data protection

How Google and other American Internet companies operate in Europe could come down to a link that, depending on what side of the Atlantic Ocean you're on, should or should not be deleted.

A case heard Tuesday before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) hinges on a complaint submitted by a Spanish citizen who searched Google for his name and found a news article from several years earlier, saying his property would be auctioned because of failed payments to his social security contributions.

Spanish authorities argued that Google, other search engines, and other Web companies operating in Spain should … Read more

One of the world's most popular cross-platform applications "violates" international privacy laws, according to the Canadian and Dutch data protection authorities, because it requires users to provide their entire contact list to the service.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Dutch Data Protection Authority today announced their findings for what they called a "collaborative investigation into the handling of personal information" by the California-based company.

WhatsApp, an instant messenger application for iPhone, Android devices, and BlackBerry smartphones, provides a free service to rival text messaging, and sends more than 1 billion … Read more

Proposed legislation in the European Union would force tech companies that have access to user data -- such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft -- to report any security breaches to local cybersecurity agencies, the Financial Times reported today.

This is the European Commission's effort to make private companies accountable for privacy and security problems, European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes told the Financial Times.

If passed, the measure would require each of the EU's 27 member states to set up local cybersecurity agencies to implement security standards on online networks. Social networks, e-commerce companies, and large online platforms … Read more

Just as you choose where your money goes after you die, you should be able to control your "digital assets" -- your online data -- when you pass away, according to a University of Illinois law professor.

Professor Jason Mazzone has written a paper titled "Facebook's Afterlife," which argues that federal agencies are responsible for safeguarding "digital afterlives" in the same manner that a bank has a duty to properly bequeath a deceased person's assets.

Mazzone, an expert in intellectual property law, says the U.S. government should take a solid role … Read more

Despite earlier reports saying that it might do so, Australia won't take aim at Google's Street View service over the collection of Wi-Fi data.

The country's news.com.au service reported today that Australia Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim was planning to evaluate a recently released U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report on Street View data collection to determine if his office should call on the Australian Federal Police to launch an investigation into the search giant's practices. However, in a subsequent media statement, the commissioner's office made it clear no such investigation would be … Read more

Facebook is facing legal action in Germany over its controversial facial-recognition feature.

The state data protection authority in Hamburg is preparing to sue the social-networking giant over the feature, which automatically recognizes and tags photos in Facebook users' networks, according to a report in Deutsche Welle.

"This requires storing a comprehensive database of the biometric features of all users," the organization reportedly wrote in a German-language statement published on its Web site. "Facebook has introduced this feature in Europe, without informing the user and without obtaining the required consent. Unequivocal consent of the parties is required by … Read more

Facebook Ireland is under fire for allegedly creating "shadow profiles" on both users and nonusers alike.

The startling charges against the social-networking giant come from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (IDC), which, Fox News reports today, is launching a "comprehensive" investigation against Facebook Ireland for extracting data from current users--without their consent or knowledge--and building "extensive profiles" on people who haven't even signed on for the service.

Names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, work information, and perhaps even more sensitive information such as sexual orientation, political affiliations, and religious beliefs are being collected and … Read more

If recent hacking episodes--not to mention the casual attitude toward privacy displayed by some social networks--have made you a little queasy about our hyperdigitized, hypernetworked society, recent news from Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., isn't likely to make you feel much better.

The New York Times' Kevin Sack reports that the hospital has confirmed a rather bizarre episode. A spreadsheet listing the names; diagnosis codes; account numbers; admission and discharge dates; and billing charges for 20,000 emergency room patients wound up on a Web site that enables students to pay people for help with their homework--as … Read more

Google is facing yet another challenge over privacy rights--this one to be played out in a Spanish courtroom, starting tomorrow.

The search giant is up against a legal test from the Spanish government's data protection agency. Established to field complaints from citizens over how their personal information appears online, the agency has demanded that Google remove links to sites that it claims violate people's privacy rigths, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The agency contends that under Spanish law, Google is required to remove such links--a claim that Google has challenged. Specifically, the agency wants more than 90 … Read more