Washington, Mar 10(ANI): Britain's privacy watchdog has slammed Google's new privacy policy as being "too vague" and claimed it does not comply with the Data Protection Act.
Deputy Information Commissioner David Smith criticized Google at a conference in Westminster.
"Google's privacy policy is too vague.The requirement under the UK Data Protection Act is for a company to tell people what it actually intends to do with their data, not just what it might do at some unspecified point in future," The Telegraph quoted Smith, as saying.
"Being vague does not help in giving users effective control about how their information is shared. It's their information at the end of the day," he added.
His comments echo those of the French privacy watchdog, CNIL, which had called on Google to delay the unveiling of new policy.
European Commissioner Viviane Reding had earlier accused the firm of "sneaking away" citizens' privacy and warned that "we aren't playing games here".
But Google argued that its new privacy policy is easier to understand than over 60 policies it has replaced.
The new policy gives Google powers to pool personal information from search Gmail Maps, YouTube and dozens of other services to create a single profile of a user's interests to target advertising. (ANI)
Source:
http://goo.gl/XblkZ
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Mozilla's new add-on enables users to track who is 'spying' on them
London. Mar 3 (ANI): Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has unveiled a new add-on for the popular web browser that gives web users an instant view of which companies are "watching" them as they browse.
The move comes the same week that Google pushed ahead with its controversial new privacy policy, built to provide even more data for Google's 28-billion-dollar advertising business, despite concerns that the massive harvesting of private data might be illegal in many countries.
According to Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs, the Collusion add-on will allow users to "pull back the curtain" on web advertising firms and other third parties that track people's online movements.
Mozilla's Firefox is the world's second most popular web browser, a position under threat from Google's own Chrome browser.
The Collusion add-on is an official Mozilla product, and was unveiled at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference this week by Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs.
"Collusion is an experimental add-on for Firefox and allows you to see all the third parties that are tracking your movements across the Web," the Daily Mail quoted Mozilla as saying.
"It will show, in real time, how that data creates a spider-web of interaction between companies and other trackers," it said.
Mozilla aims to build up a database of the worst offenders and make the data available to privacy campaigners.
"When we launch the full version of Collusion, it will allow you to opt-in to sharing your anonymous data in a global database of web tracker data.
"We'll combine all that information and make it available to help researchers, journalists, and others analyze and explain how data is tracked on the web," it added. (ANI)
SOURCE:
http://goo.gl/LkLuu
The move comes the same week that Google pushed ahead with its controversial new privacy policy, built to provide even more data for Google's 28-billion-dollar advertising business, despite concerns that the massive harvesting of private data might be illegal in many countries.
According to Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs, the Collusion add-on will allow users to "pull back the curtain" on web advertising firms and other third parties that track people's online movements.
Mozilla's Firefox is the world's second most popular web browser, a position under threat from Google's own Chrome browser.
The Collusion add-on is an official Mozilla product, and was unveiled at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference this week by Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs.
"Collusion is an experimental add-on for Firefox and allows you to see all the third parties that are tracking your movements across the Web," the Daily Mail quoted Mozilla as saying.
"It will show, in real time, how that data creates a spider-web of interaction between companies and other trackers," it said.
Mozilla aims to build up a database of the worst offenders and make the data available to privacy campaigners.
"When we launch the full version of Collusion, it will allow you to opt-in to sharing your anonymous data in a global database of web tracker data.
"We'll combine all that information and make it available to help researchers, journalists, and others analyze and explain how data is tracked on the web," it added. (ANI)
SOURCE:
http://goo.gl/LkLuu
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Frenchman sues over Google Views urination photo
NANTES, France (Reuters) - A Frenchman took Google to court on Thursday over a photo published online by its Street View application showing him urinating in his front yard which he believes has made him the laughing stock of his village in rural northwest France.
The man, who is aged around 50 and lives in a village of some 3,000 people in the Maine-et-Loire region, is demanding the removal of the photo, in which locals have recognised him despite his face being blurred out.
He also wants 10,000 euros in damages.
