privacy

Facebook's messaging system can sometimes be more distracting than useful. The ability for everyone you have as a friend to contact you in a real-time chat can eat a large chunk of your time each day (depending on the number of friends, of course). Instead of allowing everyone to talk to you at their whim, why not just enable chat for the people you would actually want to have real-time conversations with?

Luckily Facebook has options to turn off chat for everyone except those you select, or simply turn it off for people who contact you too often. Here'… Read more

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's secretive "Stingray" surveillance technology that allows police to surreptitiously track the locations of cell phones and other mobile devices will itself go on trial in an Arizona courtroom tomorrow afternoon.

Attorneys representing the U.S. Department of Justice are expected to defend warrantless use of stingray devices, which trick mobile devices into connecting to them by impersonating legitimate cell towers. Prosecutors yesterday filed court documents saying stingrays were used in investigations in Arizona and Wisconsin going back to 2008.

In the legal skirmishing leading up to tomorrow's three-hour hearing, federal attorneys … Read more

Apple has fixed the security issue involving its Apple ID password-reset page, a vulnerability that had made it possible for hackers with a user's e-mail address and birth date to reset the user's password.

Apple said yesterday that it was aware of the issue and was preparing a fix. Meanwhile, the company had taken the "iForgot" reset page offline for maintenance. Now the page is back up, and Apple has confirmed the fix with CNET.

The security exploit made use of a special URL that got around the need to answer a security question. Apple had … Read more

An unusual bipartisan revolt has erupted against law enforcement plans to fly more drones equipped with high-tech gear that can be used to conduct surveillance of Americans.

A combination of concerns about privacy, air traffic safety, facial recognition, cell phone tracking -- and even the possibility that in the future drones could be armed -- have suddenly placed police on the defensive.

A public outcry in Seattle last month prompted the mayor to ground the police department's nascent drone program. Oregon held a hearing this week on curbing drones, following one in Idaho last week. And on Tuesday, Rep. … Read more

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a new bill, known as the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act, to force law enforcement to obtain a warrant to track suspects with GPS devices.

The bill, which was introduced to Congress yesterday, is sponsored by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), as well as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and House judiciary committee ranking member Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). If passed, it would provide a "legal framework" that provides clear guidelines on when and how GPS devices can be accessed and used.

"New technologies are making it increasingly … Read more

Here's the scenario: a mom has a baby recovering from an ear infection. He's doing fine, but the doctor wants to do a follow-up visit to make sure he took the antibiotics well and is on the mend. The problem is that it's a hassle for the mother to load the baby and her toddler into the car to drive an hour each way for a quick 15-minute visit. Here's a solution: telemedicine, or a video chat on a computer or tablet with a physician from the comfort of the family's home.

Such chats are … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- How Facebook knew a man was gay before anyone else did .

- NYC subways deploy a touch-screen network, complete with apps and Wi-Fi.

- Man who got porn site logos tattooed on his face now somehow regrets his decision.

- Lululemon pulls popular yoga pants for revealing too much.… Read more

Microsoft said today it received 75,378 law enforcement requests worldwide last year for customer information, but disclosed "content" in only 2 percent of those cases.

Those are just a couple of the details laid out in Microsoft's "2012 Law Enforcement Requests Report," the first-ever such disclosure from the software giant.

The report covers all of Microsoft's major online services including Hotmail, Outlook.com, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, Microsoft Account, and Office 365. It separately discloses similar data from Skype.

In releasing the information about law enforcement requests, Microsoft follows the lead of online heavyweights … Read more

A judge scolded Apple today over how it has handled document discovery in a privacy lawsuit, warning that the iPhone maker may face court-ordered penalties.

Noting that Apple's document production "has more than doubled since the court got involved," U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal suggested plaintiffs' attorneys pursue sanctions against Apple, according to a Bloomberg account of the proceedings.

During a hearing today in San Jose, Calif., Grewal asked Apple lawyers why documents were submitted only after the court ordered a review of its document-production process. It "doesn't sound like you did a … Read more