Tag Archives: Facebook
The Evil List. Which tech companies are really doing the most harm?
Slate.com Jan. 15, 2020 Slate.com Jan. 15, 2020 – Maybe it was fake news, Russian trolls, and Cambridge Analytica. Or Travis Kalanick’s conniption in an Uber. Or the unmasking of Theranos. Or all those Twitter Nazis, and racist Google results, and conspiracy theories on YouTube. https://slate.com/technology/2020/01/evil-list-tech-companies-dangerous-amazon-facebook-google-palantir.html?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
Companies Wary of WhatsApp Privacy Issues
by Claire Atkinson, New York Post
It’s not just privacy advocates who are freaking out over Facebook’s decision to extract user data from its popular WhatsApp messaging service. The controversial move may force business to explore other avenues beyond Facebook and WhatsApp as a way to connect with consumers more securely. Read More ›
Forced Arbitration: A Sneaky Rip-Off
Update: The CFC submitted a letter in strong support of the proposed rule to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on August 22. View it here (pdf). When a bank or other financial institution engages in unfair, deceptive or downright abusive rip-offs, consumers should get their day in … Read More ›
Broadband Industry: It’s Unfair If Facebook Can Collect Your Data, But AT&T Can’t
by Kate Cox, Consumerist
Later this week, the Federal Communications Commission will be voting on a proposal intended to protect some of your personal data from being shared by your Internet service provider, by requiring that the ISP first get your permission. … ISPs are the conduit for everything you do online, meaning they have access to a lot of potentially sensitive information about you … data about what sites you visit. When. For how long … Read More ›
WhatsApp Encryption Said To Stymie Wiretap Order
by Matt Apuzzo, New York Times
If the Apple dispute is akin to whether the F.B.I. can unlock your front door and search your house, the issue with WhatsApp is whether it can listen to your phone calls. … Those who support digital privacy fear that if the Justice Department succeeds in forcing Apple to help break into the iPhone in the San Bernardino case, the government’s next move will be to force companies like WhatsApp to rewrite their software to remove encryption from the accounts of certain customers. “That would be like going to nuclear war with Silicon Valley,” said Chris Soghoian, a technology analyst with [the ACLU]. Read More ›
CNIL Gives Facebook Three Months To Comply With Privacy Order
by Jedidiah Bracy, International Association of Privacy Professionals
French data protection authority CNIL sent a formal notice to the social networking giant that it was violating the nation’s privacy law and now has three months to get into compliance. Read More ›
California Now Has The Nation’s Best Digital Privacy Law
by Staff, Wired magazine
[CFC-backed SB 178] enjoyed widespread support among civil libertarians like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. … California has long led the way in privacy protection. Voters amended the state constitution in the 1970s to provide explicit privacy rights far more robust than those guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. But while the state amendment ensured a right to privacy for all Californians, lawmakers couldn’t envision the technological advances that would come in the decades to follow. Read More ›
As data overflows online, researchers grapple with ethics
by Vindu Goel, The New York Times
Facebook manipulated the news feeds of nearly 700,000 people to learn how the changes affected their emotions. When the research was published, the outrage was immediate. Now university and corporate researchers are grappling with how to create ethical guidelines for this kind of research. “Consumers should be in the driver’s seat when it comes to their data,” said Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, which regulates on issues like privacy and the Internet. “They don’t want to be left in the dark and they don’t want to be surprised at how it’s used.” Read More ›
Facebook is now selling your Web-browsing data to advertisers
by Chris Moran, Consumerist
Facebook has long been following you around the Web, quietly snickering at you for the music you buy and silently cocking an eyebrow for thinking you can still fit into the same size jeans you wore in college. But until now, it had tracked users under the pretense of security. This morning’s announcement shows the site’s true intentions. Read More ›