Security

From partial unpaid furloughs of personnel to travel cutbacks, U.S. government agencies are scrounging to come up with ways to save money. In that light, the Obama Administration's proposed 2014 federal budget for information technology resources is good news for agency IT shops -- and for vendors s...

The Federal Trade Commission filed a suit against Wise Media this week, accusing the company of slipping unauthorized charges into consumer cellphone bills. Wise Media allegedly charged cellphone users fees for services to which they'd never subscribed, a practice referred to as "cramming." The comp...

Google has engaged the Behavio team in a "hiring exercise." The startup uses mobile sensors to collect data and predict behavior. Its technology recognizes data such as location, contacts, nearby destinations, recent phone activity, daily movement, and even surrounding physical information such as t...

Facebook fans will get the chance to have the social network take over their lock and home screens on certain Android phones as of April 12, thanks to the introduction of the company's Home apps. That prime mobile phone real estate will also serve as comfortable surroundings for advertisements when ...

Proposed changes to the popular Mozilla Firefox browser that would block third-party cookies have sparked the ire of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which claims the move will hurt how small businesses use ads to attract customers. Mozilla's proposal will let users give their permission for the ...

Google has settled its Street View privacy case with 38 states and the District of Columbia. As part of the settlement, the company will destroy the personal information it collected under the project, train its employees on privacy issues for a 10-year period, launch a campaign to educate consumers...

There are more than 6 billion mobile devices in the world. As of last July, there were more than 321 million wireless subscriber connections in the U.S. alone. Of course, it is impossible that 101 percent of U.S. residents have wireless connections, so that means many of us have multiple subscriptio...

Kim Dotcom experienced a legal setback late last week when the New Zealand Court of Appeal overturned a lower court ruling that had required the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to disclose all of its evidence against him. However, his fight to avoid extradition is nowhere near closure. Nor has ...

Facebook users will soon see ads in their feeds that are more specifically targeted to what they like and where they've shopped -- both online and offline -- thanks to a series of agreements with data companies announced Wednesday. The agreements expand the social network's Custom Audiences program ...

The U.S. government has some unique -- and exacting -- security requirements related to the adoption of cloud technology. These internal government security hurdles have resulted in significant outreach to expertise from commercial information technology companies. The latest example is an invitatio...

The Federal Trade Commission last week reached a settlement with HTC America over charges the company failed to take reasonable steps to secure the software in its smartphones and tablet computers. The security flaws could have compromised the privacy of millions of consumers, the agency said. This ...

The current winter of discontent in the U.S. Congress over federal finances does not bode well for cooperation in other areas. Yet legislators push on, and among top Congressional priorities for 2013 is the enactment of legislation regarding the role of the federal government in dealing with nationa...

Periodically we are reminded that the Federal Trade Commission plays a major role in regulating the Internet. For instance, the FTC is in charge of protecting privacy on the Internet in the U.S. and continually starts new privacy initiatives as the use of the Internet evolves. Unlike the EU, which h...

Facebook, which already has a long history of skirmishes with privacy advocates, may be heading toward another fight following reports that the company is working on a mobile location-tracking app. The app, set for release in mid-March, would reportedly run in the background even when other apps are...

Most companies tend to relegate information and technology security concerns to the IT department. After all, aren't they the ones who make sure you change your password every few months? It might seem like IT staff are the only ones who care about such matters, and security measures might seem like...