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Facebook: Making Your Political Opinions Less Private Since 2012

By Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:48pm

Facebook's willingness to search and collect users’ private political preferences and thoughts, which they may have shared only with their closest friend in a private email, is troubling.

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (12/2/2011)

By Caitlin O'Neill, Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Associate, ACLU of Northern California at 11:07am

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.

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.

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.

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (5/18/2012)

By Anna Salem, ACLU of Northern California at 3:03pm
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&r

ACLU Guidance on Demands For Passwords To Protected Accounts

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 3:54pm

The Associated Press wrote a story a couple of weeks ago about job applicants being compelled to turn over the passwords to their social-networking accounts. This is an issue that the ACLU has worked on in a number of states, and it has stirred a lot of interest. Now, we’ve posted  a guide to the issue on our web site.

In the guide, we do the following:

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (4/20/2012)

By Anna Salem, ACLU of Northern California at 5:30pm

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.

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (4/13/2012)

By Anna Salem, ACLU of Northern California at 3:19pm

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.

FTC Report: A Roadmap for Future Success?

By Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:21pm

The FTC's newly released privacy report is a roadmap to success on consumer privacy — now it's up to Congress to follow the directions

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