"Everyone has the right to a degree of secrecy," his lawyer, Jean-Noel Bouillard, told Reuters. "In this particular case, it's more amusing than serious. But if he'd been caught kissing a woman other than his wife, he would have had the same issue."
Google Inc.'s Street View, covering some 30 countries and available in France since 2008, enables users of Google Maps to also view photos of streets taken by its camera cars, which have cameras hoisted on frames on their roofs.
The man thought he was hidden from view by his closed gate as he relieved himself in November 2010. But Google's lens caught him from above his gate as it passed by. Bouillard did not explain why the man chose to urinate outside.
Google's lawyer in the case, named by local daily Ouest France as Christophe Bigot, was not immediately reachable, but the newspaper said he was pleading that the case should be declared null and void.
The court, in the nearby city of Angers, is due to give its verdict on March 15.
(Reporting by Guillaume Frouin; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
SOURCE:
http://goo.gl/VrzDA
The man, who is aged around 50 and lives in a village of some 3,000 people in the Maine-et-Loire region, is demanding the removal of the photo, in which locals have recognised him despite his face being blurred out.
He also wants 10,000 euros in damages.
"Everyone has the right to a degree of secrecy," his lawyer, Jean-Noel Bouillard, told Reuters. "In this particular case, it's more amusing than serious. But if he'd been caught kissing a woman other than his wife, he would have had the same issue."
Google Inc.'s Street View, covering some 30 countries and available in France since 2008, enables users of Google Maps to also view photos of streets taken by its camera cars, which have cameras hoisted on frames on their roofs.
The man thought he was hidden from view by his closed gate as he relieved himself in November 2010. But Google's lens caught him from above his gate as it passed by. Bouillard did not explain why the man chose to urinate outside.
Google's lawyer in the case, named by local daily Ouest France as Christophe Bigot, was not immediately reachable, but the newspaper said he was pleading that the case should be declared null and void.
The court, in the nearby city of Angers, is due to give its verdict on March 15.
(Reporting by Guillaume Frouin; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
SOURCE:
http://goo.gl/VrzDA
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Google's digital glasses to be revealed soon
London, Feb 23(ANI): Google digital glasses, which use augmented reality technology and Android technology, will be out in the market soon.
The glasses reportedly incorporate augmented reality technology into a new Robocop - style vision of the future, superimposing the screen of the glasses with additional contextual information.
Google's glasses are reportedly similar in appearance to the Oakley Thump design, The Telegraph reports.
Even though Google has itself determinedly refused to give any oxygen to rumors of the project, the New York Times reports that the glasses will use the same operating system as Google's mobile phone, and cost about the same as a top smart phone too.
A digital camera and Internet connectivity is combined with location data, so if you point your phone at Big Ben, because the device knows where you are it's comparatively simple to add information to the image on screen.
And while the obvious uses are for, say, historical information, there's space for advertisers and social services to tell you where to, say, meet up with friends for a drink. (ANI)
Source:
http://goo.gl/dpnzQ
The glasses reportedly incorporate augmented reality technology into a new Robocop - style vision of the future, superimposing the screen of the glasses with additional contextual information.
Google's glasses are reportedly similar in appearance to the Oakley Thump design, The Telegraph reports.
Even though Google has itself determinedly refused to give any oxygen to rumors of the project, the New York Times reports that the glasses will use the same operating system as Google's mobile phone, and cost about the same as a top smart phone too.
A digital camera and Internet connectivity is combined with location data, so if you point your phone at Big Ben, because the device knows where you are it's comparatively simple to add information to the image on screen.
And while the obvious uses are for, say, historical information, there's space for advertisers and social services to tell you where to, say, meet up with friends for a drink. (ANI)
Source:
http://goo.gl/dpnzQ
Apple, Google, Amazon, smart phone makers sign privacy accord
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Six of the world's top consumer technology firms have agreed to provide greater privacy disclosures before users download applications in order to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, California's attorney general said on Wednesday.
The agreement binds Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard -- and developers on their platforms -- to disclose how they use private data before an app may be downloaded, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said.
"Your personal privacy should not be the cost of using mobile apps, but all too often it is," said Harris.
