news on mobile privacy Archives

Google cedes to European privacy regulators and boosts Wi-Fi router security

09/15/201109/15/2011 Jesse Collins

After a notable battle, Google has bowed to the rules laid down by European privacy regulators with an announcement that it would be providing residential Wi-Fi router owners worldwide with the option to take their devices off a Google registry that is used for locating mobile phone users. This new option follows a warning issued by the European regulators almost four months ago, which stated that it violated European law to use Wi-Fi router data to collect information regarding the locations, identities, and names of mobile phones within their range.…

Mobile device data capacity leads to tremendous security risks

08/03/201108/03/2011 John Montgallo

According to experts, the data capacity and portability of mobile devices are bringing about a series of significant security issues. Assistant vice president of Aon Risk Solutions, Sarah Stephens, a San-Francisco-based unit of Aon Corp., pointed out that people set the devices down and leave them unattended. That said, the greater the storage capacity of the devices, the more sensitive information is frequently stored within them, and the greater the risk if the device be misplaced or stolen. This was explained by Stephens at the first Cyber & Privacy Risk…

“Certain circumstances” allow a smartphone to be tracked by the NSA

07/31/201107/31/2011 Stephanie Beck

A National Security Agency (NSA) lawyer has announced that the department is capable of tracking citizens in specific situations using smartphone location data, and that it will be providing further details into this fact in the near future. Users of smartphones have been voicing concerns about having their movements followed and, as it turns out, they weren’t entirely being paranoid. Matthew Olsen, general counsel of the National Security Agency, spoke at a hearing, discussing the rights of the government to obtain and use this information. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon…

Obama administration considers privacy protection for teens

07/24/201107/24/2011 Jennifer Goula

More than a dozen advocacy groups for privacy and child protection have requested that the Obama administration include adolescents into the recommendations it makes for privacy protection within this year’s white paper. This was only one of the two primary requests made by the groups in a letter that was issued to the Commerce Department, Justice Department, the White House, and the Interagency Subcommittee on Privacy and Internet Policy co-chairs for the National Science and Technology Council at the White House. These groups include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the…

Sharing tools such as “like” buttons generate worries over privacy

07/06/201107/06/2011 Jesse Collins

Social media apps such as “like” buttons that are designed to allow users to share things over the internet have become highly popular, but have also brought about unprecedented risks to privacy and security that are building a need for improved federal privacy laws. Currently, apps for social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook permit the collection of a significant amount of personal data because virtually anyone can develop a social media app that connects directly into the social networking service. Though these services were created primarily to allow…