Voluntary guidelines for Web privacy backed by Obama administration

In recent years, lawmakers and advocacy groups have made increased efforts to protects users’ privacy online. Here are some cases that helped stoke the debate about tracking and privacy on the Web.

Πηγή: Washington Post
By Cecilia Kang

Feb 23 2012

The Obama administration on Thursday plans to announce voluntary guidelines for Web companies to protect consumers’ privacy online, a win for Google, Facebook and other Internet giants that have fought against heavier federal mandates.

The White House did not include a much-debated “do not track” rule that would have forced companies to offer users the choice of stopping advertisers from tracking their activities across the Web.

In what it has dubbed the “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,” the administration outlined several principles. It said users should have more control over data collected about them and how the information is used; consumers should be able to limit the collection of personal information, especially about children; and users should be able to correct false information about them.

“As the Internet evolves, consumer trust is essential for the continued growth of the digital economy,” Obama said in a statement. “For businesses to succeed online, consumers must feel secure.”

The move by the U.S. government gives Web giants leverage in their negotiations with regulators in Europe, where the companies can now make a stronger case for voluntary rules, analysts say.

The Federal Trade Commission will police companies that agree to the guidelines. The administration said that it will seek legislation to codify the rules and that the Commerce Department will soon bring together companies, consumer groups and academics to come up with more specific codes of conduct.

A recent spate of controversial practices by Web companies have sparked concerns about privacy among state attorneys general, lawmakers and consumer groups.

Google, for instance, announced that it would begin next week to pull data from all of its sites to create profiles of users who have signed into their accounts. The search giant also has been accused of circumventing mobile-device browsers’ privacy protections so that it could track the activities of consumers.

In light of such controversies, privacy groups had urged government officials to adopt the “do not track” mandate, but software developers and advertising firms have decried the technology as expensive and difficult to implement.

In a news briefing Wednesday, White House officials said a consortium of advertisers had come up with anti-tracking software that companies can choose to implement.

“Any ‘do not track’ mechanism needs to be robust and meaningful and cannot be more of the same self-regulatory system,” said Pam Dixon, executive director of consumer group the World Privacy Forum.

The biggest Web firms — including Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL — are expected to adopt the guidelines and have agreed to implement the “do not track” browser technology, government officials said. Many of those firms say they offer consumers anti-tracking options.

At the same time, the firms have urged government officials to resist legislation that could hamper their ability to tap the lucrative behavioral marketing business.

The White House report doesn’t specifically address privacy on mobile devices — an area that firms are eager to protect from federal regulation. On Thursday, Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft agreed to clearly disclose the privacy policies of app developers at their app stores.

The FTC reported last week that Google, Apple and most mobile app developers do not offer any information about how they collect information about users.

Google to pay users to browse the web (and watch what they're doing)

Πηγή: Foxnews
Feb 10 2012

Google is facing criticism over plans to pay Internet users to browse the web -- while the search engine monitors their every click.

The new Google Screenwise program will pay its volunteer "panellists" as much as $25 in Amazon gift cards -- a $5 voucher for signing up and more depending on how long they stay on board. Anyone signing up will have to download a browser extension, allowing Google to track their movements online in even more detail than they already do.

Participants have to be over age 13 and anyone younger than 18 will need parental consent.

Technology website Search Engine Land said the timing of the move was unusual given the negative response Google has had over upcoming changes to its privacy policy.

Google is planning to introduce new privacy rules from March 1, which would allow the search engine to share information about users between services such as Gmail and YouTube.

"Even though this Screenwise program is completely opt-in, some critics are bound to question why Google needs more data about web searchers and the websites they visit," the website said.

The Screenwise Panel web page says the firm has been "overwhelmed" with interest and urges visitors to come back later.

It says: "What we learn from you, and others like you, will help us improve Google products and services and make a better online experience for everyone."

FBI going to court more often to get personal Internet-usage data

Πηγή: Washington Post
By Ellen Nakashima

Oct 26 2011

Investigators once routinely used administrative subpoenas, called national security letters, seeking information about who sent and received e-mail and what Web sites individuals visited. The letters can be issued by FBI field offices on their own authority, and they obligate the recipients to keep the requests secret.

But more recently, many service providers receiving national security letters have limited the information they give to customers’ names, addresses, length of service and phone billing records.

“Beginning in late 2009, certain electronic communications service providers no longer honored” more expansive requests, FBI officials wrote in August, in response to questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

This marked a shift from comments made last year by Obama administration officials, who asserted then that most service providers were disclosing sufficient information when presented with national security letters.

Investigators seeking more expansive information over the past two years have turned to court orders called business record requests. In the first three months of this year, more than 80 percent of all business record requests were for Internet records that would previously have been obtained through national security letters, the FBI said. The FBI made more than four times as many business records requests in 2010 than in 2009: 96 compared with 21, according to Justice Department reports.

In response to concerns expressed by administration officials, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) has introduced a measure that would establish that the FBI can use national security letters to obtain “dialing, routing, addressing and signaling information.” It would not include the content of an e-mail or other communications, the administration has said.

The administration, which last year contemplated legislation to expand the authority of national security letters, has not taken a formal position on the Leahy measure, officials said. But the FBI has told Congress that the number of business record orders will continue to grow unless a legal change gives the agency more routine access to customer data.

Civil liberties groups said Leahy’s measure, included in a bill to modernize the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, would expand the government’s authority to obtain substantial data about the private communications of individuals without court oversight.

“Our view is data like e-mail ‘to-from’ information is so sensitive that it ought to be available only with a court order,” said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Privacy advocates said they support requiring the FBI to use court orders to seek the data. “This is an example of how the system should work,” said American Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel Michelle Richardson.

Business record requests are also known as Section 215 orders, after a provision in the Patriot Act, the law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The provision allows the government to obtain “any tangible thing” if officials can show reasonable grounds that it would be relevant to an authorized terrorism or espionage investigation.

The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Wednesday plan to separately sue the government to force disclosure of its interpretation of Section 215. The groups are following the lead of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has accused the administration of inappropriately withholding information about the law’s use.

On Oct. 19, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote to Wyden, saying the government has briefed Congress on the classified uses of Section 215. “We do not believe the Executive Branch is operating pursuant to ‘secret law,’ ” Weich wrote.

Twitter unmasks anonymous British user in landmark legal battle

Twitter's actions have prompted concerns over free speech on the internet. Photograph: Jonathan Hordle / Rex Features

Πηγή: The Guardian

California court forces site to reveal personal details of user accused of libelling local authority in north-east England

By Nigel Green and Josh Halliday

Sunday 29 May 2011 13.17 BST

Twitter has been forced to hand over the personal details of a British user in a libel battle that could have huge implications for free speech on the web.

The social network has passed the name, email address and telephone number of a south Tyneside councillor accused of libelling the local authority via a series of anonymous Twitter accounts. South Tyneside council took the legal fight to the superior court of California, which ordered Twitter, based in San Francisco, to hand over the user's private details.

It is believed to be the first time Twitter has bowed to legal pressure to identify anonymous users and comes amid a huge row over privacy and free speech online.

Ryan Giggs, the Manchester United footballer named as being the plaintiff in a gagging order preventing reporting of an alleged affair with a reality TV model, is separately attempting to unmask Twitter users accused of revealing details of the privacy injunction.

However, Giggs brought the lawsuit at the high court in London and the move to use California courts is likely to be seen as a landmark moment in the internet privacy battle.