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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.’ […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

Microsoft claims seven out of ten Windows 10 users are happy with Redmond gulping loads of telemetry from their computers – which isn’t that astounding when you realize it’s a default option. In other words, 30 per cent of people have found the switch to turn it off, and the rest haven’t, don’t realize it’s […]

A federal class action lawsuit filed last week in California alleges that the Walt Disney Company is violating privacy protection laws by collecting children’s personal information from 42 of its apps and sharing the data with advertisers without parental consent. The lawsuit targets Disney and three software companies — Upsight, Unity, and Kochava — alleging […]

US authorities intercepted and recorded millions of phone calls last year under a single wiretap order, authorized as part of a narcotics investigation. The wiretap order authorized an unknown government agency to carry out real-time intercepts of 3.29 million cell phone conversations over a two-month period at some point during 2016, after the order was […]

Two German researchers say they have exposed the porn-browsing habits of a judge, a cyber-crime investigation and the drug preferences of a politician. The pair obtained huge amounts of information about the browsing habits of three million German citizens from companies that gather “clickstreams”. These are detailed records of everywhere that people go online. The […]

G Suite’s Gmail is already not used as input for ads personalization, and Google has decided to follow suit later this year in our free consumer Gmail service. Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change. This decision brings Gmail ads in line with how we personalize […]

[As you fill out a form] You change your mind and close the page before clicking the Submit button and agreeing to Quicken’s privacy policy.[…]Your email address and phone number have already been sent to a server at “murdoog.com,” which is owned by NaviStone, a company that advertises its ability to unmask anonymous website visitors […]

Tails is a live operating system that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card. It aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity, and helps you to: use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship; all connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network; leave […]

Weg met telemetrie en ruime dataverzameling – het kan dus wel. Source: Wil je privacy? Gebruik dan de Chinese Windows 10! Microsoft has released a version of Windows 10 for the Chinese (!) market that doesn’t send all sorts of telemetry and private data to itself. This version is not available for the rest of […]

The credit card companies began to monetise the histories a few years ago. Facebook signed deals with data companies including Experian, allowing it to mingle third party offline and online data, something it also calls “closing the loop”. Last year Facebook was reported to combine six or seven data sources to create its “Facebook Graph”. […]

Netgear NightHawk R7000 users who ran last week’s firmware upgrade need to check their settings, because the company added a remote data collection feature to the units. A sharp-eyed user posted the T&Cs change to Slashdot. Netgear lumps the slurp as routine diagnostic data. “Such data may include information regarding the router’s running status, number […]

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to end the “Orwellian nightmare” of mass-snooping powers in the Investigatory Powers Act ahead of their manifesto launch. They will propose to roll back state surveillance powers by ending the indiscriminate bulk collection of communications data and internet connection records. The party also committed to fighting Conservative attempts to undermine […]