privacy

Privacy: What should Google do?

Public interest groups, academics and members of the press have hammered Google for its lax privacy policies. The criticism has mostly focused on the log deletion practices and browser cookie policies at the search giant. Google claims that search quality and user privacy are a zero-sum game: deleting log data makes it more difficult to improve search results. Perhaps the company is right. However, there are several other pro-privacy steps that Google could take to significantly protect its customers--which it has not done, and continues to reject.

Over the last few months, a number of Google's engineers have issued … Read more

Homeland Security: We're ready to launch spy satellite office

WASHINGTON--A plan to expand the number of government police and security agencies that can tap into detailed satellite images is proceeding, despite concerns from Congress, the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.

During a roundtable discussion with bloggers and journalists here, Secretary Michael Chertoff said a "charter has been signed" to create a new office, which will serve as a clearinghouse for requests from law enforcement, border security, and other domestic homeland security agencies to view feeds from powerful satellites. It will be called the National Applications Office.

"I think the way … Read more

Report: Complaints trigger rewrite of Photoshop Express terms

It appears Adobe is quickly responding to concerns about a surprising clause in its terms of service for Photoshop Express, the free Web-based software launched Wednesday that has otherwise been well-received.

Users were taken aback by a clause that basically gives Adobe the right to do anything it wants with their photos. As CNET's Lori Grunin first pointed out in her review on Webware, the clause in question goes like this:

Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the … Read more

Tech changes ideas about knowledge, solitude

Tech has changed our lives in so many ways. Two areas that interest me are our thoughts about knowledge itself, and our experience of solitude.

I used to like the game show Jeopardy and even tried out for it. I flew to Los Angeles for the day and passed the test when my daughter was five months old, proving to myself that my brain hadn't totally gone to mush. I didn't get called to be on the show, but the tryout was still a good experience.

But now, with Google and smart phones, we have all that information … Read more

Set Internet Explorer and Firefox to maximize your security

Modern browsers are much better than their predecessors at keeping your Web activity private and your data safe. Still, you may not have your browser configured to provide optimum security. Take a few minutes to give Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 a safety check.

Batten down IE7's hatches The version of IE7 for Vista adds the Protected Mode, which allows Web sites to access only the Temporary Internet Files folder on your PC. According to Microsoft, this feature is on by default for the Internet, Intranet, and Restricted zones, but disabled for the Trusted Sites and Local Machine … Read more

Facebook fires up IM, ratchets up privacy

CNET News.com's Dan Farber co-wrote this report.

Social network Facebook will roll out more extensive privacy controls Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, as well as an instant-messaging service soon after, representatives from the company announced during a press briefing at the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

Most notable about the new privacy controls is the fact that Facebook members will now be able to choose how much of their profiles is visible to those on their friends list.

Naomi Gleit, Facebook's product manager for privacy and internationalization, previewed the updated options, which include a new &… Read more

Berners-Lee wary of unsolicited Web tracking--of any kind

Update, 1:23 p.m. Monday: Background was added about the debate in the U.K. over the use of Phorm's tracking software.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and senior researcher at MIT, recently described his vision for a semantic Web that, instead of analyzing statistical data focused on people, would draw on a layer of metadata to highlight more-complex connections between all types of data, from your banking activity to your photo collection to your business calendar.

But Berners-Lee's enthusiasm for innovation on the Web is tempered by anything that might compromise user … Read more

House Democrats refuse to delete pending spy lawsuits

Congressional Democrats on Tuesday dug in on their refusal to pass a revamped surveillance law that could wipe out some 40 lawsuits accusing telephone companies of illegal cooperation with government spies.

According to summary documents provided by U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office, Democratic leaders are preparing to debate yet another new bill that would not offer so-called "retroactive immunity" to companies that allegedly opened up their networks to the National Security Agency without a court order. At least in theory, that means cases like the one the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed against AT&T … Read more

U.S. and Germany want to share fingerprint, DNA databases

About six months ago, German police reported disrupting a terrorist plot against U.S. installations in their country, thanks in part to intelligence tips from American agents. Now officials in the two nations have hatched a formal plan to share more information about known and suspected terrorists.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and their German counterparts--Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries--initialed an agreement on Tuesday to swap fingerprint and DNA data.

At a Tuesday press conference at German government headquarters in Berlin, Mukasey hailed the proposed cooperation as a &… Read more