privacy news stories on Newser

IBM Thinks Siri Is Spying, Bans It

Kevin Spak — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:53:09 CDT

IBM has banned employees from using Siri on its network, because it doesn't trust the iPhone digital assistant. On Monday, IBM's CIO told the MIT Technology Review that though employees are free to use their personal iPhone at work, it was having problems with apps posing security risks. She said...

Strip-Search Case Proves Privacy Is Dead

Matt Cantor — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:26:04 CDT

The Supreme Court's ruling upholding prisoner strip-searches is an indicator of a much wider trend. Such searches compromise human dignity, but in the court case, not even the dissenting justices argued against all strip-searches, writes Noah Feldman in Bloomberg . That's because "privacy, as we know it, is dying." And the...

US Terror Agency Will Keep Data on Citizens Longer

John Johnson — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:29:55 CDT

The latest privacy flap: New rules will permit a federal counterterrorism agency to hang onto private data collected on US citizens—even those with no known ties to terror groups—for five years instead of 180 days, report the Washington Post and New York Times . The rules approved by Eric...

US, EU Launch New Google Privacy Probes

Matt Cantor — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:32:00 CDT

Last month, it emerged that Google was skirting privacy settings on Apple's Safari browser; now federal, state, and European Union officials are investigating the since-halted practice, which centers on the installation of tracking files. Google faces a $16,000 fine per violation per day—which could add up to quite...

Cops: Guy Hid Transmitter Under Wife's Bed

John Johnson — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:00:05 CDT

The weird crime story of the week from Raccoon Township in Pennsylvania's Beaver County. It seems a woman called police to say she found a "transmitter device" under her bed and was pretty sure her estranged husband put it there, reports the Beaver County Times . When cops approached 66-year-old Wayne...

Court OKs Warrantless Cellphone Searches

Rob Quinn — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:33:05 CST

The police don't need a warrant to search a suspect's cellphone for its phone number in order to obtain a history of calls, a federal appeals court. The three-judge panel, ruling on the case of an Indiana man convicted of drug charges on the basis of call records, likened cellphones...

Bill Would Let Parents Peek at Kids' Texts

John Johnson — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:58:49 CST

An Arizona lawmaker wants to force cell phone companies to let parents read their kids' phone texts, reports the Arizona Republic . State Sen. Rich Crandall says his motive is safety, not snooping. "If I have a 13-year-old being harassed via text, I can't call and get those texts," he said....

Google Agrees to Honor 'Do Not Track' Button

Kevin Spak — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:10:06 CST

A coalition of Web companies headlined by Google has agreed to actually honor "do not track" options in browsers—sort of. The companies will still collect some user data, but they've pledged to ensure it's not used for advertising, employment, credit, health care, or insurance purposes, the Wall Street Journal...

UK to Demand Record of Every Call, Text, Email

Kevin Spak — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:11:29 CST

The UK government is working on an anti-terror plan that would require service providers to record and store details on every call, text, email, or even Twitter direct message sent by anyone in the country—along with all their complete browsing history. Companies would then keep that info on file...