Google admits it did not delete Street View data

Reuters:

Google Inc said on Friday it had not kept its promise to delete all the personal data, such as emails, its Street View cars collected in Britain and other countries in 2010.

What else is new.

Google Said to Face Fine by U.S. Over Apple Safari Breach

Bloomberg:

Google Inc. (GOOG) is negotiating with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over how big a fine it will have to pay for its breach of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Safari Internet browser, a person familiar with the matter said.

The fine could amount to more than $10 million dollars, said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks are confidential. The fine would be the first by the FTC for a violation of Internet privacy as the agency steps up enforcement of consumers’ online rights.

“Don’t be Evil”.

Google Is Faulted for Impeding U.S. Inquiry on Data Collection.

NY Times:

“Although a world leader in digital search capability, Google took the position that searching its employees’ e-mail ‘would be a time-consuming and burdensome task,’ ” the report said. The commission also noted that Google stymied its efforts to learn more about the data collection because its main architect, an engineer who was not identified, had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Nothing Evil about that.

Google still has the data, which it said it has never looked at and has never used in its products or services. (Yeah right) It said it intended to delete the information once regulators gave it permission. A spokeswoman did not immediately return an e-mail inquiry about whether the engineer on the project still worked for the company.

Priceless.

How an Android app could transmit your personal data without any permissions

The CoolIris Android gallery, the stock gallery app used in many devices running Android 2.1 – 2.3, has been found to store unencrypted copies of complete addresses that could theoretically be accessed and transmitted by a malicious app with no system permissions. The issue came to light when we started investigating a security issue in Android found by Paul Brodeur from Leviathan Security Group. Brodeur created an app named No Permissions which highlights flaws in Android’s permission system that would allow an app to access your data. [The Verge]

And again, even if ICS (Android 4.0) could fix this, it doesn’t matter because only a fraction of handsets have it or could be updated to it

Facebook logins easily slurped from iOS, Android kit

The Register:

Facebook’s iOS and Android clients don’t encrypt users’ logon credentials, leaving them languishing in a folder accessible to other apps or USB connections. A rogue application, or two minutes with a USB connection, are all that’s needed to lift the temporary credentials from either device – a problem compounded by Facebook’s idea of “temporary” as lasting beyond the year 4000. In the case of iOS, one can even lift the data from a backup, enabling the hacker to attach to a Facebook account and access Facebook applications for fun and profit.

Facebook, get on it as soon as posible.

Facebook fires back at employers who ask for passwords on job interviews.

Google faces new privacy probes.

WSJ:

Regulators in the U.S. and European Union are investigating Google for bypassing the privacy settings of millions of users of Apple’s Safari Web browser, according to people familiar with the investigations. Google stopped the practice last month after being contacted by The Wall Street Journal.

Android Apps Can Also Secretly Copy Photos

NY Times:

It’s not just Apple. Photos are vulnerable on Android phones, too.

As Bits reported this week, developers who make applications for Apple iOS devices have access to a person’s entire photo library as long as that person allows the app to use location data.

Google Agrees to ‘Do-Not-Track’ Button in Browser

Bloomberg

Google Inc. (GOOG) will allow a “do-not- track” button to be embedded in its Web browser, letting users restrict the amount of data that can be collected about them.

The world’s most popular search engine will join with other Web companies to support the anti-tracking initiative, which prevents an individual’s browsing history from being used to tailor ads, according to an e-mailed statement today.

Welcome to the party Google, you’re late, Safari and Firefox already do this. Better late than never I guess.

Google Sued by Apple Safari-User Over Web-Browser Privacy

Google Inc. officials were sued for violating users’ privacy rights on Apple Inc.’s Safari Web browser by bypassing computer settings designed to block monitoring of consumers’ online activity.

Google, the world’s biggest Internet-search company, has been dodging privacy settings in Safari, which serves as the primary Web browser on Apple’s iPhone and iPad products, lawyers for an Illinois man who uses the Safari browser said in a lawsuit filed today in federal court in Delaware.

“Google’s willful and knowing actions violated” federal wiretapping laws and other computer-related statutes, attorneys for Matthew Soble said in the complaint.