Amazon is well-known for its copycat ways, but it’s not so often that another company calls it out on it, much less in a way that’s funny. But that’s exactly what Peak Design did today when it uploaded a video to YouTube comparing its Everyday Sling to a camera bag from AmazonBasics that shares the Read more about Bag maker Peak Design calls out Amazon for its copycat ways[…]
Peter Sunde was one of the key people behind The Pirate Bay in the early years, a role for which he was eventually convicted in Sweden. While Sunde cut his ties with the notorious torrent site many years ago, he remains an active and vocal personality on the Internet. […] Sunde is also involved with Read more about ICANN Refuses to Accredit Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Due to His ‘Background’[…]
New rules for social media companies and other hosts of third-party content have just gone into effect in India. The proposed changes to India’s 2018 Intermediary Guidelines are now live, allowing the government to insert itself into content moderation efforts and make demands of tech companies some simply won’t be able to comply with. Now, Read more about India’s New Cyber Law Goes Live: Subtracts Safe Harbor Protections, Adds Compelled Assistance Demands For Intermediaries, Massive surveillance infrastructure[…]
A new extension for Google Chrome has made explicit how most popular sites on the internet load resources from one or more of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon. The extension, Big Tech Detective, shows the extent to which websites exchange data with these four companies by reporting on them. It also optionally blocks sites that Read more about Extension shows the monopoly big tech has on your browsing – you always route your traffic through them[…]
A security researcher has recommended against using the LastPass password manager Android app after noting seven embedded trackers. The software’s maker says users can opt out if they want. […] The Exodus report on LastPass shows seven trackers in the Android app, including four from Google for the purpose of analytics and crash reporting, as Read more about 1Password has none, KeePass has none… So why are there seven embedded trackers in the LastPass Android app?[…]
In an online world in which countless systems are trying to figure out what exactly you enjoy so they can serve you up advertising about it, it really fucks up their profiling mechanisms when they think you like everything. And to help you out with this approach, I recommend checking out the Chrome/Firefox extension AdNauseum. Read more about Use AdNauseum to Block Ads and Confuse Google’s Advertising[…]
Boffins based in Belgium have found that a DNS-based technique for bypassing defenses against online tracking has become increasingly common and represents a growing threat to both privacy and security. In a research paper to be presented in July at the 21st Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS 2021), KU Leuven-affiliated researchers Yana Dimova, Gunes Acar, Read more about CNAME DNS-based tracking defies your browser privacy defenses[…]
After causing a huge virtual meltdown with the announcement of its new privacy policy, and then postponing the implementation of said policy due to online fury, WhatsApp has spent the last few weeks trying not to stir up trouble. However, it has just revealed what will happen to users who do not accept its new Read more about WhatsApp: Users Who Don’t Accept Privacy Terms Can’t Read or send Texts[…]
Facebook has endangered public safety by blocking news on the platform in Australia during the covid-19 pandemic, according to Australia’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg a high-ranking official in the country’s ruling Liberal Party. Frydenberg appeared on the local TV program “Today,” on Friday morning, Australia time, and insisted the government was not going to tolerate Facebook’s Read more about Aussie shakedown: Facebook ‘Endangered Public Safety’ by Blocking News During Pandemic According to Australia- after forcing FB to pay for news on the site[…]
Facebook is being flayed in Australia after its ban on sharing of links to news publications caught plenty of websites that have nothing to do with news. The Social Network™ announced its ban with a blog post and the sudden erasure of all posts on certain Facebook pages. Links to news outlets big and small Read more about Australia facepalms as Facebook blocks bookstores, sport, health services instead of just news[…]
In a sign that interest in process mining is heating up, vendor FortressIQ is launching an analytics platform with a novel approach to understanding how users really work – it “videos” their on-screen activity for later analysis. According to the San Francisco-based biz, its Process Intelligence platform will allow organisations to be better prepared for Read more about FortressIQ just comes out and says it: To really understand business processes, feed your staff’s screen activity to an AI[…]
We all know that our cell phones constantly give our location away to our mobile network operators; that’s how they work. A group of researchers has figured out a way to fix that. “Pretty Good Phone Privacy” (PGPP) protects both user identity and user location using the existing cellular networks. It protects users from fake Read more about Cell Phone Location Privacy could be done easily[…]
[…] Apple only lets you access iPhone apps through its own App Store, which it says keeps everything safe. It appeared to bolster that idea when it announced in 2020 that it would ask app makers to fill out what are essentially privacy nutrition labels. Just like packaged food has to disclose how much sugar Read more about I checked Apple’s new privacy ‘nutrition labels.’ Many were false.[…]
