Most of Amazon’s properties including Amazon.com, WholeFoods.com and Zappos.com are preventing Google’s tracking system FLoC — or Federated Learning of Cohorts — from gathering valuable data reflecting the products people research in Amazon’s vast e-commerce universe, according to website code analyzed by Digiday and three technology experts who helped Digiday review the code. Amazon declined to comment on this story. As Google’s system Read more about Amazon is blocking Google’s FLoC[…]

Apple has paid a multimillion-dollar settlement to an unnamed Oregon college student after one of its outsourced repair facilities posted explicit pictures and videos of her to her Facebook page. According to legal documents obtained by The Telegraph, the incident occurred in 2016 at a Pegatron-owned repair centre in Sacramento, California. The student had mailed Read more about Apple settles with student after authorized repair workers leaked her naked pics to her Facebook page. Apple blocks Right to repair for danger by unauthorised parties. Hmm.[…]

Plans by the German government to allow the police to deploy malware on any target’s devices, and force the tech world to help them, has run into some opposition, funnily enough. In an open letter this month, the Chaos Computer Club – along with Google, Facebook, and others – said they are against proposals to Read more about Google, Facebook, Chaos Computer Club join forces to oppose German state spyware[…]

Google’s approach to Android privacy is coming under fire following revelations from Arizona’s antitrust lawsuit over phone tracking. As Insider reports, freshly unredacted documents in the case suggest Google made Android privacy settings harder to find. When Google tested OS releases that surfaced privacy features, the company reportedly saw greater use of those features as Read more about Google reportedly made it harder to find Android privacy settings[…]

WhatsApp initially threatened to revoke core functions for users that refused to accept its controversial new privacy policy, only to walk back the severity of those consequences earlier this month amid international backlash, and now, it’s doing away with them altogether (for the time being, at least). In a reversal, the company clarified on Friday Read more about WhatsApp Won’t Limit Functionality if You Refuse Privacy Policy – for now. But it will pester you about it.[…]

Data rights groups have filed complaints in the UK, France, Austria, Greece and Italy against Clearview AI, claiming its scraped and searchable database of biometric profiles breaches both the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The facial recognition company, which is based in the US, claims to have “the largest known database of Read more about Creepy Social Media Face Stealing firm Clearview hit with complaints in France, Austria, Italy, Greece and the UK[…]

Senator Wyden’s office asked the Department of Defense (DoD), which includes various military and intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), for detailed information about its data purchasing practices after Motherboard revealed special forces were buying location data. The responses also touched on military or intelligence use Read more about Pentagon Surveilling Americans Without a Warrant, Senator Reveals[…]

Facebook Inc. was ordered to stop collecting German users’ data from its WhatsApp unit, after a regulator in the nation said the company’s attempt to make users agree to the practice in its updated terms isn’t legal. Johannes Caspar, who heads Hamburg’s privacy authority, issued a three-month emergency ban, prohibiting Facebook from continuing with the Read more about Facebook Ordered to Stop German WhatsApp Users’ Data Collection[…]

The Department of Justice quietly seized phone records and tried to obtain email records for three Washington Post reporters, ostensibly over their coverage of then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election, according to officials and government letters reviewed by the Post. Justice Department regulations typically mandate that news organizations Read more about Justice Department Quietly Seized Washington Post Reporters’ Phone Records During Trump Era[…]

After facing international backlash over impending updates to its privacy policy, WhatsApp has ever-so-slightly backtracked on the harsh consequences it initially planned for users who don’t accept them—but not entirely. In an update to the company’s FAQ page, WhatsApp clarifies that no users will have their accounts deleted or instantly lose app functionality if they Read more about WhatsApp’s privacy policy – not accepting will slowly kill your functionality and then delete your history[…]

Chinese television maker Skyworth has issued an apology after a consumer found that his set was quietly collecting a wide range of private data and sending it to a Beijing-based analytics company without his consent. A network traffic analysis revealed that a Skyworth smart TV scanned for other devices connected to the same local network Read more about TV maker Skyworth under fire for excessive data collection that users call spying whilst China clamps down on user tracking[…]

For a second year, the nation’s surveillance court has pointed with concern to “widespread violations” by the F.B.I. of rules intended to protect Americans’ privacy when analysts search emails gathered without a warrant — but still signed off on another year of the program, a newly declassified ruling shows. In a 67-page ruling issued in Read more about Court Chides F.B.I., but Re-Approves Warrantless Surveillance Program[…]