News

• Online services increased their effort to protect user data, EFF says

  By Loek Essers | 01 June, 2012 12:13

  While some online services are stepping up their efforts to protect private user data from government requests, there is plenty room for improvement, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said on Thursday. It is time for all companies that hold private user data to make public commitments to defend their users against government overreach, the foundation said.

• Germany taken to court for failing to implement data retention

  By Jennifer Baker | 31 May, 2012 14:35

  European authorities have taken Germany to court for failing to implement the E.U. Data Retention Directive.

• Copies of anti-censorship software used in Iran and Syria contain keylogger

  By Lucian Constantin | 30 May, 2012 15:11

  Rogue copies of Green Simurgh, an Internet proxy software application used in Iran and Syria, have been found to contain malware that records users' activities and keystrokes.

• Gartner predicts huge rise in monitoring of employees' social media use

  By Grant Gross | 29 May, 2012 20:04

  Corporations are starting to embrace technologies used to monitor employee Internet use, with 60 percent expected to watch workers' social media use for security breaches by 2015, according to a new report from Gartner.

• Lawmakers call on DOJ to reopen investigation into Google Wi-Fi spying

  By Grant Gross | 24 May, 2012 23:37

  Two U.S. lawmakers have called on the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen its investigation into Google's snooping on Wi-Fi networks in 2010 after recent questions about the company's level of cooperation with federal inquiries.

• Lawmakers call on DOJ to reopen investigation into Google Wi-Fi spying

  By Grant Gross | 24 May, 2012 20:53

  Two U.S. lawmakers have called on the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen its investigation into Google's snooping on Wi-Fi networks in 2010 after recent questions about the company's level of cooperation with federal inquiries.

• Researchers propose TLS extension to detect rogue SSL certificates

  By Lucian Constantin | 24 May, 2012 20:35

  A pair of security researchers have proposed an extension to the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol that would allow browsers to detect and block fraudulently-issued SSL certificates.

• European privacy regulators want more detail on Google's policy changes

  By Peter Sayer | 24 May, 2012 17:42

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• Study: Patriot Act gives US government no special acess to cloud data

  By Grant Gross | 23 May, 2012 16:02

  An often-repeated concern that the U.S. Patriot Act gives the U.S. government unequaled access to personal data stored on cloud services is incorrect, with several other nations enjoying similar access to cloud data, according to a study released Wednesday.

• Microsoft takes Bing Streetside offline in Germany after privacy complaints

  By Loek Essers | 23 May, 2012 10:31

  Microsoft has taken its Google Street View-like service Bing Streetside offline in Germany after German citizens expressed their worries about how Microsoft handles requests for blurring of images, the company said on Tuesday.

• FTC appoints privacy advocate as adviser

  By Grant Gross | 22 May, 2012 05:44

  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has hired Paul Ohm, a privacy advocate and critic of current online privacy practices, as a senior privacy adviser for consumer protection and competition issues affecting the Internet and mobile services.

• Twitter jumps on Do Not Track bandwagon

  By Computerworld Staff | 19 May, 2012 06:01

  True privacy can be hard to come by in the socially enabled online world, but Twitter on Thursday announced that it has joined Firefox maker Mozilla in taking a big step forward for users.

• Facebook proposes more changes to privacy policy

  By Cameron Scott | 12 May, 2012 11:12

  Facebook said on Friday that it intends to make further changes to its privacy policy in order to respond to an audit by the Irish government, but privacy advocates saw the move as an inadequate attempt to quell privacy concerns prior to Facebook's planned initial public offering.

• California moves to stop employers demanding Facebook passwords

  By Cameron Scott | 11 May, 2012 10:41

  The California assembly passed a bill on Thursday that prevents employers from demanding job applicants' passwords for accounts on Facebook or other social networking sites.

• Twitter resists subpoena to release user's data without warrant

  By Jeremy Kirk | 09 May, 2012 13:04

  Twitter is contesting a court order requiring it to turn over private data on a user charged with disorderly conduct during the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York last year.