Currently 22 of the 30 most downloaded apps do not have privacy notices, said Harris. Some downloaded apps also download a consumer's contact book.
Google said in a statement that under the California agreement, Android users will have "even more ways to make informed decisions when it comes to their privacy".
Apple confirmed the agreement but did not elaborate.
Harris was also among U.S. state lawmakers who on Wednesday signed a letter to Google CEO Larry Page to express "serious concerns" over the web giant's recent decision to consolidate its privacy policy.
The policy change would give Google access to user information across its products, such as GMail and Google Plus, without the proper ability for consumers to opt out, said the 36 U.S. attorneys general in their letter.
EU authorities have asked Google to halt the policy change until regulators can investigate the matter.
CAN AND WILL SUE
California's 2004 Online Privacy Protection Act requires privacy disclosures, but Harris said few mobile developers had paid attention to the law in recent years because of confusion over whether it applied to mobile apps.
"Most mobile apps make no effort to inform users about how personal information is used," Harris said at a press conference in San Francisco. "The consumer should be informed of what they are giving up".
The six companies will meet the attorney general in six months to assess compliance among their developers. But Harris acknowledged "there is no clear timeline" to begin enforcement.
The attorney general repeatedly raised the possibility of litigation at some future time under California's unfair competition and false advertising laws if developers continue to publish apps without privacy notices.
"We can sue and we will sue," she said, adding that she hoped the industry would act "in good faith."
There are nearly 600,000 applications for sale in the Apple App Store and 400,000 for sale in Google's Android Market, and consumers have downloaded more than 35 billion, said Harris.
There are also more than 50,000 individual developers who have created the mobile apps currently available for download on the leading platforms, she said.
These figures are expected to grow. She said an estimated 98 billion mobile applications will be downloaded by 2015, and the $6.8 billion market for mobile applications is expected to grow to $25 billion within four years.
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Carol Bishopric and Michael Perry)
Source:
http://goo.gl/JIJqI
The agreement binds Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard -- and developers on their platforms -- to disclose how they use private data before an app may be downloaded, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said.
"Your personal privacy should not be the cost of using mobile apps, but all too often it is," said Harris.
Currently 22 of the 30 most downloaded apps do not have privacy notices, said Harris. Some downloaded apps also download a consumer's contact book.
Google said in a statement that under the California agreement, Android users will have "even more ways to make informed decisions when it comes to their privacy".
Apple confirmed the agreement but did not elaborate.
Harris was also among U.S. state lawmakers who on Wednesday signed a letter to Google CEO Larry Page to express "serious concerns" over the web giant's recent decision to consolidate its privacy policy.
The policy change would give Google access to user information across its products, such as GMail and Google Plus, without the proper ability for consumers to opt out, said the 36 U.S. attorneys general in their letter.
EU authorities have asked Google to halt the policy change until regulators can investigate the matter.
CAN AND WILL SUE
California's 2004 Online Privacy Protection Act requires privacy disclosures, but Harris said few mobile developers had paid attention to the law in recent years because of confusion over whether it applied to mobile apps.
"Most mobile apps make no effort to inform users about how personal information is used," Harris said at a press conference in San Francisco. "The consumer should be informed of what they are giving up".
The six companies will meet the attorney general in six months to assess compliance among their developers. But Harris acknowledged "there is no clear timeline" to begin enforcement.
The attorney general repeatedly raised the possibility of litigation at some future time under California's unfair competition and false advertising laws if developers continue to publish apps without privacy notices.
"We can sue and we will sue," she said, adding that she hoped the industry would act "in good faith."
There are nearly 600,000 applications for sale in the Apple App Store and 400,000 for sale in Google's Android Market, and consumers have downloaded more than 35 billion, said Harris.
There are also more than 50,000 individual developers who have created the mobile apps currently available for download on the leading platforms, she said.
These figures are expected to grow. She said an estimated 98 billion mobile applications will be downloaded by 2015, and the $6.8 billion market for mobile applications is expected to grow to $25 billion within four years.
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Carol Bishopric and Michael Perry)
Source:
http://goo.gl/JIJqI
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Q and A - The complex interplay of social media and privacy
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Living in the world of social networking and mobile smartphones means trading away some of your personal information.
