Lois Beckett writes: Data companies are scooping up enormous amounts of information about almost every American. They sell information about whether you’re pregnant or divorced or trying to lose weight, about how rich you are and what kinds of cars you have. Regulators and some in Congress have been taking a closer look at these so-called data brokers…
Category: Business
The Time is Now for Do Not Track Legislation
Sandra Fulton writes: While our electronic privacy laws have remained stagnant, online advertising has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. The browsing and communications habits of online users are routinely and secretly tracked as they surf the internet. Yesterday, Senator Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, introduced a bill to establish a Do Not Track mechanism –similar…
Suit: 185K spyware images sent from rental computers (Updated)
The FTC may have settled charges against Aaron’s over the use of DesignerWare LLC software, but the consumers haven’t. Crystal and Brian Byrd are still pursuing a lawsuit against Aaron’s and now there’s another lawsuit filed on behalf of another consumer by the same attorneys. As Associated Press reports: Spyware installed on computers leased from…
Appeals judges will allow $9.5M Facebook privacy settlement
Joe Mullin writes: Internet privacy lawsuits, especially of the class-action variety, have been sprouting up everywhere in the past few years. Some of them have been settled for considerable sums, especially when companies are sued over publicly acknowledged privacy screw-ups that they’ve already taken heat for. One of the most notable was the $9.5 million Facebook settlement over its Beacon…