Apple CEO Tim Cook made some big claims about his company’s privacy policies and took some veiled shots at Google’s, but all isn’t necessarily what it seems. Apple isn’t entirely good, and Google isn’t entirely evil.
Our coverage direction remains the same, but we’ve decided to arrange the furniture a little differently here at Gigaom.
With a new tool for assigning personality profiles based on Facebook posts, a startup called Five is trying to demonstrate the types of inferences companies can make about consumers. The company hopes it will spur desire for a more-private alternative to today’s very public platforms.
A new framework by Microsoft Research lets lawyers and privacy managers encode their policies using a language called Legalease, and check code for compliance across systems that store, process and analyze data. The goal is to speed development and put parties on the same page.
In Part 2 of my look at the issue of web privacy, I address the likely reality that no one inside Google, Facebook or the NSA cares about any of us on an individual level.
This is the first of two posts in which I try to come to terms with the privacy concerns inherently tied to the digital era. Should I feel powerless, indifferent or take a laissez faire attitude and just go along for the ride?
http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2013/10/how_californias.htm
Law professor and blogger Eric Goldman drops some knowledge on the ineffectiveness and, one could argue, innovation-hindering effects on these types or privacy laws. I think regulation is a good idea, but it must be flexible and it should be paired with better public education so consumers can make informed choices. I’d rather websites spend money protecting my data or asking me at the time of collection whether they can use data for ads.
A scientist writing for Politico has equated government data mining with atomic bombs and is calling for disarmament. But if citizens are going to have a voice in this debate, we probably need to solve web privacy first.
Researchers have released a tool that lets anyone track the whereabouts of Twitter and Instagram users who allow geotagging of their posts. They want social media users to be aware that geotagging exists and what kind of information it provides.
How much does the U.S. government request data from U.S. web properties? A lot. Here are eights charts showing data from Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter about how many requests they get from across the globe.
