December 22, 2010

GOOGLE DELETES DATA COLLECTED BY STREET VIEW CARS

Personal data collected by Google’s UK Street View cars has been deleted. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which has been criticised for not taking a more hardline stance against Google, confirmed the deletion.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/WpjSL (Source: BBC News)

December 21, 2010

WOMAN SUES GOOGLE FOR SHOWING UNDERWEAR

A Japanese woman is suing Google for displaying images of underwear hanging on her washing line on its Street View function. The woman, who has not been named, is suing the Internet giant for 600,000 Yen, claiming the images caused her psychological distress, according to Japan’s Mainichi newspaper.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/n46qk (Source: The Telegraph)

SMARTPHONES SHARING PERSONAL DATA, PROBE FINDS

Few devices know more personal details about people than the smartphones in their pockets: phone numbers, current location, often the owner’s real name — even a unique ID number that can never be changed or turned off. These phones don’t keep secrets. They are sharing this personal data widely and regularly, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/hI0z6 (Source: The Wall Street Journal)


December 15, 2010

DATA BREACH EXPOSES McDONALD'S CUSTOMERS' INFO

McDonald’s Corp. says some of its customers’ private information was exposed during a data breach. The company said Monday that a third party was able to get past security measures and see into a database of its customer information that included e-mail, phone numbers, addresses, birthdates and other specifics that they provided when signing up for online promotions or other subscriptions to its websites.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/XZ6JX (Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

December 3, 2010

FTC ENDORSES "DO NOT TRACK" PRIVACY PLAN ONLINE

The Federal Trade Commission advocated a plan that lets consumers on the Internet choose whether they want information about their browsing habits to be collected, an option known as “do not track.” The FTC’s proposal, a framework for commercial use of consumer data, would make consumer privacy the default position and would let Web users decide whether Internet sites and advertisers can build profiles of their browsing and buying habits as well as collect other personal information.

Read the article: http://goo.gl/AqS0J (Source: The New York Times)

December 2, 2010

HACKER CLAIMS ATTACK ON WIKILEAKS WEBSITE

A computer hacker who calls himself “The Jester” claimed responsibility for the cyber attack which took down the WikiLeaks site, shortly before it started posting hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. The Jester, who describes himself as a “hacktivist for good,” said he took the controversial site down “for attempting to endanger the lives of our troops, ‘other assets’ & foreign relations.”

Read the article: http://goo.gl/mfMlA (Source: CNN)