Jeffrey Roman writes: News of Google’s $22.5 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission has come and gone, yet privacy issues reflected in the case remain a concern. Where are the gaps and how can companies fill them? Attorney Francoise Gilbert offers details. “Many companies just pay lip service to privacy,” says Gilbert of the IT Law…
Category: Breaches
Dutch Rail gets knuckles rapped but avoids fine for privacy invasion
From DutchNews.nl: Dutch Rail (NS) has invaded the privacy of owners of the public transport smart payment card by using their personal information for marketing purposes without permission, privacy watchdog CBP said on Tuesday. Even holders of the ‘anonymous’ smart card, which does not contain personal information or carry a photo, have been the victims,…
Foretelling the end of money-for-nothing class actions
Alison Frankel writes: A year ago, representing the “victims” of corporate privacy breaches seemed like a decent business model. In a very instructive chart Reuters prepared in June of 2011, my colleague Terry Baynes detailed the outcome of six privacy breach settlements, in which class action lawyers sued companies whose customer information was hacked. Most of the…
If You Blinked, You Probably Missed the Instagram Bug That Let Android Users See Anyone’s Private Photos
Eric Limer reports: Instagram 3.0 might be the best way to browse your friends’ photos, but for Android users, it was briefly a great way to browse anyone’s photos, even the private ones. Fortunately Instagram managed to patch the hole in record time. The bug, uncovered by Cult of Mac, gave Android users universal access to other…