Privacy

Mobile device users' privacy will be safeguarded under a new transparency code of conduct created in an effort involving 40 groups ranging from businesses to advocacy groups and led by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling hailed ...

American cloud service providers seeking to do business abroad are feeling the fallout from the NSA's PRISM surveillance program, suggests a month-long online survey by the Cloud Security Alliance. Fifty-six percent of more than 200 overseas respondents said they were less likely to use U.S.-based c...

When a tweet goes out on Twitter that a user didn't send, the concern is usually that the account has been hijacked by a malicious user. This week, however, three users on Twitter were surprised to find out that their user names and images had been used as examples in a marketing campaign created by...

In the wake of rising public anger over Microsoft's involvement in the NSA's PRISM program, the company has urged U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to let it share more details about the way it handles government requests for information. There are "significant inaccuracies" in the interpretation of...

In an effort to catch up with their data-swamped online counterparts, brick-and-mortar retailers are turning to a new tool to help them better monitor shoppers and maximize sales: shoppers' cell phones. Approaches include tracking shoppers as they move about the store using their phones' connection ...

Although it initially denied involvement in the National Security Agency's PRISM surveillance program, Microsoft has in fact worked closely with U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor users' communications, even helping the NSA circumvent its own encryption to do so, new documents from whistleblower ...

Google Glass has generated a more or less steady stream of privacy criticisms and concerns since it was first announced, but the company's latest effort to satisfy critics has apparently fallen short. Specifically, Google's recent response to a letter sent in May by eight members of the Bipartisan...

A U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner is urging consumers to take more control over their data. The call to action comes as revelations that the NSA is spying on Americans to an unprecedented degree continue to shake the country. Unease has been mounting over the amount of data companies are handing ove...

In the wake of recent revelations that the government has been tapping their networks to monitor users, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft in recent days have all published more information about those monitoring requests. Facebook, for example, on Friday reported that for the six months ending December ...

Verizon is on the hot seat. It is at the center of the story about releasing customer information to the U.S. National Security Agency. While Verizon does make information about every call available to the NSA, the actual conversation is still private -- for now, at least. To date, Verizon has been ...

Rep. Hank Johnson last week introduced into the U.S. House a new bill that could considerably change mobile app development. The bipartisan legislation would require application developers to gain explicit consent from consumers before collecting their data. It also would require developers to secur...

Google has engaged the Behavio team in a "hiring exercise." The startup uses mobile sensors to collect data and predict behavior. Its technology recognizes data such as location, contacts, nearby destinations, recent phone activity, daily movement, and even surrounding physical information such as t...

Facebook fans will get the chance to have the social network take over their lock and home screens on certain Android phones as of April 12, thanks to the introduction of the company's Home apps. That prime mobile phone real estate will also serve as comfortable surroundings for advertisements when ...

Proposed changes to the popular Mozilla Firefox browser that would block third-party cookies have sparked the ire of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which claims the move will hurt how small businesses use ads to attract customers. Mozilla's proposal will let users give their permission for the ...

Google has settled its Street View privacy case with 38 states and the District of Columbia. As part of the settlement, the company will destroy the personal information it collected under the project, train its employees on privacy issues for a 10-year period, launch a campaign to educate consumers...