Tag Archives: privacy

Google Gives Back Privacy

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Google (Mashable)

Google
(Mashable)

Google gives back privacy to students.

Google claims they have stopped scanning students’ emails following a lawsuit filed by California students last year. The legal battle began this March and came to a speedy conclusion. After claiming that Google violated federal and state privacy laws, which was tied to FERPA, they have lost the battle. Google rep claims that,

“…the company scans and indexes emails from all Apps for Education users. The company uses the data for potential advertising, among other purposes.”

In addition to the FERPA argument many advocacy groups point out is, “that even if Gmail users agree to Google’s terms, that doesn’t mean that non-subscribers who email with them do.” These arguments and general fuss has resulted in Google ending their data mining. It will be interested to see if they take this to a higher court or if the civil class action lawsuit have any monetary payouts. If so Mashable claims that, “If successful, that could lead to a payment to millions of Gmail users.” 

What do you think about Google’s data mining policy for those under 18? How do you feel about your email being used for data mining? Do you think that your privacy is at risk?

Read more on the initial lawsuit here

Keep Your Internet Usage Private and Better Secure Yourself

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According to Intel, every minute 639,800 gigabytes of information are transmitted around the net. Unfortunately, in that same minute, twenty people find themselves victims of identity theft. Many more find themselves victims of less nefarious actions such as data mining. Data mining occurs when your Internet behavior is tracked, profiled and then stored. This information is often then sold to advertisers and/or government agencies. This means that every click, website visit, purchase etc. does not go unnoticed. In order to keep your information private and provide yourself with a better sense of security here are some top tips to keep your Internet usage private:

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Arrested by Social Media: How Facebook and Twitter Catch Criminals

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Social MediaWith social media continuing to expand, people are just now realizing that most content you publish online is available to the public. This realization comes as several people are being arrested by social media. Continue reading →