Category: Global Domination

Mercedes locks faster acceleration behind a yearly $1,200 subscription – the car can already go faster, they slowed you down

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Mercedes is the latest manufacturer to lock auto features behind a subscription fee, with an upcoming “Acceleration Increase” add-on that lets drivers pay to access motor performance their vehicle is already capable of. The $1,200 yearly subscription improves performance by boosting output from the motors by 20–24 percent, increasing torque, and shaving around 0.8 to Read more about Mercedes locks faster acceleration behind a yearly $1,200 subscription – the car can already go faster, they slowed you down[…]

Google Settles 40 States’ Location Data Suit for only $392 Million

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google agreed to a $391.5 million dollar settlement on Monday to end a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of tricking users with location data privacy settings that didn’t actually turn off data collection. The payout, the result of a suit brought by 40 state attorneys general, marks one of the biggest privacy settlements in history. Read more about Google Settles 40 States’ Location Data Suit for only $392 Million[…]

Apple Vanquishes Evil YouTube Account Full Of Old Apple WWDC Videos

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Many of you are likely to be familiar with WWDC, Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. This is one of those places where you get a bunch of Apple product reveals and news updates that typically result in the press tripping all over themselves to bow at the altar of an iPhone 300 or whatever. The conference Read more about Apple Vanquishes Evil YouTube Account Full Of Old Apple WWDC Videos[…]

Apple Apps Track You Even With Privacy Protections on – and they hoover a LOT

Posted on by Robin Edgar

For all of Apple’s talk about how private your iPhone is, the company vacuums up a lot of data about you. iPhones do have a privacy setting that is supposed to turn off that tracking. According to a new report by independent researchers, though, Apple collects extremely detailed information on you with its own apps Read more about Apple Apps Track You Even With Privacy Protections on – and they hoover a LOT[…]

Senator Wyden Asks State Dept. To Explain Why It’s Handing Out ‘Unfettered’ Access To Americans’ Passport Data

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] In 2018, a blockbuster report detailed the actions of CBP agent Jeffrey Rambo. Rambo apparently took it upon himself to track down whistleblowers and leakers. To do this, he cozied up to a journalist and leveraged the wealth of data on travelers collected by federal agencies in hopes of sniffing out sources. A few Read more about Senator Wyden Asks State Dept. To Explain Why It’s Handing Out ‘Unfettered’ Access To Americans’ Passport Data[…]

Dutch foundation launches mass privacy claim against Twitter – DutchNews.nl

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A Dutch foundation is planning to take legal action against social media platform Twitter for illegally collecting and trading in personal details gathered via free apps such as Duolingo and Wordfeud as well as dating apps and weather forecaster Buienradar. Twitter owned advertising platform MoPub between 2013 and January 2022 and that is where the Read more about Dutch foundation launches mass privacy claim against Twitter – DutchNews.nl[…]

Greece To Ban Sale of Spyware After Government Is Accused of Surveillance of opposition party leader

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced that Greece would ban the sale of spyware, after his government was accused in a news report of targeting dozens of prominent politicians, journalists and businessmen for surveillance, and the judicial authorities began an investigation. From a report: The announcement is the latest chapter in a scandal that erupted Read more about Greece To Ban Sale of Spyware After Government Is Accused of Surveillance of opposition party leader[…]

Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot Sued Over ‘Software Piracy on an Unprecedented Scale’

Posted on by Robin Edgar

“Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot is being sued in a class action lawsuit that claims the AI product is committing software piracy on an unprecedented scale,” reports IT Pro. Programmer/designer Matthew Butterick filed the case Thursday in San Francisco, saying it was on behalf of millions of GitHub users potentially affected by the $10-a-month Copilot service: The Read more about Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot Sued Over ‘Software Piracy on an Unprecedented Scale’[…]

Qualcomm v Arm: The bizarro quotient just went off the scale

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Qualcomm and Arm have been engaged in one of those very entertainingly bitter court fist-fights that the industry throws up when friends fall out over money. Briefly, Qualcomm builds its mobile device chips around Arm, for which it pays Arm a lot of money. Qualcomm bought another Arm-licensed company, Nuvia, and inherited Nuvia’s own Read more about Qualcomm v Arm: The bizarro quotient just went off the scale[…]

