A new study shows that conventional (non-cloud) IT environments still suffer from frequent data loss and poor data protection.

More than half of U.S. organizations surveyed expect to increase their use of the cloud to help solve their security issues.

In a recent independent survey about trends in cloud computing, a majority of senior IT professionals say they have already moved their organizations' email to the cloud or are evaluating doing so.

Many states in the U.S. require attorneys to let clients know if their data has been lost or stolen. That can include emails sent to clients, which often contain potentially damaging confidential information.

One solution for law firms is to encrypt the data on hard drives or portable storage media, and to encrypt outgoing emails.

Many U.S. Facebook users leave themselves open to having their information stolen and houses (not the ones on Farmville) broken into, according to a new study by Consumer Reports. It looked only at Facebook, since that is by far the largest social networking site.

I recently blogged about privacy laws in the U.S. vs. Europe and how Google could sell your personal and identifying information under its new privacy policy. Well, guess what?

For more than two years, Google's "Street View" vehicles roamed the U.S., Europe, Australia and elsewhere; taking pictures of houses, storefronts, etc. for those street-level map views that we love to use.

Google was even nice enough to publicize when the cars, bikes, etc.

More info coming soon. Until then, do the following:

1. Go to Google's Ads on the Web and click the opt out link. That takes you to the "Opt out" page.
2. Click the Opt out button if you don't want ads based on your personal information
3. Also, click the "aboutads.info choices page" link buried in the last paragraph

Note that you'll have to repeat this for each browser and every time you delete cookies in each.

Click the Syndicate icon (above, right) to receive updates.

The problem with Google’s new Privacy Policy is not what it says, but what it doesn’t say.

Google may still be able to use your information in ways you don’t want, including selling enough of it to others who could identify you...along with your browsing history. Learn how to opt out.

This is the third article in our series about trackers and internet privacy laws. Click here to start with the first article.

There is no general U.S. law restricting the use of someone's personal information. There are some very good laws that prevent the release of certain kinds of data. For example, health care providers can’t disclose protected health care information without the patient's consent (1). But, it's generally not illegal for someone to use or disclose your personal information, especially once you voluntarily provide it; like to social networking sites.

Europe is generally more pro-consumer; and is considering adopting some very strict data privacy laws.

This is the second article in our series about trackers and internet privacy laws. Click here to start with the first article.

We recently blogged about pernicious little programs, called trackers, that are embedded in popular web pages all over the internet, gathering information about you and your browsing habits.

There have been some blogs and news stories about the legal and privacy implications surrounding trackers, but few have discussed how much these little buggers slow down your browser.

We decided to measure the performance hit, and were surprised at the results...

A new generation of programs, called "trackers", are embedded in many of the web pages you probably visit all the time. The Facebook "Like" button appears to be one.

These little-known programs can secretly gather information about you and your browsing history; store it somewhere else and do almost anything with it (at least in the US).

Learn what these potentially malicious programs can legally do and how to stop them from harvesting your personal information.