Google, FTC reach Google Buzz privacy settlement

The US Federal Trade Commission announced
it has reached a settlement with Google over
privacy concerns with Google Buzz.
© AFP/DDP/File

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday it has reached a settlement with Google over privacy concerns with Google Buzz, the social network the Internet giant launched last year.

The FTC said that under the settlement, Google is required to implement a comprehensive privacy program and will be subject to independent privacy audits for the next 20 years.

"When companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them," FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. "This is a tough settlement that ensures that Google will honor its commitments to consumers and build strong privacy protections into all of its operations."

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

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White House backs online 'privacy bill of rights'

© AFP/File YOSHIKAZU TSUNO

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House urged Congress on Wednesday to approve a "consumer privacy bill of rights" that would regulate the collection of personal data on the Internet.

Assistant Commerce Secretary Lawrence Strickling called for the legislation at a hearing on online privacy held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

"The administration urges Congress to enact a 'consumer privacy bill of rights' to provide baseline consumer data privacy protections," he said.

Strickling said authority to enforce privacy protections should be given to the Federal Trade Commission, which is advocating a "Do Not Track" mechanism that would allow Web users to opt out of having their activities monitored.
"The large-scale collection, analysis, and storage of personal information is becoming more central to the Internet economy," said Strickling the White House's top communications policy advisor.

"These activities help to make the online economy more efficient and companies more responsive to their customer needs," he said.

"We think we can get to a regime that will greatly improve privacy for consumers and still meet the needs of businesses who want to continue to see the growth of the Internet," he said.

The Center for Democracy & Technology welcomed the Obama administration's call for online privacy legislation.

"This is a historic announcement, marking the first time the White House has called for a baseline consumer privacy bill," CDT president Leslie Harris said.

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license
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TIME: Everything is Tracked– Get Over It

Aaron Dykes
InfoWars

In an astounding cover story for the March 21 issue called ‘Your Data for Sale,’ TIME tells its readers to “get over” constant surveillance. Now, it is in your face, as demonstrated by TIME’s tagline, “Everything about you is being tracked– get over it.” Yeah, get over it, and the TSA porno-scanners and grope-downs, too.

Newsweek, another Skull and Bones-dominated media organ, similarly published a shocker in 2009 with its cover story, ‘The Case for Killing Granny,’ preparing the masses to simply accept massive shifts in society’s norms as if it were a normal occurrence. Unauthorized NSA wiretapping and other related surveillance (started long ago) was at least controversial during the Bush Administration, though it has unabashedly continued under Obama.

In an interview with CNN, author of the article, Joel Stein, makes light of the fact that his social security number (and lots of other personal data), as well as that of his family members, were easily found online. Stein and CNN host Kiran Chetry giggle like schoolgirls about Facebook’s exploitation of personal data, and the many other data-mining companies who keep “permanent files” on us. Stein even quips that he has “blackmail material” now on his mother and sister, whose SSN numbers he obtained during his research. Stein further called personalized-ads on systems like Google’s G-MAIL “kinda cool.” That’s right, now that we’re at the heart of a big brother system, 1984 is kinda cute-and-fuzzy.

Read Full Article

RELATED ARTICLE:
10 Ways We're Being Tracked, Traced, and Databased

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