FTC Bares Teeth, Levies $800k Fine Against Data Brokerage Firm

In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the Federal Trade Commission FTC told data brokerage firm Spokeo it has until tomorrow to hand over $800,000 to the Treasurer of the United States. The ruling came in a case addressing the sale of personal Internet information for the purpose of job applicant...

Report: Google Negotiating with FTC over Apple Safari Privacy Breach

Search giant Google is in negotiations with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission FTC over the size of a fine it will pay. This, after the company was found in breach of privacy controls in Apple’s Safari browser earlier this year. According to an article from the Bloomberg news service, an unnamed...

Page's CEO Letter Gives Short Shrift To Privacy, Security

Privacy and security are not the top concerns for Google’s Larry Page, at least if the CEO’s most recent message to investors is any indication. The 3,500 word letter makes scant mention of either security or user privacy and gives the public little indication of Google’s plans to address the...

BlueCross BlueShield to Pay $1.5m for HIPAA Violation

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee agreed to pony up $1.5 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services HHS for a HIPAA violation in 2009, according to a ComputerWorld report. This payment is the settlement of a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...

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...

Report: Google May Face $500m Fine Over Rogue Pharma Ads

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that search giant Google is close to reaching a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over an investigation of the company’s policy of running ads from online pharmacies that operate outside U.S. borders and in violation of U.S. law. Google has not made ...

January, 2011: Geohot and Fail0verflow Lawsuit

One thing that doesn’t puff up a company’s standing with its customers is planting stealth spying software on their computers. The other is making a point of taking them to court for liking your platform too much. Witnesss the fallout after Sony filed suit against George Hotz and fellow members o...

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...

Restaurant Chain is First Fined Under Massachusetts Data Breach Law

UPDATE: A Massachusetts restaurant chain was the first company fined under the state’s toughest in the nation data breach law and will have to pay $110,000 in penalties, according to a statement by the Massachusetts Attorney General. The Briar Group LLC entered into a settlement with Massachsuett...

#OperationLeakS by Anonymous Hacker leaks Bank of America Emails !

OperationLeakS by Anonymous Hacker leaks Bank of America Emails ! We may soon find out whether it's possible to shame one of the big U.S. banks by exposing its mortgage missteps. A series of messages on Twitter Sunday evening promised the release of emails supposedly documenting "fraud and...

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...

Jose Ignacio Lopez (GM)

Lopez was the head of General Motors’ Global Purchasing division when he defected for GM competitor VW to head that company’s purchasing operation in 1993. According to a lawsuit filed by GM, Lopez and other company executives brought with them more than two million pages of top-secret GM...

Ross Klein (Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide)

Klein and Amar Lalvani were two top executives at the Starwood hotel chain when they were recruited by Starwood’s chief competitor, Hilton, to help it start a new line of “lifestyle” hotels to compete with Starwood’s popular “W” hotels. According to a lawsuit filed by Starwood, the two executives...

FTC Settles With CyberSpy Software

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with Florida spyware vendor CyberSpy Software, two years after suing the company for selling “100 percent undetectable” keylogging software. Read the full article. IDG News Service...

Bank Settles With Customer On Wire Transfer Theft

An unusual legal dispute between a Texas bank and a business customer over the online theft of more than $800,000 from the latter’s account at the bank has been quietly settled. Read the full article. Computerworld...

Heartland Settles with MasterCard

Heartland Payment Systems has made a third settlement deal, this time with MasterCard, related to a massive data breach two years ago at the card payments processor. As part of the deal, Heartland has agreed to pay as much as $41.1 million to MasterCard issuers that lost money. Read the full...

U.S. Brokerage Firm to Pay $375K for Breach

US brokerage D.A. Davidson has agreed to pay $375,000 to settle charges that lax security practices allowed criminal hackers from Latvia to pilfer the confidential information of some 192,000 of its customers. Read the full article. The Register...