privacy

Stories 181 - 200 | << Prev   Next >>

Apple Pays Off South Korean for iPhone Tracking

Lawyer snags $946 in compensation

(Newser) - A South Korean lawyer has drawn first blood in the battle to make Apple pay for its iPhone tracking glitch , scoring a 1 million won ($946) payout from the tech giant, Reuters reports. The lawyer, Kim Hyung-suk, originally sued Apple on his own for collecting his location data without his...

Supreme Court to Review Warrantless GPS Tracking

Justice take case on whether police need warrant to track people

(Newser) - The Supreme Court will weigh in on an important privacy issue for the digital age, whether the police need a warrant before using a global positioning system device to track a suspect's movements. The justices said today they will hear the Obama administration's appeal of a court ruling...

FBI Has New Manual—and It Gives Agents More Power

Agency now has more freedom to search trash

(Newser) - A new FBI manual makes it easier for agents to check databases, send out surveillance teams, and rifle through people's trash—often as part of a kind of investigation that gives agents the OK to look into people without having solid evidence that they are involved in terrorist or...

Google Threatens to Erase Street View in Switzerland

Search engine refuses to grant 'absolute anonymity' in Street View images

(Newser) - The time for a virtual trip to Switzerland is now. Google is threatening to wipe photographs of streets and houses in Switzerland from its online maps unless the country's supreme court overturns a ruling requiring an absolute guarantee of anonymity for people captured by the popular Street View service....

Apple Fixes iPhone Tracking Problem

Now users can delete the data entirely

(Newser) - The uproar over the revelation that your iPhone is tracking you has led Apple to fix the problem. A software update released yesterday reduces the amount of location data stored on iPhones and iPads from a year to about a week. The iOS 4.3.3 software also allows users...

Google App Would ID Faces, Dish Out Personal Info

Search giant being 'extra careful' amid privacy concerns

(Newser) - Imagine this: You're sitting in a cafe. Someone snaps a photo of you on their cell. An app matches your face with your name. Said photographer suddenly knows who you are ... and maybe even your phone number and email. Google is reportedly developing just such a a facial-recognition mobile app,...

Beware: Your Cell Phone Is Watching You

Wireless firms track users' every move

(Newser) - Your cell phone knows when you're sleeping, when you're awake, and whether you prefer air or land travel. German politician Malte Spitz recently took Deutsche Telekom to court to determine exactly how much it knows about his whereabouts, the New York Times reports. Data in hand, he saw that Deutsche...

Facebook Makes Privacy Policy Easier to Read

It has less gobbledygook, though policy itself remains the same

(Newser) - Facebook is attempting to make its privacy policy more user friendly—it's deployed "the Facebook design experience" to a chunk of legalese that many users found challenging to understand. Noting that the previous policy was "longer than the US constitution," the site has created a new draft...

Google Catches Bing Copying Its Results

It theorizes that it's spying on users with IE, Bing toolbar

(Newser) - Google is furious. The search giant says it’s caught Bing red-handed stealing its search results—or, at least, mining data from its results to use to adjust Bing's own ranking algorithm. It suspects Bing is using Internet Explorer and/or the Bing toolbar to monitor users’ Google queries and results....

Ariz. Hospital Fires 3 for Snooping on Shooting Victims

Three employees accessed confidential medical records

(Newser) - The University Medical Center in Tucson has fired three employees for illicitly accessing confidential medical records on the victims of Saturday’s shooting. The hospital is playing host to six of the people injured in the shooting, including Gabrielle Giffords, according to the Arizona Daily Star . Administrators announced the firings...

Twitter Shows Some Spine Over First Amendment
Twitter Shows Backbone
Over First Amendment
OPINION
Jan 12, 2011 3:01 PM CST

Twitter Shows Backbone Over First Amendment

'Wired' columnist: Other tech companies should follow suit

(Newser) - When the US government told Twitter to hand over its information about WikiLeaks figures, the company did what is so unfortunately rare these days, writes Ryan Singel at Wired . It "beta-tested a spine" and stood up for the First Amendment. The easiest course of action would have been to...

Miami Police Buy Spy Drone
Miami Police
Buy Spy Drone
Jan 7, 2011 11:15 AM CST

Miami Police Buy Spy Drone

Some residents have privacy concerns

(Newser) - Soon, America’s fearsome spy drones will prowl the sky in Kandahar, Waziristan, and … South Beach? The Miami-Dade Police Department has struck a deal to buy a drone, WSN-TV reports. Many residents aren’t particularly happy about this, but police are eager to have “an eye up there,...

Stewart's New Punching Bag: Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook wants privacy?

(Newser) - Jon Stewart went after Mark Zuckerberg last night , arguing that Facebook is using its deal with Goldman Sachs to delay going public, since doing so would force the company to be more transparent (though that theory may not, in fact, be true ). What nerve. "Mark Zuckerberg doesn't want...

DMV Clerk Writes Letter to 'Evil' Transgender Customer

He used database to track her down after processing name change: Lawyer

(Newser) - A transgender woman is suing the California DMV after an employee took it upon himself to write her a personal letter telling her she'd go to hell for her "very evil decision," the AP reports. Though the clerk processed Amber Yust's name change from David, he allegedly used...

Users Sue YouPorn for Spying on Them

Site allegedly rummaged through browsing histories

(Newser) - It seems YouPorn’s been a very naughty website. Two California men have filed a class-action lawsuit, complaining that the homemade smut site has been spying on users’ surfing histories. When users surfed to YouPorn, a Javascript looked through their history to see which links have been marked as “...

FTC Wants Do-Not-Track System for Web

Says Internet users need better privacy protection

(Newser) - The FTC is calling for the creation of a system that allows consumers to opt out of having the web pages they view tracked by advertisers, the Wall Street Journal reports. The commission said "industry must do better" to protect online privacy in its report issued today. The FTC...

That Time of the Month: Boss Tags Women With Red Bands

You know, to monitor bathroom breaks

(Newser) - We're apparently not making this up: One Norway boss makes female staffers wear red wristbands during that time of the month to explain frequent bathroom breaks. That tidbit popped up in a new report about "tyrannical" bathroom rules at Norwegian workplaces. The report found that some 66% of managers...

Al-Qaeda Is Punking Us
 Al-Qaeda Is Punking Us 
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
Nov 29, 2010 5:12 PM CST

Al-Qaeda Is Punking Us

US can't handle AQAP's tactics

(Newser) - Can it be that the United States has met its match in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula? The group's lack of a direct hit thus far seems more bad luck than effective counter-terrorism, writes Christopher Hitchens for Slate . In the meantime, AQAP has used our own desire to protect ourselves...

Gizmodo Publishes 100 Body Scans

Illicit courthouse scans revealed

(Newser) - Remember that courthouse that got in trouble for storing body scan images that were supposed to be deleted? Well, Gizmodo got its hands on 100 of those photos with a Freedom of Information Act request, and has posted them in this video. “We understand that it will be controversial...

Hey, Border Guards: Stay Out of Our Computers
Hey, Border Guards:
Stay Out of Our Computers
OPINION
Nov 16, 2010 1:13 PM CST

Hey, Border Guards: Stay Out of Our Computers

There must be a reason for these invasive searches, seizures, writes the NYT

(Newser) - Right now, border agents can search your computer without a warrant or probable cause—and it's long past time for that to change, asserts the New York Times in an editorial. Borders need to be protected, but there's "a big difference between government agents scanning items for explosives ... and...

Stories 181 - 200 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser