The 1984 Blog

September 22, 2011

With the help of the CIA, the NYPD conducted surveillance on American citizens because of their ethnicity. Representative Holt of New Jersey is urging Justice department to investigate.

September 20, 2011

Popular GPS based vehicle service OnStar changes its privacy policy to state that it will track location and speed of vehicles even if drivers no longer subscribe to OnStar's service.

August 29, 2011

A state run German consumer protection agency has decided that Facebook's "like" button is a violation of European Union privacy laws. At issue: any page with the "like" button on it provides Facebook with the ability to track users as they travel to different sites.

June 26, 2011

The FCC finds that, across the country, local journalism has dropped significantly since 2001. Because of media mergers and the rise of Internet news, fewer local newspapers are able to stay in business.

This matters because:

"A shortage of reporting manifests itself in invisible ways: stories not written, scandals not exposed, government waste not discovered, health dangers not identified in time, local elections involving candidates about whom we know little."

June 20, 2011

State of Tennessee passes law that makes it illegal to post images that cause "emotional distress." Does not define what that means. Constitutional scholars anticipate legal challenges in 5, 4, 3 . . . .

June 8, 2011

Facebook turns on "Facial Recognition" feature. Privacy advocates worried about what Facebook plans to do with its massive database of users' biometric data.

Meanwhile, the 9.5 million Facebook users that don't use any privacy controls are unimpressed.

May 2011:

Sony data breach one of largest ever. Over 100 million users had private data--including credit card numbers--stolen.

No one knows who stole this information or where it is.

April 5, 2011

Epsilon, a huge marketing company, was hacked and user email addresses were stolen. This matters to you because Epsilon sends billions of emails per year for companies like Best Buy, Chase, Tivo, LL Bean, Walgreens, the College Board, Citi, and many others. Company spokespersons say that no credit card information was stolen.

March 2, 2011:

Facebook to release users' phone numbers and home addresses to anyone who creates a Facebook app--despite having promised not to do so just a few months ago. Privacy experts and Congress express concerns.

February 11, 2011:

U.S. government contracts with private firm for software that can quickly create multiple fake Facebook profiles. Aims to use social media to influence public opinion.

October 20, 2010:

Facebook apps leak private information and users sue for damages.

October 20, 2010:

Wall Street Journal story about web pages using of tracking "cookies" to monitor us. Dictionary.com one of the top sites for installing tracking software on our computers.

October 21, 2010:

Ongoing EFF spying lawsuit against AT&T for allowing NSA monitoring of Internet streams.

October 28, 2010

Broad new regulations would make it easier for national security officials monitor Internet