Security

Citing national security concerns, the Justice Department on Tuesday asked the FCC to put the brakes on the pending Sprint-Softbank merger. The DoJ, FBI and DHS are reviewing the buy for national security, law enforcement and public safety concerns, according to a letter Justice sent to the FCC. "We...

The USPS is hosting a pilot project with the goal of simplifying the account ID process for all federal agencies. One possible solution: allowing citizens to use their existing e-commerce accounts to access agency websites. While electronic mechanisms enable federal agencies to provide some online g...

Users of the Internet and electronic gear are vulnerable to criminals near and far, but we don't always hear about what happens at court and whether the alleged criminals are convicted or acquitted. Here is an update on some those crimes for consideration. After an 11-day jury trial in Denver, membe...

Data brokers are watching your every move online. They track the sites you visit, articles you read, purchases you make, and even the names of your children. To cut through the red tape of monitoring and removing stored information, online privacy company Abine is offering a mobile version of its...

The cloud may be the future, but it's not a bed of roses. The Amazon Cloud had a meltdown on Christmas Eve, affecting many customers who use the service. Companies that use Amazon as their cloud, their customers and workers were all affected. What should we learn from this high-profile meltdown? It ...

Instagram's recent changes to its terms of service have led one user to file a proposed class action lawsuit against the company, alleging breach of contract and other violations. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week by California user Lucy Funes, claims that Instagram's...

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday announced that it has demanded nine data brokerage companies explain how they collect and use consumer data. The nine are Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, Peekyou, Rapleaf and Recorded Future. These sites offer information on just...

A U.S. district judge has given preliminary approval to Facebook's attempt to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the company violated members' privacy rights by using their images in Facebook's Sponsored Stories ad format. The settlement would give $10 each to those who objected to their images ...

For those who aren't familiar with the acronym SWOT, it means, "strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis applies especially well to a tech venture, because tech companies have to be constantly aware of the ever-changing threats to their products and to their very existence. Wh...

Do you really believe your Web-based email is private? Let's start with Terms of Service or Privacy Policies, which few people actually read. In 1986, the Stored Communications Act was initially designed to protect telephone records, not Internet activity. There was not much Web activity then, since...

One of the conventional views of political pundits after the Nov. 6 Presidential election was that both parties spent billions of dollars on the campaign for a result that did not change the political landscape all that much. Below the broad trends that keep political pundits in business, however, a...

EMC has announced it is acquiring Silver Tail Systems, a provider of real-time Web session intelligence and behavioral analysis. When the acquisition is closed, which is expected in the fourth quarter, Silver Tail will be part of EMC's security division, tasked with extending RSA's enterprise securi...

Barnes & Noble revealed this week that PIN pad devices at 63 of its stores nationwide were hacked, putting some of its customers at risk. The company discovered the hacking in September, and for the past month, the FBI has been investigating the case. Fewer than 1 percent of Barnes & Noble P...

Barnes & Noble revealed this week that PIN pad devices at 63 of its stores nationwide were hacked, putting some of its customers at risk. The company discovered the hacking in September, and for the past month, the FBI has been investigating the case. Fewer than 1 percent of Barnes & Noble P...

Compete has agreed to settle FTC charges that it used its Web-tracking software to collect personal data without disclosing the extent of its information-gathering activities, and failed to honor promises it made to protect the personal data it collected. Under the settlement, Compete must obtain co...