{"id":1239,"date":"2011-05-22T21:10:43","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T02:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alsplace.info\/government\/1239\/whos-screwing-you-over-on-privacy-issues-pretty-much-everybody\/"},"modified":"2011-06-02T15:54:33","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T20:54:33","slug":"whos-screwing-you-over-on-privacy-issues-pretty-much-everybody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/?p=1239","title":{"rendered":"Who&#8217;s Screwing You Over on Privacy Issues? Pretty Much Everybody."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- ALL ADSENSE ADS DISABLED -->\n<p class=\"byline\" align=\"justify\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/author\/Lisa-Greim\">Lisa Greim<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">PCWorld<\/a> &nbsp;&nbsp; Apr 20, 2011 5:15 PM<\/p>\n<p> <!-- END #articleHead --> <\/p>\n<div class=\"articleBodyContent\" align=\"justify\">\n<p>Dropbox&#8211;flamed this week for revealing that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/225549\/update_dropbox_will_hand_over_your_files_to_the_feds_if_asked.html\">it will hand over your stored files to the feds<\/a> if requested&#8211;is not alone in its willingness to throw users&#39; privacy under the proverbial bus.<\/p>\n<p>Nor is Apple, under the gun today after a revelation by <a href=\"http:\/\/radar.oreilly.com\/2011\/04\/apple-location-tracking.html\">O&#39;Reilly Radar<\/a> that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/225754\/exactly_what_does_your_apple_iphone_or_ipad_record_about_you.html\">3G iPads and iPhones keep track of users&#39; locations<\/a> in unencrypted files.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image ltmd\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/zapp5.staticworld.net\/news\/graphics\/183327-eff_logo_original.gif\" border=\"0\" width=\"200\" height=\"137\" \/><\/span>The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently released its annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/pages\/when-government-comes-knocking-who-has-your-back\">Privacy and Protection Report Card<\/a>, rating the largest online players&#39; performance in four categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Telling users <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2011\/04\/who-has-your-back-in-depth-which-companies-promise\">about data demands<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Being transparent about government requests for information<\/li>\n<li>Fighting for user privacy in the courts<\/li>\n<li>Advocating for privacy before Congress<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>EFF asks the provocative question, &quot;When the government comes knocking, who has your back?&quot; The discouraging but unsurprising answer appears to be, &quot;You better have your own,&quot; because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/pages\/when-government-comes-knocking-who-has-your-back\">almost everybody failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/blog\/violetblue\/amazon-google-and-twitter-top-eff-8217s-privacy-scorecard\/302\">As ZDNet&#39;s Violet Blue<\/a> said, &quot;They&#39;ve either got your back in a pinch, or they&#39;ll sing like yellow canaries when the chips are down and sacrifice you without a second glance.&quot;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"articleBodyContentSubHed\">How the Big Boys Did<\/h2>\n<p>Among the tech firms whose performance on privacy issues can best be described as &quot;not terrible:&quot; Google (two stars plus two half-stars), Amazon (two stars) and Twitter (one star and two half-stars).<\/p>\n<p>Google was the only surveyed company to rate something in all four categories, giving it a solid grade of C. Google got props from the EFF for citing user privacy as it pushed back in court against a request for search records, and for regular reporting about how and when they provide data to governments around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon and Twitter received props for their handling of requests for individuals&#39; data, and Yahoo earned a star for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2010\/04\/government-backs-down-yahoo-email-privacy-case\">resisting subpoenas of a user&#39;s email records<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft, Facebook and AT&amp;T earned one star each for lobbying Congress on privacy concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Coming up completely empty: Apple, Comcast, MySpace, Skype, and Verizon.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image rtsm\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/zapp5.staticworld.net\/news\/graphics\/194218-privacy_180.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"180\" height=\"121\" \/><\/span>Privacy-minded users have already kicked themselves off Facebook and sworn off FourSquare and cloud-based anything. They won&#39;t get much additional benefit from a privacy bill rolling out on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n<p>The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights, introduced in the Senate last week by strange bedfellows John McCain and John Kerry, got a lukewarm review from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2011\/04\/well-meaning-privacy-bill-rights-could-codify\">EFF&#39;s Rainey Reitman:<\/a> &quot;The bill&#39;s most glaring defect is its emphasis on regulation of information use and sharing, rather than on the collection of data in the first place. For example, the bill would allow a user to opt out of third-party ad targeting based on tracking&#8211;but <em>not third-party tracking<\/em>.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, Reitman adds, a loophole in the legislation allows sites like Facebook to step neatly around privacy protections: &quot;A user would surrender any right to opt out of being tracked by Facebook or Google simply by having an account with them.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>You are warned&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<!-- Social Bookmarks BEGIN -->\n<div class=\"social_bookmark\">\n<a title=\"Click me to see the sites.\" href=\"#\" onclick=\"$$('div.d1239').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_down',{duration:2.5}) }); return false;\"><strong><em>Bookmark to:<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\n<br \/>\n<div class=\"d1239\" style=\"overflow:hidden\">\n<br \/>\n<br \/>\n<a style=\"font-size:90%;text-align: right; \" title=\"Click me to hide the sites.\" href=\"#\" onclick=\"$$('div.d1239').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) }); return false;\">Hide Sites<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- Social Bookmarks END -->\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">$$('div.d1239').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) }); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lisa Greim, PCWorld &nbsp;&nbsp; Apr 20, 2011 5:15 PM Dropbox&#8211;flamed this week for revealing that it will hand over your stored files to the feds if requested&#8211;is not alone in its willingness to throw users&#39; privacy under the proverbial bus. Nor is Apple, under the gun today after a revelation by O&#39;Reilly Radar that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<!-- Social Bookmarks BEGIN -->\n<div class=\"social_bookmark\">\n<a title=\"Click me to see the sites.\" href=\"#\" onclick=\"$$('div.d1239').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_down',{duration:2.5}) }); return false;\"><strong><em>Bookmark to:<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\n<br \/>\n<div class=\"d1239\" style=\"overflow:hidden\">\n<br \/>\n<br \/>\n<a style=\"font-size:90%;text-align: right; \" title=\"Click me to hide the sites.\" href=\"#\" onclick=\"$$('div.d1239').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) }); return false;\">Hide Sites<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- Social Bookmarks END -->\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">$$('div.d1239').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) }); <\/script>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[70,2,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alsplace.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}