Facebook has ways of tracking where you're going online. But there are ways to block their snooping.
(New York Times) — A Commerce Department task force called for the creation of a “Privacy Bill of Rights” for online consumers and the establishment of an office within the department that would work to strengthen privacy policies in the United States and coordinate initiatives with other countries. The department’s Internet Policy Task Force, in […]
(New York Times) — Lawmakers examining the Federal Trade Commission’s recommendation for a “do not track” mechanism to restrict the monitoring of Internet users said that they supported stricter safeguards for consumer privacy, but raised questions on how the system would work. Many also expressed concern that it would undermine one of the main pillars […]
(Wall Street Journal) — The makers of the popular Firefox Web browser are exploring ways to create a do-not-track mechanism that could offer Internet users a way to avoid being monitored online. The effort comes just months after Firefox’s creator, Mozilla Corp., killed a powerful and new tool to limit tracking under pressure from an […]
The administration seeks new laws and a regulator to check an increasingly absorbing digital space.
(New York Times) — After “do not call” lists became popular, more than 90 percent of people who signed up reported fewer annoying telemarketing calls. Now, privacy advocates are pushing for a similar “do not track” feature that would let Internet users tell Web sites to stop surreptitiously tracking their online habits and collecting clues […]
(Wall Street Journal) — Facebook Inc. said that a data broker has been paying application developers for identifying user information, and that it had placed some developers on a six-month suspension from its site because of the practice. The announcement, which Facebook made on its developers’ blog Friday, follows an investigation by Facebook into a privacy […]
(Newsweek) — Imagine you’re an employer, looking to hire me for a job. You subscribe to a Web site that gives you background information, and this is what you find. Jessica Rose Bennett, 29, spends 30 hours a week on social-networking sites—while at work. She is an excessive drinker, a drug user, and sexually promiscuous. […]
(Newsweek) — Up until a couple of years ago, I used to say that the average person could protect his or her privacy on the Web. Even as the founder of an online reputation-management company, ReputationDefender, I believed it was possible—so long as you were willing to commit some time to doing it. Today, I tell […]