Privacy | Cheryl Waller

Facebook, Microsoft Join Google in Government Transparency Request

June 11, 2013 by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai Leave a Comment

Following Google's lead, on Tuesday both Microsoft and Facebook released statements requesting the U.S. government's permission to publish data and be more transparent about surveillance.

Earlier Tuesday, after last week's revelations about the NSA surveillance program PRISM, Google published a letter it sent to Attorney Genral Eric Holder. In the letter, the search giant asked permission to publish more data about the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests that it has received over the years to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the program

SEE ALSO: PRISM Not as Evil as Once Thought

Zuckerberg Offers Another PRISM Denial

June 11, 2013 by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai Leave a Comment

Facebook has nothing to do with PRISM. That's what Mark Zuckerberg said for a second time on Tuesday

At Facebook's annual shareholder meeting, the company's founder and CEO said pretty much what he said last week.

SEE ALSO: PRISM: Does the NSA Really Get Direct Access to Your Data?

"We don’t work directly with the NSA, or with any other program," he said. "Nor do we proactively give user information to anyone, nor has anyone approached us to do that."

Zuckerberg added that no agency has "direct access" to Facebook's servers. But that doesn't necessarily close the book on PRISM, the secret NSA program that allegedly allows the NSA to wiretap the communications of Internet companies' foreign users. Read more...

More about Facebook, Privacy, Surveillance, Nsa, and Mark Zuckerbeg

Filed Under: Facebook, search engine optimization, Social Networking Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, Mark Zuckerbeg, nsa, privacy, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, surveillance

How to Delete Your Creeper Facebook Search History

June 8, 2013 by Amy-Mae Elliott Leave a Comment

Remember that time you did a Facebook search of your partner's ex? And before that, when you had a huge crush on your sweetie, you'd check his or her profile page slightly too often. Oh, and recall that other time when you had a leeettle too much wine and looked up The One That Got Away?

Facebook does

The social network stores every single term you enter in the search box. Although the privacy setting for this data is set to "only you," you may feel uncomfortable having that info hanging around. If so, it's a simple process to delete it and clear your creeper Facebook search history

SEE ALSO: Facebook Cover Photos: 15 Cinematic Themes You'll Recognize

Zuckerberg Personally Denies Facebook Involved in PRISM Snooping

June 7, 2013 by Alex Fitzpatrick Leave a Comment

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is personally denying Facebook's reported involvement in the National Security Agency's secret PRISM Internet surveillance program.

From Zuckerberg's Facebook page:

I want to respond personally to the outrageous press reports about PRISM:

Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday

When governments ask Facebook for data, we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if is required by law. We will continue fighting aggressively to keep your information safe and secure. Read more...

More about Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Privacy, Prism, and Us World

Filed Under: Facebook, search engine optimization, Social Networking Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, mark zuckerberg, prism, privacy, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, US & World

Are You Surprised by the NSA, PRISM News?

June 7, 2013 by Ryan Lytle Leave a Comment

The public has been in an uproar after reports revealed that Verizon has been providing telephone records of millions of its subscribers with the National Security Agency (NSA). Another report acknowledged that major Internet companies, such as Facebook and Google, are also allowing the NSA to access user data through a program called PRISM.

SEE ALSO: Everything You Need to Know About the NSA Surveillance News

With all the news about your data potentially being tracked, how do you feel about this? Are you surprised by this news? Do you feel safer knowing these investigations are taking place? Share your opinions in the poll below and please add any other questions you've had about this situation. Read more...

More about Google, Facebook, Poll, Politics, and Privacy

Filed Under: Facebook, Google, search engine optimization, Social Networking Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, politics, Poll, privacy, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking

This Is the NSA’s Legal Basis for Tapping Into Facebook and Google

June 7, 2013 by Alex Fitzpatrick Leave a Comment

The National Security Agency can access Google, Facebook, Apple and seven other major technology companies' databases for national security investigations in a program called PRISM, as was revealed in a report posted by The Washington Post on Thursday. PRISM is specifically targeted at non-citizens living outside the United States, according to the Director of National Intelligence.

What's the NSA's legal basis for the investigations? It's rooted in a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, created by the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008

SEE ALSO: NSA Leak: Internet Giants Let Government Tap Your Data

Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Yahoo, Microsoft, Paltalk, AOL And Apple Deny Participation In NSA PRISM Surveillance Program

June 6, 2013 by Frederic Lardinois Leave a Comment

The Washington Post today reported that Google, Apple, Facebook, Dropbox, Microsoft, Paltalk, AOL (TechCrunch’s parent company) and Yahoo participated in the so-called PRISM program which provided the NSA with what looks like virtually direct access to their servers and their users’ data.

