Man Behind Twitter Hack Says He’s a “Nice Hacker”

The man responsible for hacking into Twitter and leaking some of the company’s internal communications to TechCrunch last year was arrested by French authorities on Tuesday. The hacker, who went by the name Hacker Croll, also broke into some high-profile personal Twitter accounts including that of Britney Spears and the official Twitter feed for President Barack Obama. In a recent interview with French press, he said, “I’m not a hacker, or rather, I’m a nice hacker,” explaining that he wanted to show people how important data security is.

Mediaphyter Takes a Look at Foursquare

ZDNet columnist Jennifer Leggio takes a good hard look at FourSquare and some significant privacy loopholes in the site. We have already talked about safety problems inherent to Foursquare and other location-based social networking websites, but Leggio’s article illustrates some important new points to consider.

Ohio Judge Investigated Over Anonymous Online Comments

Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold, who works in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, is facing some legal problems after a personal e-mail account attached to her computer has been linked to anonymous online comments related to cases over which Saffold presided. Saffold claims that her 23-year-old daughter left the comments, which appeared on the Cleveland Plains Dealer website, using her mother’s computer, but if it can be proved otherwise, Saffold may face disciplinary action for impropriety.

One Quarter of UK Kids Ages 8-12 Had Social Networking Profiles in 2009

Despite maintaining an official age limit for joining their websites, a UK study featured in The Guardian recently shows that 25% of UK Internet users from 8 to 12 had profiles on popular social networking websites such as Facebook, Bebo, or MySpace in 2009. In a somewhat happier finding, the survey did show that 83% of parents of these underage Internet users said they did know what their kids were up to and routinely checked in on them online.

FTC Wants Your Help To Protect Kids Online

The Federal Trade Commission wants your opinion on protecting children’s privacy online.

Quoting from DMNews.com:

“The Federal Trade Commission is asking members of the public for their opinions on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which governs the collection of children’s data on the Internet. The federal agency is weighing whether, in the five years since the FTC last reviewed the rule, it has been outdated by technological changes.”

The public can leave their comments by mail or by e-mail up until June 30.