An IP address is not a Social Security number or a fingerprint. It, in the words of Judge Gary Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, “provides only the location at which one of any number of …
Security & Privacy
8 Tools for the Online Privacy Paranoid
It’s hard to use the Internet anymore without being watched. Tracking cookies follow your every move, so advertisers can figure out what to sell you. Social networks keep you constantly signed in, in part so they can see what …
Vibe: Private Twitter Alternative Helps ‘Occupy’ Protesters Organize Anonymously
If you notice an uptick in #OWS hashtags on Tuesday, you’ll know that the Occupy movement has risen from its relatively dormant winter and early spring for May Day protests. Once again, social media will play a huge part in how …
The Breakdown: Who Supports CISPA and Who Doesn’t
Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer
Upload your private diary, novel manuscript, amateur movie or digitally crafted song to Google’s new Google Drive and it’s totally impervious to company tinkering, right? Not necessarily. In fact the way things are currently laid …
FAA Reveals List of Colleges and Police Departments That Can Fly Drones
Back in February, we wrote about a new bill passed by Congress that gave private, military and commercial drones more access to U.S. airspace. Now, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit from the Electronic …
5 Reasons the CISPA Cybersecurity Bill Should Be Tossed
So long SOPA and PIPA, hello Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a bill proposed last November to give the government new powers to secure networks and thwart copyright violators. It’s finally up for a vote …
Why Combining Social Media Sites Can Be Hazardous to Your Privacy
It’s hard not to feel gross after reading Cult of Mac’s description of Girls Around Me. For those not up-to-date on the controversy, Girls Around Me is an app from Russian developer i-Free which maps out women’s locations and …
New OnStar Service Lets You Track Your Family’s Cars Online
It’s 10pm. Do you know where your children are?
Well, you would if you had OnStar’s Family Link. In fact, you would know where your wife or husband was too. That’s because it tracks every single car in the family’s garage, …
FTC Releases Online Privacy Report: Does It Go Too Far? Not Far Enough?
The Federal Trade Commission just released a kind of online privacy mission statement in the form of a 112-page document that calls on companies to pledge support for consumer privacy-bolstering policies. Employing the vernacular …
DuckDuckGo Founder Gabriel Weinberg Talks About Creating a More Private Search Engine
DuckDuckGo’s commitment to user privacy was more or less an afterthought. If you aren’t familiar with the site, it’s a search engine with a decidedly spare aesthetic that doesn’t log IP addresses or record your search …
When Targeted Ads Attack: Engagement Rings, Teen Pregnancy and 55 Gallons of Lube
The Atlantic writer Sara Marie Watson was recently surprised by a wedding ring. No, her fiancé didn’t get on one knee; it popped up on a Facebook ad over the question “How well do you know Nick Smith?”
The answer was that she …