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“New research, published today in the journal PNAS, shows that surprisingly accurate estimates of Facebook users race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views can be inferred from automated analysis of only their Facebook Likes – information currently publicly available by default. In the study, researchers describe Facebook Likes as a generic class …
“Attorneys general for 38 states and the District of Columbia today reached a “$7 Million Settlement” with Google over consumer protection and privacy claims. The company engaged in the unauthorized collection of data from wireless networks, including private WiFi networks of residential Internet users. A detailed Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, setting out the terms of …
Lois Beckett – ProPublica: “Data companies are scooping up enormous amounts of information about almost every American. They sell information about whether you’re pregnant or divorced or trying to lose weight, about how rich you are and what kinds of cars you have. Regulators and some in Congress have been taking a closer look at …
EFF: “Facebook has announced that its teaming up with four of the worlds largest corporate data brokers to enhance the ad experience for users. Datalogix, Epsilon, Acxiom, and BlueKai obtain information gathered about users through online means (such as through cookies when users surf the web) as well as through offline means (such as through …
VA Office of Inspector General, Office of Audits and Evaluations – Review of Alleged Transmission of Sensitive VA Data Over Internet Connections, March 6, 2013 “We substantiated the allegation that VA was transmitting sensitive data, including PII and internal network routing information, over an unencrypted telecommunications carrier network. Office of Information and Technology (OIT) personnel …
EFF: “Last year, Maryland became the first state to explicitly prohibit employers from forcing applicants or workers to disclose their personal names or passwords as a condition of employment. California followed soon after with its own measure, which further bars private employers from even requesting access to their workers social-media accounts. According to the National …
EFF: “In an unprecedented win for transparency, yesterday Google began publishing generalized information about the number of National Security Letters that the company received in the past year as well as the total number of user accounts affected by those requests. Of all the dangerous government surveillance powers that were expanded by the USA PATRIOT …
Silent Listeners: The Evolution of Privacy and Disclosure on Facebook by Fred Stutzman, Ralph Grossy, Alessandro Acquistiz. Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality. Issue 4/2/2012 [via Study: Facebook Users More Protective Even as They Reveal More About Themselves] “Over the past decade, social network sites have experienced dramatic growth in popularity, reaching most demographics and providing …
“Secure deletion involves the use of special software to ensure that when you delete a file, there really is no way to get it back again. When you “delete” a file for instance, by putting the file in your computer’s trash folder and emptying the trash you may think you’ve deleted that file. …
“The use of surveillance drones is growing rapidly in the United States, but we know little about how the federal government employs this new technology. Now, new information obtained by the ACLU shows for the first time that the U.S. Marshals Service has experimented with using drones for domestic surveillance. We learned this through documents …
“EPIC Appellate Advocacy Counsel Alan Butler testified before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee on H.B. 887, a location privacy bill that will establish a search warrant requirement for the collection of private location information. Mr. Butler discussed the current state of location tracking and privacy under the state and federal constitutions. The Maryland bill will …
“Cell phone searches are a common law enforcement tool, but up until now, the public has largely been in the dark regarding how much sensitive information the government can get with this invasive surveillance technique. A document submitted to court in connection with a drug investigation, which we recently discovered, provides a rare inventory of …