But assessing the price of admission to join the super-networked, digital class is not so simple; even experts on the issue admit that they don't have a full picture of the way personal information is collected and used on the Internet. But here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind.
Q. What information do you have to give up to participate in social media?
A. Social networks such as Facebook and Google+ require at a minimum that you provide them with your name, gender and date of birth. Many people provide additional profile information, and the act of using the services - writing comments or uploading photos or "friending" people - creates additional information about you. Most of that information can be kept hidden from the public if you choose, though the companies themselves have access to it.
If you use your Facebook credentials to log-on to other Web sites, or if you use Facebook apps, you might be granting access to parts of your profile that would otherwise be hidden. Quora, for example, a popular online Q&A site, requires that Facebook users provide it access to their photos, their "Likes" and information that their friends share with them. TripAdvisor, by contrast, requires only access to "basic information" including gender and lists of friends.
Social media apps on smartphones, which have access to personal phone call information and physical location, put even more information at play.
On Apple Inc's iPhone, apps must get user permission to access GPS location coordinates, a procedure that will now be applied to address book access as well after companies including Twitter were found to be downloading iPhone address book information. Beyond those two types of data, Apple locks away personal data stored in other applications, such as notepad and calendar apps, according to Michael Sutton, the vice president of security research at email security service ZScaler.
Google Inc's Android smartphone operating system allows third-party apps to tap into a bonanza of personal data, though only if they get permission. In order to download an app from the Android Market, users must click 'OK' on a pop-up list that catalogues the specific types of information that each particular app has access to.
With both mobile and Facebook apps, often the choice is to provide access to a personal information or not use the app at all.
Q. Should I worry about how my information is being used?
A. Personal information is the basic currency of an Internet economy built around marketing and advertising. Hundreds of companies collect personal information about Web users, slice it up, combine it with other information, and then resell it.
Facebook doesn't provide personal information to outside marketers, but other websites, including sites that access Facebook profile data, may have different policies. Last year, a study by Stanford University graduate student found that profile information on an online dating site, including ethnicity, income and drug use frequency, was somehow being tramsitted to a third-party data firm.
The data that third-parties collect is used mainly by advertisers, but there are concerns that these profiles could be used by insurance companies or banks to help them make decisions about who to do business with.
Q. Are there any restrictions on what information companies can collect from Internet users or what they can do with it?
A. In the United States, the federal law requires websites that know they are being visited by children under 13 to post a privacy policy, get parental approval before collecting personal information on children, and allow parents to bar the spread of that information or demand its deletion. The site operators are not allowed to require more information from the children than is "reasonably necessary" for participating in its activities.
For those who are 13 or older, the United States has no overarching restrictions. Websites are free to collect personal information including real names and addresses, credit card numbers, Internet addresses, the type of software installed, and even what other websites people have visited. Sites can keep the information indefinitely and share most of what they get with just about anyone.
Websites are not required to have privacy policies. Companies have most often been tripped up by saying things in their privacy policies - such as promising that data is kept secure - and then not living up to them. That can get them in trouble under the federal laws against unfair and deceptive practices.
Sites that accept payment card information have to follow industry standards for encrypting and protecting that data. Medical records and some financial information, such as that compiled by rating agencies, are subject to stricter rules.
European privacy laws are more stringent and the European Union is moving to establish a universal right to have personal data removed from a company's database-informally known as the "right to be forgotten." That approach is fervently opposed by companies dependent on Internet advertising.
Q. Is there likely to be new privacy legislation in the United States?
A. The year 2011 saw a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill as U.S. lawmakers introduced a handful of do-not-track bills with even the Obama White House calling for a "privacy bill of rights."
Leading the charge on do-not-track legislation are the unlikely pair of Reps. Edward J. Markey, a Massachussetts Democrat, and Joseph Barton, a Republican from Texas, who have jointly led a "Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus."
Still, with half a dozen privacy laws meandering through Congress, most observers expect it could take a long time before any are passed-and not before they are significantly watered down in the legislative process.
