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Internet Explorer 8 to get 'privacy mode'
Microsoft is planning a "privacy mode" for the next release of its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser.
By clicking a button, users of IE8 will be able to limit how much information is recorded about where they go online and what they do.
Microsoft watchers have spotted two patent applications covering ways to manage the amount of information a browser logs.
When introduced the privacy mode will match features found on other browsers. Microsoft is planning a "privacy mode" for the next release of its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser. ... more -
AT&T is "carefully considering" spying on you
AT&T is “carefully considering” monitoring the Web-surfing activities of customers who use its Internet service, the company said in a letter in response to an inquiry from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
While the company said it hadn’t tested such a system for monitoring display advertising viewing habits or committed to a particular technology, it expressed much more interest in the approach than the other big Internet providers who also responded to the committee’s letter.
AT&T did however promise that if it does decide to start tracking its customers online, it will “do so the right way.” In particular, the advertising system will require customers to affirmatively agree to have their surfing monitored. This sort of “opt-in” approach is preferred by privacy experts to the “opt-out” method, practiced by most ad targeting companies today, which records the behavior of anyone who doesn’t explicitly ask to not to be tracked.
[continued] AT&T is “carefully considering” monitoring the Web-surfing activities of customers who use its Internet service, the company said ... more -
Web privacy on the radar in Congress
There is no broad privacy legislation governing advertising on the Internet. And even some in the government admit that they do not have a clear grasp of what companies are able to do with the wealth of data now available to them.
"That is why Congress, at this point, is wanting to gather a lot more information, because no one knows," said Steven A. Hetcher, a professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. "That information is incredibly valuable; it’s the new frontier of advertising."
Beyond the data question, there are issues of how companies should tell browsers that their information is being tracked, which area of law covers this and what — if anything — proper regulation would look like.
On Aug. 1, four top members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent letters ordering 33 cable and Internet companies, including Google, Microsoft, Comcast and Cox Communications, to provide details about their privacy standards. That followed House and Senate hearings last month about privacy and behavioral targeting, in which advertisers show ads to consumers based on their travels around the Web. If an advertiser knows that Mr. Martinez watches "The Colbert Report," for example, it might show him an ad for "The Daily Show."
What do you think? Should Congress get involved in legislation regarding online privacy? Should people be responsible for protecting their privacy by not sharing information, and to what extent? Have websites and online advertisers gone too far? There is no broad privacy legislation governing advertising on the Internet. And even some in the government admit that they do not ha... more -
PUBLIC is the new PRIVATE
Let’s face it, conversations that used to be conducted through private e-mail exchanges are now posted for all to see on social networking walls. Let’s face it, conversations that used to be conducted through private e-mail exchanges are now posted for all to see on social networ... more
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Google ordered to hand over personal details of millions of YouTube users to Viaco...
Google was yesterday ordered to hand over the personal details of anyone who has ever watched a YouTube video.
The ruling - which has massive privacy implications for millions of internet users - was made as part of the search engine's legal battle with content provider Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement.
Under the ruling, Google, which bought YouTube for $1.65 billion (£820 million) in 2006, must hand over to Viacom its viewing log - which includes users' log-in information and their IP address, the code that identifies their computer.
Although the case is being contested in the U.S., legal experts warned last night that the ruling would almost certainly apply to YouTube users worldwide, including those in the UK. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet freedom campaign group, described the judgment as a ' setback' to online privacy rights.
[snip]
In one case, the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth had been viewed 1.5 billion times.
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More at link. Google was yesterday ordered to hand over the personal details of anyone who has ever watched a YouTube video. ... more -
Internet Archive fought the FBI and won
From the article:
Brewster Kahle, who runs an online library in San Francisco, was appalled when his volunteer lawyers told him in November that the FBI was demanding records of all communications with one of his patrons as part of an investigation of "international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."
The FBI document, called a national security letter, told Kahle he could be prosecuted if he discussed the subject with anyone but his lawyers, and allowed him to speak with his attorneys only in person. Kahle said his Internet Archive, which has 500,000 card-holders, doesn't even keep the records the FBI was seeking.
He was allowed to speak publicly Wednesday under a rare settlement in which the FBI agreed to withdraw its letter and lift the gag order. That should show other librarians, and members of the public who receive any of the nearly 50,000 national security letters the government issues each year, that "you can push back on these," Kahle said.
National security letters are subpoenas issued by federal agencies to require businesses and other institutions to produce records of their customers. The agencies do not need court approval for the letters. ...
The archive, established in 1996 and based at the Presidio, allows users to browse through electronic versions of 200,000 books and 85 billion Web pages. It includes a "Wayback Machine" that offers access to archived versions of Web sites - a feature that federal prosecutors have often used with no restrictions from the library, Kahle said.
Users can browse anonymously, and must register and provide e-mail addresses only if they want to add information or comment in a message board.
So when the FBI demanded the name, address and records of all transactions with a specific patron - whose identity is blacked out in the newly unsealed legal documents - Kahle's lawyers replied by furnishing information already posted on the archive's Web site, and said they were withholding only a few items that were not already public. They declined to describe those items Wednesday.
They also sued in federal court, arguing that national security letters are unconstitutional for the reasons cited by the New York judge, and that the Internet Archive is exempt because California classifies it as a library. The lawyers said they negotiated for four months before the FBI agreed to back off.
Kahle said the settlement is a victory, but not a happy occasion.
Although his lawyers worked for free, he said, the fact that they had to invest tens of thousands of dollars' worth of their time "just so we can be a library is downright depressing." From the article: ... more -
MySpace may soon give your info to others
The suits behind MySpace are thinking of sharing your info with publishers and advertisers.
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Transparency or Invasion of Privacy?
legistorm.com lived up to their name when they publicly disclosed information about Congressional salaries, trips...as well as personal data like home addresses and bank account info. The government makes the documents available, but did legistorm step over the line when they published them? Some angry House aides think so. legistorm.com lived up to their name when they publicly disclosed information about Congressional salaries, trips...as well as persona... more
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Internet Privacy
