MediaPost | Daily Online Examiner

Consumers Union Urges Opt-In Consent For Facial Recognition Tech

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:22:37 -0500

The ability to automatically connect faces to names has long captured the imagination of many people, not to mention corporations. Facebook already uses facial recognition technology -- though so far only to allow people to automatically tag their friends in photos.

Megaupload Users Enlist EFF To Retrieve Files

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:53:00 -0500

When the federal authorities shut down Megaupload two weeks ago, millions of Web users lost access to personal photos, documents and other material they stored in the cloud. Whether they will ever see that data again remains an open question.

EFF Asks Court To Preserve Web Users' Anonymity In Copyright Case

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:10:44 -0500

In one of the more perplexing recent judicial decisions, a federal magistrate in the Washington ruled in December that Web users who are accused of infringing copyright by downloading porn movies, and who want to fight for their anonymity, can only do so by first placing their names in the public record. This week, the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation filed papers pointing out the absurdity of the order.

Microsoft Taps Into Privacy Angst To Lure Google Users

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:10:00 -0500

Microsoft is making the most of the flap over Google's decision to revise its privacy policy. Today, the Seattle-based software giant unveiled an ad campaign bashing Google for the new policy.

BlueCava Touts Device Fingerprinting

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:07:00 -0500

The company BlueCava boasted this week that its technology, which relies on device fingerprinting, offers Web companies a way to track people while still complying with Europe's broad privacy laws. BlueCava says that the newest version of its device-fingerprinting technology doesn't require installing cookies on users' computers. Instead, the company recognizes the unique characteristics of users' computers and then compiles information about those people's Web-surfing activity.

Megaupload Users Might Lose Files Forever

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:52:00 -0500

The federal government's recent indictment of Megaupload executives for copyright infringement has left millions of people who stored photos or documents on the service in limbo.

Facebook Brings Spam Case Against Alleged 'Clickjackers'

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:33:02 -0500

Facebook and Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna filed separate lawsuits this week against the performance-based marketing network AdScend Media, which allegedly engaged in a clickjacking scheme on the social network.

Lawmakers Question Google's New Privacy Policy

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:56:07 -0500

Google's privacy policy is raising eyebrows on Capitol Hill, where a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers are indicating they're not happy with the search giant's decision to create comprehensive profiles of users.

Google To Create Detailed User Profiles

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:58:24 -0500

Google sent shock waves through the Web this week with its announcement that it intends to revise its privacy policy to enable it to create more comprehensive profiles of users. Starting March 1, the company intends to combine information about signed-in users across a variety of products and services, including Gmail, Android, and YouTube.

Supreme Court Decision Could Reset Web Privacy Expectations

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:32:44 -0500

In a landmark decision addressing privacy in the digital era, the Supreme Court said this week that the police violated a suspect's rights by installing a GPS device on his car without a warrant. While the case dealt with whether the government can track people suspected of crimes, the judges' reasoning could influence judges in a broad swath of privacy disputes that don't involve surveillance by police officers.

Anti-Piracy Bills Shelved, For Now

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:00:00 -0500

If nothing else, this week's protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP showed that online calls to action can be effective. Google, Craigslist, Wikipedia and countless other sites devoted online real estate to campaigns urging people to oppose the anti-piracy measures. Web users did so in droves. Google reported that more than 7 million people signed an online petition opposing the bills. At Wikipedia, more than 8 million people used an interactive tool to find the phone numbers of their representatives.

Feds Shut Down Megaupload For Copyright Infringement

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:09:00 -0500

One day after Internet companies mounted a massive protest against proposed anti-piracy legislation, the federal authorities shut down the cyberlocker Megaupload for alleged copyright infringement. The government also said it had obtained arrest warrants against seven company executives, including founder Kim Dotcom.

Tech Companies Rally Against Anti-Piracy Bills

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:50:41 -0500

Web companies don't always do the best job of explaining their stands on policy matters to the public. Issues like net neutrality, for instance, or policies regarding broadband competition, privacy, or even online taxes, can potentially affect a big swath of Internet companies -- and consumers -- yet few Web companies have been able to communicate why these topics are important -- at least not in a way that doesn't make people's eyes glaze over. But Internet companies ranging from Wikipedia to Reddit to Google to I Can Haz Cheezburger effectively used their platforms today to rally opposition to two controversial anti-piracy bills -- the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate.

