The Facebook Papers are based on leaks from former Facebook staffer Frances Haugen and other inside sources. Haugen has appeared before US Congress, British Parliament, and given prominent television interviews. Among the allegations raised are that Facebook: Knows that its algorithms lead users to extreme content and that it employs too few staff or contractors Read more about 5 notable Facebook fuckups in the recent relevations[…]
More detail has emerged from a 173-page complaint filed last week in the lawsuit brought against Google by a number of US states, including allegations that Google deliberately throttled advertisements not served to its AMP (Accelerated Mobile) pages. The lawsuit – as we explained at the end of last week – was originally filed in December Read more about Google deliberately throttled ad load times to promote AMP, locking advertisers into it’s own advertising market place[…]
The UK’s intelligence services are to store their secret files in the AWS cloud in a deal inked earlier this year, according to reports. The GCHQ organisation (electrical/radio communications eavesdropping), MI5 (domestic UK intelligence matters), MI6 (external UK intel) and also the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will access their data in the cloud, albeit in Read more about UK government hands secret services cloud contract to AWS[…]
In a project that could unlock the world’s research papers for easier computerized analysis, an American technologist has released online a gigantic index of the words and short phrases contained in more than 100 million journal articles — including many paywalled papers. The catalogue, which was released on 7 October and is free to use, Read more about Giant, free index to world’s research papers released online[…]
Huq, an established data vendor that obtains granular location information from ordinary apps installed on people’s phones and then sells that data, has been receiving GPS coordinates even when people explicitly opted-out of such collection inside individual Android apps, researchers and Motherboard have found. The news highlights a stark problem for smartphone users: that they Read more about Location Data Firm Got GPS Data From Apps Even When People Opted Out[…]
The documents leaked to U.S. regulators by a Facebook whistleblower “reveal that the social media giant has privately and meticulously tracked real-world harms exacerbated by its platforms,” reports the Washington Post. Yet it also reports that at the same time Facebook “ignored warnings from its employees about the risks of their design decisions and exposed Read more about What Else Do the Leaked ‘Facebook Papers’ Show? Angry face emojis have 5x the weight of a like thumb emoji… and more other stuff[…]
“Every hour, YouTube deletes nearly 2,000 channels,” reports the New York Times. “The deletions are meant to keep out spam, misinformation, financial scams, nudity, hate speech and other material that it says violates its policies. “But the rules are opaque and sometimes arbitrarily enforced,” they write — and sometimes, YouTube does end up making mistakes. Read more about ‘A Mistake by YouTube Shows Its Power Over Media’ – and Kafka-esque arbritration rules[…]
Our smart devices are listening. Whether it’s personally identifiable information, location data, voice recordings, or shopping habits, our smart assistants know far more than we realize. […] All five services collect your name, phone number, device location, and IP address; the names and numbers of your contacts; your interaction history; and the apps you use. Read more about Amazon’s Alexa Collects More of Your Data Than Any Other Smart Assistant[…]
The new FTC report studied the privacy practices of six unnamed broadband ISPs and their advertising arms, and found that the companies routinely collect an ocean of consumer location, browsing, and behavioral data. They then share this data with dodgy middlemen via elaborate business arrangements that often aren’t adequately disclosed to broadband consumers. “Even though Read more about Internet Service Providers Collect, Sell Horrifying Amount of Sensitive Data, Government Study Concludes[…]
In August, Apple declared that combating the spread of CSAM (child sexual abuse material) was more important than protecting millions of users who’ve never used their devices to store or share illegal material. While encryption would still protect users’ data and communications (in transit and at rest), Apple had given itself permission to inspect data Read more about Client-Side Scanning Is An Insecure Nightmare Just Waiting To Be Exploited By Governments or companies. Apple basically installing spyware under a nice name.[…]
Facial recognition technology is being employed in more UK schools to allow pupils to pay for their meals, according to reports today. In North Ayrshire Council, a Scottish authority encompassing the Isle of Arran, nine schools are set to begin processing meal payments for school lunches using facial scanning technology. The authority and the company Read more about Facial recognition scheme in place in some British schools – more to come[…]
The Party for the Animals (PvdD) wants clarity from outgoing minister Dekker for Legal Protection about a camera on Albert Heijn’s self-scanner. It concerns the PS20 from manufacturer Zebra. According to this company, the camera on the self-scanner supports facial recognition to automatically identify customers. PvdD MPs Van Raan and Wassenberg want to know whether Read more about Why does dutch supermarket Albert Heijn have camera’s looking at you at the self check out?[…]
