As reporters raced this summer to bring new details of Ring’s law enforcement contracts to light, the home security company, acquired last year by Amazon for a whopping $1 billion, strove to underscore the privacy it had pledged to provide users. Even as its creeping objective of ensuring an ever-expanding network of home security devices Read more about Ring’s Neighbors Data Let Us Map Amazon’s Home Surveillance Network[…]
Three weeks after the Internet Society announced the controversial sale of the .org internet registry to an unknown private equity firm, the organization that has to sign off on the deal has finally spoken publicly. In a letter [PDF] titled “Transparency” from the general counsel of domain name system overseer ICANN to the CEOs of Read more about ICANN demands transparency from others over .org deal. As for itself… well, not so much[…]
Two browsers have yanked Avast and AVG online security extensions from their web stores after a report revealed that they were unnecessarily sucking up a ton of data about users’ browsing history. Wladimir Palant, the creator behind Adblock Plus, initially surfaced the issue—which extends to Avast Online Security and Avast SafePrice as well as Avast-owned Read more about Uninstall AVAST and AVG free anti-virus: they are massively slurping your data! Mozilla and Opera have removed them from their stores[…]
Customers in China who buy SIM cards or register new mobile-phone services must have their faces scanned under a new law that came into effect yesterday. China’s government says the new rule, which was passed into law back in September, will “protect the legitimate rights and interest of citizens in cyberspace.” A controversial step: It Read more about All new cell phone users in China must now have their face scanned, as do all US citizens entering or leaving the US (as well as all non-US citizens)[…]
It happened four years ago. And again two years ago. And last year. But this time, on November 25, 2019, we have finally, finally, finally run out of IPv4 addresses. That’s according to RIPE, Europe’s regional internet registry, which announced on Monday “we made our final /22 IPv4 allocation from the last remaining addresses in Read more about We are absolutely, definitively, completely and utterly out of IPv4 addresses, warns RIPE[…]
This past weekend, the board of the organization that is selling the rights to .org, and which will likely make $1bn or more from the sale, the Internet Society, met. On both the Saturday and Sunday, the proposed sale was a key topic of conversation. It has just to provide any details on what was Read more about .org being sold off to richest people in world and ex-ceo in massive moneygrab, harming non-profits in the process.[…]
Developers working on open-source ad-blocker uBlock Origin have uncovered a mechanism for tracking web browsers around the internet that defies today’s blocking techniques. A method to block this so-called unblockable tracker has been developed by the team, though it only works in Firefox, leaving Chrome and possibly other browsers susceptible. This fix is now available Read more about Bad news: ‘Unblockable’ web trackers emerge. Good news: Firefox with uBlock Origin can stop it. Chrome, not so much[…]
Cohen gave the speech yesterday, at an awards gala for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), where he was the recipient of ADL’s International Leadership Award. While accepting his award, Cohen touched on the role companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have played in spreading lies and hate speech online, calling the sites “the greatest propaganda machine Read more about Sacha Baron Cohen gave the greatest speech on why social networks need to be kept in check, biggest propaganda machines in history[…]
More than 600 police forces across the country have entered into partnerships with the camera giant allowing them to quickly request and download video captured by Ring’s motion-detecting, internet-connected cameras inside and around Americans’ homes. The company says the videos can be a critical tool in helping law enforcement investigate crimes such as trespassing, burglary Read more about Police can keep Amazon Ring camera video forever, and share with whomever they’d like, company tells senator[…]
we are making plans to adopt DNS over HTTPS (or DoH) in the Windows DNS client. As a platform, Windows Core Networking seeks to enable users to use whatever protocols they need, so we’re open to having other options such as DNS over TLS (DoT) in the future. For now, we’re prioritizing DoH support as Read more about Windows will go DNS over HTTPS – Take over your DNS queries, grab more of your browsing behaviour[…]
A YouTuber who used a royalty-free track supplied by YouTube itself has had all of his videos copyright claimed by companies including SonyATV and Warner Chappell. According to the music outfits, Matt Lownes’ use the use of the track ‘Dreams’ by Joakim Karud means that they are now entitled to all of his revenue. […] Read more about ‘Royalty-Free’ Music Supplied By YouTube Audio Library Results in Mass Copyright claims to all YouTube income by Sony – for using a sample from a 1956(!!!!) song[…]
The US office responsible for patents and trademarks is trying to figure out how AI might call for changes to copyright law, and it’s asking the public for opinions on the topic. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in the Federal Register last month saying it’s seeking comments, as spotted Read more about The USPTO wants to know if artificial intelligence can own the content it creates[…]
A new German law passed yesterday requires Apple to allow other mobile payments services access to the iPhone’s NFC chip for payments to allow them to fully compete with Apple Pay. Apple initially completely locked down the NFC chip so that it could be used only by Apple Pay. It later allowed some third-party apps Read more about Germany forces Apple to allow use of iPhone’s NFC chip to other payment providers, breaks some little part of the monopoly[…]
