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EU data laws threaten UK firms
News For starters, the use of cookies to covertly collect information on Web habits will have to be tightened up. The new Data Protection Act will impact Internet firms because it requires businesses to make clear what they intend to do with information...
[March 1, 2000, 16:10]
eBay faces data protection inquiry
News The civil- and cyber-rights group complained to the UK's Information Commissioner this week about eBay.co.uk, which it claims is breaching the Data Protection Act by making it very hard for users to cancel their account and delete details of their...
[August 31, 2006, 15:35]
ISPs, lawmakers debate ad-privacy regulations
News The ISPs urged committee members to forgo passing new laws to regulate the use of targeted online advertising, instead advocating for a self-regulation of the industry to keep consumers' web-surfing habits secure and private.
[September 26, 2008, 10:14]
Anti-spyware software targets Gator
News Spyware is designed to lurk behind the scenes on PCs, tracking Web surfing or computer-use habits in order to serve up advertisements. Just days after a federal judge ruled that software makers are within their rights to deliver ads over Web sites...
[September 10, 2003, 10:10]
Gnutella swapping cookies, too
News At best, this can provide a potentially embarrassing look into a person's private Web surfing habits. Web surfers trading free music and other digital goods over one of the Web's most popular file-swapping networks are sharing much more: sensitive...
[February 9, 2001, 8:42]
eBay acts over privacy fears
News Privacy International is concerned that many Web sites make it very hard for users to cancel their account and delete details of their Web shopping habits and other personal data.eBay confirmed that it would make changes to its site, but did not...
[September 27, 2006, 16:40]
Surveillance 2: Eyes in the back of your head
News Finally, keep a close watch on your Web-browsing habits. Tell them that their computer use may be monitored at any time, and provide clear guidelines for what constitutes acceptable use of company email servers and the Web.
[February 25, 2000, 9:44]
Spy software targets employee downloads
News Watching your Web habits Existing versions of the company's software focus largely on Web filtering, allowing companies to set which employees can go to which types of sites or specific Web addresses, and when.
[October 10, 2002, 9:06]
Google and Microsoft want your soul
Blog The software giant is also developing privacy-busting tech, in the form of software that can identify an individual merely from their web-browsing habits. The computing giant is developing software that could accurately guess your name, age, gender...
[May 24, 2007, 17:40]
Spyware and adware hide in BitTorrent downloads
News Purveyors of the applications that pop up adverts on PC screens and track browsing habits have discovered BitTorrent as a new distribution channel. According to observers of the trend, videos and music that hide adware and spyware are increasingly...
[June 17, 2005, 10:00]
AOL buys online ad firm
News While effective, the practice, also known as contextual advertising, has caused concern among privacy advocates who worry that the strategy opens Internet users up to increased scrutiny of their personal Web surfing habits.
[June 24, 2004, 16:40]
Symantec sues over 'adware' toolbars
News Symantec claimed in its lawsuit that the programs display ads based on keywords and log information on the PC user's Web browsing habits, possibly for use in targeted marketing. Hotbar offers toolbars for Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser...
[June 9, 2005, 10:25]
Are you a secret Googlewhacker?
News Though he's long been a researcher of odd surfing habits -- and spends plenty of time Googlewhacking himself -- Stock declines to take credit for the phenomenon. The challenge comes from the size of Google's legendary database, which had recently...
[January 30, 2002, 14:19]
Online growth plateaus
News Those findings and numerous others were released on Monday in a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which has been studying the online habits of more than 64,000 Americans for more than three years.
[December 23, 2003, 13:35]
Jane Wakefield: The real tech revolution
News Personally I can't think of anything worse than a Web site that knows all my habits. He obviously thinks this is a positive thing, giving us the chance to have personalised, one-to-one Web sites that know exactly what we want to buy.
[October 1, 1999, 16:50]
Anarchist coders prime unfettered file swapping service
News Everyone's Web browsing habits will be under a microscope, and all of that information could end up for sale. Recently, a few Web-based interfaces to the Freenet network have made it easier for the less technically literate to use.
[June 19, 2001, 14:46]
The battle over getting to know you
News Web publishers have long used "cookies," or electronic tracking tags, to monitor visitor habits and response to advertising. Web publishers and advertisers are in a tug-of-war over consumer data gathered in online ad campaigns, a conflict that...
[February 22, 2002, 6:31]
Google sees profit in product images
News Through the new service, the company plans to sell retailers research on shopper habits. According to its Web site, Google can help retailers understand how consumers use their catalogues by reporting the most common words used to find a catalogue...
[December 19, 2001, 12:49]
M&S plays down security exposure
News According to a spokesman, the information exposed concerned users browsing habits, such as their IP address, and the pages they had visited as well as some passwords to the SQL database running the site.
[October 20, 2000, 12:02]
They know where you're shopping
News The rejection didn't bother Hughes nearly as much as the notion that a company he had never heard of seemed to know an awful lot about his personal purchasing habits. I certainly did not authorise [Web e-tailers] to run a credit check on me, and I...
[August 4, 2000, 13:59]
