A confidential Sidewalk Labs document from 2016 lays out the founding vision of the Google-affiliated development company, which included having the power to levy its own property taxes, track and predict people’s movements and control some public services. The document, which The Globe and Mail has seen, also describes how people living in a Sidewalk Read more about Google Sidewalk Labs document reveals company’s early vision for big brother city in city with private tax powers, criminal justice and huge personal data slurp based on a social credit system[…]

Facebook has ended its appeal against the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and will pay the outstanding £500,000 fine for breaches of data protection law relating to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Prior to today’s announcement, the social network had been appealing against the fine, alleging bias and requesting access to ICO documents related to the regulator’s Read more about Facebook ends appeal against ICO Cambridge Analytica micro-fine: Doesn’t admit liability, gives away £500k[…]

VP of product Scott Williamson announced on 10 October that “to make GitLab better faster, we need more data on how users are using GitLab”. GitLab is a web application that runs on Linux, with options for self-hosting or using the company’s cloud service. It is open source, with both free and licensed editions. Williamson Read more about GitLab pulls U-turn on plan to crank up usage telemetry after both staff and customers cry foul[…]

The UK government could use facial recognition to verify the age of Brits online “so long as there is an appropriate concern for privacy,” junior minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Matt Warman said. The minister was responding to an urgent Parliamentary question directed to Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan about the future of Blighty’s Read more about Junior minister says gov.UK considering facial recognition to verify age of p0rn-watchers[…]

For years I’ve gone back and forth over the practice of obscuring license plates on photos on the internet. License plates are already publicly-viewable things, so what’s the point in obscuring them, right? Well, now I think there actually is a good reason to obscure your license plates in photos because it appears that Google Read more about Google And Facebook Are Reading Your License Plates and making them searchable[…]

Today, when you use Wizards Unite or Pokémon Go or any of Niantic’s other apps, your every move is getting documented and stored—up to 13 times a minute, according to the results of a Kotaku investigation. Even players who know that the apps record their location data are usually astonished once they look at just Read more about The Creators Of Pokémon Go Mapped The World. Now They’re Mapping You – how companies are monetising your location data[…]

Apple admits that it sends some user IP addresses to Tencent in the “About Safari & Privacy” section of its Safari settings which can be accessed on an iOS device by opening the Settings app and then selecting “Safari > About Privacy & Security.” Under the title “Fraudulent Website Warning,” Apple says: “Before visiting a Read more about Apple Safari browser sends some user IP addresses to Chinese conglomerate Tencent by default[…]

Citing sources familiar with the program, Bloomberg reported Thursday that “dozens” of workers for the e-commerce giant who are based in Romania and India are tasked with reviewing footage collected by Cloud Cams—Amazon’s app-controlled, Alexa-compatible indoor security devices—to help improve AI functionality and better determine potential threats. Bloomberg reported that at one point, these human Read more about Human Employees Are Viewing Clips from Amazon’s Home Surveillance Service[…]

The FBI routinely misused a database, gathered by the NSA with the specific purpose of searching for foreign intelligence threats, by searching it for everything from vetting to spying on relatives. In doing so, it not only violated the law and the US constitution but knowingly lied to the faces of congressmen who were asking Read more about Remember the FBI’s promise it wasn’t abusing the NSA’s data on US citizens? Well, guess what… It was worse than the privacy advocates dreamt[…]

Attorney General Bill Barr, along with officials from the United Kingdom and Australia, is set to publish an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking the company to delay plans for end-to-end encryption across its messaging services until it can guarantee the added privacy does not reduce public safety. A draft of the letter, Read more about US, UK and Australia want Zuckerberg To Halt Plans For End-To-End Encryption Across Facebook’s Apps – because they want to be able to spy on you. As will other criminals. What happened to the “Free world”?[…]

The Trump administration is moving to start testing the DNA of people detained by U.S. immigration officers, according to reports of call on Wednesday between senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials and reporters. Justice Department officials are reportedly developing a new rule that would allow immigration officers to begin collecting the private genetic information Read more about U.S. Plans to Test DNA of Immigrants in Detention Centers[…]

In a court case vs Planet 49 the EU has ruled that you can’t start collecting data just by showing a warning that you are doing so or by having a preselected tickbox stating it’s OK to collect data. The user has to actually go and click the tickbox or OK before any data collection Read more about EU court of justice rules opt in is not on if the tickbox is pre ticked[…]

Microsoft has annoyed some of its 900 million Windows 10 device users after apparently removing the ‘Use offline account’ as part of its effort to herd users towards its cloud-based Microsoft Account. The offline local account is specific to one device, while the Microsoft Account can be used to log in to multiple devices and Read more about MS really really wants to know who is using Windows, make it very hard for Win 10 users to create local accounts.[…]

We initially identified apps for investigation based on how many users they had and how much data they could access. Now, we also identify apps based on signals associated with an app’s potential to abuse our policies. Where we have concerns, we conduct a more intensive examination. This includes a background investigation of the developer Read more about Facebook suspends apps belonging to 400 developers for slurping user data[…]

Whenever you sign up for a new app or service you probably are also agreeing to a new privacy policy. You know, that incredibly long block of text you scroll quickly by without reading? Guard is a site that uses AI to read epically long privacy policies and then highlight any aspects of them that Read more about This Site Uses AI to Find Issues in Privacy Policies[…]