Michael Zimmer.org

For those nearby, I’ll be the featured speaker at the Pub Politico gathering on Sunday, March 21, 2:00pm at Brocach Irish Pub in Madison, Wisconsin.
I’ll be speaking, informally, about “Failures in Self-Regulation in Online Privacy”, focusing on recent examples of how Google, Facebook, and other online companies continue to fall short in their attempts to protect user privacy, and whether/how the government should step in to provide additional protections for consumers of online services.
The gathering is co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, and is free and open …

To celebrate Data Privacy Day, Google has published its 5 guiding privacy principles. The principles are something every organization should commit to and strive for. The problem is, Google hasn’t adhered to them quite as closely as they’d want you to believe….

A story today on NPR’s Morning Edition news program focused on the controversy surrounding Facebook’s recent privacy upgrade downgrade: “Groups Complain To FTC About Facebook Changes”
My discussion with the reporter, Martin Kaste, covered most of the issues raised in my various posts on the issue:

How some of the new user controls represent a new paradigm for privacy within Facebook, but come into conflict with the Laws of Social Networking;
How Facebook should be applauded for giving users (some) new control over the information they share, as well as for prompting users …

Facebook recently announced significant changes to how information will flow on the social network, impacting users’ privacy in both positive and (potentially) negative ways.
First, the good news: as hinted back in June, Facebook will be implementing a new feature giving users more control to specify the relative visibility of each bit of information they publish.
Currently, when you click the “Share” button to publish your status, upload photos and videos, or share links, who gets to view that content is governed by settings tucked away under a cavalcade of menus (Settings …

For quite some time now, I’ve been writing about how “search” has become the center of gravity of our informational ecosystem, and that a primary externality of our dependence on search has been the threat to privacy. On numerous occasions I’ve called on Google to engage in value-conscious design in order to protect user privacy, and specifically argued for the creation of a Google Data Privacy center where users can see exactly what data Google has collected about them from their expansive infrastructure of dataveillance, edit or remove this data …

Next week I will be attending the 8th International Conference of Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiry in Corfu, Greece, where I will be presenting an early draft of a paper based on my critique of the “Taste, Ties, and Time” Facebook data release.
Recall that last fall, a group of researchers affiliated with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University released a dataset of Facebook profile information from an entire cohort (the class of 2009) of college students from “an anonymous, northeastern American university.” While the researchers took good …

Speaking of the need to better educate consumers about digital privacy concerns, today’s New York Times features two articles that shed light on two widespread online data collection practices.
The article “Online Age Quiz Is a Window for Drug Makers” notes that RealAge, a popular online quiz meant to determine ones “real age” based how well you treat your body, makes its money by supplying the data, in various forms, to pharmaceutical companies. According to the Times:
Pharmaceutical companies pay RealAge to compile test results of RealAge members and send them marketing …

Today, Google announced its long-awaited behavioral targeted advertising program.
Building from its acquisition of DoubleClick, Google’s new ad system — which it refers to as “interest-based advertising” — will use cookies to track users across the multitude of sites that show Google’s display ads, allowing Google to create a profile of each user based on the kind of sites visited. Google will then target ads to a user based on that profile.
While Yahoo!, Micrsoft, and AOL have all been engaged in behavioral targeting for some time, Google’s entrance into this controversial …

There’s been a flurry of activity in recent weeks related to the privacy concerns of online behavioral advertising.
Earlier this month, TRUSTe released a whitepaper designed to help online businesses assess and better understand their own privacy practices related to data collection and retention. The intent is to help these companies better demonstrate transparency — and better meet consumer expectations — related to their behavioral advertising data practices.
Central to this effort is TRUSTe’s “Checklist for Businesses” which walks businesses through a series of questions to help them understand their own business …

Imagine you were in a room with Google’s top product and policy folks, and you were asked “What is the one thing Google should do better for users?”  What would you suggest?
For me, it probably would be for Google to follow the guidelines of the U.S. Federal Trade Commissions “Fair Information Practice Principles” and create a Google Data Privacy Center, giving users more access and control over their personal information housed in the company’s vast databanks.
Similar to the policies in place at Google Health, the Google Data Privacy Center would …

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was interviewed at the Web 2.0 Summit, and he revealed few key insights into his attitude towards the fact Facebook has spurred an increase in personal information flows online. In short — and in line with Facebook’s business model — he seems quite giddy at the prospect that people are sharing more and more about their personal lives on his website.
At about minute 15:22 in his interview, he relates the following (I’m paraphrasing a bit for clarity):
“Four years ago, when Facebook was just getting started, most …

A collection of information and communication companies, advocacy groups, and academic centers have announced the formation of the Global Network Initiative, aimed at protecting free expression and privacy on the Internet on a global scale.
From the announcement:
In an effort to protect and advance the human rights of freedom of expression and privacy, a diverse coalition of leading information and communications companies, major human rights organizations, academics, investors and technology leaders today launched the Global Network Initiative.
From the Americas to Europe to the Middle East to Africa and Asia, companies in …

(See my update at the bottom of the post, as well as Fred Stutzman’s thoughtful analysis)
As mentioned the other day, a group of researchers from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University released a dataset of Facebook profile information from an entire cohort (the class of 2009) of college students from “an anonymous, northeastern American university.”
(I’ve been engaging with Jason Kaufman, the PI for this research, on a variety of privacy and research ethics issues in this post and the comments section – please check it out.)
Well, …

(Updated below with responses to comments by Jason Kaufman, one of the lead researchers on this project)
(Another update: I’m pretty sure the “anonymous, Northeastern university” from where this dataset was derived is Harvard College. Details here)
A group of researchers have released a dataset of Facebook profile information from a group of college students for research purposes, which I know a lot of people will find quite valuable. (Thanks to Fred Stutzman for bringing it to my attention.)
Here is the description from the Berkman Center’s announcement:
The dataset comprises machine-readable files of …

On the heels of the recent Pew study concerning cloud computing and privacy, Consume Reports has released a poll revealing that most Americans are very concerned about what is being done with their personal information online. Some highlights:

72% are concerned that their online behaviors were being tracked and profiled by companies
53% are uncomfortable with internet companies using their email content or browsing history to send relevant ads
54% are uncomfortable with third parties collecting information about their online behavior
93% of Americans think internet companies should always ask for permission before …