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Friday links roundup

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:47pm

A roundup of some items that caught our eye recently, but we haven’t had a chance to write about.

San Francisco’s MUNI train system is installing new “intelligent” cameras that will track and monitor commuters, raising an alarm when it spots “anomalous activities,” which it will identify by learning over time what is “normal.” It always surprises me when cutting-edge surveillance technologies are introduced in the Bay Area (see BART, phone cutoffs in, and bar cameras). Don’t people know that Northern California is home to perhaps the most tech-savvy and privacy-aware population in the country?

Quiz: What Do Facebook Quizzes Know About You?

By Chris Conley, Technology and Civil Liberties Fellow, ACLU of Northern California at 4:29pm

(Originally posted on the ACLU of Northern California's Bytes & Pieces blog.)

Ever whiled away five minutes on a Facebook quiz, finding out what cartoon character is your look-alike or how your IQ stacks up? These quizzes may seem like a perfectly harmless way to spend a few spare minutes. But have you stopped to think about what these quizzes are learning about you and how that info could be used? Take our quiz and learn more!

The Government, Privacy, and Companies (The Ones We Pay and the Ones We Don’t)

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:18pm

Privacy researcher Chris Soghoian gave a very nice talk at TEDx recently on “Why Google Won’t Protect You From Big Brother.” He provides a cogent overview and some useful perspective on the relationship between companies and the government, which is something we at the ACLU have been concerned about since our 2004 report on the Surveillance Industrial Complex, and before.

This Week in Civil Liberties (5/4/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 4:41pm

What surveillance tool used by law enforcement could lead to nightmarish privacy infringement?

This week, the White House confirmed the existence of what program that has been kept secret by the CIA?

“Liking” on what social network is not protected by the First Amendment, according to a federal judge in Virginia?

Which state wants to replace one private prison contractor with another?

Which state is being sued by an ACLU affiliate for its discriminatory voter ID law?

Facebook Is Abiding By Its Own Rules, Great! Now How About Good Rules For Everybody?

By Chris Conley, Technology and Civil Liberties Fellow, ACLU of Northern California at 3:16pm

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 several steps to make sure it lives up to its promises in the future, including giving consumers clear and prominent notice and obtaining consumers' express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established.”

Like Privacy? There's An App For That!

By Sam Ritchie, ACLU at 5:16pm

Today we've launched a Facebook app that assesses your privacy exposure based on your online habits and technology use.

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (9/9/2011)

By Caitlin O'Neill, Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Associate, ACLU of Northern California at 3:12pm

In the digital age that we live in today, we are constantly exposing our personal information online. From using cell phones and GPS devices to online shopping and sending e-mail, the things we do and say online leave behind ever-growing trails of personal information. The ACLU believes that Americans shouldn’t have to choose between using new technology and keeping control of your private information. Each week, we feature some of the most interesting news related to technology and civil liberties that we’ve spotted from the previous week.

How 9/11 attacks reshaped U.S. privacy debate [Cnet]
“The high, or low, points of the next decade are well known: The enactment of the Patriot Act. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance…”

Is Simpler Better for Facebook's Privacy Policy?

By Chris Conley, Technology and Civil Liberties Fellow, ACLU of Northern California at 3:55pm

Facebook is working on a "privacy policy written for regular people." Giving users descriptions that they can actually understand is a great thing, and we're glad to see Facebook move in that direction. But, as we've pointed out with Facebook before, simpler isn't always better—and some parts of the proposed policy are pretty confusing anyhow. So we're glad that Facebook plans to make its new privacy policy simpler to read and understand—but we hope it will simply provide better controls and protection too.

Is Facebook’s Application Dashboard Missing a Privacy Gauge?

By Chris Conley, Technology and Civil Liberties Fellow, ACLU of Northern California at 10:27am

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 changes that made Friends Lists and Fan Pages part of your “Publicly Available Information” (PAI) that could not be restricted or made private in any way (though Facebook later relented and allowed you to hide your Friends List on your profile—but only if you hide it from everyone!), this takes information that was hard to find and puts it front and center.

Another State Acts to Protect Facebook Passwords From Employers

By Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois at 1:24pm

Earlier this week, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a bill that prohibits employers from requiring or requesting that employees or applicants reveal the username sand passwords for personal accounts on websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Governor Quinn, in signing the bill, said it was necessary to “protect workers and their right to personal privacy.” Illinois in is now the second state to enact this type legislation, following the lead of Maryland, which enacted a similar law in May.

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