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IDG News Service – “Pandora and possibly other makers of popular smartphone applications are being questioned by a federal grand jury about their privacy practices. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Pandora said that early this year it was served with a subpoena to produce documents in connection with …
“Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz today issued the FTCs 2011 Annual Report at the American Bar Associations Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting in Washington, DC, highlighting the agencys continued efforts to protect financially distressed consumers and promote competition during the economic downturn. Over the past year, the FTC has challenged unscrupulous business practices …
News release: “Google Inc. has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy promises to consumers when it launched its social network, Google Buzz, in 2010. The agency alleges the practices violate the FTC Act. The proposed settlement bars the company from future privacy misrepresentations, requires …
Via EFF: “Your cell phone company knows everywhere you go, twenty-four hours a day, every day. How concrete is this fact for you? It’s very concrete for Malte Spitz, a German politician and privacy advocate. He used German privacy law which, like the law of many European countries, gives individuals a right to see …
Privacy Impact Assessment for the Use of Unidirectional Social Media Applications Communications and Outreach, March 8, 2011. Kathleen McShea Director of New Media and Web Communications, Office of Public Affairs, Department of Homeland Security “Unidirectional social media applications encompass a range of applications, often referred to as applets or widgets, that allow users to view …
“EPIC asked a federal court in Washington, DC to reconsider its earlier decision allowing the Department of Homeland Security to keep secret 2,000 airport body scanner images in EPIC’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The Court relied on a legal theory in its decision, “Exemption High b(2),” that was recently struck down by the Supreme …
Smartphone Security – Survey of U.S. consumers, Ponemon Institute© Research Report, Sponsored by AVG Technologies, Independently conducted by Ponemon Institute LLC, Publication Date: March 2011 News release: “AVG Technologies, one of the leading providers of consumer security software, today revealed details of a sobering study uncovering new statistics about the data security risks involved in …
EPIC: “Judge Denny Chin struck down a proposed settlement between Google and copyright holders that would have imposed significant privacy risks on e-book consumers. Google’s proposal would have entitled the company to collect each users’ search queries as well as the titles and page numbers of the books they read. In a February 2010 hearing …
News release: “In testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the Federal Trade Commission discussed its efforts to protect consumer privacy through enforcement actions, consumer education, and policy initiatives like the FTC staffs recent preliminary privacy report. The report proposes a framework to balance consumer privacy with industry innovation by: 1) building …
EPIC: “In a hearing before the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, EPIC urged Congress to suspend the use of airport body scanners for primary screening. EPIC said the devices were not effective and were not minimally intrusive, as courts have required for airport searches. EPIC cited TSA documents obtained in EPIC’s FOIA lawsuit which …
News release: “The Ponemon Institute proudly presents the 2010 U.S. Cost of a Data Breach, the sixth annual study concerning the cost of data breach incidents for U.S.-based companies sponsored by Symantec Corporation. The average organizational cost of a data breach increased to $7.2 million and cost companies an average of $214 per compromised record, …
News release: “The Federal Trade Commission has finalized a proposed settlement that it announced in June 2010 with social networking site Twitter, which resolved charges that Twitter deceived consumers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal information. The FTC alleged that serious lapses in the companys data security allowed hackers …
