https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Federal privacy regulators are under scrutiny in Congress as they negotiate a record fine with Facebook to punish the company for alleged violations of its users' privacy. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-scrutiny-facebook.html Internet Wed, 08 May 2019 04:30:56 EDT news476508641 The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed a lower court to take another look at a lawsuit that involved Google and privacy concerns and ended in a class-action settlement. https://phys.org/news/2019-03-supreme-court-google-class-action-case.html Business Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:56:43 EDT news472301798 Consumer advocates and the data-hungry technology industry are drawing early battle lines in advance of an expected fight this year over what kind of federal privacy law the U.S. should have. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-lines-looming-privacy-law.html Internet Thu, 17 Jan 2019 03:09:37 EST news466916967 The Supreme Court struggled Wednesday over what to do about an $8.5 million class-action settlement involving Google and privacy concerns in which all the money went to lawyers and nonprofit groups but nothing was paid to 129 million people who used Google to perform internet searches. https://phys.org/news/2018-10-justices-85m-settlement-129m-google.html Business Wed, 31 Oct 2018 13:14:49 EDT news460210481 In a Policy Forum article appearing in the Oct. 12 issue of Science, leading bioethics and legal scholars sound the alarm about a recent report from National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. The Academies' report on "Returning Individual Research Results to Participants" makes recommendations on how to share research results and data with people who agree to participate in research studies and calls for problematic changes to federal law. This report proclaims its support for research participants' rights but, in reality, creates major new roadblocks to the return of data and results to participants and would roll back important privacy protections people have under current law, according to the analysis in the new Science article. https://phys.org/news/2018-10-national-academies-rights-law-scholars.html Social Sciences Thu, 11 Oct 2018 15:22:36 EDT news458490147 Representatives of six major technology and communications companies, including Google, Apple and AT&T, told lawmakers Wednesday that they support federal laws that would safeguard user privacy—if those laws aren't as stringent as rules recently introduced in Europe and California. https://phys.org/news/2018-09-amazon-apple-google-companies-theyd.html Internet Thu, 27 Sep 2018 04:00:01 EDT news457238463 Governments seem to think that the only way to protect national security is to own as much data about the public as possible, but this is not the case. https://phys.org/news/2017-10-ethically-databases-police-privacy.html Security Mon, 16 Oct 2017 07:20:03 EDT news427357013 Law enforcement agencies have touted drones as a powerful new tool for searches and investigations, but police in Utah report they've stopped using the devices after getting bogged down by federal regulations. https://phys.org/news/2016-06-utah-police-drone-cite-tough.html Other Sun, 19 Jun 2016 12:36:09 EDT news385558560 Federal law enforcement officials will be routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology under a new Justice Department policy announced Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2015-09-federal-requirements-cellphone-surveillance.html Security Thu, 03 Sep 2015 17:50:55 EDT news360521446 (AP)—Insurers aren't required to encrypt consumers' data under a 1990s federal law that remains the foundation for health care privacy in the Internet age—an omission that seems striking in light of the major cyberattack against Anthem. https://phys.org/news/2015-02-anthem-breach-gap-federal-health.html Internet Fri, 06 Feb 2015 14:40:02 EST news342455153 (AP)—The California attorney general has announced a $28 million settlement with a furniture and computer rental business that allegedly violated consumer protection and privacy laws. https://phys.org/news/2014-10-rent-to-own-business-million-settlement.html Business Mon, 13 Oct 2014 16:14:37 EDT news332435665 Online ratings operator Yelp agreed to pay $450,000 to settle US charges that it illegally collected data on children, in violation of privacy laws, officials said Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2014-09-yelp-fine-child-privacy-violation.html Internet Wed, 17 Sep 2014 12:30:01 EDT news330174682 The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) yesterday recommended introducing new laws that would give a legal remedy for serious invasions of privacy. https://phys.org/news/2014-09-privacy-invasion-legal-wrong.html Internet Thu, 04 Sep 2014 06:35:30 EDT