Archive for the ‘Global Domination’ Category
70% of Windows 10 users haven’t turned of privacy invasion
Microsoft claims seven out of ten Windows 10 users are happy with Redmond gulping loads of telemetry from their computers – which isn’t that astounding when you realize it’s a default option. In other words, 30 per cent of people have found the switch to turn it off, and the rest haven’t, don’t realize it’s […]
Disney sued for allegedly spying on children through 42 gaming apps
A federal class action lawsuit filed last week in California alleges that the Walt Disney Company is violating privacy protection laws by collecting children’s personal information from 42 of its apps and sharing the data with advertisers without parental consent. The lawsuit targets Disney and three software companies — Upsight, Unity, and Kochava — alleging […]
With a single wiretap order, US authorities listened in on 3.3 million phone calls
US authorities intercepted and recorded millions of phone calls last year under a single wiretap order, authorized as part of a narcotics investigation. The wiretap order authorized an unknown government agency to carry out real-time intercepts of 3.29 million cell phone conversations over a two-month period at some point during 2016, after the order was […]
It is easy to expose users’ secret web habits, if you have access to cheap clickstream data
Two German researchers say they have exposed the porn-browsing habits of a judge, a cyber-crime investigation and the drug preferences of a politician. The pair obtained huge amounts of information about the browsing habits of three million German citizens from companies that gather “clickstreams”. These are detailed records of everywhere that people go online. The […]
Netherlands turns into total surveillance state: unsupervised mass internet tapping, storage and sharing with whoever they feel like
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch Senate passed a law early on Wednesday giving intelligence agencies broad new surveillance and other powers, including the ability to gather data from large groups of people at once. The Senate’s approval was the last hurdle for the “tapping law,” which was moulded into its current form after years of […]
Web inventor Sir Tim and W3C decide to close up the web: world has 2 weeks to appeal
Traditionally, web technology has been open. HTML markup, CSS, and JavaScript code can be viewed (though not necessarily easily understood, thanks to minification), remixed, and reused. The web’s openness allowed it to flourish. But those selling costly content – software and media companies – prefer open wallets to anything goes. So they have employed copy […]
Anthem to shell out $115m in largest-ever data theft settlement: 1/3rd goes to lawyers, 10% to Experian, much to taxes, leaves around 10% for victims. Shows you what use the Law is for justice.
If you were one of those hit by the intrusion, don’t expect a big payout. Plenty of others will be getting their cuts first. According to the terms of the settlement, a full third of the package ($37,950,000) has been earmarked to cover attorney fees. An additional $17m will be paid out to Experian, who […]
Gmail no longer will scan your emails – because they allready know enough about you through other channels
G Suite’s Gmail is already not used as input for ads personalization, and Google has decided to follow suit later this year in our free consumer Gmail service. Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change. This decision brings Gmail ads in line with how we personalize […]
Navistone saves filled in form data on hundreds of sites before you submit it!
[As you fill out a form] You change your mind and close the page before clicking the Submit button and agreeing to Quicken’s privacy policy.[…]Your email address and phone number have already been sent to a server at “murdoog.com,” which is owned by NaviStone, a company that advertises its ability to unmask anonymous website visitors […]
Walmart Gears Up Anti-Amazon Stance in Wake of Whole Foods Deal
Days after arch-rival Amazon announced plans to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, Walmart is apparently ramping up its defense. That acquisition takes square aim at Walmart’s bread-and-butter grocery business by giving the online retailer 465 new retail locations—thus a much bigger brick-and-mortar presence. Now, Walmart is telling some partners and suppliers that their software […]
Tails 3.0 – anonymous live OS is out
Tails is a live operating system that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card. It aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity, and helps you to: use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship; all connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network; leave […]
Facebook’s Emotion Tech: Patents Show New Ways For Detecting And Responding To Users’ Feelings
Facebook’s newest patent, granted May 25, aims to monitor users’ typing speed to predict emotions and adapt messages in response. We took a look at some of Facebook’s emotion-based patents to understand how the company is thinking about capturing and responding to people’s emotional reactions, which has been a tricky area for consumer tech companies […]
Dutch Usenetprovider Eweka forced by judge to hand over personal details to BREIN without judicial oversight
A Dutch judge has said that the usenet provider needs to hand over personal details to BREIN (the Dutch version of the RIAA) without any reason other than that BREIN wants them or face a fine of EUR 1000,- per day. It’s pretty bizarre that some commercial entity can raid anyones private data because they […]
Chinese Windows 10 doesn’t spy on you
Weg met telemetrie en ruime dataverzameling – het kan dus wel. Source: Wil je privacy? Gebruik dan de Chinese Windows 10! Microsoft has released a version of Windows 10 for the Chinese (!) market that doesn’t send all sorts of telemetry and private data to itself. This version is not available for the rest of […]
Apple Rolls Out New Feature That Permanently Associates Devices with Apps, Even After Deletion
Tim Cook once scolded Travis Kalanick about Uber’s practice of tracking users even after they deleted the app from their iPhones. But in its newest operating system, iOS 11, Apple is rolling out a feature that will allow the same type of tracking—but with fewer privacy implications. Apple’s new feature is called DeviceCheck and, if […]
Google now mingles everything you’ve bought with everywhere you’ve been
The credit card companies began to monetise the histories a few years ago. Facebook signed deals with data companies including Experian, allowing it to mingle third party offline and online data, something it also calls “closing the loop”. Last year Facebook was reported to combine six or seven data sources to create its “Facebook Graph”. […]
In the US Net Neutrality race, fake comments are being placed in their thousands, supporting the inane idea of getting rid of net neutrality.