Source:
http://goo.gl/HWPyi
But assessing the price of admission to join the super-networked, digital class is not so simple; even experts on the issue admit that they don't have a full picture of the way personal information is collected and used on the Internet. But here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind.
Q. What information do you have to give up to participate in social media?
A. Social networks such as Facebook and Google+ require at a minimum that you provide them with your name, gender and date of birth. Many people provide additional profile information, and the act of using the services - writing comments or uploading photos or "friending" people - creates additional information about you. Most of that information can be kept hidden from the public if you choose, though the companies themselves have access to it.
If you use your Facebook credentials to log-on to other Web sites, or if you use Facebook apps, you might be granting access to parts of your profile that would otherwise be hidden. Quora, for example, a popular online Q&A site, requires that Facebook users provide it access to their photos, their "Likes" and information that their friends share with them. TripAdvisor, by contrast, requires only access to "basic information" including gender and lists of friends.
Social media apps on smartphones, which have access to personal phone call information and physical location, put even more information at play.
On Apple Inc's iPhone, apps must get user permission to access GPS location coordinates, a procedure that will now be applied to address book access as well after companies including Twitter were found to be downloading iPhone address book information. Beyond those two types of data, Apple locks away personal data stored in other applications, such as notepad and calendar apps, according to Michael Sutton, the vice president of security research at email security service ZScaler.
Google Inc's Android smartphone operating system allows third-party apps to tap into a bonanza of personal data, though only if they get permission. In order to download an app from the Android Market, users must click 'OK' on a pop-up list that catalogues the specific types of information that each particular app has access to.
With both mobile and Facebook apps, often the choice is to provide access to a personal information or not use the app at all.
Q. Should I worry about how my information is being used?
A. Personal information is the basic currency of an Internet economy built around marketing and advertising. Hundreds of companies collect personal information about Web users, slice it up, combine it with other information, and then resell it.
Facebook doesn't provide personal information to outside marketers, but other websites, including sites that access Facebook profile data, may have different policies. Last year, a study by Stanford University graduate student found that profile information on an online dating site, including ethnicity, income and drug use frequency, was somehow being tramsitted to a third-party data firm.
The data that third-parties collect is used mainly by advertisers, but there are concerns that these profiles could be used by insurance companies or banks to help them make decisions about who to do business with.
Q. Are there any restrictions on what information companies can collect from Internet users or what they can do with it?
A. In the United States, the federal law requires websites that know they are being visited by children under 13 to post a privacy policy, get parental approval before collecting personal information on children, and allow parents to bar the spread of that information or demand its deletion. The site operators are not allowed to require more information from the children than is "reasonably necessary" for participating in its activities.
For those who are 13 or older, the United States has no overarching restrictions. Websites are free to collect personal information including real names and addresses, credit card numbers, Internet addresses, the type of software installed, and even what other websites people have visited. Sites can keep the information indefinitely and share most of what they get with just about anyone.
Websites are not required to have privacy policies. Companies have most often been tripped up by saying things in their privacy policies - such as promising that data is kept secure - and then not living up to them. That can get them in trouble under the federal laws against unfair and deceptive practices.
Sites that accept payment card information have to follow industry standards for encrypting and protecting that data. Medical records and some financial information, such as that compiled by rating agencies, are subject to stricter rules.
European privacy laws are more stringent and the European Union is moving to establish a universal right to have personal data removed from a company's database-informally known as the "right to be forgotten." That approach is fervently opposed by companies dependent on Internet advertising.
Q. Is there likely to be new privacy legislation in the United States?
A. The year 2011 saw a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill as U.S. lawmakers introduced a handful of do-not-track bills with even the Obama White House calling for a "privacy bill of rights."
Leading the charge on do-not-track legislation are the unlikely pair of Reps. Edward J. Markey, a Massachussetts Democrat, and Joseph Barton, a Republican from Texas, who have jointly led a "Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus."
Still, with half a dozen privacy laws meandering through Congress, most observers expect it could take a long time before any are passed-and not before they are significantly watered down in the legislative process.
Source:
http://goo.gl/HWPyi
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