privacy

Buzzkill: Google settles Google Buzz privacy suit for $8.5 million donation

A drop in the bucket for the search behemoth.

Google today settled the class action lawsuit it earned when it launched Google Buzz without any privacy controls.  Google Buzz is a social networking tool similar to Twitter that allows users to share information with their connections.  In order to jumpstart users' social graph, Buzz users were automatically, and publicly, linked to people they often Gmail-ed with.  That made for some embarrassing connections.

Google (GOOG) MORE

Facebook's false choice: What it should have done to preserve trust

How the largest social network can pursue both its own objectives and its customer needs.

by Inder Sidhu, contributor

No. 6 on the list of "Most Hateable Companies Not Named BP"?

Ouch. That's got to hurt.

So how did Facebook, a destination of choice to more than 500 million people, get cast in such a poor light? The same way a lot of technology companies falter: it made a false choice that it never MORE

Facebook Groups: You saw it here first

Facebook's "Groups" refresh takes a slide from one participant in Fortune's privacy redesign bake-off.

When Facebook Groups launches, users will have more control over privacy and sharing with the ability to grant subcircles of friends customized access to post updates and media without the need for friends' approval or confirmation.

Privacy issues aside, we applaud Facebook for giving its hundreds of millions of users these new features. But if eagle-eyed Fortune readers MORE

Four ways the FTC's "Do Not Track" registry doesn't track

In theory, it sounds like a no-brainer. In practice, such a government-run registry could do more harm than good.

The Internet is an awesome free-for-all of services and content. It's also a terrifying space, one where bits of information about who you are and what you're doing continually float around like cyber flotsam and jetsam, only to be picked apart by outside parties for their own devices. As a result, privacy MORE

Nikesh Arora talks about the future of Google

A half hour with Google's President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development.

You don't have to travel very far down the Google Executives page to find Nikesh Arora, he's just below the founders and CEO Eric Schmidt.  That tells you how important his views are to Google (GOOG).  Last week while visiting India, he gave a three part interview in which he portrayed the company as sticking to its roots as MORE

Where are Facebook's friends on K Street?

The company still has no outside lobbyists even as it faces mounting privacy probes. Is Facebook's Washington strategy too little, too late?

By Anna Palmer, contributor

A recent political attack ad from Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for California attorney general blamed her opponent Chris Kelly, who also happens to be Facebook's former chief privacy officer, for designing the site's "condemned" privacy policies.

"Chris Kelly released your private information," the ad warned over ominous background MORE

Don't like Facebook's privacy controls? Try anyone else's

We might think Zuckerberg's system isn't simple enough – but at least he has one.

When I was in the seventh grade, I had a crush on an eighth grader and documented my secret love on a scrap of paper. Somehow it ended up in the possession of my obnoxious classmate, Myiia, who refused to give it back.

A vice principal got involved when he saw us arguing in the hall. After MORE

Why Facebook's privacy woes aren't over

Facebook only grows when we share -- so Zuck and Co. will keep pushing us past our comfort zones

Think Mark Zuckerberg doesn't value privacy? Try getting into Facebook headquarters. Even with an invitation, it's not easy. When this reporter arrived for a press briefing Wednesday, I got checked twice at the door -- and later, security guards almost wouldn't let me through the building.

The Facebook founder and CEO guards his MORE

Techmate: Facebook CEO responds to privacy concerns [video]

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks to Jon Fortt about how he has tried to simplify the social network's privacy settings and mollify critics.

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US says smartphones are data-hogs