We have now reached out to all of these companies and all of them have categorically denied that they are participating.

These denials are especially odd given that a number of publications, including USA Today, are now citing source that confirm the existence of this program. According to these reports, PRISM is not aimed at U.S. citizens or any person in the United States.

Here is what we got so far:

Facebook

“We do not provide any government organization with direct access to Facebook servers. When Facebook is asked for data or information about specific individuals, we carefully scrutinize any such request for compliance with all applicable laws, and provide information only to the extent required by law.”

Google

“Google cares deeply about the security of our users’ data. We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government ‘back door’ into our systems, but Google does not have a backdoor for the government to access private user data.”

Apple

Apple gave this the statement to AllThingsD:

“We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order.”

Microsoft

“We provide customer data only when we receive a legally binding order or subpoena to do so, and never on a voluntary basis. In addition we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers. If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it.”

Yahoo

“Yahoo! takes users’ privacy very seriously. We do not provide the government with direct access to our servers, systems, or network.”

Dropbox

“We’ve seen reports that Dropbox might be asked to participate in a government program called PRISM. We are not part of any such program and remain committed to protecting our users’ privacy.”

Paltalk

“We have not heard of PRISM. Paltalk exercises extreme care to protect and secure users’ data, only responding to court orders as required to by law. Paltalk does not provide any government agency with direct access to its servers.”

AOL

“We do not have any knowledge of the Prism program. We do not disclose user information to government agencies without a court order, subpoena or formal legal process, nor do we provide any government agency with access to our servers.”

We will update this post as we hear from the other companies named in the documents.

Filed Under: Facebook, Google, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: apple, Blogging, Crunch-gov, dropbox, Facebook, Google, nsa, prism, privacy, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, TC

NSA Leak: Internet Giants Let Government Tap Your Data

June 6, 2013 by Alex Fitzpatrick Leave a Comment

Facebook, Google and seven other major Internet companies are allowing the National Security Agency direct access to a wealth of users' data, according to a report

Called PRISM, the program involves the NSA accessing the emails, documents, photographs and other sensitive data of users from all nine involved companies, according to a PowerPoint presentation obtained by The Washington Post and The Guardian. The PowerPoint was provided by a whistleblower in the intelligence services

Microsoft, Yahoo, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple are also party to the program, the report alleges. Dropbox is reportedly "coming soon," while the PowerPoint document reveals that Apple held out for five years before finally relenting. Read more...

More about Google, Facebook, Privacy, Us World, and Politics

Filed Under: Facebook, Google, search engine optimization, Social Networking Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, politics, privacy, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, US & World

Will Facebook’s Account Verification System Discourage Impostors?

May 31, 2013 by Adam Popescu Leave a Comment

When Victor Diaz Zapanta was featured on Mashable for his Facebook account's creative timeline design, he was excited. But that sweet feeling soon soured slightly when the 29-year-old designer's account was parodied by impostors claiming to be him.

It happened at least four times, and at one point Facebook even suspended his profile, forcing the Washington, D.C., resident to verify his account way before Facebook introduced its new page and profile verification on Wednesday.

"I've been playing whack-a-mole with reporting fake profiles on Facebook every couple months," he says. "I'm guessing people were into the Facebook timeline I made and just don't think it's a big deal to impersonate someone." Read more...

More about Facebook, Privacy, Verification, Timeline, and Social Media

Filed Under: Facebook, search engine optimization, Social Networking Tagged With: Blogging, Facebook, privacy, search engine optimization, SEO, social media, Social Networking, Timeline, verification

This Is What Happens When You Block Someone on Facebook

May 1, 2013 by Amy-Mae Elliott Leave a Comment

While Facebook offers a wonderful way to keep in touch with friends and family, as with any social network, there is potential for people you'd rather not be in touch with to contact you

If this happens to you on Facebook, you can easily "block" someone. We've taken a look at this process, how to do it and what it actually means once you've done it

SEE ALSO: Facebook Like a Ninja With These Keyboard Shortcuts

Take a look through our gallery for a step-by-step guide to what happens when you block someone on the social network. Let us know in the comments below any other privacy queries you have about Facebook — we could cover them in future articles Read more...

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