privacy

Features

• Biggest tech industry apologies of 2010 - so far

  While apologies from BP to the world regarding its environmental disaster and even from a U.S. Congressman to BP have stolen headlines of late, the tech industry has not been without its fair share of apologies during the first half of 2010 either.

• Google Wi-Fi snooping should serve as security wakeup call

  The continuing saga of Google's wireless snooping and the maelstrom it's generated won't end anytime soon.

• Facebook's privacy fixes can't cure stupid

  Facebook deserves plenty of blame for messing too much with its privacy settings, but no amount of fixing will stop people from embarrassing themselves on the Internet.

• Is Facebook truly sorry for its privacy sins?

  Want an expert lesson in how to respond without actually responding and how to apologize without saying you're sorry? Then you need to read Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg's quasi-mea culpa in today's Washington Post. Do it now; I'll wait.

• Good-bye to privacy?

  New Yorker Barry Hoggard draws a line in the sand when it comes to online privacy. In May he said farewell to 1251 Facebook friends by deleting his account of four years to protest what he calls the social network's eroding privacy policies.

• 60 percent would quit Facebook? Yeah, right

  Facebook's privacy problems reportedly have the social network rethinking its approach, and a new poll suggests that the threat of user decline is real, but don't expect a mass exodus any time soon.

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  Google Wi-Fi data snooping: An FAQ

  Google is cleaning up its mess after the company says it mistakenly collecting browsing data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks as part of its Street View project.

• Geolocation 101: How it works, the apps, and your privacy

  Facebook wants to know "What's on your mind?" Twitter asks "What's happening?" But that's getting old already. The burning question for the next wave of social networking is "Where are you?"--and services like Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite, and Loopt want you to use your smartphone to answer it.

• In pictures: Google's trike at Taronga Zoo

  Weighing 110 kilos, the Street View Trike began peddling around the grounds of Sydney’s Taronga Zoo today.

• Privacy guide for Kindle, other E-Book readers

  If you're concerned about the privacy implications of reading digital books, take a look at a nice guide put up yesterday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

• Why privacy concerns are ruining Facebook

  Facebook was built as a powerful social connector, allowing users to befriend others with similar interests, locations, schools, and more.

• Facebook to tighten privacy after Canadian investigation

  Facebook will enhance its social-networking site's privacy features over the next 12 months as a result of a set of recommendations from the Canadian government.

• Does Google know too much about you?

  Do you trust Google? If you use its multitude of online services on a daily basis you might, but is that assumption wise? For some, Google is a wonderful company with a broad selection of useful online tools that make life easier, but for others Google is a looming, unregulated monster just waiting for the moment to drop the 'don't' from the company's unofficial motto, "Don't be evil."

• Opting out of targeted ads too hard, privacy advocates say

  The online advertising industry and U.S. policy makers need to give online users more control over the collection of personal data and surfing habits beyond the traditional opt-out approach, some privacy advocates said Wednesday.

• Stop DRM from becoming a "privacy nightmare"

  The news that iTunes will offer songs from the three of the largest labels free of copy protection software was music to the ears of many users. Privacy experts say it's a sign the industry is realizing how counter-productive digital rights management (DRM) limitations actually are.