I was confused, annoyed and sad trying to understand what had happened. I was removed by the senior moderator at r/wallstreetbets who is u/turdled . I messaged him asking for an explanation, but have still not been given one. It was at this same time that several other moderators were removed and getting banned left Read more about r/wallstreetbets: hostile takeover by old mods trying to monetise and push down GME price. Go to r/wallstreetbetstest and r/wallstreetbetsnew now[…]
India’s government has warned Twitter that it must obey its orders to remove “inflammatory content” or employees will face potential jail time, Buzzfeed has reported. The government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made the edict after Twitter unblocked 257 accounts criticizing Modi’s government around farmer protests, after initially blocking them. The accounts in question come Read more about India’s government threatens to jail Twitter employees unless they block critics[…]
Instagram is adding a new “Recently deleted” folder to the app’s menu that temporarily stores posts after you remove them from your profile or archive, giving you the ability to restore deleted posts if you change your mind. The folder includes sections for photos, IGTV, Reels, and Stories posts. No one else can see your Read more about How to Restore Recently Deleted Instagram Posts – because deleted means: stored somewhere you can’t get at them[…]
Not content to only wield its creepy surveillance infrastructure against warehouse workers and employees considering unionization, Amazon is reportedly gearing up to install perpetually-on cameras inside its fleet of delivery vehicles as well. A new report from The Information claims that Amazon recently shared the plans in an instructional video sent out to the contractor Read more about Amazon Plans to Install Creepy Always-On Surveillance Cameras in Delivery Vans[…]
Synology has introduced its first-ever list of validated disks and won’t allow other devices into its enterprise-class NAS devices. And in a colossal coincidence, half of the disks allowed into its devices – and the only ones larger than 4TB – are Synology’s very own HAT 5300 disks that it launched last week. Seeing as Read more about Synology to enforce use of validated disks in enterprise NAS boxes. And guess what? Only its own disks exceed 4TB[…]
Encrypted service providers are urging lawmakers to back away from a controversial plan that critics say would undercut effective data protection measures. ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota — all European companies that offer some form of encrypted services — issued a joint statement this week declaring that a resolution the European Council adopted on Dec. Read more about ProtonMail, Tutanota among authors of letter urging EU to reconsider encryption rules[…]
Mozilla has released Firefox 85 ending support for Adobe Flash Player plugin and has brought in ways to block supercookies to enhance a user’s privacy. Mozilla, in a blog post, noted that supercookies are store user identifiers, and are much more difficult to delete and block. It further noted that the changes it is making Read more about Firefox 85 removes support for Flash and adds protection against supercookies[…]
Fedora’s maintainer for the open-source Chromium browser package is recommending users consider switching to Firefox following Google’s decision to remove functionality and make it exclusive to its proprietary Chrome browser.The comments refer to a low-key statement Google made just before the release of Chrome 88, saying that during an audit it had “discovered that some Read more about Fedora’s Chromium maintainer suggests switching to Firefox as Google yanks features in favour of Chrome[…]
The Indian government has sent a fierce letter to Facebook over its decision to update the privacy rules around its WhatsApp chat service, and asked the antisocial media giant to put a halt to the plans.In an email from the IT ministry to WhatsApp head Will Cathcart, provided to media outlets, the Indian government notes Read more about Indian government slams Facebook over WhatsApp ‘privacy’ update, wants its own Europe-style opt-out switch[…]
On Tuesday, privacy-focused browser Brave released an update that makes it the first to feature peer-to-peer protocol for hosting web content. Known as IPFS, which stands for InterPlanetary File System, the protocol allows users to load content from a decentralized network of distributed nodes rather than a centralized server. It’s new — and much-heralded — technology, Read more about Brave Will Become First Browser To Offer IPFS peer to peer content hosting[…]
It’s a process that requires quite some installation and some good reading of the instructions but it can be done. The trick is to install an older version of WhatsApp, extract the key and then copy the message databases. Then you can decrypt the database file and read it using another program. The hardest bit Read more about How to batch export ALL your WhatsApp chats in one go for non rooted Android on PC[…]
Everalbum, a consumer photo app maker that shut down on August 31, 2020, and has since relaunched as a facial recognition provider under the name Paravision, on Monday reached a settlement with the FTC over the 2017 introduction of a feature called “Friends” in its discontinued Ever app. The watchdog agency claims the app deployed Read more about AI upstart stealing facial data told to delete data and algorithms[…]