Fourteen Americans (with the help of an advocacy group) are complaining to the FCC that their names were used without permission to file fake comments on the proposed net neutrality overhaul. A letter [PDF] sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and signed by the 14 people claims that their names and addresses were used to […]
EU axes geo-blocking: Upsets studios, delights consumers
The European Parliament has approved a draft law that geo-blocking, the act of offering an online content service in one European Union (EU) country and that country alone, will be scrapped in the first half of next year. Coupled with the recent law to end mobile roaming charges in the EU as of next month, […]
EU wants content filtering by entertainment industry on everything posted online
De Europese Commissie wil dat internetaanbieders en hostingpartijen, maar ook platformen zoals Facebook, monitoren wat hun gebruikers publiceren. Elke tekst, foto en filmpje dat gebruikers wil zetten zou dan eerst door een filter van de entertainmentindustrie gehaald moeten worden. Hoe zoiets in de praktijk zou moeten werken is volstrekt onduidelijk. Source: Massaal verzet tegen omstreden […]
Netgear ‘fixes’ Nighthawk router by adding phone-home features that record your IP and MAC address
Netgear NightHawk R7000 users who ran last week’s firmware upgrade need to check their settings, because the company added a remote data collection feature to the units. A sharp-eyed user posted the T&Cs change to Slashdot. Netgear lumps the slurp as routine diagnostic data. “Such data may include information regarding the router’s running status, number […]
Lib Dems pledge to end ‘Orwellian’ snooping powers in manifesto
The Liberal Democrats have pledged to end the “Orwellian nightmare” of mass-snooping powers in the Investigatory Powers Act ahead of their manifesto launch. They will propose to roll back state surveillance powers by ending the indiscriminate bulk collection of communications data and internet connection records. The party also committed to fighting Conservative attempts to undermine […]
Google AI has access to 1.6m NHS patients data – without permission
The document – a data-sharing agreement between Google-owned artificial intelligence company DeepMind and the Royal Free NHS Trust – gives the clearest picture yet of what the company is doing and what sensitive data it now has access to. The agreement gives DeepMind access to a wide range of healthcare data on the 1.6 million […]
Bloke charged under UK terror law for refusing to cough up passwords without cause
British police have charged a man under antiterror laws after he refused to hand over his phone and laptop passwords. Muhammad Rabbani, international director of CAGE, was arrested at Heathrow in November after declining to unlock his devices, claiming they contained confidential testimony describing torture in Afghanistan as well as information on high-ranking officials. CAGE […]
Banking association calls for end of ‘screen-scraping’
The European Banking Federation (EBF) has asked the EU Commission to support a ban on “screen scraping”. Screen-scraping services, seen as a first-generation direct access technology, allow third parties to access bank accounts on a client’s behalf using the client’s access credentials. The Revised Directive on Payment Services (PSD2) introduces a general security upgrade for […]
Tesla factory workers reveal pain, injury and stress: ‘Everything feels like the future but us’
Ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers experiencing fainting spells, dizziness, seizures, abnormal breathing and chest pains, according to incident reports obtained by the Guardian. Hundreds more were called for injuries and other medical issues. […] However, some Tesla workers argue the company’s treatment of injured workers discourages them from […]
