Google appears to have an interesting relationship with the U.S. government. And it boils down to one thing: privacy. On the one hand, the company’s Transparency Report tool makes the government’s requests for citizen’s information transparent. On the other hand, Google’s own privacy policies will now be monitored twice a year, for the next 20 years, by the Federal Trade Commission. READ MORE
When it comes to the issue of privacy, recent attention has been focused on social networking sites—particularly on Facebook and Google. But consumers often overlook one other potential source of privacy breach: mobile phone records. READ MORE
In an era of always-on technology, it’s often easy to forget that we don’t necessarily want to (or should) share everything with everyone. This is particularly true with geo-location services. But Flickr’s new feature, geofences, lets users adjust privacy settings for photos and on their geo-aware devices. READ MORE
While Congress and the White House are engaged in a very public battle about the debt ceiling, a House panel has quietly approved a bill that would give the government greater access to your online activities. In a 19-10 vote, a House committee approved a bill requiring Internet service providers to keep logs of their customers’ use for one year, should law enforcement require the data. READ MORE
Is that guy you met on Match.com really a chef/rocket scientist; or could he be the next Ted Bundy? BeenVerified lets you answer that question—and more—by making public records background checks mobile with an Android and Apple iOS app. READ MORE
RescueTime is a web-based time management tool that lets users track the time they spend on applications and websites to help heavy web users use their time more efficiently. According to TechCrunch’s Rip Empson, the service now offers a feature called RescueTime Introductions, which uses machine learning and pattern matching to find good fits between companies and employees based on how they’re spending their time on the computer. As an example, RescueTime says a person who uses Aquamacs is likely to be a great programmer. Patterns in efficiency, downtime, and distracted time can even indicate that a person is bored in their current job and is looking for a change. READ MORE
