It’s been the case for far too long that if you update your status while using either the webOS Facebook app or the mobile optimized version, the privacy settings you set on the desktop didn’t apply.  That meant, of course, that all of your friends – include those who you’d rather not know about the two shots of tequila you just took at the bar – were able to see your update.  Facebook, in a move that took a little bit longer than it perhaps should have, has finally enabled you to control who sees what.  From the Facebook blog:

You can get to privacy controls on mobile by going to m.facebook.com/privacy or by going to the Settings page and clicking the "Change" link next to the words "Privacy Settings." Check it out for yourself to:

• Select who can see the content you post by setting the simple control for sharing on Facebook to friends, friends of friends or everyone,
• Fully customize your granular settings, if you want, and have them take effect instantly, and
• Read through our comprehensive privacy guide, formatted for mobile devices.

This ability isn’t in the webOS Facebook app (or for the FB app on any other platform) just yet, but given the Developer Relations Team’s rapid iteration of the app we’re bound to see it sooner than later.

Via: Readwriteweb; Source: Facebook

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Like other Palm Pre fans, I have been eagerly following the development of Android, Google’s mobile operating system, and particularly the well-hyped coverage of the impending Motorola ‘Droid smartphone on Verizon. Certainly, Android shares much more with webOS than does the iPhone’s OS X (Linux-based, open-source, etc.), although Android has both a time and marketshare lead on webOS, and some (like Matthew Miller on ZDNet) are suggesting that Android could lead to Palm’s demise. Even if there wasn’t room for multiple smarphone OS platforms beyond OS X (and there is, particularly in a worldwide market), though, webOS has one huge advantage over Android that people are ignoring: it’s not from Google.

Google is, to put it bluntly, everywhere these days. From its humble start as a search engine, Google has moved into e-mail, office productivity, navigation, blogging, image storage and editing, Web browsing, and (with Android) smartphone operating systems. (The pantheon of Google offerings can be seen here.) Along the way, Google has put itself in the position of collecting a previously inconceivable amount of information about users, their interests, their habits, and more. Even medical information is (optionally) now part of Google’s services.

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With all the coverage of President Obama’s efforts to keep his BlackBerry after being elected, as well as the almost daily reports of data breaches (including from lost smartphones and laptops), the issue of security and smartphones is an important one. It’s not just politicians with national security clearance either; most users have something they might want to keep away from unwelcome eyes, and those of us with formal obligations of confidentiality (attorneys, doctors, etc.) must be sure that our smartphones won’t cause us to break those rules.

So where does the Pre fall in terms of security? In considering security and privacy issues related to any smartphone, there are a number of areas on which to focus, including:

• Operating system
• Transmission and interception
• Phone data

Let’s take those in turn, after the break!

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The Onion details Google’s new opt-out policy if you prefer to keep your personal information private is above [via Fake Steve].

Ok, yes, it’s satire – but here’s the thing, we’re still waiting on clearer opt-out policies from Palm with regard to the fact that your location is being sent up to their servers and then on to Google.  You can go into Location Services and turn off the "Background Data Collection" option to keep your data from going to Google, but it still goes to Palm.

Palm’s current recommendation for not uploading location data to them is to turn off location services completely. It’s all or nothing, and that doesn’t seem cricket.

Now, to be fair, I’m not really that concerned about it – I have heard that Palm anonymizes location data on their servers and my carriers have known my location for quite a long time too. Still, it caused quite the ruckus when the news broke about Palm collecting this info and made people wonder just what Palm intends to use that data for (BGR dug up a patent for location-based ads, for example). So while we’re listing features of what we’re hoping for in future webOS updates, let’s add one more: a little more control and clarity about what data is getting sent up into which cloud, why it’s being sent, and who gets to see it.

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Joey Hess has taken a closer look at the code inside webOS that reports information back to Palm and found some details on what the Pre is sending back to headquarters.  Specifically, it appears that the Pre uploads (at least) the following information to Palm on a daily basis:

• Location
• Which apps you’ve used and for how long
• App crash logs
• Installed apps

It’s obviously the "location" part here that’s troubling.  As Hess points out, Palm’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy are sufficiently broad to give them permission to collect this information.  In fact, our own Derek Kessler wrote up a post some time ago (which we were holding because, well, we’re not lawyers) which explained that when you agree to Palm’s terms, you grant them the right to collect this information.

It’s complicated and we don’t want to stir up unwarranted panic here. So follow us after the break to find out just what Palm’s policy on all this is — including what rights they have (and don’t have) to share this information.

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