Privacy on the Web

In recent years, lawmakers and advocacy groups have made increased efforts to protects users’ privacy online. Here are some cases that helped stoke the debate about tracking and privacy on the Web.

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Twitter settled with the Federal Trade Commission in March over allegations that serious lapses in the company's data security allowed hackers to obtain unauthorized administrative control of Twitter, including both access to non-public user information and tweets that consumers had designated as private, and the ability to send out phony tweets from any account. Twitter will be barred for 20 years from misleading consumers about the extent to which it protects the security, privacy and confidentiality of nonpublic consumer information, including the measures it takes to prevent unauthorized access to nonpublic information and honor the privacy choices made by consumers. The company also must establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program, which will be assessed by an independent auditor every other year for 10 years.

Stephen Haas / AP

In June 2010, a security hole in a Web service used by Apple's iPad exposed the e-mail addresses of at least 114,000 owners and unique identification numbers the devices use to communicate with the phone network.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Facebook in December 2009 said it is ending its controversial advertising program called Beacon in which the social media company shared online purchases with a user's network of friends. The announcement was part of a proposed settlement to a class action suit filed in 2007 against Facebook by users who said the service violated their privacy. In its proposed settlement, Facebook said it would set up a $9.5 million fund for a nonprofit foundation that will support online safety and privacy. How did it work? If you bought a movie ticket on Fandango, for example, that purchase would be collected for behavioral advertising unless a user opted out of that program. That information would also be broadcast to a your friends on the social networking site.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Last year Google came under fire after it disclosed that its Street Vew cars collected passwords, e-mails and other personal information wirelessly while taking photos for the maps application. In March of this year, Google received its first ever fine for improperly gathering and storing data for Street View when it was penalized by France's privacy watchdog.

Paul Sakuma / AP

A Wall Street Journal article that reported that Apple's iPhone and Google's Android regularly transmit user location data back to those companies caused an uproar among consumers in April 2011. The companies said users can opt-out of the data collection by turning off their location-based services.

Eric Risberg / AP

Microsoft's Bing search engine has been under scrutiny for privacy issues. The European Union in May 2010 told Microsoft, Google and Yahoo that their search engines don't comply with European privacy laws and told them to prove they are making user information anonymous. Federal Trade Commission Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch in a speech in February 2011 said he is "not yet prepared to fully embrace the newly proposed do-not-track mechanisms offered by Microsoft" and its rival Google. He said he is "concerned that these larger enterprises may use their technology — under the guise of privacy protection — to erect barriers to entry by which they can protect themselves from competition that may constrain their market power."

/ AP

Google in November 2010 agreed to settle a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission that it violated its own privacy promises to consumers when it rolled out its Buzz social networking application. The settlement requires Google to adopt a comprehensive privacy program and to submit to an independent privacy audit every two years for the next two decades. In the Google case, the FTC said in a release that the Internet giant "used deceptive tactics" when it launched Buzz through the accounts of its Gmail users. The company did not inform its estimated 200 million Gmail users that it would launch a social networking application using information in its e-mail accounts. Some users complained that contact lists and other data were publicly exposed and that they had a hard time opting out of the social application.

Michaela Rehle / Reuters

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg in May 2010 presented new one-click options to help subscribers protect their privacy, responding to a torrent of complaints that it had become far too hard to determine and control levels of protection. Facebook faced a wave of criticism starting in December 2009, when users were caught off guard with new tools that they found confusing and that in some cases made user information more broadly available to other Web sites and anyone searching the Internet. A program introduced last month, "instant personalization," shared user information -- such as an individual's preferences and those of their friends -- with other Web sites. Privacy groups filed complaints with regulators, and thousands of users joined sites pledging to quit Facebook.

Sean Kilpatrick / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

BALTIMORE, MD May 18: Mike Califano (L) and Anthony Forgione horse around in the infield during the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes on May 18, 2013 in Baltimore, MD (Photo by Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)

Photos of the day

Preakness Stakes, deadly tornadoes, Whit Monday, Gothic festival, World Dog Show and more.

A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 2 OF 30 FOR PACKAGE 'ETHIOPIA'S ANCIENT SALT TRAIL'
SEARCH 'DANAKIL DEPRESSION' FOR ALL

Ethiopia’s salt trail

For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...

Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm passing over Clearwater, Kansas strikes at an open field May 19, 2013. A massive storm front swept north through the central United States on Sunday, hammering the region with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes, including a half-mile wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City. News reports said at least one person had died. REUTERS/Gene Blevins (UNITED STATES - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)

Tornadoes slam Midwest, Plains

Several tornadoes struck parts of the nation’s midsection Sunday, concentrating damage in central Oklahoma and Wichita, Kan. One person was killed near Shawnee, Okla., and 21...

MANASSAS, VA - MAY 07: Daniel Tabarez, 1, top, helps his daughter, Maxx Tabarez, 1, walks as Milenka St. Clair, top right, a family support worker with Northern Virginia Family Service visits the family's home on Tuesday May 07, 2013 in Manassas, VA. Daniel and his family are part of the Healthy Families program. (Photo by Matt McClain/ The Washington Post)

At-home visits may be the new pre-preschool

In an effort to close the achievement gap, new programs get to kids early. Here are some of the people Milenka St. Clair, a family support worker...

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 19: Singer Taylor Swift accepts the award for 'Top Billboard 200 Album' onstage during the 2013 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 19, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The 2013 Billboard Music Awards red carpet and ceremony

Stars float down the red carpet in Las Vegas to make their way into a performance-filled awards ceremony featuring artists such as Prince, Justin...

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 20: Joanna Lumley poses during a photocall at the Chelsea Flower Show on May 20, 2013 in London, England. The Chelsea Flower Show run by the RHS celebrates its 100th birthday this year. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Joanna Lumley, Madonna, Prince, Tracy Morgan, Nicole Kidman, Justin Timberlake, Gene Simmons and more.

Graduating students' with rain soaked mortar boards from a driving rain, listen as US President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address during a ceremony at Morehouse College on May 19, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGANMANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Obama addresses Morehouse College graduates

President Obama gets personal about race and manhood in a speech to graduates of historically black Morehouse College.

BALTIMORE, MD - MAY 18: Jockey Gary Stevens rides Oxbow out to the front of the pack on the first straight away during the 138th Running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., on Saturday, May 18, 2013. (Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

Oxbow wins and infield fun at Preakness Stakes in Baltimore

Oxbow put D. Wayne Lukas in the record books again with an upset of Orb in the Preakness, giving the Hall of Fame trainer his 14th win in a Triple...

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