The Federal Trade Commission’s website just got a whole lot safer for people to peruse after the government agency said Friday that…
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Why 2015 is the year of encryption
During a visit to Silicon Valley earlier this month, President Obama described himself as “a strong believer in strong encryption.” Some have…
Read MoreHere’s a draft of the consumer privacy “Bill of Rights” act Obama wants to pass
The White House has released a draft of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2015. It outlines the steps companies…
Read MoreLaw firms will start sharing security data to prevent attacks
It’s clear that big banks provide a lot of incentive for hackers to launch cyber attacks, given the amount of sensitive data they…
Read MoreDon’t let AT&T mislead you about its $29 “privacy fee”
This week AT&T got a lot of media attention for its expansion of its GigaPower service to Kansas City announced on Monday.…
Read MoreObama’s executive order calls for sharing of security data
President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Friday designed to spur businesses and the Federal Government to share with each other…
Read MoreResearchers show a machine learning network for connected devices
Researchers at Ohio State University have developed a method for building a machine learning algorithm from data gathered from a variety of…
Read MoreThe internet of things is here, but the rules to run it are not
The objects around us -- from cars to clothes to baby monitors -- are now internet-connected, and acting almost on their own. What laws do we need to control and protect ourselves when these objects act up?…
Read MoreWhisper’s problem: It wants to be both an anonymous app and a news entity at the same time
Whisper was slammed by The Guardian for its alleged tracking of individuals who use the anonymous app, but the concerns about privacy are just the symptom of a larger problem, which is that Whisper wants to be a news entity…
Read MoreHere’s everything you need to know about the Whisper-Guardian story
A recent report suggests that Whisper is tracking its users, even those who have opted out of geolocation services. The company says it's "100 percent false." Here's the overview.…
Read MoreMr. Schmidt goes to Washington, gets burned, leaves
Technology companies seem to be having thoughts about their efforts to engage directly in the political process.…
Read MoreBitTorrent opens up Bleep alpha, releases Android and Mac apps for private text and voice chat
Want to call or message people in a secure fashion, without producing centrally logged metadata? BitTorrent wants to help with its new messaging client Bleep.…
Read MoreGoogle yanks privacy app Disconnect less than 24 hours after allowing it back into Play store
Disconnect Mobile, an app from a privacy company that screens for tracking software, reappeared briefly in Google's Play Store, then vanished again.…
Read MorePrivacy vs personalization: The risks and rewards of engineered serendipity
When companies successfully design for online discovery, people are delivered the information they need before they realize they need it. But as Facebook’s newsfeed experiment reminded us, the challenge is to engineer a sense of serendipity without invading users' privacy. Jay Patani, an analyst at EC1 Capital, imagines a path forward.…
Read MoreA year into the Snowden leaks, here’s something useful we can all do
Protesting is useful to a point, but the privacy pack that accompanies Thursday's Reset The Net campaign could help people make a real difference.…
Read More“Brightest Flashlight” Android app disclosed location of 50 million people, but FTC imposes no fine
What happens if you install secret tracking software on the phones of tens of millions of people and sell their location to advertisers? Not much, if a new FTC order is anything to go by.…
Read MoreObama calls for modest surveillance reform (but no amnesty for Snowden)
President Obama finally spoke up in detail about the controversial surveillance practices exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The speech was also significant for what he didn't say.…
Read MoreNet neutrality neutered, Nest now Google’s and a crazy search for the Cray OS
Big money and big policy made headlines this week. On this podcast we talk Google buying Nest, the FCC and net neutrality and bringing back Cray.…
Read MoreWhen Google closes the Nest deal, privacy issues for the internet of things will hit the big time
Google intends to buy a connected thermostat that knows when you're home and where you are within it. Given Google's quest to index all the world's information, this deal should jumpstart the conversation about privacy and the internet of things.…
Read MoreNSA surveillance blowback could hit marketers
The revelation that the NSA piggybacks on commercial cookies to track individuals' web habits could spread the economic fallout from the spying disclosures much more widely, by drawing attention to the very thin and fuzzy line separating commercial and government surveillance.…
Read MoreForget about the NSA for a minute: The internet of things could kill the little white lie
We may think we're used to the potential harms of sharing too much data on social networks, but what happens when passive data collection from sensors can be shared --sometimes without your knowledge?…
Read MoreMaking “temporary” content online harder than it looks for Snapchat, Facebook
Think you can send content on your smartphone that won't appear elsewhere? Evidence that your Snapchat videos can be retrieved without notifying the sender comes as further proof what people in the digital age are realizing -- true online privacy can be hard to come by.…
Read MoreForget the EU: How to really empower users on privacy
In the fight to determine who dictates web privacy, web users are like a a chew toy at risk of being torn asunder by two competing dogs -- played this week by Google and the European Union. But the best option is empower consumers themselves.…
Read MoreCongress’s top 5 tech questions for 2012 (more than just SOPA)
The impending SOPA and PIPA bills have the Internet in a tizzy, but Congress has a lot more to think about than just intellectual property. The issues at play in the SOPA debate have broad effects that span everything from the digital divide to international commerce.…
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