An Intentional Mistake: The Anatomy of Google’s Wi-Fi Sniffing Debacle (via Wired.com).

And a related piece: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/marius_milne/

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This excellent article reminds us that, although Internet privacy seems to be getting all the attention and headlines these days, we shouldn’t become complacent about cyber-crime, an industry now worth more than $12.5 billion.

Dont Forget The Cyber Criminals (via Forbes).

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FBI Wants Backdoors in Facebook, Skype and Instant Messaging | Threat Level (via Wired.com)

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HTTPS and Tor: Working Together to Protect Your Privacy and Security Online (via Electronic Frontier Foundation).

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64% of people think cloud storage is risky, but 45% still go right ahead and use it (via Naked Security).

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More evidence that locational privacy (i,e., geo-tracking and geo-tagging) will, more and more, be the controversial privacy issue of the near future.

Tomorrows Privacy Struggles, On Display Today (NYTimes.com).

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I’m delighted to be interviewed by radio station KUCI (Irvine, California) on Monday, 4 June 2012 at 8 am (Pacific Time). Shortly after airing, the interview will also be available for download.

I’m especially delighted as, only two weeks later, the same radio program will interview Mr. Bruce Schneier, a true heavyweight in the Internet security field.

I feel very lucky and privileged to be on the program.  I’m looking forward to it and I hope you tune in.

Protect Your Privacy in the Information Age | Privacy Piracy radio program on KUCI.

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Google has introduced a new tool called Account Activity.  It allows you to subscribe to a monthly report that summarizes what’s been going on in your online Google accounts. Depending on the Google services you use, the reports could include information about the number of emails, the contacts you most interact with, and the types of searches being performed.

To me, the announcement is a little vague and the screenshot provided rather general in nature. So, we’ll just have to see what the reports contain and how insightful they are about the ways in which our activities are being tracked and profiled.  The move may be more about appearing to be transparent than actually being transparent with users about the data that is being tracked.

See Google’s announcement for yourself: Giving you more insight into your Google Account activity.

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Facebook’s new privacy policy (now called a Data Use Policy) is coming into effect  this Friday.  At least one pundit is warning that it is helping Facebook to extend “its data collecting tentacles in all directions”.  The most alarming concern raised is that the new policy will allow your friends to give apps permission to access your personal information.  Yikes!

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An outstanding article that gets into the meat of the “problem” with online tracking and profiling.  I think the sub-title is more informative: People condemn targeted advertising for its “creepiness” but the real issue is that we are giving private companies more power.  A highly recommended read.

It’s Not All About You: What Privacy Advocates Don’t Get About Data Tracking on the Web (by Alexander Furnas: The Atlantic).

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