When even the purchase of a pack of cigarettes becomes part of an information database, the surveillance of people’s private lives by technological means has gone too far. That statement is from an editorial in The Japan Times on how the Tobacco Institute of Japan handed over personal data and records of specific tobacco purchases…
Category: Business
NAI: minimum 5-year expiration date for opt out cookies
Kudos to Christopher Soghoian for his public and effective advocacy on the issue of opt-out cookies. As an update to his efforts, Chris writes on Slight Paranoia: One week ago, I published an open letter to the Network Advertising Initiative, in which I complained that the behavioral advertising opt-out cookies offered by many NAI members…
Apple releases fix for iPhone security flaw
Apple Inc. released a free software update that corrects a security flaw in the iPhone, a day after a researcher showed how hackers could exploit the vulnerability to seize control of the device. “No one has been able to take control of the iPhone to gain access to personal information,’’ Tom Neumayr, an Apple spokesman,…
Model says Medtronic’s ad scared his mom
The man in an ad a for prostate device wears a smile on his healthy- and happy-looking face. He isn’t smiling now. Ubaldo Dominguez Ramos, a 58-year-old model from Brooklyn Center, claims that Fridley-based Medtronic defamed him by illegally using his photograph in an ad touting its prostate device next to the words, “Now I…