Facebook in new privacy row over facial recognition feature

Facebook has come under fire for quietly expanding the availability of technology to automatically identify people in photos, renewing concerns about its privacy practices.The feature, which the giant social network automatically enabled for its more than 500 million users, has been expanded from the US to "most countries", Facebook said on its official blog on Tuesday.Marc Rotenberg, president of the non-profit privacy advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the system raised questions about which personally identifiable information, such as email addresses, would become associated with the photos in Facebook's database.He also criticised Facebook's decision to automatically enable the facial-recognition...

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Posted in: Internet

Appeals court judges skeptical of government's health care case

A federal appeals court in Atlanta was openly skeptical Wednesday that the sweeping health care reform law championed by President Barack Obama would survive constitutional scrutiny.A three-judge panel heard arguments in a massive lawsuit brought by Florida and 25 other states.The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest of three similar federal panels across the country to hear challenges by states and private groups to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Separate rulings from those courts in coming months will form the basis of a certain appeal to the Supreme Court, which could offer the final word on the landmark legislation, perhaps in time for the 2012 election year.Supreme Court won't jump into health care fray -- for...

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Posted in: Quick News

Hurricane Adrian expected to remain offshore

Hurricane Adrian churned across the Pacific early Thursday as forecasters warned of dangerous surf and rip currents on the southwestern coast of Mexico.Adrian -- a Category 1 hurricane -- could intensify into a major hurricane in the next day or two, the National Weather Service said.The first hurricane of the season is expected to stay offshore, sparing Mexico.But "any deviation to the right of the forecast track could bring tropical storm conditions" to parts of Mexico on Thursday and into Friday, according to the hurricane center.Adrian's maximum sustained winds increased to nearly 80 mph (130 kph) late Wednesday."Additional strength is likely," the weather service said.The storm was about 275 miles (440 kilometers) south of the town of...

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'Tattoo' of 152 Facebook friends a publicity stunt

When you want to get your name out there - sometimes you've got to come up with clever ways to do it. That's something Rotterdam tattoo artist Dex Moelker and his company clearly hoped for when they were named as the ones who inked the Facebook tattoo requested by a Dutch woman of 152 of her Facebook friends. And boy, did it work. The story spread like a wildfire online. After newspapers and major online outlets, including CNN.com, put the story out – it was a hot-button topic. Ironically, as of this moment more than 7,000 people recommended this story on Facebook – perhaps in part because they thought it was ridiculous. And it turns out, that's just what it was.The tattoo that sparked the Web frenzy isn't real. First...

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