An investigation by 24 data protection regulators from around the world – led by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office – concluded that ‘there is significant room for improvement in terms of specific details contained in privacy communications’.The privacy notices, communications and practices of 455 websites and apps in sectors including retail, finance and banking, travel, Read more about International (24 regulators) enforcement operation finds website privacy notices are too vague and generally inadequate (over 455 websites and apps)[…]

Google snuck a questionable feature into the operating system with a recent update. A new permission called “activity recognition” may be tracking your physical activity and sharing it with third-party apps, and there’s no easy way to stop it. What Is Activity Recognition? The “activity recognition” permission was shared on Reddit earlier this week. Basically, Read more about Android Is Quietly Sharing Your Physical Activity with Other Apps[…]

When you spit in a test tube in in hopes of finding out about your ancestry or health or that perfect, genetically optimized bottle of wine, you’re giving companies access to some very intimate details about what makes you, you. Your genes don’t determine everything about who you are, but they do contain revealing information Read more about What DNA Testing Companies’ Terrifying Privacy Policies Actually Mean[…]

The idea is straightforward: Associate a series of ads with a specific individual as well as predetermined GPS coordinates. When those ads are served to a smartphone app, you know where that individual has been… It’s a surprisingly simple technique, and the researchers say you can pull it off for “$1,000 or less.” The relatively Read more about For Under $1,000, Mobile Ads Can Track Your Location[…]

Cortana is a decent voice assistant. Hell, “she” is probably better than Apple’s woefully disappointing Siri, but that isn’t saying very much. Still, Microsoft’s assistant very much annoys me on Windows 10. I don’t necessarily want to use my desktop PC like my phone, and sometimes I feel like she is intruding on my computer. Read more about Warning: Microsoft is using Cortana to read your private Skype conversations[…]

Sonos’ policy change, outlined by chief legal officer Craig Shelburne, allows the gizmo manufacturer to slurp personal information about each owner, such as email addresses and locations, and system telemetry – collectively referred to as functional data – in order to implement third-party services, specifically voice control through Amazon’s Alexa software, and for its own Read more about If you don’t want Sonos to have your personal data, they will brick your players for you[…]

The lack of clear information about what Microsoft does with the data that Windows 10 collects prevents consumers from giving their informed consent, says the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA). As such, the regulator says that the operating system is breaking the law. To comply with the law, the DPA says that Microsoft needs to Read more about Dutch privacy regulator says Windows 10 breaks the law: wants MS to inform you how it’s breaching your privacy, not stop it.[…]

Earlier this month, software engineer Christopher Moore discovered that Shenzen, China-based phone manufacturer OnePlus was secretly collecting a trove of data about users without their consent and communicating it to company servers. Moore had routed his OnePlus 2’s internet traffic through security tool OWASP ZAP for a holiday hack challenge, but noticed his device was Read more about OnePlus Admits It Was Snooping on OxygenOS Users, Says It Will Tweak Data Collection Program. Current fix still spies on you.[…]

Encrypted messaging app Telegram must pay 800,000 roubles for resisting Russia’s FSB’s demand that it help decrypt user messages. The fine translates to just under US$14,000, making it less of a serious punishment and more a shot across the bows. […] Telegram founder Pavel Durov has posted to Russian social site VK.com that it’s not Read more about Russia tweaks Telegram with tiny fine for decryption denial[…]

We believe privacy and security are fundamental human rights, so we also provide a free version of ProtonVPN to the public. Unlike other free VPNs, there are no catches. We don’t serve ads or secretly sell your browsing history. ProtonVPN Free is subsidized by ProtonVPN paid users. If you would like to support online privacy, Read more about ProtonVPN: Secure and Free VPN service for protecting your privacy[…]

Facebook doesn’t only know what its 2 billion users “Like.” It now knows where millions of humans live, everywhere on Earth, to within 15 feet. The company has created a data map of the human population by combining government census numbers with information it’s obtained from space satellites, according to Janna Lewis, Facebook’s head of Read more about Facebook has mapped populations in 23 countries as it explores satellites to expand internet – it knows where you live![…]

In response to a chorus of complaints from its users, Uber is revamping privacy settings that it rolled out last fall. Beginning this week, Uber riders using the iOS version of the ride-hailing company’s app will find a new series of privacy prompts that includes the ability to deny Uber the right to track your Read more about Uber riders can choose not to be tracked after they are dropped off[…]

Spying on the Smart Home: Privacy Attacks and Defenses on Encrypted IoT Traffic – reveals that even when data from devices is encrypted, the metadata can help identify both the device and what it is signaling. Some devices such as the Nest indoor camera directly communicate with identifiable domain names – in this case ‘dropcam.com.’ Read more about Smart home IoT stuff gives away a lot of your personal patterns[…]

Sarahah, a new app that lets people sign up to receive anonymized, candid messages, has been surging in popularity; somewhere north of 18 million people are estimated to have downloaded it from Apple and Google’s online stores, making it the No. 3 most downloaded free software title for iPhones and iPads. Sarahah bills itself as Read more about Hit App Sarahah Quietly Uploads Your Address Book[…]

Security researcher Will Strafach intercepted the traffic from an iPhone running the latest version of AccuWeather and its servers and found that even when the app didn’t have permission to access the device’s precise location, the app would send the Wi-Fi router name and its unique MAC address to the servers of data monetization firm Read more about AccuWeather caught sending user location data — even when location sharing is off[…]

Bad news, Sonos customers: to lay the groundwork for its upcoming voice assistant support, the company is asking users to agree to an updated privacy policy, one that includes both mandatory data collection rules and a mention about future device functionality. Should you disagree with said policy update, your device’s basic functions could stop working, Read more about Sonos strongarms customers into giving up privacy, or hardware stops working. Here’s how to to Stop Your Sonos From Collecting (As Much) Personal Data[…]