Microsoft has been trying to make Google seem like a threat to privacy, when in fact it’s both of them,” says Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD). “We may now have two companies that will rival the National Security Agency in their ability to compile detailed profiles of users wherever they go online.”
privacy
Proposed "MicroHoo" Merger Has Privacy Implications
By 2.5.08
Coffee Shop Installs Fake Security Camera In Bathroom
By 2.5.08
A coffee shop in Montreal has removed a “dud” security camera from its bathroom after news of it hit the local papers. Corporate headquarters asked the franchise owner to take it down, and apologized/avoided blame in a press release that said they were “not consulted in advance.” The franchise owner had installed it as a sort of junkie scarecrow, to frighten away heroin users who were leaving dirty needles in the bathroom stall.
Anorexic? Your Insurance Company Could Subpeona Your Writings On MySpace And Facebook
By 2.2.08
How’s this for twisted: An insurance company, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, have demanded that the parents of minor children who suffer from anorexia turn over their children’s writings on MySpace and Facebook, as well as any emails where they discuss their problems.
Intelius Says They'll Stop Selling Your Cellphone Number
By 2.1.08
“In response to consumer feedback,” Inteliius says it will discontinue selling your private cellphone number in its searchable online database. Liz Murray, Communications Manager at Intelius in a press release that, besides trying to explain away their actions, also spent half of its time touting the company’s Cell Phone Caller ID program, said, “As a company, we have strived to be at the forefront of innovation…We realize that in this instance we may have been ahead of our time.” That’s right, it was a notion from some future time where mankind has evolved into a more advanced being that doesn’t care about its privacy. Despite the press release, as of this writing, the company is still advertising the cell phone directory on its site.
By 1.31.08
../../../..//2008/01/31/tsa-can-haz-blog-evolution/
TSA can haz blog. [Evolution of Security]
Don't Want RFID On Your Plastic? Call Your Credit Card Company
By 1.31.08
There’s all sorts of advice online about how to disable RFID chips and tags, and now that they’re starting to show up uninvited on credit cards, you might be tempted to try some of those tactics. But as a reader found out, many credit card issuers will simply swap out your newfangled RFID-enabled card for a traditional one if you just ask.
How Intelius Bought Your Cellphone Number From The Pizza Guy
By 1.30.08
How did Intelius compile its directory of people’s private cellphone numbers it now has for sale online? Laws on the books forbid telelphone companies from amassing cell phone directories without customer’s consent, but the laws don’t mention third parties. Instead, Intelius buys them from your friendly, local pizza delivery place. Here’s what the CEO said when asked how people end up in their system: “Geez, [there are] tons of ways — everything from going out to a Web site and buying a ring tone for your phone to putting your phone number down at anything [like] ordering a pizza…There are literally dozens and dozens of ways that a user or a consumer could opt in to a database.” See, it’s legal for businesses to contact you you have business relationship. But companies are turning around and selling these customer databases to places like Intelius, and transferring the right to use the database to these third parties as well. While you’re taking a bite out of that deep-dish, they’re taking a bite out of your privacy.
Intelius Sells Your Unlisted And Unpublished Cellphone Number Online
By 1.29.08
If you thought your cellphone number was safe, think again. Intellus just launched the first ever online cellphone directory. Oh, you never gave them permission, they went ahead and scraped the internet, bought lists from data resellers and deployed data mining techniques.
FiOS Swaps Customers' Account Details, Still Won't Fix After 8 Months
By 1.25.08
Whenever Andru logs into his Verizon FiOS account, he sees the personal information on some other guy’s account, including name, address, email address, last four digits of credit card and social security number. He’s contacted the other guy, and the other guy also sees his. Verizon has said they will fix it in the next 24 hours. They’ve been saying that for the past eight months. This is supposed to be the future of the internet and they can’t even fix a simple account error?
EU Says IP Addresses Are Personal Data
By 1.23.08
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.
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.”
Build-A-Bear Teaches Your Kids To Disclose Personal Information?
By 1.22.08
Over at ZDnet an interesting point has been raised: Why does Build-A-Bear workshop need to know so much information about your children? Just to help return a lost bear? Should kids be encouraged to give out so much information?
Mann Free Movie Tickets Settlement Requires Your Credit Card Number
By 1.22.08
Between December 2006 and January 2007, Mann Theatres in Southern California printed the expiration dates of credit cards on receipts. If you were one of the lucky suckers who saw a movie there during this period and paid via credit card, Mann’s lawyers want to make things right by giving you two free movie tickets and some free popcorn. However, to qualify for the free tickets, you have to provide your credit card number. This is like the end of “The Lion King” where the new cub is held aloft—the circle of life continues.
Activision Accidentally Introduces 860 Customers To Each Other
By 1.22.08
Consumerist reader chrismar was one of the Guitar Hero customers who requested a Wii replacement disc from Activision last month. On January 18th, the company sent out an email to its customers with an update on the disc replacement program. The problem is, they copied 859 other customers on the email. “As a result, my email address is in 859 unknown hands, and I have 859 email addresses I don’t want.”
Social Security Numbers Visible On Envelopes Mailed By Wisconsin… AGAIN
By 1.16.08
Look, Wisconsin. We weren’t kidding around last time. We really did mean it when we said that it wasn’t cool to print people’s Social Security Numbers where anyone can see them. How can people who are smart enough to sell sausage shaped like beer (above) not able to figure out that the SSN is a secret?
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.”
Best Buy Refuses To Sell You An XM Radio Without Your Phone Number
By 1.14.08
Reader Travis would like to purchase an XM radio from Best Buy. Sadly for him, Best Buy refused to sell him the radio without first learning his phone number. Travis does not want to share his phone number with Best Buy, therefore Travis has no radio.
