Author Archives: Jim Brock

How to improve your privacyscore

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Jim Brock

This is the most common question we get from web publishers. As explained in our FAQ, here’s how you can achieve a top privacyscore of 100: Your own published privacy policy should clearly explain how you handle personally identifiable data … Continue reading →

Posted in DAA, Privacy Policies, Self-Regulation, privacyscore | Leave a comment

The privacyscore launch: what we’ve learned so far and the road ahead

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Jim Brock

We launched privacyscore.com on Monday. The amount of positive press attention was gratifying (New York Times, Wired.com, ZDNet, Huffington Post, Time.com, The Telegraph, Daily Mail and others ), as was the number of visits and downloads. Here’s what we learned and … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Privacy Policies, privacyscore | Leave a comment

Concerned about ad-tracking on your smartphone browser?

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Jim Brock

If you are concerned about recent reports of unexpected tracking by Google on mobile Safari, check out the PrivacyChoice mobile opt-out page on your smartphone: Opt-out here http://privacychoice.org/mobile/optout This mobile-ready page gathers and executes opt-outs for a handful of popular … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Opt Out Cookies | Leave a comment

Developer Alert: Takeaways from the today’s FTC report on kid’s privacy disclosure in apps

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Jim Brock

Today the FTC issued guidance for companies developing mobile applications for children. Here are the key recommendations that every mobile developer should take away: App developers should provide this information through simple and short disclosures or icons that are easy to … Continue reading →

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Developer Alert: Does your app upload contact or other personal data?

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Jim Brock

In the wake of the Path privacy issues, Apple confirmed today what was already clear based on their privacy policies: Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines. We’re … Continue reading →

Posted in App Stores and Markets, Best Practices, Privacy Policies, mobile | Leave a comment

Two charts to watch in measuring the impact of ad-privacy self-regulation

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Jim Brock

These are the primary sites where users find opt-out choices for behavioral advertising. Worth watching in both absolute and relative terms.

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Making privacy measurable (and easier) with privacyscores

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Jim Brock

Today we launched our most important and ambitious project: privacyscore.com. In it we are applying analytic methods to measure privacy risk across more than a thousand websites. We’re doing it to help solve a big problem for web users: how … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Privacy Policies, Self-Regulation, Website Disclosure, privacyscore | 4 Comments

Four EU requirements for Do Not Track

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Jim Brock

Neelie Kroes, head of the European Commission privacy effort, outlines four requirements for the Do Not Track standard in this video. Her deadline: June 2012.

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Geo-IP location targeting:
When is consent required?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Jim Brock

In AdExchanger, the CEO of location-data company, PlaceIQ, explains how IP addresses are used to determine a user’s location, and how this practice is becoming increasingly precise: Starting at the most granular, or hyper‑local, is a smartphone, your typical Android or … Continue reading →

Posted in Do Not Track, mobile | Leave a comment

Developers: Check yourself before you wreck yourself (on privacy)

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Jim Brock

If you’re developing mobile apps, take a few minutes to check out this talk by Morgan Reed (ACT) at the recent MoDev conference. Get started here.

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