly received. [More]
What’s The NSA Using To Spy On You Now? Angry Birds.
By 1.28.14
The revelations about just how embedded into every facet of modern, technological life the NSA is just keep coming. The spy agency isn’t just collecting calling records and tracking electronics; they’re in your iPhone games, too. [More]
Advisory Panel Tells President To Stop Letting NSA Collect Everyone’s Phone Data
By 1.23.14
An advisory panel to President Obama is calling for an end to the NSA’s highly controversial phone data collection program. [More]
FTC: 12 Companies, Including 3 NFL Teams, Misrepresent Compliance Of Privacy Frameworks
By 1.21.14
Abiding by privacy standards is a big deal, even if those standards are voluntary. Twelve businesses, some that handle sensitive personal data about health and employment, were found to falsely claim they abided by international privacy frameworks. [More]
United Nations Names Online Privacy That You Probably Don’t Have As A Universal Human Right
By 1.17.14
Online privacy: it’s a contentious ground between corporations and consumers, a troubled 21st century frontier of expectations, and, apparently, a universal human right. [More]
Snapchat Says It’ll Release More Secure Version Of App In Wake Of Hack
By 1.3.14
This week many Snapchat users were likely shocked to found out that 4.6 million usernames and the phone numbers connected to them were leaked online by a group of hackers. In response to the hack, Snapchat says now that it will release an updated version of its app that will allow users to opt out of the “Find Friends” feature that was exploited. [More]
Report: 4.6 Million Snapchat Phone Numbers And Usernames Leaked Online
By 1.2.14
While many Snapchat users are used to nudity, many of them only thought they were exposed for the 10 or so seconds that late-night selfie was on their recipient’s screen. But a new report says the phone numbers and usernames associated with more than 4.6 million Snapchatters in North America were leaked and posted online. [More]
Maker Of Wildly Popular Flashlight App Failed To Tell Users It Was Sharing Their Location Info
By 12.5.13
Most of us have had the bright idea to use our smartphones as flashlights when searching underneath the couch or in the backseat of a dark car. And many millions of people have downloaded flashlight apps that maximize the light coming out of their devices. Most of those people probably never even considered that a flashlight app would be doing anything other than turning on the phone’s lights, and certainly not transmitting location data to third parties. [More]
Microsoft Promises That New Kinect Is Not (Always) A Crazy Spying Machine
By 11.1.13
With the new Xbox One console only weeks away from launch, Microsoft is doing its best to quell concerns that the new Kinect motion and voice sensor will be spying on users and storing important, sensitive information. [More]
