Michael Mimoso reports: Instagram cofounder Kevin Systrom responded to a firestorm of protests from users of the photo-sharing social network’s proposed terms of service changes that could impact the privacy of its users. Systrom blamed confusing legal jargon for the misunderstanding and said Instagram would not be selling users’ photos once the terms go into effect Jan. 16….
Category: Business
German privacy regulator orders Facebook to end its real name policy
Loek Essers reports: A German privacy regulator ordered Facebook to stop enforcing its real name policy because it violates a German law that gives users the right to use nicknames online. Facebook refused to permit the use of pseudonyms on its platform as required by the German Telemedia Act, Thilo Weichert, privacy commissioner and head…
FTC to Study Data Broker Industry’s Collection and Use of Consumer Data (Updated)
From the FTC: The Federal Trade Commission issued orders requiring nine data brokerage companies to provide the agency with information about how they collect and use data about consumers. The agency will use the information to study privacy practices in the data broker industry. Data brokers are companies that collect personal information about consumers from a variety…
German state orders Facebook to allow pseudonyms
Lance Whitney reports: Facebook is on the hot seat in Germany for requiring users to use their real names instead of pseudonyms. The data protection agency Unabhaengiges Landeszentrum fuer Datenschutz (ULD) in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein has ordered Facebook to put a halt to its real name policy, citing a German law that…