Privacy

This Instagram-Street View Mash-Up Is a Stalker’s Wet Dream

As if Instagram wasn’t already an amazing way to snoop on what people are doing around the entire planet, a new website called The Beat lets you see exactly where the photographs were taken, too. https://gizmodo.com/spy-on-instagram-all-around-the-world-in-realtime-5931345 Put together by Rutgers’ Social Media Information Lab, the site uses Instagram’s API to tie geotagged photos to their…

Watch Out: Your New Year’s Midnight Delivery Messages on Facebook Aren’t Private (Updated)

You know how Facebook added that Facebook Stories feature that lets you automatically spam all your “friends” with automatic “Happy New Year” inanities? Well, beware because they aren’t private, thanks to a security cock-up. https://gizmodo.com/facebook-spam-everyone-you-know-a-happy-new-year-messag-5971360 On the off-chance your queued messages contain something sensitive, you might want to go in there and scrub the dirty—er,…

Oh God, Here Come the Private Security Drones

It was inevitable. Drones are in ever-wider use by the military, and some day they might deliver you food, but it looks like they’ll also be the private, flying-camera spies for private companies too. That’s what Japanese security company Secom is banking on with its new private security quadrotor. https://gizmodo.com/the-tacocopters-are-coming-for-real-5939895 Billed as the first security…

Starting January 28th, Foursquare is going to start publishing your full name when you check in. [TechCrunch]

Watch Randi Zuckerberg Have a Facebook Freakout Over Her Photo Going Viral

You probably already read about Randi Zuckerberg’s faux-privacy violation on Facebook this week. But odds are you’re not part of her inner circle. Lucky for you, a tipster who’s “Friends” with RZ gave up the goods directly from her wall. https://gizmodo.com/randi-zuckerberg-is-just-as-confused-by-facebook-privac-5971227 While Randi was admonishing people for lacking “human decency” on Twitter—dispatches she’d delete shortly…

Site Accuses Women of Prostitution, Demands Money to Take Their Private Information Down

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Instagram Says 25% User Exodus Is Bullshit

You might’ve read a story today that a quarter of Instagrams millions upon millions of users abruptly stopped using the massively-popular service over Christmas. But there’s good reason to believe this is crap—and Instagram flat out denies it. The rumor, which has already knocked down Facebook’s stock today, started with a little company named AppData,…

How You Can Save Snapchat Videos Forever After You’ve Watched Them

Snapchat, the sexting app of choice recently cloned by Facebook, might not be as private as you think. BuzzFeed reports that video files sent using the app are actually not deleted from the phone immediately—meaning they can be copied onto a computer and watched over and over. https://gizmodo.com/poke-facebook-just-cloned-snapchat-update-hands-on-5970590 BuzzFeed describes the simple process required to…

Randi Zuckerberg Is Just as Confused by Facebook Privacy as You Are

Randi Zuckerberg shared the above photo of her family—including Facebook Czar-in-Chief Mark Zuckerberg—on Facebook. Then it got out into the world, and Randi got all upset about her privacy. Oh, boo hoo, Randi! The story goes like this: Randi Zukcerberg posted the photo of her family fooling around with Facebook’s new Snapchat clone, Poke. When…

Facebook’s New Privacy Settings Are Here: This Is What You Need To Do Right Now

We saw a preview earlier this month, but now Facebook’s simplified, slimmed down privacy tools should be arriving on your profile. Any minute. Take control and untag those gross pictures you didn’t even know existed. https://gizmodo.com/facebook-has-new-privacy-settings-heres-whats-differen-5967881 There are two big changes you should care about right now: shortcuts and a beefed up activity feed that’ll…

Instagram Admits It Screwed Up and Goes Back to the Old Terms of Service That Won’t Sell Your Photos

Instagram has just announced that it’ll be reverting back to the original Terms of Service for the advertising section that has been in place since 2010. Which basically means they’ve abandoned the whole mess they just created because they saw how pissed off everyone was. Good thing Instagram pays attention to the Internet! Here’s a…

The FTC Is Overhauling Online Child Privacy Law

The FTC has announced that it is broadening—now incredibly outdated—laws surrounding online child privacy. The changes will, in particular, make the regulations applicable to the mobile and social digital world we now inhabit. The changes will be made to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which was originally put together all the way back…

How Rental PCs Loaded With Spyware Snooped on and Photographed Their Users

When you pay to use a computer, you don’t expect it to be tracking your each and every digital move as a result. But that’s exactly what happened to Aaron’s Sale and Leasing customers—who had their rental computers snooped on in incredible detail. Ars Technica has a great, detailed feature about the saga, which originally…

National Geographic Is Suspending Posts on Instagram Because of Instagram’s New Icky Terms of Service

Though Instagram has backpedaled a bit on whether or not it will sell your Instagram photos to advertisers, people are generally wary to trust a company backed by Facebook when it comes to privacy. National Geographic, a company who has a real reason to be sorta ticked off at all this since its pictures are…

Instagram: ‘We Don’t Want To Sell Your Photos’ (Updating)

Instagram has posted a response to the concerns raised over the new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy that were announced yesterday. Instagram says that it doesn’t want to sell your photos. It admits that the new TOS is unclear and says that it will be updated. https://gizmodo.com/your-instagram-data-is-now-officially-facebook-data-5969001 In a blog post, Instagram co-founder Kevin…

SpongeBob Removed From App Store Over Privacy Concerns

If you were hoping to keep the kids quiet over the holidays with a SpongeBob game, you’re all outta luck. Nickelodeon has had to pull SpongeBob Diner Dash from the Apple App Store over complaints that it violates children’s online privacy rights. An advocacy group has complained to the Federal Trade Commission that the game…

Stop Whining About Your Personal Data on Instagram You Little Whiny Baby

Have you heard the news? Instagram just updated its terms of service, and is giving itself permission to sell the photos you take to advertisers. Lots of users are weeping, threatening to quit, and screaming about privacy. https://gizmodo.com/your-instagram-data-is-now-officially-facebook-data-5969001 Counterpoint: shut up. The controversy can be pinned down to a few sentences of legalese that Instagram…

Accomplished Celebrity Email Hacker Gets Ten Years in Prison

Christopher Chaney has a pretty impressive list of hacks under his belt. He managed to break into the digital lives of such stars as Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera, and others. But Chaney’s fun is over now, and for the next decade; he’s just been sentenced to ten years in prison for his shenanigans.…

Snapchat’s Android App Has a Fatal Flaw

Sure Snapchat’s new self-deleting video feature is great for silliness and sexy time alike, but only if it works. And on Android, a caching snafu lets you view those vids over and over. Bob Nisco explains. https://gizmodo.com/snapchat-now-automatically-sets-your-sexy-video-message-5968526 Snapchat: the latest craze sweeping iOS and Android users everywhere had a pretty substantial upgrade on December 14th,…

Your Instagram Data Is Now Officially Facebook Data

A new Instagram privacy policy goes into effect on January 16th, 2013. The service will now be sharing your data with its new owner Facebook. Get used to it. Basically, Instagram has updated a few of the subhead sections of its policy to reflect the fact that it is a part of Facebook now. Instagram…