Privacy

News

Disney Studio Coughs Up $3 Million For Violating Kiddie Gamers’ Privacy

1:00AM May 15, 2011 | Owen Good

A $US3 million settlement by Playdom, the Disney social games studio, sends a pretty clear message that the U.S. Child Online Privacy Protection Act isn’t messing around. Violate it, and it will be expensive. More »

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Canada’s Privacy Czar Thinks Sony Should Pay

5:40AM May 5, 2011 | Drew Cohen

“I was disappointed that Sony did not proactively notify my office… It seems to me that it’s time to begin imposing fines – significant, attention-getting fines – on companies when poor privacy and security practices lead to breaches.” [The Vancouver Sun]

Mobile

Your iPhone Is Secretly Tracking Everywhere You Go

1:20AM April 21, 2011 | Sam Biddle

This is a map of everywhere I’ve been for nearly the last year. Everywhere. I didn’t carry around a special tracking device. The FBI isn’t sending goons in unmarked vans to track me. All I did was use an iPhone. And if you have an iPhone, you’re being tracked right now, too, whether you like it or not. More »

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Sony Action Against Hacker Exposes Visitors To His Web Site

5:00AM March 6, 2011 | Owen Good

Caught in the blast of Sony’s lawsuit against the man who jailbroke the PlayStation 3 is anyone who may have visited his website, under a court order that set off privacy advocates and further angered hackers. More »

News

Is Kinect Reporting What It Sees To Advertisers?

8:00AM November 15, 2010 | Owen Good

Speaking at an investor’s conference on Thursday, a Microsoft executive offered that Kinect not only knows how many are in the room when an ad’s shown, but what kind of team colours they might be wearing. Uh-oh. More »

News

Microsoft Says Kinect Won’t Invade Your Privacy

1:40AM November 5, 2010 | Stephen Totilo

Microsoft’s new Kinect device will put an advanced sensor array in the living room of millions of people, an internet-connected set of machine ears and eyes capable of capturing voice, recognising faces and tracking body movement. More »

News

Report: FarmVille ‘Breaks’ Facebook Privacy Rules, Sends Personal Info To Ad Firms

12:00PM October 19, 2010 | Michael McWhertor

Dozens of Facebook applications, including Zynga’s wildly popular casual games FarmVille, Mafia Wars and FrontierVille, transmit user data in violation of the social network’s privacy settings, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. More »

News

ESRB Apologises For Email Leak

8:20AM July 14, 2010 | Owen Good

Calling it a “truly disappointing” mistake, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board has apologised directly to those whose email addresses it exposed in a reply concerning Blizzard’s now-abandoned plans to require forum members to use their real names. More »

News

People Complaining About Blizzard’s "Real ID" Have Their Email Addresses Exposed

2:00PM July 13, 2010 | Luke Plunkett

Sometimes irony can be delicious. In this case, it’s a little bit tragic, with the ESRB publicly releasing the email addresses of people who had written to the board to protest… the revelation of private information. More »

News

Blizzard Forums Will Soon Display Your Real Name

3:20AM July 7, 2010 | Mike Fahey

How do you stem the tide of a forum flooded with flame wars, trolling and other unpleasantness? Just do what Blizzard is doing for the official forums for StarCraft II and World of Warcraft: Display posters’ real names. More »