Iran’s Secret Manual for Controlling Protesters’ Mobile Phones

Posted on by Robin Edgar

As furious anti-government protests swept Iran, the authorities retaliated with both brute force and digital repression. Iranian mobile and internet users reported rolling network blackouts, mobile app restrictions, and other disruptions. Many expressed fears that the government can track their activities through their indispensable and ubiquitous smartphones. Iran’s tight grip on the country’s connection to the Read more about Iran’s Secret Manual for Controlling Protesters’ Mobile Phones[…]

Meta fined measly $24.6m over political ad non disclosure and disinformation

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Despite warnings of Chinese and Russian mischief and manipulation ahead of the US midterm elections, it seems American companies and citizens are perfectly capable of denting democracy on their own. A Washington judge fined Meta $24.6 million this week after ruling that Facebook intentionally broke [PDF] the state’s campaign finance transparency laws 822 times. This Read more about Meta fined measly $24.6m over political ad non disclosure and disinformation[…]

Anti-Cheat Software Continues To Be The New DRM In Pissing Off Legit Customers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] if you’ve been paying attention over the last couple of years, anti-cheat software is quickly becoming the new DRM. Access to root layers of the computer complaints, complaints about performance effects, complaints about how the software tracks customer behavior, and now finally we have the good old “software isn’t letting me play my game” Read more about Anti-Cheat Software Continues To Be The New DRM In Pissing Off Legit Customers[…]

Did PayPal Just Reintroduce Its $2,500 ‘Misinformation’ / ‘I disagree with you’ / ‘I find this offensive’ Fine, Hoping We Wouldn’t Notice?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

“On October 8th, PayPal updated its terms of service agreement to include a clause enabling it to withdraw $2,500 from users’ bank accounts simply for posting anything the company deems as misinformation or offensive,” reports Grit Daily. “Unsurprisingly, the backlash was instant and massive,” causing the company to backtrack on the policy and claim the Read more about Did PayPal Just Reintroduce Its $2,500 ‘Misinformation’ / ‘I disagree with you’ / ‘I find this offensive’ Fine, Hoping We Wouldn’t Notice?[…]

Google’s Privacy Settings Finally Won’t Break It’s Apps Anymore, require using My Ad Center

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] It used to be that the only way to prevent Google from using your data for targeted ads was turning off personalized ads across your whole account, or disabling specific kinds of data using a couple of settings, including Web & App Activity and YouTube History. Those two settings control whether Google collects certain Read more about Google’s Privacy Settings Finally Won’t Break It’s Apps Anymore, require using My Ad Center[…]

Texas sues Google for allegedly capturing biometric data of millions without consent

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Texas has filed a lawsuit against Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google for allegedly collecting biometric data of millions of Texans without obtaining proper consent, the attorney general’s office said in a statement on Thursday. The complaint says that companies operating in Texas have been barred for more than a decade from collecting people’s faces, voices or other Read more about Texas sues Google for allegedly capturing biometric data of millions without consent[…]

Ring Cameras Are Being Used To Control and Surveil Overworked Delivery Workers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Networked doorbell surveillance cameras like Amazon’s Ring are everywhere, and have changed the nature of delivery work by letting customers take on the role of bosses to monitor, control, and discipline workers, according to a recent report (PDF) by the Data & Society tech research institute. “The growing popularity of Ring and other networked doorbell Read more about Ring Cameras Are Being Used To Control and Surveil Overworked Delivery Workers[…]

TikTok joins Uber, Facebook in Monitoring The Physical Location Of Specific American Citizens

