Siljaline's Blog : privacy

Facebook Asks More Than 350 Million Users Around the World To Personalize Their Privacy

Randy Knobloch — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:55:00 GMT

PALO ALTO, Calif. — December 9, 2009 — Setting a new standard in user control, Facebook announced today that it is calling on its more than 350 million users to review and update their privacy settings—a first among major Internet services...(read more)

Google takes aim at browser redirection

Randy Knobloch — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:17:00 GMT

Google has announced a service that it says will speed up web surfing and prevent browser redirection by malicious programs or internet providers. The service takes aim at how the web addresses users type in, such as www.cbc.ca, are translated into the...(read more)

Facebook fine-tunes privacy controls

Randy Knobloch — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:01:00 GMT

Facebook says it is boosting privacy by giving users control over who sees each bit of information they put on the social-networking site, and by doing away with regional and group networks. "We're adding something that many of you have asked...(read more)

Google to limit free access to some news content

Randy Knobloch — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:47:00 GMT

Google Inc. is allowing publishers of paid content to limit the number of free news articles accessed by people using its internet search engine. The concession follows mounting criticism of Google's practices from media publishers — most notably...(read more)

Canadian copyright law to trump Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

Randy Knobloch — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:39:00 GMT

Industry Minister Tony Clement, responding to accusations that an international anti-counterfeiting agreement will criminalize everyday activity by Canadians, says any such pact will be "subservient" to copyright rules created domestically....(read more)

Mininova removes links to copyrighted files

Randy Knobloch — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:59:00 GMT

Mininova, one of the biggest torrent file-sharing websites in the world, has removed links to all copyrighted content that it does not have official agreements for. Thursday's move is a win for the entertainment industry as users of the site are now...(read more)

Online advertising regaining momentum

Randy Knobloch — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:16:00 GMT

After bogging down in the recession, internet advertising is regaining the momentum that has made it the decade's most disruptive marketing machine. The signs of an online revival are emerging even while advertising in print and broadcasts remains...(read more)

Blogger payola getting a pass in Canada

Randy Knobloch — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:30:00 GMT

U.S. authorities are using the threat of big fines to force bloggers to disclose their relationships with the companies they write about, but jurisidictional confusion means no similar mechanisms exist or are under consideration in Canada. The Federal...(read more)

Google results flog millions of compromised webpages

Randy Knobloch — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:52:00 GMT

Two ongoing scams are tricking Google and other search engines into prominently displaying millions of compromised webpages that attempt to hijack end users' computers or steal their credit card numbers, researchers said. http://www.theregister.co...(read more)

Facebook pulls Obama assassination poll

Randy Knobloch — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:35:00 GMT

Social website Facebook yanked a poll this week about assassinating President Barack Obama after being contacted by the U.S. Secret Service. On Monday, Facebook dropped a question that asked voters whether the U.S. president "should be killed."...(read more)

Microsoft releases free antivirus software

Randy Knobloch — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:32:00 GMT

Microsoft's free antivirus program, Security Essentials, became available for download from the company's website Tuesday. Microsoft bills the software as providing "high-quality protection" against viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware...(read more)

Facebook shuts down Beacon marketing tool

Randy Knobloch — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:04:00 GMT

Facebook says it will shut down its controversial marketing feature Beacon, an application that broadcasts users' activities, including purchases, on other websites to their Facebook friends. The feature was adopted in November 2007 and immediately...(read more)

New York Times Reforms Online Ad Sales After Malware Scam

Randy Knobloch — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:11:00 GMT

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/09/nyt-revamps-online-ad-sales-after-malware-scam/...(read more)

U.S. to introduce net neutrality rules: report

Randy Knobloch — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:16:00 GMT

The top U.S. telecommunications regulator is set to introduce net neutrality rules that will prohibit internet providers from selectively blocking or slowing web traffic, according to a report. Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski...(read more)

Facebook 'cash flow positive,' signs 300M users

Randy Knobloch — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:19:00 GMT

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the social networking site has more than 300 million users, and earned more money than it spent last quarter. In a blog post on Facebook, Zuckerberg wrote that the company was "cash flow positive"...(read more)

Tech giants to be rated on human rights

Randy Knobloch — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:38:00 GMT

A group of prominent Canadian researchers has launched an initiative to examine how closely companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo follow their own principles regarding freedom of expression and privacy. Citizen Lab, which runs out of the University...(read more)

Pirate Bay copyright convicts lose retrial bid

Randy Knobloch — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:49:00 GMT

Four men found guilty of promoting copyright infringement through the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay will not get a retrial, the Swedish court of appeals has ruled. The court found Thursday that the judge who ruled in the original case in April, Tomas...(read more)

Jackson's death slows web to a crawl

Randy Knobloch — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:13:00 GMT

In life, Michael Jackson once ruled the pop charts. With his death, he dominated the internet. As reports of Jackson's death on Thursday spread, celebrity gossip websites crashed, news sites slowed to a crawl and traffic on social networking sites...(read more)

1st porn app on iTunes 'sold out'

Randy Knobloch — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:52:00 GMT

The first app featuring images of nude women to go up for sale on iTunes can no longer be downloaded because it was too popular, the developer reported Thursday. "The Hottest Girls app is temporarily sold out , " said a post signed by the "ATG...(read more)

Conficker worm sends new instructions: grow botnet, then die

Randy Knobloch — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:29:00 GMT

The Conficker worm has begun to update the machines it has infected with a new set of instructions to spread to other machines and then self-destruct, security experts say. Security researchers tracking the worm said some of the infected computers began...(read more)