Hasta La Gadget!

Deirdre Walker was the Assistant Chief of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Police, spending 24 years as a police officer. Here she explains why the TSA’s inconsistent procedures may end in public rebellion and/or a terrorist attack. More »

Microsoft’s Dennis Durkin voiced an interesting idea at an investment summit last week — the idea that the company’s Kinect camera might pass data to advertisers about the way you look, play and speak. “We can cater what content gets presented to you based on who you are,” he told investors, suggesting that the Kinect offered business opportunities that weren’t possible “in a controller-based world.”

And over time that will help us be more targeted about what content choices we present, what advertising we present, how we get better feedback. And data about how many people are in a room when an advertisement is shown, how many people are in a room when a game is being played, how are those people engaged with the game? How are they engaged with a sporting event? Are they standing up? Are they excited? Are they wearing Seahawks jerseys?

Needless to say, sharing this level of photographic detail with advertisers presents some major privacy concerns — though it’s nothing we haven’t heard before — but moreover it’s explicitly against the privacy policy Microsoft presents Kinect users. “Third party partners use aggregated data to deliver Kinect experiences (games or applications), to understand how customers use their Kinect experiences, and to improve performance or even to help plan new experiences,” the Kinect Privacy and Online Safety FAQ reads, but also “They are not permitted to use the information for marketing purposes such as selling you games or services, or for personalizing advertising” (bolding ours).

In an email to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft flatly denied that the Kinect would do anything of the sort, whether via third-party partners or otherwise. “Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE do not use any information captured by Kinect for advertising targeting purposes,” representatives wrote. Honestly, some of us at Engadget still think targeted advertising is kind of neat, but we know how seriously you take this stuff.

Microsoft exec caught in privacy snafu, says Kinect might tailor ads to you originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Google admitted its Street View cars had collected sensitive data after all, it sparked a new formal inquiry in the UK, but the very same apology was just what the Federal Trade Commission needed to drop an investigation in the USA. The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection wrote Google a formal letter today noting “concerns about the internal policies and procedures that gave rise to this data collection,” but satisfaction that the company’s agreed to change all that and appoint a director of privacy. “Because of these commitments, we are ending our inquiry into this matter at this time,” the document reads. Does that mean we can stop using this picture of Ross’ old apartment in our posts? Only time will tell.

FTC accepts Google’s privacy apology, lets Street View off the hook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Google’s Street View cars glide through your neighborhood next, you can leave the WPA2 encryption off — Canada says that the company has “discontinued” the practice of snooping on unsecured WiFi networks with its mapping vehicles, and “has no plans to resume it.” That’s one of several findings in a report by Canada’s privacy commissioner today, which also claims that the controversial data collection feature was the work of a single Google engineer, and that Google intends to use smartphones to pinpoint WiFi networks from now on. Naturally, the latter caused the commissioner concern that Android phones might capture the same data as the cars. Perhaps you’d best keep those shields up after all.

Google’s wardriving days are over, says Canadian privacy commissioner originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest thrilling installment in BlackBerry’s Middle East saga has turned out not to be so thrilling after all. Having set an October 11 deadline for RIM to comply with its “telecommunications regulatory framework,” the United Arab Emirates is today reporting that the BlackBerry maker has managed to make the necessary changes with plenty of time to spare. Consequently, there’ll be no state-ordained curtailing of email, web, or BBM services within the UAE, which mirrors similar agreements that BlackBerry has managed to finagle with India and Saudi Arabia. Of course, the grand purpose of the UAE’s ultimatum was for RIM to allow the state access to encrypted messaging communications, and while the current announcement is pointedly missing details on what’s been done to appease the Abu Dhabi decision makers, we can’t imagine them giving up the fight without RIM making some type of concession. And the shady, undisclosed concessions happen to be our least favorite kind.

UAE says BlackBerry is now compliant with regulations, free to rock on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 03:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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