california

Delta and United Airlines are among 100 firms that have been told they are breaking California's privacy laws. The problem: these companies have smartphone and tablet applications that don't give customers adequate information about the way they ... handle personal data. Kamala Harris, California's attorney general, insists companies are breaching the California Online Privacy Protection Act, which says app users must get clear details about the personal data collected and how it will be used. These 100 companies are among many more offenders but happen to own the 100 most popular apps breaching ... (view more)

When an individual is incarcerated after committing a crime against another, their sentence is supposed to offer some peace of mind for the victims. However, in California jails, contraband smartphones are helping criminals keep tabs on their ... victims via social networking sites. This year, California corrections officials have reported receiving hundreds of complaints from victims who have been contacted by inmates from beyond prison walls. The most serious case concerns a convicted child offender who had viewed the Facebook and MySpace pages of his victim several times before mailing the ... (view more)

After receiving an unsolicited email message ( spam ), most people would delete the suspicious message without giving it a second thought. One California man, however, is not only welcoming the prospect, but has been able to trap spammers for ... financial compensation, making a healthy living in the process. After being bombarded with spam on a daily basis, Dan Balsam had an idea: he would quit his job in the marketing field and go to law school in an attempt to fight those responsible for unsolicited email advertisements and messages. Since 2002, Balsam has fought, won and settled his way to ... (view more)

What would you do if you found records of your personal search information haphazardly sprinkled all over the web? For three AOL subscribers, the reckless mismanagement of their personal data sparked a class-action lawsuit against the Internet giant ... this past Friday. This is the first time AOL has been sued for the intentional release of over 19 million search requests made by about 650,000 subscribers during a period of three months. The Internet service provider is being charged under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California's consumer-protection laws. (Source: ... (view more)