Protect your card details and your money by creating virtual cards at each place you spend online, or for each purchase Create single-use cards that close themselves automatically browser extension to create and auto-fill card numbers at checkout Privacy Cards put the control in your hands when you make a purchase online. Business or personal, Read more about create virtual cards to pay with online with Privacy[…]
One day after Apple confirmed plans for new software that will allow it to detect images of child abuse on users’ iCloud photos, Facebook’s head of WhatsApp says he is “concerned” by the plans. In a thread on Twitter, Will Cathcart called it an “Apple built and operated surveillance system that could very easily be Read more about WhatsApp head says Apple’s child safety update is a ‘surveillance system’[…]
[…] Apple told TechCrunch that the detection of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is one of several new features aimed at better protecting the children who use its services from online harm, including filters to block potentially sexually explicit photos sent and received through a child’s iMessage account. Another feature will intervene when a user Read more about Apple confirms it will begin scanning your iCloud Photos[…]
Apple is about to announce a new technology for scanning individual users’ iPhones for banned content. While it will be billed as a tool for detecting child abuse imagery, its potential for misuse is vast based on details entering the public domain. The neural network-based tool will scan individual users’ iDevices for child sexual abuse Read more about Apple is about to start scanning iPhone users’ photos[…]
Amazon has been issued with a fine of 746 million euros ($887 million) by a European privacy watchdog for breaching the bloc’s data protection laws. The fine, disclosed by Amazon on Friday in a securities filing, was issued two weeks ago by Luxembourg’s privacy regulator. The Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection said Amazon’s processing Read more about Amazon hit with $887 million fine by European privacy watchdog[…]
If you’ve returned to the restaurants and bars that have reopened in your neighborhood lately, you might have noticed a new addition to the post-quarantine decor: QR codes. Everywhere. And as they’ve become more ubiquitous on the dining scene, so has the quiet tracking and targeting that they do. That’s according to a new analysis Read more about QR Menu Codes Are Tracking You More Than You Think[…]
Tech companies have repeatedly reassured the public that trackers used to follow smartphone users through apps are anonymous or at least pseudonymous, not directly identifying the person using the phone. But what they don’t mention is that an entire overlooked industry exists to purposefully and explicitly shatter that anonymity. They do this by linking mobile Read more about Inside the Industry That Unmasks People at Scale: yup your mobile advertising ID isn’t anonymous either[…]
hould probably sit down for this one. Sam Altman, the former CEO of famed startup incubator Y Combinator, is reportedly working on a new cryptocurrency that’ll be distributed to everyone on Earth. Once you agree to scan your eyeballs. Yes, you read correctly. You can thank Bloomberg for inflicting this cursed news on the rest Read more about Sam Altman’s New Startup Wants to Give You Crypto for Eyeball Scans – yes this is a terrible dr evil plan idea[…]
Senator Ron Wyden has released a list of hundreds of secretive, foreign-owned companies that are buying up Americans’ data. Some of the customers include companies based in states that are ostensibly “unfriendly” to the U.S., like Russia and China. First reported by Motherboard, the news comes after recent information requests made by a bipartisan coalition Read more about Advertisers Are Selling Americans’ Data to Hundreds of Shady Foreign Businesses[…]
While a lot of focus has been on the TPM requirements for Windows 11, Microsoft has since updated its documentation to provide a complete list of supported processors. At present the list includes only Intel 8th Generation Core processors or newer, and AMD Ryzen Zen+ processors or newer, effectively limiting Windows 11 to PC less Read more about Windows Users Surprised by Windows 11’s Short List of Supported CPUs – and front facing camera requirements[…]
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[…]
[…] if you’re thinking of buying a new One SL, you ought to keep in mind that it’ll only work with the newer Sonos S2 app. This won’t be a problem for every Sonos owner, especially if you bought all your Sonos devices in the past year or two. It might be an issue, however, Read more about The New Sonos One SL Reminds Us That Smart Devices Have a Shelf Life, forces you to spying S2 update[…]
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[…]
A study describes the data transmitted to backend servers by the Google/Apple based contact tracing (GAEN) apps in use in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Denmark and finds that the health authority client apps are generally well-behaved from a privacy point of view, although the Irish, Polish, Danish, and Latvian apps could be improved in Read more about Study finds GAEN Google Apple contact tracing apps allow user + contact location tracking. NL stops use of tracking app.[…]
WordPress announced today that they are treating Google’s new FLoC tracking technology as a security concern and may block it by default on WordPress sites. For some time, browsers have begun to increasingly block third-party browser cookies [1, 2, 3] used by advertisers for interest-based advertising. In response, Google introduced a new ad tracking technology Read more about WordPress may automatically disable Google FLoC on websites[…]