This week Google launched an ad campaign and Web site headlined "Good To Know," according to a report at the Washington Post. Aimed at teaching Net users the basics of protecting their data in our increasingly social media environment, the campaign has ads appearing in "dozens of U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal, and magazines, including Time … [Read more...] about Google’s data-security ed campaign & site
consumer privacy
81% of teens use privacy settings: Study
Here's news many people wouldn't expect to read: Of all age groups surveyed by a just-released US survey, teens were the biggest users of online privacy settings, "with 81% using privacy settings when setting up an online profile, compared to 76% of adults and 66% of tweens" (10-to-12-year-olds), according to the 2nd-annual Yahoo! Online Safety Survey. Teens are also best at monitoring their … [Read more...] about 81% of teens use privacy settings: Study
FTC’s proposed updates for COPPA
The US Federal Trade Commission has just announced its proposed changes for the 10-year-old Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, the law that inadvertently created the social Web's "minimum age" of 13 (in its effort to define an age when all children are developmentally able to protect their own privacy). Because COPPA requires children's sites and services to obtain parental consent … [Read more...] about FTC’s proposed updates for COPPA
Major privacy and safety updates at Facebook
This week Facebook starts rolling out* a new level of control users have over their profiles and privacy. Among a number of positive changes are: the ability to approve any photo or post you're tagged in before it's visible to others on your profile; the ability to approve or not any tag someone tries to add to your photos or posts; and the ability to decide who sees what you post right before you … [Read more...] about Major privacy and safety updates at Facebook
A new book & fresh look at online privacy
We may not be fully aware of it yet, but as our media environment is changing – from a top-down (regulated, professionally produced) one to a user-driven, multidirectional, social one – so is our idea of privacy. Slowly, maybe, but changing it is. In their new book, A New Culture of Learning, University of Southern California Profs. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown touch on how today's … [Read more...] about A new book & fresh look at online privacy