If you’re tired of hunting aimlessly for privacy information in your Google account settings, this announcement is for you. Google said Thursday it’s made account settings easier to navigate and understand. “We always want to make sure that people feel in control of what data they’re sharing data with Google,” Tamar Yehoshua, the Google vice president who oversees account security, said in an interview with CNET. “It’s important to us that they understand what they’re signing up for.” It’s important for users, too. The changes have been in place for a week. Android users can now search all setting within Google Account hub to find specific topics, use a revamped…
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Facebook releases 500 pages of damage control in response to Senators’ questions
When Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress in April, the CEO faced a public grilling from lawmakers — and left them with several lingering questions. Now, Facebook has followed up with 500 of pages of answers to written questions from two Senate committees, although some of the responses may be cause for even more digging. In the documents, Facebook strikes a cautious tone as it answers questions about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, ad targeting, moderation policies, and more, giving a broad, if shallow, look at the company’s policies and practices. The documents seem, by design, to shed little new light — many of the questions are answered by pointing to publicly available…
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Facebook alerts 14M to privacy bug that changed status composer to public
Facebook has another privacy screwup on its hands. A bug in May accidentally changed the suggested privacy setting for status updates to public from whatever users had set it to last, potentially causing them to post sensitive friends-only content to the whole world. Facebook is now notifying 14 million people around the world who were potentially impacted by the bug to review their status updates and lock them down tighter if need be. Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan wrote to TechCrunch in a statement: “We recently found a bug that automatically suggested posting publicly when some people were creating their Facebook posts. We have fixed this issue and starting today…
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How to disappear from the Internet forever
Sick of horribly embarrassing things showing up when potential employers Google your name? Tired of everyone knowing you live in a garden level dungeon apartment? Perhaps you just don’t like the fact the Internet makes you easy to find. Thankfully, it’s not that hard to delete yourself entirely. Here’s how to do it. For mildly famous (or infamous) individuals, disappearing is essentially impossible, but for the average person it’s surprisingly easy. It just depends on much info is already out there. Step 1: Delete your social network accounts Chances are the first results that pop up on a Google search of your name are your social network profiles. This likely…