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The team behind the monitoring project — ByteDance’s Internal Audit and Risk Control department — is led by Beijing-based executive Song Ye, who reports to ByteDance cofounder and CEO Rubo Liang. The team primarily conducts investigations into potential misconduct by current and former ByteDance employees. But in at least two cases, the Internal Audit team Read more about TikTok joins Uber, Facebook in Monitoring The Physical Location Of Specific American Citizens[…]

iOS 16 VPN Tunnels Leak Data, Even When Lockdown Mode Is Enabled

Posted on by Robin Edgar

AmiMoJo shares a report from MacRumors: iOS 16 continues to leak data outside an active VPN tunnel, even when Lockdown mode is enabled, security researchers have discovered. Speaking to MacRumors, security researchers Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry explained that iOS 16’s approach to VPN traffic is the same whether Lockdown mode is enabled or Read more about iOS 16 VPN Tunnels Leak Data, Even When Lockdown Mode Is Enabled[…]

Shein Owner Fined $1.9 Million For Failing To Notify 39 Million Users of Data Breach – Slashdot

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Zoetop, the firm that owns Shein and its sister brand Romwe, has been fined (PDF) $1.9 million by New York for failing to properly disclose a data breach from 2018. TechCrunch reports: A cybersecurity attack that originated in 2018 resulted in the theft of 39 million Shein account credentials, including those of more than 375,000 Read more about Shein Owner Fined $1.9 Million For Failing To Notify 39 Million Users of Data Breach – Slashdot[…]

Meta’s New $1499 Headset Will Track Your Eyes for Targeted Ads

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Earlier this week, Meta revealed the Meta Quest Pro, the company’s most premium virtual reality headset to date with a new processor and screen, dramatically redesigned body and controllers, and inward-facing cameras for eye and face tracking. “To celebrate the $1,500 headset, Meta made some fun new additions to its privacy policy, including one titled Read more about Meta’s New $1499 Headset Will Track Your Eyes for Targeted Ads[…]

Android Leaks Some Traffic Even When ‘Always-On VPN’ Is Enabled – Slashdot

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Mullvad VPN has discovered that Android leaks traffic every time the device connects to a WiFi network, even if the “Block connections without VPN,” or “Always-on VPN,” features is enabled. BleepingComputer reports: The data being leaked outside VPN tunnels includes source IP addresses, DNS lookups, HTTPS traffic, and likely also NTP traffic. This behavior is Read more about Android Leaks Some Traffic Even When ‘Always-On VPN’ Is Enabled – Slashdot[…]

Judge Ruling That YouTube Ripping Tool May Violate Copyright Law goes nuts on argumentation

Posted on by Robin Edgar

There are a number of different tools out there that let you download YouTube videos. These tools are incredibly useful for a number of reasons and should be seen as obviously legal in the same manner that home video recording devices were declared legal by the Supreme Court, because they have substantial non-infringing uses. But, Read more about Judge Ruling That YouTube Ripping Tool May Violate Copyright Law goes nuts on argumentation[…]

Book Publishing Giant Wiley Pulls Nearly 1400 Ebook Titles From GW Library Forcing Students To Buy Them Instead

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] George Washington University libraries have put out an alert to students and faculty that Wiley, one of the largest textbook publishers, has now removed 1,379 textbook titles that the library can lend out. They won’t even let the library purchase a license to lend out the ebooks. They will only let students buy the Read more about Book Publishing Giant Wiley Pulls Nearly 1400 Ebook Titles From GW Library Forcing Students To Buy Them Instead[…]

Why Reddit Is Losing It Over Samsung’s New Privacy Policy – it’s an incredible data grab

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Samsung recently updated it privacy policy for all users with a Samsung account, effective Oct. 1. One Redditor read the policy, did not like what they saw, and shared it to r/android, highlighting what they consider to be the doc’s worst policy points. The thread blew up, with Android users aplenty decrying Samsung’s new policy. Read more about Why Reddit Is Losing It Over Samsung’s New Privacy Policy – it’s an incredible data grab[…]

The Onion defends right to parody in very real supreme court brief supporting local satirist vs Police who were made fun of

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Onion, the long-running satirical publication, has filed a very real legal document with the US supreme court, urging it to take on a case centered on the right to parody. And in order to make a serious legal point, the filing does what the Onion does best, offering a big helping of total nonsense. Read more about The Onion defends right to parody in very real supreme court brief supporting local satirist vs Police who were made fun of[…]