Search Results for: privacy

Mountain View’s lawyers can collectively breathe a sigh of relief, as the FTC has accepted an earlier proposal relating to Buzz’s numerous privacy violations. The service — which already settled one suit and is scheduled for rendezvous with the gri…

Attention celebrities, I have some shocking news: People really want to see you naked. So if you take a photograph of yourself in the buff, someone’s gonna find it. So put down that cameraphone. Or don…

Facebook’s just rolled out a number of new privacy features, including the ability to approve photo tags of you, edit the visibility of profile categories inline, and more. More »

Google Street View cars breached Canadian privacy laws by inappropriately collecting personal information through a “careless error,” the federal privacy commissioner has found.

A 2.8GB torrent is floating around out there containing data from 100 million Facebook profiles. But don’t freak out: all the data was already available publicly. More »

Responding to user backlash, Facebook today unveiled its overhauled Privacy Controls. On first look, it’s a radically different set of tools with a redesign control setup than what you’re used to. The now “classic” granular settings are still in place, but a new set of umbrella options lets you quickly change several options at once as a first line of privacy defense. The strategy appears to be centered on making users more comfortable with their sharing settings, while providing more control over their online profiles. History has shown us that Facebook changes like this are never easy, so while the changes won’t roll out for a few weeks, read on to learn how to use the new controls when they arrive.

Continue reading Facebook’s New Privacy Guide Explained

Filed under: Web, Social Networking

Facebook’s New Privacy Guide Explained originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 26 May 2010 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saskatchewan’s privacy commissioner says he’s surprised to learn Google may have downloaded internet data from homes in the province – and he doesn’t want to see it happen again.

Privacy watchdogs in Canada and nine other countries are warning Google Inc. and other global firms to respect people’s privacy rights.

Log into Gmail today and, if you haven’t disabled it, there’s a good chance Google’s Buzz social network will prompt you to look over all your privacy settings. The BBC reports that Google is pushing out a message that will ask Buzz users to review and confirm their privacy settings, as well as “show every aspect of a user’s profile, from public settings to the websites users are connected to, and who they are following or being followed by.” With Buzz facing rebukes from U.S. Congress members and a class-action privacy complaint, it’s probably a smart idea for the service to go out of its way to show users what is and isn’t being shown. [BBC News] Update: Here’s Google’s official blog post about the settings confirmation. More »

High School students have sued the Lower Merion School District in Philadelphia for spying on them using their laptops’ built-in cameras. School administrator activated the webcams remotely and recorded students’ activities at home. Way to go, KGB-wannabe assclowns. Updated

The situation was discovered by the Robbins, when their kid was disciplined for “improper behavior in his home.” How could that be possible? The Vice Principal showed a photo as the evidence. A photo taken with the school-provided laptop webcam.

Update: Talking to Gizmodo, one of the students at the district says that they suspected this but the school tech support gave excuses. His Early 2008 MacBook’s camera light would turn on at random:

Frequently, the green lights next to our iSight webcams will turn on. The school district claims that this is just a glitch. We are all doubting this now.

He can’t access the Activity Monitor because he doesn’t have enough privileges, but he says the school uses Apple Remote Desktop.

Another student has confirmed this:

I questioned the IT guy about why it was happening he said that it was because people logged out when an application using the camera was on, he also stated that they could in fact go and look through your webcam it would just violate the fifth ammendment and that’s why they didn’t.

Today, their principal went on loudspeaker and said that all this was “not true.”

Sure, Mr. Principal, sure. If the lawsuit accusations are true, I hope they ground these slimy people forever. [Lawsuit via BoingBoing – Thanks Jason!]

Whether you call it a huge privacy flaw or just an annoyance, Google Buzz can put the contacts you automatically follow—a.k.a. those you most frequently email or chat—on a public profile page. Here's how to undo that.

Google Blogoscoped’s Philipp Lenssen felt he had to avoid following certain Buzz contacts, as he didn't want to expose his social circle to the wider net. He's right—if you have a Google Profile, once you set up Buzz, those you’re following, and those following you, are shown on your profile page in a right-hand link list.

Update: This might not apply if you haven’t touched much inside Buzz, or haven’t set up a Google Profile, or that Profile is set to be hidden from the public. If so, you’re mostly in the clear. But keep in mind that, once you post to Buzz, your profile will likely be created, and you’ll want to know what’s getting put up on the web.

To turn this off, sign into your Google account (via Gmail or elsewhere) and head to your Google profile—that link should work if you're signed in. Look for the two links showing "Following X people" and "X people following me." There's a gray note underneath those numbers, indicating whether they're visible to just you or to everyone.

If they're visible to everyone, hit the "Edit Profile" link on the right-hand edge of the blue bar in the middle of the page, to the right of "About me," "Buzz," and "Contact info." In the third column of options there, there are checkboxes that control privacy features, and one of them is labeled "Display the list of people I'm following and people following me." Un-check that box, and now your list of followers and followees is private—or at least seen only by those you're following, perhaps.

Want Google Buzz gone entirely? Log into Gmail, then look at the bottom of your inbox page for a “Turn off Buzz” link. If you’re mainly annoyed at Buzz’s constant, um, buzzing, read up on removing Buzz updates from your inbox.

This tip came courtesy of Contributing Editor Lisa, who was similarly shocked to see Google dropping everyone’s frequently-contacted names on the net. If you’ve found a similarly crucial privacy tweak for Buzz, tell us about it in the comments.

Facebook has agreed to make changes to better protect users’ personal information on the social networking site and comply with Canadian privacy laws within one year, Canada’s privacy commissioner said Thursday.