FTC Puts the Smackdown on Twitter for User Privacy, Access Controls: Concern Over Privacy and Data Protection Just Keeps Growing

Is privacy the new black? Certainly seems that way with a constant stream of news about privacy snafus, data loss/exposure incidents and increasing scrutiny of data privacy policies at all levels.

A couple of the latest sightings:  Yesterday, the FTC issued a decision based on its investigation of Twitter's security practices (text of the FTC's decision on Twitter here), which came under scrutiny after several high-profile compromises of that social media service.

E-commerce Times has a good summary of the situation today, including some commentary from yours truly about what this ruling means for all types of online services, especially those with a messaging component. I also suggest that some of the FTC's prescription for Twitter is generally good advice when it comes to password security. Rather than repeat all of that stuff here, I refer you to Katherine Noyes's excellent article over at ecommercetimes.com for the whole story:

E-Commerce Times: FTC Puts Social Nets on Notice with Twitter Smackdown

On a related tip, I see that the always excellent Healthcare Info Security has posted a new podcast with IT lumiary Guy Kawasaki talking about social media strategies, including security concerns. Taking a bit of a contrarian view, Guy says that security and privacy concerns about social media are, "massively overblown."

Healthcare Info Security podcast: Guy Kawasaki on the Power of Social Media

I get where Guy's coming from - he's really commenting on some individuals over-sensitivity to targeted marketing campaigns and the difference between regulated info like personal healthcare and financial information and info that might be considered "private", but doesn't so much represent something risky or exploitable.

But at the same time, enterprises (especially in regulated industries) need to mindful of the fact that - just as with email - it's fairly easy to run afoul of data protection and privacy regulations over social media.

Regular readers know that I've got a whole raft of facts about that (if you've never seen those before, you can find many of those here in the blog, or download my latest report at http://www.proofpoint.com/outbound.)