Tag Archives: Google
Federal Investigators Probe Google Over Age-Discrimination Complaints
by Ethan Baron, San Jose Mercury News
The lawsuit and investigation are taking place against a tech industry backdrop in which older workers are shuffled out to make way for younger — and cheaper — employees, said UC Davis computer science professor Norman Matloff, who studies age discrimination in the sector. Read More ›
Regulators Get Input – Sort Of – On Self-Driving Car Rollout
by Justin Pritchard, Associated Press
California’s DMV is still months away from finalizing any regulations. Under the draft framework, an independent certifier would need to verify a manufacturer’s assurances that its cars are safe. Google and traditional automakers want manufacturer self-certification, the standard for other cars. Once a company receives that verification, manufacturers would receive a permit for three years. Consumers could lease the cars, but manufacturers would be required to keep tabs on how safely they are driving and report that performance to the state. Drivers would need special, manufacturer-provided training, and then get a special certification on their licenses. Read More ›
Google Is Tracking Students As It Sells More Products To Schools, Privacy Advocates Warn
by Andrea Peterson, Washington Post
In 2014, 28 student data privacy laws were signed into law across 20 states. … One of the toughest was a California law that bars school vendors from selling student data, using it to target advertisements, or building a profile about them for non-educational purposes. … The Roseville City School District in California [where one concerned parent has struggled to keep his 4th grade daughter out of Google’s data] said the school system is evaluating how the state law will impact their district and its vendors. Read More ›
Google To Make Driverless Cars An Alphabet Company In 2016
by John Lippert, Bloomberg
The race to develop a self-driving vehicle fleet has intensified since February when Bloomberg reported that Google was developing a rival to Uber Technologies Inc., most likely in conjunction with its driverless-car project. Uber is pursuing its own autonomous capabilities, while automakers are deploying semi-autonomous technologies while experimenting with so-called shared mobility. Uber is spending some of the more than $10 billion it has raised in private markets to develop self-driving cars. … Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said Tesla could triple its revenue by 2029 by launching its own on-demand mobility service. Read More ›
DMV Issues Proposed Regulations For Self-Driving Vehicles
by Mark Glover, Sacramento Bee
“The liability issue is paramount,” [Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety President Rosemary Shahan said.] “With this, what is the driver there for? So, you’re going to have less control and more liability. … Why would anyone lease a car like that?” … Addressing privacy and cybersecurity issues, the DMV said “manufacturers must disclose to the operator if information is collected, other than the information needed to safely operate the vehicle.” It said autonomous vehicles will be equipped with self-diagnostic capabilities that detect and respond to cyberattacks or “other unauthorized intrusions.” 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 ›
California Puzzles Over Safety Of Driverless Cars
by Justin Pritchard, The Associated Press
The department is asking industry, consumer groups and other interested parties to gather in January for a public workshop on safety standards. … Even before Google pushed the 2012 law that officially legalized driverless technology, the Silicon Valley giant had dispatched its cars hundreds of thousands of miles. Google says its Toyota Priuses and Lexus SUVs, souped up with radar, cameras and laser sensors, have an excellent safety record. They have been involved in just a “few” accidents, though not at fault in any of them, spokeswoman Courtney Hohne said. Read More ›
FTC Approves Final Order In Case About Google Billing For Kids’ In-App Charges Without Parental Consent
by Federal Trade Commission, press release
The settlement requires Google to provide full refunds of unauthorized in-app charges incurred by children and to modify its billing practices to obtain express, informed consent from consumers before billing them for in-app charges. Google is required to contact all consumers who had an in-app charge to inform them of the refund process for unauthorized in-app charges by children within 15 days of the order being finalized. Read More ›
More Cracks in Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Mantra as Data Collection, Political Power Soar
by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams
The combination of expanding technology and exploding political influence could be dangerous, Public Citizen warns. “Google has essentially responded to concerns about its practices by saying ‘just trust us’,” said Taylor Lincoln, research director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division and editor of the report. “But Google is gaining so much power that regulators may find it difficult to act if it turns out that the public’s trust has been misplaced.” Read More ›
This Is How Your Gmail Account Got Hacked
by Jose Pagliery, CNN Money
It takes only 3 minutes to scan your email for valuable stuff. They’re looking for any email that shows your bank account information and images of your real life signature. They also search for login credentials for other accounts at Amazon or PayPal. They use the email search feature, looking for phrases like “wire transfer,” “bank” and “account statement. Safety tip: Perform this search yourself. Go ahead and erase any email with this sensitive data. Don’t leave this stuff lying around. Read More ›
America Pays More For Internet, Gets Slower Speeds, Than Other Countries
by Gerry Smith, Huffington Post
Consumers who can get such service don’t have to worry about videos buffering or websites loading. They can share large files in seconds and take advantage of new offerings in online education and health care that require fast access. … The New America Foundation’s report highlights how city-owned networks are becoming more competitive with the offerings from Internet providers around the world. … But many cities are banned from creating their own Internet service. 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 ›
Google Glass is the perfect tool for stealing your phone’s passcode
by Polly Mosendz, The Atlantic Wire
Most people using smart devices have a simple password set up — four digits that protect your phone or tablet from prying eyes and theft. Usually, these passwords are quite easy to protect when in public; just type it in quickly and no one will notice, especially outdoors sun glare makes it hard to read your screen. However, if you find yourself typing in your password in the presence of a Google Glass wearer, beware. Read More ›