news329031322 Revelations of National Security Agency surveillance programs have prompted state lawmakers around the United States to propose bills to curtail the powers of law enforcement to monitor and track citizens. https://phys.org/news/2014-02-states-rein-surveillance.html Other Wed, 05 Feb 2014 03:29:50 EST news310793383 Google's attorneys say their long-running practice of electronically scanning the contents of people's Gmail accounts to help sell ads is legal, and have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to stop the practice. https://phys.org/news/2013-09-google-scanning-gmail.html Internet Thu, 05 Sep 2013 04:42:26 EDT news297574937 Privacy laws urgently need to be updated to protect the public from information-gathering by the thousands of civilian drones expected to be flying in U.S. skies in the next decade or so, legal experts told a Senate panel Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2013-03-drones-require-privacy-laws-senate.html Other Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:10:01 EDT news283008963 The Justice Department on Tuesday dropped its support for a controversial provision in a federal law that allows police to review some private emails without a warrant, but it asked Congress to expand its surveillance powers in other ways. https://phys.org/news/2013-03-justice-email-snooping-law-longer.html Internet Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:00:03 EDT news282919497 (AP)—The Federal Trade Commission is proposing to fine a unit of Warner Music Group Corp. $1 million for violating a child privacy law in the operation of fan websites for artists including Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Rihanna. https://phys.org/news/2012-10-ftc-fine-warner-1m-kids.html Business Thu, 04 Oct 2012 04:51:04 EDT news268545059 The tension between new technology and individual privacy is as old as Silicon Valley. Each advance that allows or impels us to share information or seek windows into others' lives is scary at first. Often the fears blow over as benefits become clear - but there will be limits to the degree that privacy and civil liberties will be given up, and individuals should have a right to make the choice for themselves. https://phys.org/news/2012-09-privacy-technology.html Other Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:40:01 EDT news268233432 A US Senate hearing Wednesday highlighted concern over the growing use of facial recognition technologies, both for law enforcement use and in big social networks like Facebook. https://phys.org/news/2012-07-fbi-facebook-facial-recognition.html Internet Wed, 18 Jul 2012 18:10:02 EDT news261853050 A top US regulator urged Congress Wednesday to enact an online privacy law that includes "do not track" mechanisms for consumers on the Internet, amid indications of a split among lawmakers. https://phys.org/news/2012-05-urges-online-track-law.html Internet Wed, 09 May 2012 17:22:45 EDT news255802903 Theft of Internet service is on the rise, and experts say only a few of the culprits are being caught. https://phys.org/news/2012-04-internet-thieves-piggyback-legitimate-users.html Telecom Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:10:05 EDT news253270220 Yahoo! on Thursday said that it will soon add a tool to its websites that allows visitors to signal that they don't want their online activity tracked for ad targeting or other ends. https://phys.org/news/2012-03-yahoo-websites-do-not-track-tool.html Internet Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:41:56 EDT news252254111 The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) called for Internet users to be given an easy-to-use "Do Not Track" feature in a report released on Monday backing tighter online privacy laws. https://phys.org/news/2012-03-tighter-online-privacy.html Internet Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:24:15 EDT news252041048 Google Inc., under scrutiny from privacy watchdogs for changes it made to its search engine, is launching a splashy ad campaign designed to alleviate privacy concerns. https://phys.org/news/2012-01-google-ads-ease-privacy.html Internet Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:30:01 EST news246014227 Max Schrems wasn't sure what he would get when he asked Facebook to send him a record of his personal data from three years of using the site. https://phys.org/news/2011-10-austrian-student-facebook-privacy.html Internet Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:52:55 EDT news238859563 (AP) -- Parents who install a leading brand of software to monitor their kids' online activities may be unwittingly allowing the developer to gather marketing data from children as young as 7 - and to sell that information. https://phys.org/news/2009-09-web-monitoring-software-kid-chats.html Software Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:50:04 EDT news171296608