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Rosen: The Right To Be Forgotten Could Close the Internet

Unless the “right to be forgotten” is defined more precisely as it is implemented within the EU, a clash between European and American conceptions of the proper balance between privacy and free speech could lead to a far less open Internet. That’s according to Jeffrey Rosen, who opines in the Stanford Law Review on differences between European and U.S. approaches to “an urgent problem in the digital age: It is very hard to escape your past on the Internet now that every photo, status update and tweet lives forever in the cloud.”

Online Dating Sites Contain Risks, Even Afterward

Posting personal data to online dating sites has its risks, even once a user is no longer active on the site, PCWorld reports. Holes in security practices mean that users’ privacy and potentially financial security are at risk, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Dating profiles “remain online for months or years after a member has let a subscription lapse,” the EFF says. A recent EFF survey found some sites’ HTTPS implementations–which protects a user’s browsing history–worked only partially or not at all.

Survey: Adults Serious About Online Privacy

A recent survey found that 90 percent of U.S. adults worry about online privacy and 41 percent don’t trust most companies with their personal data, DM News reports. The TRUSTe survey, the first of a four-part series, found that those between 45 and 54 years old worry more than other age groups, though the differences were narrow. Eighty-two percent of 18- to 34-year-olds surveyed said they would avoid a business if they felt it did not believe in protecting their privacy, the report states. “It’s more equally balanced in the concerns across all demographics than I was expecting,” said TRUSTe CEO Chris Babel.

Are You Ready for BoA’s “Groupon”?

Bank of America will begin testing BankAmeriDeals – a service that will offer its customers targeted online discounts, on its workforce in February. Customers will receive offers through the company’s website and be rewarded cash payments monthly. The plan comes as banks attempt to recover recent lost revenue as regulations were made on bank fees that can be charged.

In Mass.? You Have Until April 1 for Privacy…

Massachusetts merchants storing the personal data of residents of the state granted just over one month to comply with the latest provision of the Massachusetts data protection law. Beginning on March 1^st, all companies storing this data are required to encrypt data and “have specific language in third-party contracts that obligates their vendors to employ reasonable measures for protecting personal information.

Facebook Does Not Heart Spammers

Reuters reports that the world’s largest social networking site and the state of Washington have filed a lawsuit over a practice known as “clickjacking” or “likejacking,” where Facebook users are tricked into visiting ad sites and sharing their personal information. The scam is then spread to users’ friends, the report states, and “has grossed $1.2 million a month for the Delaware-based firm, Adscend Media, according to the state attorney general’s office.” The lawsuit is believed to be the first of its kind, the report notes, and a Facebook attorney said, “It’s important to stay a step ahead against spammers and scammers.”

Google Apps? Norway Says “No Way”

Citing that their citizens’ personal data privacy may be put at risk, Norwegian data protection authorities ban Norwegian public sector organizations from using Google Apps. According to the data protection authority, Google Apps does not comply with Norwegian privacy laws because there is not enough information on where the data is being kept.

Facebook Warns Europe on Privacy

Facebook’s Chief Operation Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, delivers a keynote warning Europe about privacy rules. The event, Digital Life Design Conference in Munich, comes as the European Commission prepares to release its enhanced privacy regulation plan.

New Google Privacy Policy – March 1

A new Google privacy policy set to go into effect on March 1^stwill combine users’ usage of sister sites, such as YouTube and Gmail, when accessing search results. This move showcases the competition between Google and Facebook Inc. over personal data.

Judge Rules That Fifth Amendment Doesn’t Apply to Data

In what could become a precedent-setting case, a federal judge in Colorado rules that citizens can be asked to decrypt their computers’ hard drives in order to be searched for incriminating information. A George W. Bush appointee, Judge Robert Blackburn states that the fifth amendment does not protect encrypted digital information.