Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
Data Privacy Day is January 28. And as Steve DelBianco writes at the NetChoice blog, now is an opportune time for it as Congress, the Commerce Department, and the Federal Trade Commission each have proposed new rights and rules for data privacy. To appreciate Data Privacy Day you must first ignore the Euro-babble description of [...]
Here at TLF, our privacy discussions often center around such concepts as expectations of privacy, notice and choice, opt-in/out, and the like. These are all important and legitimate of course, but the privacy issue that seems to make news more than any other is Google Spy-Fi, and the defiant attitude Google has against governments. And [...]
Recent media attention has resurrected the notion that criminal background checks for online dating sites are helpful and should even be required by law. Sunday’s front page article in the New York Times described how companies selling background checks can “unmask Mr. or Ms. Wrong.” And today’s Good Morning America featured a segment called “Online [...]
Earlier today the Commerce Department’s Internet Policy Task Force issued its expected privacy report. Commerce waded into shark-filled privacy waters and produced a report that overall is thoughtful, comprehensive and has lots of meat for strengthening the nation’s privacy framework. Of course, we have our quibbles too. On first read, here’s what I like and [...]
At today’s FCC “Generation Mobile” forum — chock-full of online safety experts, company reps, Jane Lynch of the TV show Glee, and even Chairman Genachowski himself — it was the kids that made the show about mobile technology worthwhile. On a panel about generation mobile, here are a few of the statements we heard from [...]
“The do-not-track system could put an end to the technological ‘arms race’ between tracking companies and people who seek not to be monitored.” – David Vladeck, FTC David Vladeck is right. The Do Not Track system would put an end to the technological “arms race” – but that’s not a good thing. Instead, its the [...]
Rob Pegoraro’s article in yesterday’s Washington Post is a worthy read, if only because it puts into context what is and isn’t a privacy breach. Recently, there’s been a lot of noise–started by a Wall St Journal article–about a supposed privacy breach by Facebook surrounding the misuse of user data by applications installed on the [...]
A federal judge sided with privacy over taxes yesterday, signaling a victory for consumers in North Carolina. Now we’re waiting to see if this also means victory for consumers and online companies that sell into Colorado. A U.S. District Court in Seattle blocked North Carolina’s Department of Revenue from compelling Amazon to reveal the names [...]
Today I testified at a hearing by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on commercial sexual exploitation and the Internet. When I first learned about it, I feared the worst: time to demonize the Internet. After all, the hearing announcement openly targeted Craigslist and websites generally. But this was not the case at all—as we heard, NGOs, law enforcement, and [...]
The WSJ ran a front page, above-the-fold headline screaming that Facebook has had a privacy breach. But as Steve DelBianco discusses over at the NetChoice blog, today’s WSJ “breach” is all smoke and no fire. The WSJ is saying that some of Facebook’s applications are accidentally sharing the public username on my Facebook page, in [...]
February 13, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
