TJ McIntyre writes: There’s a long and ignominious history in Ireland of personal data abuse by employees in the public sector and insurance industry. Sometimes it’s a garda using phone records to spy on her ex, sometimes it’s nosiness on the part of Revenue staff, and in still other cases it’ssystematic abuse of social welfare records by…
Category: Breaches
Disruptions: So Many Apologies, So Much Data Mining
Nick Bilton writes: Last week, Arun Thampi, a programmer in Singapore, discovered that the mobile social network Path was surreptitiously copying address book information from users’ iPhones without notifying them. David Morin, Path’s voluble chief executive, quickly commented on Mr. Thampi’s blog that Path’s actions were an “industry best practice.” He then became uncharacteristically quiet as the…
Netflix reveals $9m payout in privacy legal action
BBC reports: Netflix has paid $9m (£5.7m) dollars to settle a privacy-related legal action, a financial filing has revealed. The online streaming firm, which made no admission of wrongdoing, said the settlement related to compliance with the Video Protection Privacy Act. The 1988 US legislation prohibits the disclosure of video rental histories. It is reported…
Abine Files FTC Complaint Against BeenVerified For Not Keeping Deleted Profiles Deleted and Misusing Opt-Out Info
From the press release: Abine, Inc., a leader in online privacy solutions for consumers announced today that is has filed a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint against BeenVerified.com, one of the largest background check websites and data brokers. Abine has found that consumers who stated their preference to be removed using BeenVerified’s own opt-out system…