Duck Duck Go Independence Day — Here is an Independence Day Eve update regarding internet privacy from DuckDuckGo, the excellent Pennsylvania-based search engine that is competing with Google and Bing.
The last few weeks have seen a lot of privacy news around the United States’ PRISM program. Some great alternatives to most affected services can be found here: http://prism-break.org/
We’d encourage you to join us along with Mozilla, reddit, the ACLU and others in seeking answers about these programs and calling for major reform: optin.stopwatching.us/
As part of this campaign, we’d like to alert you to in-person meet-ups happening around the U.S. (and beyond) this week. Please use this guide to locate your area’s closest rally: http://www.restorethefourth.net/protests/
In other privacy news, updates to the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) went into effect this past Monday. Some notable changes that strengthen privacy for kids online include:
-Cookies and other persistent identifiers are now covered under COPPA
-The definition of, “personal information” has been expanded to include geo-location data, photos, videos, and audio files of children.
-Additional methods by which service providers can obtain parental consent
-Expanded definitions of what’s considered a, “website or online service directed to children”
Here’s a video explaining more about the updates to COPPA: http://www.ftc.gov/video-library/index.php/for-businesses/privacy-and-security/protecting-childrens-privacy-under-coppa/2519304827001 and, if you’re looking for a more in-depth view, check out this page: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/12/coppa.shtm
Finally, if you’re interested in a bit of entertainment, check out the new film, Terms and Conditions May Apply: http://tacma.net/. This documentary makes its New York debut on July 12th with other cities and dates to follow. We had the opportunity to watch this and can say it’s worth seeing.
Thank you,
The DuckDuckGo Team