Google, Advertising Companies, Found Bypassing Safari Privacy Settings

Google and several other advertising companies have allegedly been evading the privacy controls of Apple’s Safari browser by placing a special kind of tracking code on a handful of sites, according to new research done by Stanford grad student Jonathan Mayer. To follow up on Mayer’s work,...

UPDATED: Anonymous Hacks FTC Consumer Protection Website To Protest ACTA

The anarchic hacking collective Anonymous took credit for a successful attack on Web sites belonging to the FTC. The attack, on Friday, was in protest for the U.S. Government’s support of ACTA, the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Story updated to include comment from the FTC. A number of FTC...

FTC Criticizes ICANN Plan to Expand Domain Names

The Federal Trade Commission FTC is taking aim at a plan by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ICANN to increase the number of domains on the Web. On Dec. 16, the FTC sent a letter to ICANN claiming that expanding the number of generic top-level domains gTLDs would open users...

FTC Gives Refunds to Rogue Antivirus Victims

The Federal Trade Commission FTC is sending reimbursement checks to more than 300,000 people victimized by a rogue antivirus scam. According to the FTC, the checks are the result of the settlement between the agency and several defendants named in a complaint the FTC filed in 2008. As part of the...

Facebook Fixes Complaint Feature Abused To Bypass Photo Privacy, Zuckerberg Among Victims

Facebook has fixed a critical flaw in a user feedback feature that allowed any user to access private photos posted in other users accounts. Before it was fixed, the flaw was used to hack the account of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and post photos online. The social network responded quickly afte...

Facebook Settles with FTC on Privacy Grounds

The Federal Trade Commission FTC proposed a settlement with social networking giant Facebook on Tuesday, requiring the site to take the privacy of its users more seriously and subject itself to privacy audits every two years for the next 20 years, according to an article in the New York Times. Th...

Report: FTC Nears Deal with Facebook For Opt-In Privacy Changes

The deal will settle an FTC case alleging privacy violations on the social network by forcing users to opt in to any changes to default privacy settings, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The FTC inquiry dates back more than two years, and followed changes to the default privacy...

Evercookie Creator: FTC Cookie Inquiry Would Be Too Narrow

Samy Kamkar has always been prescient. He first gained notoriety by showing how nascent social networks like MySpace could be used to spread malware rapidly among a population of millions now billions of users. His worm for MySpace, dubbed the ‘Samy Worm’ earned him a visit from law enforcement...

FTC Aims to Overhaul Children's Privacy Rights

In hopes of revamping a law that was implemented over a decade ago, the Federal Trade Commission began to seek public comment this week on proposed revisions of rules that govern the privacy rights of children online. In effect since 2000, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 COPP...

Congressmen, Witnesses Question Data Breach Bill's Specifics

In an initial hearing to discuss a proposed national data-breach notification bill on Wednesday, representatives and witnesses dissected the SAFE Data Act proposed by Rep. Mary Bono Mack and said that the legislation had a long way to go to be ready for prime time. The hearing, which is just the...

Dropbox potential security flaw revealed, could be exploited by hackers !

It seems that information which Dropbox, the popular web-based file-sharing site/service, issued in response to a US Federal Trade Commission complaint, has revealed a potential security flaw that, according to Ray Bryant, CEO of Idappcom, could be exploited by hackers. According to Bryant, after...

Senators Press Google, Apple Execs on Privacy and Location Tracking

In a hearing on Tuesday about the amount of data that mobile device manufacturers, app developers and others collect about users’ location and activities, senators called on Apple, Google and other companies to be more open and clear with consumers about their data-collection and tracking...

FTC Settles Charges Against Two Companies

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday settled charges against two companies, Ceridian Corporation and Lookout Services, Inc., provided they implement an ample information security program and agree to have audits performed on their company every other year for 20 years. Despite guaranteein...

FTC: Google Used Deceptive Practices In Buzz Social Network

Search giant Google has agreed to settle a case with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday over charges that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy policy when it launched Google Buzz, a social network, in 2010. Google agreed to implement a comprehensive privacy program a...

FTC Charges Scareware Operators to Pay $8 Million Settlement

The FTC doled out $8 million in fines to the operators of an online scareware scheme. The scam involves tricking consumers into thinking their computers are infected with malware and then selling them software to remedy problems that doesn’t exist in the first place. A district court order in...

UK: Google Street View Data Snarfing Broke the Law

Search giant Google violated the United Kingdom’s Data Protection Act by gobbling up personal data, in addition to images and GPS data, with its roving Street View autos. According to a report by the BBC, the UK’s Information Commissioner ruled there was a “significant breach” of the country’s da...

File Sharing Site LimeWire Shut Down Following Injunction

Long a treasure trove for free illegal music, file-sharing website LimeWire was ordered to shut its doors Tuesday after receiving an injunction from the U.S. district court of New York. The ruling specifically mandated Lime Group, the operators of LimeWire, to disable its searching, downloading,...

Privacy Advocate Asks FTC to Force Google to Change Privacy Practices

Chris Soghoian, a well-known privacy advocate and former Federal Trade Commission technologist, has filed a complaint with the FTC asking that the commission force Google to amend its privacy policy to reflect what he says are shortcomings in the company’s protection of data related to consumers’...

Anti-Phishing Group Targeting Fax-Based Scams

The heyday of faxing may have passed twenty years ago, but scam artists haven’t given up on the old technology, especially when it comes to wheedling personally identifiable information out of unsuspecting office workers. Now a leading anti-phishing group is tackling the problem of fax based...

Fee Scam By Fraudsters Went Unnoticed

According to the FTC, the fraudsters charged 1.35 million credit cards a total of $9.5 million, but only 78,724 of these fake charges were ever noticed. Typically they floated just one charge per card number, billing on behalf of made-up business names such as Adele Services or Bartelca LLC. Read...