Oracle damaged its relationship with security researchers and customers when its Chief Security Officer (CSO) threatened those who independently evaluate the security of Oracle’s software. In a blog post ,... +Read more
In 2005, Cisco’s reputation suffered after it threatened to sue the BlackHat security conference and a researcher for a presentation discussing flaws in the company’s Internet router software. The researcher had discovered that the... +Read more
In 2005, data broker ChoicePoint paid with its capital, its stock price, and its reputation when it failed to secure the personal data of 163,000 individuals, allowing identity thieves to obtain the information... +Read more
Social gaming company Zynga received kudos in 2011 for “making privacy a game” with “PrivacyVille,” which provides users with an interactive mechanism to explore the company’s privacy policy and rewards them with “zPoints” to spend in the company’s other games. The... +Read more
Nomi Technologies, a company that tracks cell phones using WiFi, was investigated by the FTC for failing to live up to a promise in its privacy policy to notify consumers and give them an opportunity to opt out when... +Read more
Myspace was hit with a class action lawsuit and an FTC investigation for failing to comply with its own privacy policy. The policy stated that it would not share personal information, yet the company allowed advertisers to access users’ “Friend IDs... +Read more
In 2010, Facebook suffered a backlash by activating “Connections” and “Instant Personalization,” two features that shared users’ personal information with other Facebook users and with third-party sites without users’ consent... +Read more
Mobile analytics company CarrierIQ and its business partners were hammered with negative press and legal actions when a researcher discovered that the company’s software, capable of intercepting and recording almost every single use of the phone,... +Read more
NebuAd’s “deep packet inspection” system, designed to track online activity without notifying the user, led to broad public outcry in 2008 when plans to use it were revealed. The ensuing privacy storm included an inquiry into the system’s... +Read more
In 2012, app developer i-Free Innovations was forced to pull its controversial iPhone app “Girls Around Me” from the App Store after heavy criticism of its privacy practices. The app,... +Read more
Facebook users were very unhappy in 2008 when they realized that it was nearly impossible to remove their information from the social network. One user reported that it took “two months and several e-mail exchanges with Facebook’s user service representatives to erase most... +Read more
In 2010 Yahoo was applauded by users and privacy advocates when it successfully fought a Justice Department demand for access to a user’s e-mail without a search warrant. The Justice Department withdrew its... +Read more