Privacy Policy

Kamala Harris joined 35 attorneys general objecting to a new privacy policy that Google plans to roll out next week. The National Assn. of Attorneys General says the new policy invades consumer privacy by automatically sharing with all Google services personal information that users give to just one service. “The new policy forces consumers to allow information across all of Google's products to be shared without giving them the proper ability to opt out,” the association said in a letter to Google Chief Executive Larry Page.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Europe's biggest data protection authorities say they are taking steps to press Google Inc. to comply with European Union privacy rules and could impose fines if the Internet giant fails to do so. France's CNIL data protection agency said that authorities from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands are frustrated with Google for not fixing what they say are flaws in its privacy policy. The move comes after a probe led by CNIL that concluded that Google had not given users enough information about how their personal information was being used across its various services.

Google rolled out its new privacy policy Thursday to renewed protests from data protection authorities in Europe. Those authorities have concluded that the new policy violates European law, European Union Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding told BBC Radio Four. France's data protection authority has taken the lead in probing the new policy. “They have come to the conclusion that they are deeply concerned, and that the new rules are not in accordance with the European law, and that the transparency rules have not been applied," Reding said, according to Reuters . “We are confident that our new simple, clear and transparent privacy policy respects all European data protection laws and principles,” a Google spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

WASHINGTON - As federal authorities accelerate plans to license thousands of surveillance drones over U.S. soil by late 2015, some legal experts and lawmakers are warning that unmanned aircraft could threaten privacy on an unparalleled scale. An opening shot in an expected battle to limit use of domestic drones came Wednesday when 24 civil liberties and privacy organizations submitted a formal petition to U.S. Customs and Border Protection demanding that the agency stop flying 10 unarmed Predator drones along the Mexican and Canadian borders until clear guidelines are established.

Google is rebutting charges that its new privacy policy violates a settlement it struck with federal regulators last year. The Internet search giant told the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that its policy complies with the settlement, according to a self-assessment report the company handed over in January. The report, obtained by Politico Friday, says Google has gone to “exceptional lengths” to tell its users what data it harvests and what it does with it. Google settled charges last year that it violated privacy laws by exposing Gmail users' personal information when rolling out its now-defunct Google Buzz social networking service.

A privacy watchdog has filed a federal lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission in a bid to stop Google from rolling out its new privacy policy. In an unusual legal maneuver, the Electronic Privacy Information Center is asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order and injunction that would require the FTC to enforce the consent order it reached with Google last year. Google settled with the FTC on charges that it deceived users and violated its own privacy policy when it launched the now defunct Buzz social network.

Groupon Inc. is changing its privacy policies to allow it to collect more information as it offers more deals targeted to users based on their locations. The Chicago deal site announced the changes in an email to its 83 million subscribers Sunday, saying that the new policies are part of an effort to provide greater transparency about the way it handles private information about users. The announcements come as the company seeks to go public and on the heels of its launch of Groupon Now, a mobile service that provides instant deals based on a user's location.

It's over. For now. On Thursday night, Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, announced that the company would revert to the original wording in the advertising section of its privacy policy and remove a controversial clause that caused several prominent Instagram users to quit, or threaten to quit, the app. The offending clause, announced Monday, made it sound like Instagram could sell users' photographs to advertisers with no compensation to...

The state of California has fired the opening shot in its fight to get mobile apps to comply with state privacy laws. California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris filed a suit against Delta Air Lines over its Fly Delta mobile app. The app allows Delta fliers to check into flights, pay for checked baggage and access their frequent flier accounts with the airline. But the suit alleges that Delta has not provided a privacy policy for its standalone app, which gathers information such as a traveler's full name, billing and home addresses, date of birth and credit card information.

California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris put United Airlines on notice Friday via Twitter. @KamalaHarris rebuked the airline for not displaying a privacy policy on its mobile app. “Fabulous app, @United Airlines, but where is your app's #privacy policy?” she wrote . She also linked to California's Online Privacy Protection Act , which requires commercial websites to conspicuously post a privacy policy if they collect personally identifiable information from Californians.

Mark Zuckerberg's sister, Randi, got stymied by Facebook's privacy policy this week when a photo she posted for her friends was shared publicly over Twitter. Twitter user @cshweitz shared a photo of the Zuckerberg family checking out Poke , the latest mobile app developed by Facebook, early Wednesday. The picture had originally been posted on Facebook by Randi Zuckerberg, who expressed her displeasure with the photo being shared publicly on Twitter. QUIZ: How much do you know about Facebook?

It's over. For now. On Thursday night, Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, announced that the company would revert to the original wording in the advertising section of its privacy policy and remove a controversial clause that caused several prominent Instagram users to quit, or threaten to quit, the app. The offending clause, announced Monday, made it sound like Instagram could sell users' photographs to advertisers with no compensation to...

Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | About Our Ads | Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012 | Copyright 2013

Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | About Our Ads | Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012 | Copyright 2013

The state of California has fired the opening shot in its fight to get mobile apps to comply with state privacy laws. California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris filed a suit against Delta Air Lines over its Fly Delta mobile app. The app allows Delta fliers to check into flights, pay for checked baggage and access their frequent flier accounts with the airline. But the suit alleges that Delta has not provided a privacy policy for its standalone app, which gathers information such as a traveler's full name, billing and home addresses, date of birth and credit card information.

Twenty-four hours after Facebook opened the polls , more than 100,000 users have cast their votes 10 to 1 against Facebook's proposed changes to its policies. That includes a proposal that would do away with Facebook users' right to vote on future changes. Hoping to get out the vote, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy have joined forces with Facebook critic Julius Harper. They say they are campaigning to raise awareness about the vote.

In a challenge to how Google Inc. treats users' personal information, European regulators have asked the search giant to make changes to what it discloses to users about what it does with the data and how long it keeps it. France's data-protection agency led the European investigation into the privacy policy that Google adopted earlier this year. It consolidated dozens of privacy policies for its various services including the video-sharing site YouTube, making it easier for Google to target advertising.

Google Inc. rolled out its new privacy policy Thursday to renewed protests from data protection authorities in Europe. Those authorities have concluded that the new policy violates European law, European Union Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding told BBC Radio 4. France's data protection authority has taken the lead in probing the new policy. "They have come to the conclusion that they are deeply concerned, and that the new rules are not in accordance with the European law, and that the transparency rules have not been applied," Reding said, according to Reuters.