Judge's Puzzling Ruling: Web Users Can't Seek Anonymity Without First Disclosing Names

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:40:00 -0500

In a move that defies logic -- not to mention due process -- a federal magistrate in the District of Columbia has ruled that people accused of copyright infringement, and who want to oppose unmasking orders, can only do so by placing their names in the public court docket.

Google Chimes In On Righthaven Appeal

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:35:58 -0500

Search giant Google is asking a federal court to reject a key argument put forward by copyright enforcer Righthaven in one of its appeals. Righthaven's appeal in this particular case centers on whether the nonprofit group Center for Intercultural Organizing was entitled to claim fair use after reposting an entire article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

House Democrats: Carrier IQ Software Could Pose 'Significant' Privacy Threat

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:39:31 -0500

Carrier IQ still can't shake the controversy that erupted last month, after researcher Trevor Eckhart posted a video showing how the company's software can log keystrokes.

Leahy Suggests Revising Protect-IP Act

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:32:00 -0500

Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is preparing to perform some surgery on the controversial Protect-IP Act now pending in the Senate. The Democrat from Vermont said today that one of the bill's most hotly debated components -- a provision allowing judges to order Internet service providers to block certain domain names -- could be revised.

Reddit Plans Blackout To Protest Anti-Piracy Bills

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:52:30 -0500

Reddit intends to black out its site for 12 hours next Wednesday, administrators said this week. The move marks the social news site's latest attempt to rally opposition to the Hollywood-backed Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect-IP Act.

Righthaven Defendant Argues Fair Use To 9th Circuit

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:20:00 -0500

Copyright enforcement outfit Righthaven might be floundering, but issues raised by the company's business model are still up for consideration in the courts. One of the unresolved questions stemming from Righthaven's litigation campaign centers on whether newspapers that invite readers to share articles effectively grant readers licenses to reproduce material in ways that would otherwise infringe on copyright. That question -- which came up when Righthaven launched its litigation campaign -- is among the issues that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals could address when it considers Rightaven's appeal in an unsuccessful lawsuit against the nonprofit Center for Intercultural Organization.

Markey, Barton Not Satisfied With Facebook's Answers On Privacy

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:16:43 -0500

Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) recently asked Facebook to explain why it obtained a patent for tracking people across the Web. The social networking service's response, made public today, reiterates its prior statements to the media -- namely, that tech companies often obtain patents they don't intend to use.

Tech Companies Mull Blackout To Protest Anti-Piracy Law

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:05:45 -0500

Tech companies like Google, Twitter and Amazon have made no secret of their opposition to anti-piracy proposals currently under consideration on Capitol Hill. So far, however, their efforts have been limited to lobbying Congress against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (pending in the House) and Protect-IP Act (in the Senate). But this week reports have swirled that the companies are considering a more radical approach: a blackout to protest the measures.

EPIC: Facebook Should Restore Old Privacy Settings

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:21:04 -0500

The Federal Trade Commission should require Facebook to restore users' 2009 privacy settings, the advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center says.

Righthaven Says It Can't Give Copyrights To Court-Appointed Receiver

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:53:20 -0500

Righthaven has been nothing if not aggressive in its litigation campaign against bloggers who reposted newspapers' content. The company, which notoriously sued first and asked questions later, brought a total of around 275 cases against bloggers and small publishers before its campaign came to a halt this summer.

Proposed COPPA Regs Could Knock Ad Networks Off Kids' Sites

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:56:31 -0500

If the Federal Trade Commission wants to ban companies from using behavioral advertising techniques on children, the agency should try the direct approach. That's according to the think tank Future of Privacy Forum.