A customer fed up with the tyranny of home printers is suing Canon for disabling multiple functions on an all-in-one printer when it runs out of ink. Consumer printer makers have long used the razor blade business model—so named after companies who sell razor handles for cheap, but the compatible replacement blades at much higher Read more about Canon Sued for Disabling All-in-One Printer When Ink Runs Out[…]
There are two classes of merchant on Amazon.com: those who get special protection from counterfeiters and those who don’t. From a report: The first category includes sellers of some big-name brands, such as Adidas, Apple and even Amazon itself. They benefit from digital fortifications that prevent unauthorized sellers from listing certain products — an iPhone, Read more about At Amazon, Some Brands Get More Protection From Fakes Than Others[…]
More than 240 metro stations across Moscow now allow passengers to pay for a ride by looking at a camera. The Moscow metro has launched what authorities say is the first mass-scale deployment of a facial recognition payment system. According to The Guardian, passengers can access the payment option called FacePay by linking their photo, Read more about Moscow metro launches facial recognition payment system despite privacy concerns[…]
After two years of offering car insurance to drivers across California, Tesla’s officially bringing a similar offering to clientele in its new home state of Texas. As Electrek first reported, the big difference between the two is how drivers’ premiums are calculated: in California, the prices were largely determined by statistical evaluations. In Texas, your Read more about Tesla’s Bringing Car Insurance to Texas W/ New ‘Safety Score’ by eating and selling your location data[…]
A new research paper written by a team of academics and computer scientists from Spain and Austria has demonstrated that it’s possible to use Facebook’s targeting tools to deliver an ad exclusively to a single individual if you know enough about the interests Facebook’s platform assigns them. The paper — entitled “Unique on Facebook: Formulation Read more about Researchers show Facebook’s ad tools can target a single specific user[…]
Amazon.com Inc has been repeatedly accused of knocking off products it sells on its website and of exploiting its vast trove of internal data to promote its own merchandise at the expense of other sellers. The company has denied the accusations. But thousands of pages of internal Amazon documents examined by Reuters – including emails, Read more about Amazon copied products and rigged search results, documents show[…]
It’s not a jailbreak, but [basti564]’s Oculess software nevertheless allows one the option to remove telemetry and account dependencies from Facebook’s Oculus Quest VR headsets. It is not normally possible to use these devices without a valid Facebook account (or a legacy Oculus account in the case of the original Quest), so the ability to Read more about Software Removes The Facebook From Facebook’s VR Headset (Mostly)[…]
A new study by a team of university researchers in the UK has unveiled a host of privacy issues that arise from using Android smartphones. The researchers have focused on Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, and Huawei Android devices, and LineageOS and /e/OS, two forks of Android that aim to offer long-term support and a de-Googled experience Read more about Study reveals Android phones constantly snoop on their users[…]
A developer who created a browser extension designed to help Facebook users reduce their time spent on the platform says that the company responded by banning him and threatening to take legal action. Louis Barclay says he created Unfollow Everything to help people enjoy Facebook more, not less. His extension, which no longer exists, allowed Read more about Facebook Banned Creator of Unfollow Everything App That Made Facebook Less Toxic[…]
England’s National Data Guardian has warned that government plans to allow data sharing between NHS bodies and the police could “erode trust and confidence” in doctors and other healthcare providers. Speaking to the Independent newspaper, Dr Nicola Byrne said she had raised concerns with the government over clauses in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Read more about England’s Data Guardian warns of plans to grant police access to patient data[…]
Police should be banned from using blanket facial-recognition surveillance to identify people not suspected of crimes. Certain private databases of people’s faces for identification systems ought to be outlawed, too. That’s the feeling of the majority of members in the European Parliament this week. In a vote on Wednesday, 377 MEPs backed a resolution restricting Read more about MEPs support curbing police use of facial recognition, border biometric data trawling drastically[…]
Four search providers – DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Qwant, and Lilo – have penned an open letter to the European Commission claiming that Google is suppressing search engine competition. The EU has made a number of efforts to counter Google’s search monopoly, including a July 2018 fine and ruling that the company engaged in “illegal tying of Read more about Search providers compaining that EU Google antitrust measures didn’t achieve anything[…]
Companies that you likely have never heard of are hawking access to the location history on your mobile phone. An estimated $12 billion market, the location data industry has many players: collectors, aggregators, marketplaces, and location intelligence firms, all of which boast about the scale and precision of the data that they’ve amassed. Location firm Read more about There’s a Murky Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data[…]