Group items tagged

The FBI has used a secret form of spyware in a series of investigations designed to nab extortionists, database-deleting hackers, child molesters, and hitmen, according to documents obtained by CNET News. One suspect used Microsoft's Hotmail to send bomb and anthrax threats to an undercover government investigator; another demanded a payment of $10,000 a month to stop cutting cables; a third was an alleged European hitman who was soliciting for business from a Hushmail.com account. CNET News obtained the documents -- totaling hundreds of pages, although nearly all of them were heavily redacted -- this week through a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI. The FBI spyware, called CIPAV, came to light in July 2007 through court documents that showed how the bureau used it to nab a teenager who was e-mailing bomb threats to a high school near Olympia, Wash. (CIPAV stands for Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier.) A June 2007 memo says that the FBI's Deployment Operations Personnel were instructed to "deploy a CIPAV to geophysically locate the subject issuing bomb threats to the Timberline High School, Lacy, Washington. The CIPAV will be deployed via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address posted to the subject's private chat room on MySpace.com."

In honor of this day, the California Office of Privacy Protection--the first governmental privacy office in the nation--has created a presentation which you can download from their Web site at www.privacy.ca.gov. It's called "Secure Your Computer to Protect Your Privacy," and it explains why computer owners should use Internet firewalls, install and maintain anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and keep their operating systems and applications up to date to protect themselves from malicious attacks. The state privacy office offers lots of other information on how Californians can protect themselves and their data. You can visit their Web site, call them toll-free at (866) 785-9663, or go Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to the main San Francisco Public Library, where Joanne McNabb, the state's privacy chief, is scheduled to appear on a panel with representatives from Microsoft, Intel, the Center for Democracy and Technology, MySpace and Teen Angels. The panel is free and is part of an international effort to raise awareness about privacy practices and privacy rights

On a side table in his Washington offices, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz keeps a framed image of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the 1984 film The Terminator. It was given to Leibowitz a couple of years ago by one of the FTC's regional offices, an homage to his crackdown on spyware that surreptitiously gathers information on Web users' surfing habits. Now, Leibowitz wants to terminate-or at least rein in-a different practice he finds no less harmful to consumers: delivering ads to individuals based on the Web pages they visit and searches they carry out. Appointed by President Barack Obama in February to run the country's top consumer watchdog, Leibowitz has made so-called behavioral targeting a top priority. How far he goes in regulating the practice could have big implications for a host of companies that depend on Web advertising and engage in some form of targeting. These include Google (GOOG), Facebook, and Microsoft (MSFT), which on July 29 announced a plan to partner with Yahoo! (YHOO) in the area of Internet search. It would also affect the way legions of companies and advertisers craft marketing campaigns. Behavioral targeting has become more prevalent as it gets easier and cheaper to use software to track online behavior and then use the data to pitch Web users related goods and services. These ads are more likely to induce a customer to make a purchase or otherwise respond to a pitch, researchers say.

Another report on Sears getting slapped on the wrist for questionable data collection. Gee, why don't businesses take information law seriously? Maybe because it is more profitable to ignore it and pay a small fine? Not impressed by Obama's enforcement of privacy law.

Sears today agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it failed to disclose the depth of consumers' personal information it collected via a downloadable software application. The settlement calls for Sears to stop collecting data from the consumers who downloaded the software and to destroy all data it had previously collected. If Sears advertises or disseminates any tracking software in the future, it must clearly and prominently disclose the types of data the software will monitor, record, or transmit, the FTC stated. Sears must also disclose whether any of the data will be used by a third party, the FTC said.