Another day, another Schwarzenegger veto comes soaring into our inbox. This one is from reader Hassan, who is concerned about data security.
privacy
Verizon Says It Will Only Share Your Info With Other Verizon Companies
By 10.16.07
Verizon says the information sharing opt-out notices it sent to customer, that we told you about a month ago, are only so other Verizon companies can market discounted service bundles, and is not for resell to third-party advertisers.
Verizon's Plan To Share Your Call Data Generates Blog Scrutiny
By 10.15.07
Just a little over a month ago, we alerted Verizon Wireless users to an opportunity to opt-out of Verizion sharing some of your information with unnamed third parties. Specifically, the information is subscriber’s CPNI, which consists of what numbers you call, what numbers call you, and how much the call costs. It is not linked to your name, number, or address.
Do Consumers Actually Participate In Recalls? (No.)
By 10.10.07
Despite all the hand-wringing on our part, we consumers don’t actually participate in recalls at a very high level. This leaves both manufacturers and the CPSC in the dark about whether their warnings are reaching the right people—which is why the House approved a bill this Tuesday that would require manufacturers of certain infant and toddler products to keep registration info on their customers.
eBay Hacked, User Accounts Disabled, No Personal Information Compromised
By 10.10.07
eBay has been hacked, says Ars Technica, and several members have had their accounts disabled. eBay’s Trust and Safety team issued a statement in which they said (adorably) that the hacker was “a known fraudster to us.”
Microsoft To Launch "Search-Engine Supported" Site For Health Records
By 10.4.07
Today Microsoft unveiled “Health Vault,” a “search-engine” supported service that will organize your health records, should you decide to allow your doctors to share them with Microsoft.
Congress Asks AT&T, Verizon, And Qwest About Warrantless Wiretapping
By 10.3.07
Qwest, Verizon, and AT&T have until October 12th to provide information on how the government went about asking for private customer records, and how the three companies provided the information. The Committee on Energy and Commerce opened an official investigation Tuesday. “If reports about the government surveillance program are accurate, Congress has a duty to inquire about whether such a program violates the Constitution, as well as consumer protection and privacy laws,” said committee chairman Rep. John Dingell.
StumbleUpon Sends Invites To Everyone You've Ever Emailed Without Your Permission
By 10.3.07
Oh, how embarrassing. Travel writer Christopher Elliott signed up for StumbleUpon and due to some pre-checked boxes and a programming error, accidentally invited everyone he had ever emailed to join StumbleUpon.
GoDaddy Hushing Up Customer Credit Card Data Breach?
By 10.2.07
Did domain name registrar GoDaddy have a credit card security breach that they’re not telling anyone about? That’s what Reader Newcxns thinks. Two weeks ago, one of his Citi cards was replaced. One week later, another. The only thing Citi would tell him is that “a merchant” reported a possible data breach. No merchant has sent any data breach reports to Newcxns. In typical fashion, banks and vendors like to hide it when their security systems fail and compromise your account information.
Google: "Online Advertising Benefits Consumers"
By 9.29.07
“The online advertising business is complex, but my message to you today is simple: Online advertising benefits consumers, promotes free speech, and helps small businesses succeed. Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick will help advance these goals while protecting consumer privacy and enabling greater innovation, competition, and growth.”
Gap Says Laptop Containing Job Applicant Data Stolen
By 9.28.07
Gap is disclosing that a laptop filled with job applicant data has been stolen. The laptop contained the personal information of 800,000 job applicants, including social security numbers.
Google Says It's Looking Into New Privacy Technologies
By 9.28.07
Google is looking into new ways to protect the privacy of its huge number of users, says their chief legal officer. These include “crumbled cookies,” which spread a user’s information out so that it’s not connected to a single piece of code, and providing better information on the source of each ad that’s served.
How To Request Your Homeland Security Travel Dosiier
By 9.26.07
In its efforts to combat terrorism, fight human trafficking, and bust drug dealers, the Department of Homeland Security compiles a large database of where you go, who you travel with, what you read and more. If you’re curious about what this record contains, you can request a copy of your file under the Freedom Of Information Act. Unsecure Flight hosts two form letters for submitting this request, along with instructions for doing so.
How To Disappear From The Transaction Grid
By 9.26.07
The complete essay, “Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace,” contains some of the most amusing paranoid delusional crap we’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, some of it criminal in nature, but it speaks to the lengths one might have to go to “live off the grid” as it were, in modern America.
Alumni Associations And Public Universities Profit By Selling Student Data To Bank Of America
By 9.24.07
We stumbled across a very interesting article in the Des Moines Register that discusses the methods public universities’ alumni associations (in this case, the University of Iowa and ISU) use to obtain and sell student data.
By 9.24.07
../../../..//2007/09/24/pudding-media-is-like-skype/
Pudding Media is like Skype except that it’s free, supported by the ads it displays on your computer which change based on your topics of conversation. [NYT]
The TSA Has Your Reading List
By 9.23.07
According to the Washington Post, the TSA is compiling extensive traveler records that can track passenger reading preferences. The Automated Targeting System is ostensibly designed to help officials ferret out terrorists; citizens who recently asked the government for records of their travel found that the databases also contains: “a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf.” Our government’s long maw even reaches abroad to gather information on flights that don’t brush against U.S. airspace.
Ann Harrison, the communications director for a technology firm in Silicon Valley who was among those who obtained their personal files and provided them to The Post, said she was taken aback to see that her dossier contained data on her race and on a European flight that did not begin or end in the United States or connect to a U.S.-bound flight.
All Charges Dropped Against Circuit City Receipt Refuser
By 9.21.07
Legal charges have been dropped against Michael Righi (pictured), the guy arrested after refusing to show his receipt to Circuit City, and his driver’s license to a police officer, in exchange for Righi’s pledge to not sue the city. On his blog, Righi writes that he was willing to fight the city to the end without forfeiting any rights whatsoever, but he wanted to spare his family, who would have been principal witnesses, from a protracted legal battle.
