National Journal – “Don’t be fooled: Congress may have finally passed the bill reining in the National Security Agency’s bulk-surveillance programs  [USA Freedom Act of 2015], but your data is still being collected on the Internet. Lost in the debate over the NSA is the fact that companies like Google and Facebook continue to vacuum up vast troves of consumer data and use it for marketing. The private-sector tech companies that run the social networks and email services Americans use every day are relatively opaque when it comes to their data-collection and retention policies, which are engineered not to preserve national security but to bolster the companies’ bottom lines. Critics say the consumer data that private companies collect can paint as detailed a picture of an individual as the metadata that got caught up in the NSA’s dragnets. Companies like Google and Facebook comb through customers’ usage statistics in order to precisely tailor marketing to their users, a valuable service that advertisers pay the companies dearly to access. “What both types of information collection show is that metadata—data about data—can in many cases be more revelatory than content,” said Gabe Rottman, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “You see that given the granularity with which private data collection can discern very intimate details about your life…For their part, various tech companies are paying attention to the trend. Google on Monday unveiled a frequently asked questions page to address users’ privacy concerns, answering questions like “Does Google sell my personal information?” and “How does Google keep my information safe?” It also revamped its account settings page, offering privacy and security “checkups” to walk users through steps to keep their data safe. On the same day, Facebook announced it will offer the option to send sensitive information, like password reset links, in encrypted emails. (“New Facebook feature shows actual respect for your privacy,” read a Wired headline on an article about the announcement.) Facebook already encrypts traffic to and from its site, and offers privacy fanatics—or those who fear government retribution for their actions on the social network—access to its services via the Tor browser, widely regarded as the most secure and private way to access the Internet.”

• See also NYT – Sharing Data, but Not Happily