Privacy

Privacy at risk: Who's watching you? (roundup)

The notion of Big Brother has been around for decades, but technology has long lagged behind the Orwellian imagination. Not any more--in the era of smartphones, face recognition, and the omnipresent Internet, the stakes are now much higher. That's what drives the new CBS drama "Person of Interest." Read on for more about the show and about the real-world connectable dots of the everyday surveillance we live with.

Video: "Person of Interest"--Cell phones spying on you

See additional "Person of Interest" videos below.

TODAY'S PRIVACY REALITIES

CNET's Security Center Writers … Read more

New OnStar privacy policy expands on data sharing

OnStar is updating its privacy policy--effective this December--with some daring new freedoms that allow it to share your data with more people. In addition, a new clause alludes to a possible sale of business operations, which has been a long-standing rumor surrounding the telematics company.

Regarding a possible sale of OnStar: "There may be instances where we sell some or all of our business operations," says the policy (PDF). "To the extent that the business operation that is sold relates to the equipment, service or data connection, we may transfer your information as part of the transferred … Read more

How 9/11 attacks reshaped U.S. privacy debate

It was not that long ago that U.S. congressman Spencer Bachus, a conservative Republican from Alabama, was defending Americans' right to privacy against overreaching government surveillance.

"Technology has outrun the law," Bachus said during a July 2000 hearing. He wondered: "What level of monitoring do we, as a country, want to have on private conversations?"

Soon afterward, that House of Representatives committee took the unprecedented step of voting, by a 20-1 margin, to require police to obtain a warrant from a judge before e-mail could be read or mobile phones could be tracked. The legislation … Read more

Microsoft collects phone location data without permission, says researcher

A security researcher says that Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 software can transmit your location without your explicit permission.

An analysis by Samy Kamkar says that the Camera application sends the device's location--complete with latitude and longitude, a unique ID, and nearby Wi-Fi access points--to Microsoft even when the user has not given the app permission to do so. Here are more details on how it works.

"The Windows Mobile operating system is clearly sending information that can lead to accurate location information of the mobile device regardless of whether the user allowed it," Kamkar wrote in … Read more

White House pledges new Net privacy approach

ASPEN, Colo.--A White House aide today previewed the administration's forthcoming approach to Internet consumer protection, saying it will provide "privacy law without regulation."

"Businesses that are engaged in responsible privacy practices today ought not to face any additional burdens," said Danny Weitzner, associate administrator at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) who's on assignment to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Weitzner suggested during a discussion at a Technology Policy Institute conference here that: "You can have stronger privacy law, clearer rules, clearer principles established in law, … Read more

FTC commissioner calls for new 'do not track' approach

ASPEN, Colo.--The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should take a different approach to "do not track" that would involve investigating online advertising, and then perhaps regulating it, a commissioner said today.

J. Thomas Rosch, a Republican commissioner who was appointed in 2006, suggested that the best way to create a do-not-track mechanism for the Web would be for the FTC to require all advertising networks to disclose what they do.

"The commission could serve those entities with compulsory process," Rosch said at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum here. We could "direct them … Read more

Hackers break into BART police union Web site

Hackers have broken into a second Web site affiliated with the San Francisco Bay Area subway system, which has come under fire in the last week for turning off cell phone service before a planned protest.

A database belonging to the BART Police Officers Association was posted online today, complete with full names, e-mail addresses, home addresses, and passwords. BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the embarrassing information leak--a Twitter account affiliated with Anonymous said that no one has "claimed responsibility for the hack," and speculated that it … Read more

Security flaw found in feds' digital radios

Expensive high-tech digital radios used by the FBI, Secret Service, and Homeland Security are designed so poorly that they can be jammed by a $30 children's toy, CNET has learned.

A GirlTech IMME, Mattel's pink instant-messaging device with a miniature keyboard that's marketed to pre-teen girls, can be used to disrupt sensitive radio communications used by every major federal law enforcement agency, a team of security researchers from the University of Pennsylvania is planning to announce tomorrow.

Converting the GirlTech gadget into a jammer may be beyond the ability of a street criminal for now, but that … Read more

Lose your laptop? Change all passwords, pronto

LAS VEGAS--If your Windows laptop is stolen, be warned: new research shows how a thief can gain access to the passwords used by your Amazon.com, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and other Web accounts.

The passwords for accounts in the cloud are supposed to be protected by Windows' built-in encryption. But a team of security researchers demonstrated at the Black Hat security conference here how last week to bypass the operating system's security.

A thief--or someone unconcerned with the finer points of federal hacking laws--can take advantage of the vulnerability to discover the passwords stored by Web browsers and other … Read more