News

2011

December

15

• Carrier IQ faces federal probe into tracking cellphone data. ederal investigators are probing allegations that Carrier IQ software found on about 150 million cellphones tracked user activity and sent the information to cellphone companies without informing consumers, according to government officials. Executives from Carrier…

13

• Firms caught up in identity theft offer little help to victims. Victims of identity theft will tell you: The shock of being defrauded isn't the worst part. What really stings is having to spend days or even weeks undoing all the damage. At the very least,…

12

• Online privacy policies are long, complex and show alarming trends. While nearly 100 percent of websites today include a privacy policy, existing policies are highly complex, lengthy and written in language that is confusing for the average person to understand, according to a new privacy…

08

• Facebook glitch reveals private photos -- including Zuckerberg's. A glitch in the system used to report inappropriate images on Facebook briefly allowed users to view others' private photos. No one's pictures were safe — not even those belonging to Facebook founder and CEO…

• White House pushes vote on consumer agency chief. The White House has undertaken an extraordinary push this week to promote the confirmation of a director for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, despite signs that Senate Republicans will not budge from their vow…

07

• Stealth commercials masquerade as TV news. Alison Rhodes is passionate about child safety, and in hundreds of TV news interviews, the self-styled “Safety Mom” has talked up products designed to increase it. During a segment on WTTG’s morning news last year,…

02

• Security researchers find privacy leaks in fundamental pre-installed Android apps. Though phone manufacturers have been distancing themselves from the Carrier IQ furore, there are plenty of other pieces of software that could be tracking you, too. A team of researchers from North Carolina State University…

01

• Cybersecurity bill could harm privacy rights. Leaders of the House intelligence committee have crafted bipartisan legislation aimed at fostering the exchange of online information between the private sector and the government to better protect commercial computer networks from cyber­attacks. The bill,…

November

29

• Hard to stop telemarketing calls from 'Rachel'. Howard Cohen has received dozens of calls from "Rachel" at "card member services." At first he thought they must be from his credit card issuer. Now he knows better. "It's a scam," Cohen, 67, of…

23

• Malls track shoppers' cell phones on Black Friday. Attention holiday shoppers: your cell phone may be tracked this year. Starting on Black Friday and running through New Year's Day, two U.S. malls -- Promenade Temecula in southern California and Short Pump Town Center…

22

• Firms crack down on shopping at work. If you have small children, a full-time job and an interest in keeping up fashionable appearances -- prepare for some bad news: The era of sneaking in some online shopping at work may be coming…

21

• The dirty dozen of security-vulnerable smartphones. Which smartphones pose the biggest security and privacy risks to consumers and corporations? Security firm Bit9 has pulled together what it calls its "Dirty Dozen" list, putting the Google Android operating system in the spotlight,…

• Facebook falls into 'Do Not Track' debate. In recent weeks, Facebook has been wrangling with the Federal Trade Commission over whether the social media website is violating users' privacy by making public too much of their personal information. Far more quietly, another…

16

• Facebook security breach raises concerns. A widespread spam attack on Facebook has caused violent and pornographic images to be posted on some users’ profile pages, representing one of the worst security breaches in the young Web site’s history and raising…

15

• Regulators sniffing around mobile privacy issues. Regulators are starting to investigate what kind of oversight is in place to make sure that mobile applications don’t encroach on user privacy rights, a lawyer in Microsoft’s Windows Phone segment said on Monday.

11

• Facebook will give users more say over their privacy to settle FTC investigation. Facebook is nearing a settlement with federal regulators that would require the world’s most popular online hangout to obtain approval from its users before making changes that expose their profiles and activities to a wider…

10

• Mobile apps can help you spend wisely. Jim Langehennig set out last Black Friday to get a popular HDTV with a great advertised price. When the Consumer Reportselectronics lab manager got to the store, however, it was sold out. Another model had…

09

• Panel emphasizes safety in digitization of health records. Poorly designed, hard-to-use computerized health records are a threat to patient safety, and an independent agency should be set up to investigate injuries and deaths linked to health information technology, according to a federal study…

08

• Credit scores to add more consumer data. Many consumers applying for a mortgage are going to start sharing more personal information with lenders next year, like it or not. FICO scores, the industry standard for determining credit risk in mortgages backed by…

07

• Police GPS device use triggers privacy clash. Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- For a month in 2005, police in Washington tracked Antoine Jones’s every move -- or at least those he made in his Jeep Grand Cherokee. Using a GPS device authorities had…