A majority of Americans believe their online and offline activities are being tracked and monitored by companies and the government with some regularity. It is such a common condition of modern life that roughly six-in-ten U.S. adults say they do not think it is possible to go through daily life without having data collected about Read more about Americans and Privacy: Concerned, Confused and Feeling Lack of Control Over Their Personal Information[…]
Late Wednesday night, Pornhub announced that PayPal is no longer supporting payments for Pornhub—a decision that will impact thousands of performers using the site as a source of income. Most visitors to Pornhub likely think of it as a website that simply provides access to an endless supply of free porn, but Pornhub also allows Read more about PayPal Pulls Out of Pornhub, Hurting ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ of Performers, because American companies are prudish? What happened to the US of Woodstock, hippies and free love?[…]
Popular health websites are sharing private, personal medical data with big tech companies, according to an investigation by the Financial Times. The data, including medical diagnoses, symptoms, prescriptions, and menstrual and fertility information, are being sold to companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Oracle and smaller data brokers and advertising technology firms, like Scorecard and Read more about Health websites are sharing sensitive medical data with Google, Facebook, and Amazon[…]
The social media giant said the number of government demands for user data increased by 16% to 128,617 demands during the first half of this year compared to the second half of last year. That’s the highest number of government demands it has received in any reporting period since it published its first transparency report Read more about Facebook says government demands for user data are at a record high, most by US govt[…]
The rise of the internet and the advent of social media have fundamentally changed the information ecosystem, giving the public direct access to more information than ever before. But it’s often nearly impossible to distinguish between accurate information and low-quality or false content. This means that disinformation — false or intentionally misleading information that aims Read more about Fighting Disinformation Online: A Database of Web Tools[…]
When you’re scrolling through Facebook’s app, the social network could be watching you back, concerned users have found. Multiple people have found and reported that their iPhone cameras were turned on in the background while they were looking at their feed. The issue came to light through several posts on Twitter. Users noted that their Read more about Facebook bug shows camera activated in background during app use – the bug being that you could see the camera being activated[…]
John de Mol has successfully sued FB and forced them to remove fake ads in which it seems he endorses bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies (he doesn’t). They will not be allowed in the future either and FB must give him the details of the parties who placed the adverts on FB. FB is liable for Read more about Facebook has to stop fake ads of celebrity endorsement of Cryptocurrencies in NL[…]
A large-scale academic study that analyzed more than 53,000 product pages on more than 11,000 online stores found widespread use of user interface “dark patterns”– practices meant to mislead customers into making purchases based on false or misleading information. The study — presented last week at the ACM CSCW 2019 conference — found 1,818 instances Read more about Study of over 11,000 online stores finds ‘dark patterns’ on 1,254 sites[…]
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the tech giant partnered with Ascension, a non-profit and Catholic health systems company, on the program code-named “Project Nightingale.” According to the Journal, Google began its initiative with Ascension last year, and it involves everything from diagnoses, lab results, birth dates, patient names, and other personal health data—all Read more about Google Reportedly Amassed Private Health Data on Millions of People Without Their Knowledge – a repeat of October 2019 and 2017 in the UK[…]
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expects to have face, fingerprint, and iris scans of at least 259 million people in its biometrics database by 2022, according to a recent presentation from the agency’s Office of Procurement Operations reviewed by Quartz. That’s about 40 million more than the agency’s 2017 projections, which estimated 220 Read more about DHS expects to have detailed biometrics on 260 million people by 2022 – and will keep them in the cloud, where they will never be stolen or hacked *cough*[…]
Startup insurance provider Lemonade is trying to make the best of a sour situation after T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom claimed it owns the exclusive rights to the color magenta. New York-based Lemonade is a 3-year-old company that lives completely online and mostly focuses on homeowners and renter’s insurance. The company uses a similar color to magenta — Read more about T-Mobile says it owns exclusive rights to the color magenta and the letter T. German court agrees.[…]
Facebook on Tuesday disclosed that as many as 100 software developers may have improperly accessed user data, including the names and profile pictures of people in specific groups on the social network. The company recently discovered that some apps retained access to this type of user data despite making changes to its service in April Read more about Facebook says 100 developers may have improperly accessed user data, like Cambridge Analytica did[…]