“The straightforward way to regulate the ability of operators to target children with behavioral advertising would be to simply prohibit operators from engaging in the practice,” the think tank says in written comments regarding a proposed update to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. “But the FTC instead focuses on the types of information operators collect rather than on how operators use the information. This approach unnecessarily risks imposing COPPA’s notice and consent requirements on those operators who use information in ways that do not raise significant privacy concerns.”

COPPA, passed in 1998, prohibits Web companies from knowingly collecting "personal information" from children without their parents' permission. The statute defines personal information as names, telephone numbers and street addresses, but the statute also enables the FTC to define the term as any identifier that “permits the physical or online contacting of a specific individual.”

The FTC recently proposed including any unique identifier -- including tracking cookies, device serial numbers, and in some cases, IP addresses -- within the definition.

Doing so, says the industry-funded Future of Privacy Forum, could effectively prevent sites geared toward children from selling any space to ad networks, which often set cookies simply to count the number of people who view an ad, or for frequency capping. “The proposed changes to the rule would treat this collection of non-personal information as personal and thus bring to a halt the basic information collection relied on by advertisers and web publishers for basic understanding of their ad campaigns,” the Future of Privacy Forum argues.

Jules Polonetsky, co-chair of the organization, says that the FTC could instead define personal information as data collected and used for purposes of behavioral advertising -- or sending ads to users based on sites they previously visited.

The Future of Privacy Foundation is hardly the only group to take issue with the FTC's proposal. The Interactive Advertising Bureau also opposed broadening the definition of personal information.

Other business and industry groups, including the American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers, Direct Marketing Association, Magazine Publishers of America and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also weighed in against the proposal.

Public interest groups and privacy advocates including the Center for Digital Democracy, American Academy of Pediatrics and World Privacy Forum, mostly praised the proposal.

Facebook, meanwhile, addressed what's become known as the “nym” wars -- or the battle over online anonymity. The company reiterated its stance against pseudonyms. “We always have believed that people online are more likely to adhere to community rules and less likely to engage in negative, dangerous, or criminal behavior when their real-world friends and families surround them,” Facebook wrote. “A culture of authentic identity also makes our service less attractive to predators and other bad actors who rarely use their real names and email addresses when engaging in nefarious activity.”

Backlash Spurs GoDaddy To Change Stance On SOPA

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:26:00 -0500

Faced with boycott threats, domain registrar GoDaddy said this afternoon that it no longer backs the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. "Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation -- but we can clearly do better," CEO Warren Adelman said in a statement.

FCC Moves Toward 'WiFi On Steriods' By Approving 'White Spaces' Devices

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:08:32 -0500

The prospect of "WiFi on steroids" took a big step forward today with the Federal Communications Commission's approval of the first database and first device for "white spaces," or the unused spectrum between TV channels.

ScanScout Finalizes Flash Cookie Settlement

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:39:37 -0500

The Federal Trade Commission said today that it finalized a settlement with ScanScout for allegedly using Flash cookies to track Web users. The deal calls for ScanScout to give users an easy way to opt out of the collection of many types of data, including IP addresses. The company is still allowed to collect data from opted-out users for some purposes, including frequency capping, fraud prevention and age verification.

Law Prof: Terms Of Facebook's Privacy Settlement Not Stringent Enough

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:36:00 -0500

Facebook's recent privacy settlement with the Federal Trade Commission isn't sitting well with everybody. UC Berkeley law professor Chris Hoofnagle, for one, thinks the terms aren't stringent enough.

Universal Claims Right To Remove Clips -- Even When They Don't Infringe Copyright

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:04:31 -0500

Record labels have made no secret of their distaste for cyberlockers like Megaupload which, the labels argue, contribute to piracy by making it easy for people to share music. So Universal Music Group couldn't have been thrilled when a clip showing celebrities like Will.i.a,m, Sean Combs and Kim Kardashian endorsing Megaupload went live on YouTube earlier this month. Even so, it was surprising to learn that Universal demanded the clip's removal shortly after it appeared online.

House Judiciary Committee Delays SOPA Vote

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:45:00 -0500

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee decided this afternoon to delay voting on the controversial anti-piracy bill Stop Online Piracy Act until at least next week. As of now, the committee is scheduled to resume the markup on Wednesday.