Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




INTERNET SPACE
Privacy fears cause more to cover online tracks: study
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Sept 05, 2013


Facebook in fresh privacy row with new policy
Washington (AFP) Sept 05, 2013 - Facebook is drawing fire from privacy activists again, after unveiling a new policy which could turn users' data and pictures into advertising.

The new plan would "dramatically expand the use of personal information for advertising purposes," said a letter this week to the US Federal Trade Commission by six privacy organizations.

The letter said the changes violate a 2011 consent order with the US watchdog agency and urged the FTC to "act to enforce its order."

If the changes take effect, the letter said, "Facebook users who reasonably believed that their images and content would not be used for commercial purposes without their consent will now find their pictures showing up on the pages of their friends endorsing the products of Facebook's advertisers."

"Remarkably, their images could even be used by Facebook to endorse products that the user does not like or even use," added the letter from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Watchdog and three other groups.

Facebook unveiled the changes as part of a settlement of a class action suit over the use of user names and images in so-called "sponsored stories."

According to the letter, Facebook's existing policy allowed its users to limit how their name and profile picture may be associated with advertising.

Under the newly proposed policy, Facebook says, "You give us permission to use your name, profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content."

Activists said this allowed Facebook to turn virtually all user data into advertising.

"Facebook has long played fast and loose with users' data and relied on complex privacy settings to confuse its users, but these proposed changes go well beyond that," said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's privacy director.

"Facebook's overreach violates the FTC consent order that was put in place after the last major privacy violation; if the commission is to retain any of its credibility, it must act immediately to enforce that order."

Also endorsing the letter were the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, US PIRG and Patient Privacy Rights.

Facebook officials pointed out that its policies were not changed, but clarified under the new language.

"As part of this proposed update, we revised our explanation of how things like your name, profile picture and content may be used in connection with ads or commercial content to make it clear that you are granting Facebook permission for this use when you use our services," a company spokesperson said.

"We have not changed our ads practices or policies --we only made things clearer for people who use our service."

Amid growing fears about online surveillance and data theft, Americans are increasingly taking steps to remove or mask their digital footprints on the Internet, a study showed Thursday.

The Pew Research Center report said 86 percent of US Internet users have taken some steps to avoid online surveillance by other people or organizations.

Despite these precautions, 21 percent of online adults in the survey have had an email or social media account hijacked and 11 percent have had information like Social Security numbers or financial data stolen.

The report said 12 percent of those using the Internet have been stalked or harassed online, and six percent have been the victim of an online scam and lost money.

Another six percent said they have had their reputation damaged because of something that happened online, and four percent said they were in physical danger because of something that happened online.

According to the study, 50 percent of Internet users say they are worried about the amount of personal information about them that is online -- a figure that has jumped from 33 percent in 2009.

"Users clearly want the option of being anonymous online and increasingly worry that this is not possible," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet Project and an author of the report.

"Their concerns apply to an entire ecosystem of surveillance. In fact, they are more intent on trying to mask their personal information from hackers, advertisers, friends and family members than they are trying to avoid observation by the government."

The survey found some 64 percent of online adults clear "cookies" which store information, or their browser history and 41 percent have disabled cookies.

Some delete material they have posted in the past, create usernames that are hard to tie to them, use public computers to browse, or give inaccurate information about themselves.

Roughly 14 percent of the users survey said they at times encrypt email and 14 percent say they use services like virtual networks that allow them to browse without being tied to a specific Internet protocol (IP) address.

"Our team's biggest surprise was discovering that many Internet users have tried to conceal their identity or their communications from others," noted Sara Kiesler, an author of the report and a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University.

"It's not just a small coterie of hackers. Almost everyone has taken some action to avoid surveillance. And despite their knowing that anonymity is virtually impossible, most Internet users think they should be able to avoid surveillance online -- they think they should have a right to anonymity for certain things, like hiding posts from certain people or groups."

Most Web users said would like more control over their personal information, saying in many cases it is important that only they or the people they authorize should be given access to their emails, their contacts, their locations and the content of what they download.

"These findings reinforce the notion that privacy is not an all-or-nothing proposition for internet users," said Mary Madden, a Pew researcher. "People choose different strategies for different activities, for different content, to mask themselves from different people, at different times in their lives. What they clearly want is the power to decide who knows what about them."

The researchers surveyed 1,002 adults, including 792 Internet and smartphone users, from July 11-14. The margin of error is 3.4 percentage points for the full survey group and 3.8 percentage points for Internet users.

.


Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








INTERNET SPACE
Ecuador seeks penalties for libel on social networks
Quito, Pichincha (AFP) Sept 04, 2013
The Ecuadoran government has proposed legal changes to punish libel disseminated over social networks like Twitter or Facebook, a top official said Wednesday. Alexis Mera, President Rafael Correa's secretary for legal affairs, said the move aimed not to control content on social networks, but to extend to them the same rules that apply to other media. "The same penalty that exists for de ... read more


INTERNET SPACE
NASA spacecraft to study Moon's atmosphere

Moon landing mission to use "secret weapons"

NASA Prepares for First Virginia Coast Launch to Moon

NASA Selects Launch Services Contract for OSIRIS-REx Mission

INTERNET SPACE
NASA Evaluates Four Candidate Sites for 2016 Mars Mission

Examining Rocks Around Boulder Field

We may all be Martians

Mars Curiosity Debuts Autonomous Navigation

INTERNET SPACE
SpaceShipTwo commercial space liner breaks sound barrier in test

Andreas Mogensen set for Soyuz mission to ISS in 2015

NASA awards nearly $1.5B in support contracts

NSBRI and NASA Reduce Space Radiation Risks by Soliciting for Center of Space Radiation Research

INTERNET SPACE
China civilian technology satellites put into use

China to launch lunar lander by end of year: media

China launches three experimental satellites

Medical quarantine over for Shenzhou-10 astronauts

INTERNET SPACE
Russian cosmonaut set for space station mission resigns

Russian cosmonauts to start searching for bacterium corroding ISS body

Cosmonauts Complete Spacewalk, Unfold Russian Flag in Space

Italian astronaut recounts spacewalk drowning terror

INTERNET SPACE
Arianespace to "reach for the stars" with its Soyuz launch of Europe's Gaia space surveyor spacecraft

Ariane 5 build-up is completed for Arianespace upcoming flight with EUTELSAT

Russian rocket engine export ban could halt US space program

The go-ahead is given for Ariane 5 mission to orbit EUTELSAT 25B/Es'hail 1 and GSAT-7

INTERNET SPACE
Observations strongly suggest distant super-Earth has water atmosphere

Waking up to a new year

Study: Planets might be 'born free' without a parent star

Distant planet sets speed record by orbiting its star every 8.5 hours

INTERNET SPACE
World's First Full Color 3D Desktop Printer Destined For High Schools

Lockheed Martin-Built A2100 Satellites: Over 400 Cumulative Years In Orbit And Counting

GSAT-7 Satellite Placed in Geosynchronous Orbit

A completely new atomic crystal dynamic of the white pigment titanium dioxide discovered




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement