Hasta La Gadget!

Before we all get in a huff about this, Google has been very eager to point out that the facial recognition app it’s developing will work on a strictly opt-in basis. That means if you don’t want it to scan all of Facebook, Flickr and the rest of Google’s vast hoards of internet knowledge to find you, identify you, and collate your name, phone number and email address into a handy data sheet, it won’t. Okay? So relax now, everything’s fine. Seriously though, Google’s latest research venture sounds like a dashing stride into a minefield of privacy concerns as it aims to use people’s faces to instantly identify them and provide any salient info about them. Project leader Hartmut Neven, whose company Neven Vision was gobbled up by Google in 2006, says the team is being very cautious in how it addresses people’s rather apt apprehension, but he insists there’s actually great value in having a face-recognizing and data-mining app. Great value for the app’s user, perhaps, but we’d rather just stick to business cards, if you ask us.

Update: Google has reached out to clarify that there are no plans to introduce functionality of this sort yet, not without “a strong privacy model in place.” More importantly, however, the linking of facial recognition to personal data is described as “inventions of the reporter” rather than something the company’s actively pursuing.

Google working on a face recognition app that leads to your personal info? (update: Google says ‘no’) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll start by saying that we’ve reached out to Samsung for a response here, but as of now, no reply has been given — neither a confirmation nor a refusal of truth. Why bother mentioning that? If this here story proves true, Sammy could have a serious problem on its hands — a problem that’ll definitely start with a rash of negative PR, and a quandary that could very well end the outfit up in the courtroom. According to a report by Mohamed Hassan over at Network World, Samsung allegedly took the initiative to install a keylogger into his recently purchased R525 and R540 laptops. The app was noticed right away after a security scan on both systems, with StarLogger popping up with the c:\windows\SL directory. Where things really get strange is on the support line; reportedly, a supervisor informed Mr. Hassan (after an earlier denial) that the company did indeed install the software at the factory in order to “monitor the performance of the machine and to find out how it is being used.” Unfortunately, it’s difficult to say if this is a widespread issue, or if the tale is entirely correct, but we get the feeling that Samsung will have little choice but to respond in some form or fashion here shortly. Naturally, we’ll keep you abreast of the situation — meanwhile, you may want to reconsider that hate-filled comment you’re about to bang out on your Samsung laptop, and instead, feast your eyes on the video just past the break.

Update: Kudos to Samsung for hitting this head-on. An hour after we inquired for comment, a company spokesperson tossed over this official quote: “Samsung takes Mr. Hassan’s claims very seriously. After learning of the original post this morning on NetworkWorld.com, we launched an internal investigation into this issue. We will provide further information as soon as it is available.”

Continue reading Samsung reportedly installing keylogger software on laptops (update: official response)

Samsung reportedly installing keylogger software on laptops (update: official response) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, it looks like the spectre of Buzz will be looming large over Google for some time to come — the company has just reached an agreement with the FTC that will see it receive independent privacy audits every two years for the next twenty years following a ruling that found Google violated its own privacy policy with the service. In a blog post today, Google also says that it will now “ask users to give us affirmative consent” before it makes any changes in how it shares their personal information, and it adds that it would like to “apologize again for the mistakes we made with Buzz.” As for the FTC, chairman Jon Leibowitz describes the settlement as a “tough” one, and says simply that “when companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them.”

Google to receive regular privacy audits following FTC ruling on Buzz originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever since the Nexus S and its nifty little NFC chip hit the market, there’s been speculation that El Goog was planning a foray into the mobile payment arena currently occupied by the likes of Charge Anywhere. Now, it looks like that plan may be in high gear, as the Wall Street Journal reports that Google’s secretly partnered with MasterCard and Citigroup to test out just such a system. According to the publication, the early demo pairs “one current model and many coming models of Android phones” with existing Citigroup-sponsored credit and debit cards, and is using the phones’ NFC chips with those VeriFone readers we recently heard about.

What’s more, a newly-published patent application from the crew in Mountain View may hint at the software behind such things. The application describes a service that sets up Google as a third-party broker who receives the shopping cart info of customers placing orders via a device (including those of the mobile variety), allows them to select shipping and other options, and provides the total order cost. It then collects payment, coordinates shipment, and forwards order information to the seller to complete the transaction. So companies can have Google handle all their payment-taking needs in return for getting a sneak peek at what folks are buying — something that the WSJ’s sources say might be a component of the setup Google’s testing right now — as opposed to other third-party services, like Paypal, that only obtain and exchange payment info with merchants. Looks like Alma Whitten (Google’s Director of Privacy) has her work cut out assuaging the concerns such a system will inevitably create in an increasingly privacy-minded populace.

Sean Hollister contributed to this report.

WSJ: Google teams with MasterCard and Citigroup for NFC payments, also files patent app originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’re on Facebook. So is the guy sitting next to you on the bus. Your brothers, best mates, old classmates, demented neighbors, former coworkers, your grandma – they’re all on Facebook. The social networking behemoth now boasts over 500 million (active) members (that’s 1 in every 13 people on earth) and everything from your Mountain Dew Code Red to your sneakers has a fan page). Facebook is becoming an integral (and at times, claustrophobic) part of how we access the Internet. More »