When China passed a new law two weeks ago requiring people to give their real names when signing up for Internet and phone service, it raised alarms over the surveillance implications for the world’s largest population of Web users....
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Photograph by Jin Lee/Bloomberg
Patrons use automated self service booths at the U.S. Postal Service in New York.
A National Digital ID, Courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service?
Photograph by Getty Images
Online advertising firm Epic Marketplace is accused by the FTC of spying on Internet users' browsing histories.
How Online Marketer Peered Into People’s Health Histories
There are few things as creepy in online marketing as digging into someone’s health history, without their knowledge, to advertise to them. Yet that’s precisely what New York-based Epic Marketplace is accused of doing. According to the online advertising company’s...
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Medical devices such as mammography machines can be vulnerable to hacking attacks.
Many Doctors Don’t Secure Medical Devices From Hackers, Study Finds
Your doctor’s office likely doesn’t have any digital security for its mammography machines, heart pumps and other devices that are vulnerable to hacking, according to a new study. In a survey of 80 health care organizations in the U.S., the...
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Experian, the credit-reporting giant, is being probed by Irish authorities after a series of data breaches.
Experian U.S. Data Breaches Prompt Investigation by Irish Regulators
Experian Plc, the credit-reporting giant with financial information on more than 740 million consumers, is being investigated by Irish regulators in the wake of a series of breaches of the company’s databases. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, which...
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Photograph by Reza Estakhrian
Medical identity theft affected an estimated 1.5 million people in the U.S., according to the Ponemon Institute.
How Medical Identity Theft Can Give You a Decade of Headaches
Arnold Salinas knows a lot about the person who stole his identity. He’s 5-foot-9, 190 pounds. He pays for pizzas with forged checks, defaulted on a $17,000 car loan and has traveled the country, racking up speeding tickets and thousands...
Read more »Amid Privacy Backlash, Cisco Says It’s Not Logging Your Web History
Imagine if Microsoft pushed an update to your computer that started recording everything you write in Word and shipped it back to Redmond. Or if the phone on your desk was upgraded to send details of your calls not only...
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Implementing age restrictions on Websites is easier said than done.
What Other Facebook-Like Sites Have Done When Targeting Youth
As Facebook mulls whether to open its site to children, there’s a roadblock the social-networking company will have to overcome before it’s ever allowed to openly cater to kids. It’s not parents. It’s the federal government. As I report in...
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From Latanya Sweeney, Data Privacy Lab, Harvard University, 2010
A graphic depicting the sharing of a person's health data.
As Health Records Go Digital, Where They End Up Might Surprise You
Two years ago, Latanya Sweeney created a graphic on the widespread sharing of medical files that shocked lawmakers, technologists and doctors. Sweeney, who founded the Data Privacy Lab at Harvard University, produced a “health data map” that looks like a...
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Photograph by Martin Barraud
Facebook wants young children to use its service. Will they be a jackpot - or a data dud?
Facebook’s Push for Child Users a Data Jackpot? Not So Fast
Now that Facebook is exploring ways to allow children under 13 to officially use its service, the company faces two critical questions if it moves ahead with any plans. The first one is the most delicate: How does Facebook plan...
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Photograph by Kutay Tanir/Getty Images
Consumer Reports says Facebook has “labyrinthian policies and controls.”
Consumer Reports Calls Facebook’s Privacy Controls ‘Labyrinthian’
Facebook isn’t clear enough in telling its 150 million users in the U.S. how to protect personal information, according to Consumer Reports, which described the social network’s policies and controls as “labyrinthian.” About 13 million of those users haven’t set...
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