CNet reports that more companies are monitoring their employees’ Internet surfing habits, and cutting off access where appropriate. Does shutting off access really solve the problem, if the employee is surfing during a break or the lunch hour?
Privacy
A new tactic for defeating spam
By Tom Mighell on
One of the unintended (and unwanted) side effects in the fight against spam is that while only 25% of all spam gets blocked by spam-killing software and blacklists, fully 35% of all legitimate e-mail is also blocked by these services. Now, two companies are focusing on that problem – their new programs will make sure
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Taking Identity Theft to a New Level
By Tom Mighell on
Posted in Privacy
Authorities say three men are responsible for stealing the credit histories of more than 30,000 people — they then stole over $2.7 million by emptying out bank accounts, taking out false, loans, and running up credit card charges.
Does anyone still use Gator? If so — why?
By Tom Mighell on
I used to love Gator — it made filling in online forms a breeze, and kept my credit card information handy so I didn’t have to pull it out every time I bought something online. But Gator apparently wasn’t satisfied with providing that great service, and started with a pop-up ad program; at select websites…
Your boss may know what you just bid on eBay
By Tom Mighell on
Posted in Privacy
Wired reports that several new tools are available that allow employers to monitor workers’ Internet usage.
It’s a great week for privacy…
By Tom Mighell on
The Navy had to take one of its websites offline after Internet surfers found they could access confidential Navy databases.
And the Bank of the West mistakenly exposed the e-mail addresses of over 3,300 of its customers when an employee put the addresses in the “To” line of an e-mail rather than the “BCC”
New report on employer monitoring of e-mail and Internet use
By Tom Mighell on
The GAO released a report yesterday showing the results of a survey of the e-mail/Internet use policies of 14 employers. Interestingly, the report shows that while most of the companies surveyed have implemented procedures to protect their networks from outside attack, none changed their computer use policies in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Another look at public records online
By Tom Mighell on
Posted in Legal Research Sites, Privacy
This Law.com article examines the fact that while it is undeniably helpful to have public court records online for research purposes, maybe it’s time to revisit the amount of personal information contained in those records.
FAST Caves in
By Tom Mighell on
Posted in Privacy, Search Engines
I mentioned back on September 22 that search engine Alltheweb was collecting information on search terms entered by users and selling them to Doubleclick, a company notorious for selling and collecting personal information. In response to pressure from privacy groups, FAST Search hasn’t stopped this practice, but it has posted a privacy policy so users…
Did AllTheWeb pull a FAST one?
By Tom Mighell on
Posted in Privacy, Search Engines
CNET is reporting that a complaint has been lodged against Fast Search and Transfer, alleging that its AllTheWeb search engine is collecting information on its visitors and sharing them with DoubleClick.