A sound data security plan is built on 5 key principles

A sound data security plan is built on 5 key principles: 

1. Take stock. Know what personal information you have in your files and on your computers. 

2. Scale down. Keep only what you need for your business. 

3. Lock it. Protect the information that you keep. 

4. Pitch it. Properly dispose of what you no longer need. 

5. Plan ahead. Create a plan to respond to security incidents.

How to Keep Your Personal Information Secure Online (Guide)

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Facebook Users are committing virtual identity crisis

Earlier this year, reports suggested that Facebook lost nine million active monthly users in the U.S and two million in Britain.

48.3% people due to Privacy Concerns

Source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2423713/Facebook-users-committing-virtual-identity-suicide-quitting-site-droves-privacy-addiction-fears.html

Google collected data from personal mails for the Street View Programme

A federal appeals court rejected Google Inc's bid to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of violating federal wiretap law when its accidentally collected emails and other personal data while building its popular Street View program.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to exempt Google from liability under the federal Wiretap Act for having inadvertently intercepted emails, user names, passwords and other data from private Wi-Fi networks to create Street View, which provides panoramic views of city streets.

"It's a landmark decision that affirms the privacy of electronic communications for wireless networks," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C.

"Many Internet users depend on wireless networks to connect devices in their homes, such as printers and laptops, and companies should not be snooping on their communications or collecting private data."

Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Jay Bybee said Wi-Fi communications did not qualify as a "radio communication," or an "electronic communication" that was "readily accessible to the general public," such that Google deserved an exemption from the Wiretap Act.

"Even if it is commonplace for members of the general public to connect to a neighbor's unencrypted Wi-Fi network," Bybee wrote, "members of the general public do not typically mistakenly intercept, store, and decode data transmitted by other devices on the network."

A Google spokeswoman said: "We are disappointed in the Ninth Circuit's decision and are considering our next steps."

Elizabeth Cabraser, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said she is pleased with the decision, and "reassured that our courts continue to uphold personal privacy as an important value."

The lawsuit arose soon after the Mountain View, California-based company publicly apologized in May 2010 for having collected fragments of "payload data" from unsecured wireless networks in more than 30 countries.

Google was accused of having collected the data while driving its vehicles through neighborhoods from 2008 to 2010 to collect photos for Street View.

Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/10/us-google-streetview-lawsuit-idUSBRE98913D20130910

Facebook settles privacy case with US regulators

Facebook has agreed to tighten privacy controls as part of a settlement with US regulators over abuse of user data.

The Federal Trade Commission said Facebook would tighten consent rules on privacy, and close access to deleted accounts in 30 days or less.

The case began in 2009, when Facebook changed settings to make public details users may have deemed private.

In a blog post, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said the company had made a "bunch of mistakes".

But he added that this has often overshadowed the good work that the social networking site had done.

Facebook had addressed many of the FTC's concerns already, he said.

The FTC said Facebook, which has 800 million users, had agreed to get consumers' approval before changing the way it shares their data.

'Express consent'

Facebook did not admit guilt and was not fined, but it was barred from "making any further deceptive privacy claims" and will undergo regular checks on privacy practices, the FTC said.

"The proposed settlement requires Facebook to take several steps to make sure it lives up to its promises," the FTC said in a statement.

That includes giving consumers "clear and prominent notice and obtaining consumers' express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established".

Mr Zuckerberg said in his blog: "We're making a clear and formal long-term commitment to do the things we've always tried to do and planned to keep doing - giving you tools to control who can see your information and then making sure only those people you intend can see it."

The settlement follows a similar agreement in March between the FTC and Google over the web search firm's own social network, Buzz.

Last year, the FTC settled with Twitter, after the agency alleged that the service had failed to safeguard users' personal information.

The link to the article is here-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15953414

The documentary about your privacy

With panopticism, the documentary talks about how much surveillance and systems around us control on our daily lives and how much our privacy is disappearing.