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It came as a surprise to some folks at a recent SXSW talk that Apple's Siri "personal assistant" isn't just working for us, it's working full-time for Apple too by sending lots of our personal voice and user info to Apple to stockpile in its databases. Take a peek at Siri's privacy policy (which, by the way, is pretty difficult to find) and you'll realize what's happening behind the scenes.What in... Read More

Free speech isn't so free when booksellers have to choose between hosting legitimate content and earning a living. Unfortunately, PayPal is threatening to stop doing business with several online booksellers, significantly impacting their revenue in the process, unless the booksellers agree to stop providing content that is perfectly legal but violates PayPal's policy. Please join us and tell PayPa... Read More

Tomorrow, Google will put in place a new privacy policy across the vast majority of Google products and platforms. As we told you when they announced the new policy back in January, the new policy makes clear that Google will, for the first time, combine the personal data you share with any one of its products or sites across almost all of its products and sites (everything but Google Chrome, Goog... Read More

In the past week, the White House, the Federal Trade Commission, and the California Attorney General's Office have all released reports or announced agreements designed to promote consumer privacy. These announcements incorporate several good ideas that, if implemented and enforced, would give users more control over their own personal information. But the recent moves are just a starting point fo... Read More

By Chris CalabreseACLU Washington Legislative OfficeToday, the White House released a new policy paper on consumer privacy which may mark an important turning point in the effort to return control over how our online information is handled.The report contains two main elements. The first is a detailed description about what the administration believes are the core principles that should under... Read More

I'm heading to Palo Alto tomorrow for the Stanford Technology Law Review's symposium and looking forward to the first panel of the day, Taking Forgetting Seriously.The question of whether an individual should have the right to demand that organizations delete their data is getting a lot of increased attention, particularly in the European Union. In late January, EU Justice Justice Commissioner Viv... Read More

Want to keep your information private now that Google has started rolling out "Search, plus Your World," a new search results format? For those signed-in with a Google account, the new feature combines search results from the public web plus private information and photos you have shared (or have been shared with you) through Google+ or Picasa.There are privacy implications with these expanded sea... Read More

Photographs don't just capture your laughter and tears. They can also reveal the details of your life: the people you know, the events you attend, and more. And facial recognition makes it easy to link any photo of you--even one you didn't know you were in--to your name and identity. This could make it impossible to attend a support group meeting or political rally without sharing that information... Read More

The newest iPhone features Siri – which Apple bills as "the intelligent personal assistant that helps you get things done just by asking." Or not, depending on what you're asking for. Need movie tickets, takeout food, or even Viagra, Siri can help. But should you need say, basic reproductive health care like emergency contraception or an abortion, Siri is clueless. According to numerous news so... Read More

Today, Facebook agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it deceived customers by failing to uphold privacy promises. The FTC announced today that the social networking site "deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public. The proposed settlement requires Facebook to take sev... Read More

Earlier today the FTC announced a proposed settlement with Facebook, addressing its assertion that Facebook deceived users by failing to uphold its privacy promises. As we said elsewhere, the proposed settlement has one major step forward: it prohibits the company from "begging forgiveness instead of asking permission" by changing its privacy settings to make data more public or share it with more... Read More

Catherine CrumpACLU National OfficeIn a victory for the privacy rights of everyone with a cell phone, a court has held that law enforcement agents must get a warrant to access cell phone location records. The ACLU, ACLU of Texas and Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted a brief urging the court to adopt exactly this position. The Constitution requires nothing less.In the case, the government as... Read More