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ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Is Facebook's Application Dashboard Missing a Privacy Gauge?

Feb 05, 2010
Facebook is once again rolling out changes to its user interface, including new Applications and Games Dashboards that it says will "mak[e] it easier for you to find and interact with applications." And, once again, these changes affect your privacy: now other users can easily find out which applications you use, whether that's a popular game, a dating app, or our Facebook quiz. Just like the chan... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Patriot Act: Here We Go Again

Feb 05, 2010
Reposted from ACLU National Votes on re-authorizing key parts of the Patriot Act will happen in Congress any day now. And, once again, fear-mongering and scare tactics are being used to block genuine Patriot Act reforms. This time, opponents of reform are seizing on the attempted Christmas Day airplane bombing to insist that we don't need to bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution. S... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
News

ACLU Tells Fresno City College That Anti-Gay Preaching By Health Professor Doesn't Fly

Feb 08, 2010
The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Fresno City College today demanding that the school ensure that all its health science classes teach unbiased and medically accurate information. According to students at the college, lectures by Professor Dr. Bradley Lopez, who teaches an introductory health class, often present religiously-based and anti-gay views as "science" or "fact." Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Tell Google: No Deal With the NSA

Feb 09, 2010
Google and the NSA. It is hard to imagine a more potent–or frightening–combination when it comes to the collection and safety of Americans' private information.But just such an alliance is underway. As reported by the Washington Post, Google–the world's largest search engine company with access to intimate details of our lives–is negotiating an electronic surveillance deal with the National Securi... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

FTC Privacy Roundtable 2.0: Technology and Privacy

Feb 09, 2010
On January 28, the Federal Trade Commission held its second "Exploring Privacy" roundtable to discuss privacy concerns raised by technology. In anticipation, we blogged about it generally, and explored two of the panel topics in detail (cloud computing and social networking).Privacy and consumer choice—whether through privacy enhancing technologies, consumer education, FTC regulation, improved not... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Google Buzz Gets a Wake-Up Call

Feb 12, 2010
Earlier this week, Google released Buzz, a social networking extension to its Gmail and Gchat services. But the biggest buzz about this new service concerned its privacy problems. Fortunately, Google showed once again that when you Demand Your dotRights and tell companies to respect your privacy, they will respond. Keep up the pressure and tell Google that Buzz still has some problems to fix!Not t... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Google's CEO Doesn't Get It

Feb 18, 2010
Google's new Buzz service triggered a wave of criticism last week when it launched with serious privacy holes. While the company has moved to address some of those concerns, CEO Eric Schmidt seems to be missing the point, stating that the problem was that Google "did not understand how to communicate Google Buzz and its privacy. ... There was a lot of confusion when it came out on Tuesday, and peo... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Facebook Adds Application Publisher Controls, But Application Privacy Holes Remain

Feb 18, 2010
Facebook recently announced that it was rolling out tools that would give users more granular control over content posted via third-party applications. More flexible privacy controls are always a welcome step, but this move does not address the privacy flaws with Facebook's third party application platform that are highlighted by our Facebook Privacy Quiz. Please demand that Facebook protect your ... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

ACLU, EFF And Others In Court Today To Challenge Google Book Search Settlement

Feb 18, 2010
Groups And Prominent Authors Say Settlement Doesn't Protect Free Speech Or User PrivacyNew York – The American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law are in federal court today urging a judge to reject the proposed settlement in a lawsuit over Google Book Search bec... Read More