Online ads are a major bugbear for web users, hence the existence of ad blocking software. Tools such as AdBlock Plus have long been popular, but despite efforts by publishers to discourage their use, more and more people rely on ad blockers to improve their online experience.

The Internet Advertising Bureau reports that ad blocking is on the rise. In the UK, 18 percent of people use software to prevent the appearance of ads -- up from 15 percent just five months ago. Not everyone, however, is looking to block every single ad they might encounter.

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An app that enables iPhone users to keep an eye on who has been looking at their Instagram account has been pulled from the App Store after it was found to be stealing usernames and passwords.

Apple took the decision to kill "Who Viewed Your Profile -- InstaAgent" when the app was found scraping login details and sending them back to the developer's server. This in itself is worrying for users, but it gets worse: the usernames and passwords were sent in unencrypted format.

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Tim Cook is concerned about privacy. The Apple CEO has spoken out against requests from governments for backdoors into encrypted products. Following the UK government's decision not to ban strong encryption but to force companies to provide authorities with access to encrypted data upon production of a warrant.

This is effectively a backdoor into products and Tim Cook gives a stark warning: "Any backdoor is a backdoor for everyone". He also suggests that security is something that needs to be tackled on a global scale rather than by individual countries.

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October 6 was quite an interesting day for consumer privacy. After 15 years in place, the Safe Harbor agreement was declared invalid by Europe’s highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Driven by data localization trends and consumer privacy concerns in the wake of the "Snowden Effect", the ruling empowers each country in the European Union to set its own consumer privacy rules and regulations. The court’s decision has complicated implications for U.S. organizations conducting business overseas. In light of Safe Harbor’s invalidation, can international businesses continue to operate as usual?

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The surveillance activities of the NSA and GCHQ are well known, and many people hoping to slip under the radar have taken to the 'dark web'. Famous for sites such as Silk Road, as well as being home to illegal content such as child pornography, the dark web may not be a safe haven for much longer.

Joint Operations Cell (JOC) is a new venture in the UK which sees the National Crime Agency (NCA) and GCHQ joining forces. Described as a "genuinely innovative development", the operation aims to home in on online criminals, with a particular focus on crimes involving child exploitation.

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Exactly a month after the Safe Harbor agreement was struck down by the EU Court of Justice, the EU has called for the US to make the next move in the creation of an alternative solution.

The Safe Harbor Agreement, which is now defunct, represented a legal framework within which US companies could extract data of EU citizens. It was ruled invalid for not providing sufficient legal safeguards.

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The Home Office has issued an Impact Assessment, looking into the price of the proposed Investigatory Powers law, which would allow government agencies to intercept digital communications.

Secretary of State Theresa May’s department estimates a price of some £247m over a 10-year-period to cover the costs of the spy law, but according to The Register, which calls upon industry sources, little to no consultation has taken place so far. The true price of the bill can be significantly larger and can go up to £2 billion, with the bulk of finances going to telecom firms to cover the costs of storage.

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People are more concerned than ever before about online privacy, and this is the very reason Consumer Watchdog filed a petition to force websites to honor Do Not Track Requests. The Federal Communications Commission handed down a ruling which is not going to please privacy advocates.

In short, the FCC has said that websites should be under no obligation to take notice of Do Not Track requests. The commission dismissed Consumer Watchdog's petition that called for 'edge providers' -- such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Pandora, Netflix, and LinkedIn -- to respect people's privacy if they enabled the Do Not Track option in their web browser.

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Sixteen of the biggest tech companies out there, eight internet firms and eight telecoms, were analyzed in terms of how much they allow their users to express themselves, and how much they protect their users’ privacy.

None passed the analysis with flying colors.

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According to a new survey 83 percent of app users say location is crucial to their app experiences, but nearly 40 percent are hesitant to share their location.

These are part of the findings of a study by Skyhook Wireless which looks at the extent to which people turn location services on or off for their apps and tries to understand why many smartphone users choose not to take advantage of the benefits sharing location can bring.

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On Wednesday, the Investigatory Powers Bill was published in draft form, but it was in the wake of 9/11 that the UK government started its mass surveillance programs, spying on the online activities of British citizens. Under the guise of the 1984 Telecommunications Act, this surveillance was moved up a gear in 2005. Former deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says that very few politicians knew about it.

Clegg only learned of the surveillance programs that were used to harvest emails, phone records, and texts in 2010, and questioned whether it was necessary. The former PM makes the revelations in an article for the Guardian in which he says that after Edward Snowden NSA and GCHQ spying revelations, "the knee-jerk response from the government was to play the man and ignore the ball".

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It has been all change at Twitter recently. After increasing the number of accounts users are able to follow, and switching the Favorite star for a Like heart, Twitter today takes the wraps off a new Public Policy and Transparency page.

This is a central hub for information about Twitter's policies relating to freedom of speech, privacy, security, and corporate responsibility, as well as being a home for transparency-related information. It's also the place to go to find out how Twitter is handling government surveillance and online legal issues.

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The UK government today published a draft version of the Investigatory Powers Bill setting out a framework for new surveillance powers. Among the proposed measures is a requirement for ISPs to keep a record of every website their customers visit for 12 months.

Fears that encryption would be banned were not realized, but privacy campaigners will be disappointed that internet connection records will be accessible by police and security services without the need for a warrant. The NSA-style data collection is indiscriminate. Data will be stored about everyone's internet usage, not just those suspected of crime, terrorism and the like.

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Most people worry about the risk of their financial information being stolen, but a new survey from data security platform supplier Vormetric reveals that many are unaware of their vulnerability to medical data theft.

Of over 1,000 US adults polled by Wakefield Research on behalf of Vormetric, only 11 percent included medical records in their top three selections for personal data they would be most concerned to have lost in a data breach.

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As often happens, the internet went nuts over the weekend. The cause? A change to Snapchat's privacy policy. Rumors spread like a disease that the blink-and-you'll-miss-it messaging service was not only storing users' posts, but also taking ownership of them.

Snapchat has responded to the public outcry, explaining that this is simply not the case. But having spread around the world via mainstream media, the rumor may be hard to quash -- perhaps the app's Ghostface Chillah mascot spooked people over Halloween.

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