The millions of dots on the map trace highways, side streets and bike trails — each one following the path of an anonymous cellphone user. One path tracks someone from a home outside Newark to a nearby Planned Parenthood, remaining there for more than an hour. Another represents a person who travels with the mayor Read more about Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret[…]

Intelligence agencies in the UK are preparing to “significantly increase their use of large-scale data hacking,” the Guardian reported on Saturday, in a move that is already alarming privacy advocates. According to the Guardian, UK intelligence officials plan to increase their use of the “bulk equipment interference (EI) regime”—the process by which the Government Communications Read more about UK Intelligence Agencies Are Planning a Major Increase in ‘Large-Scale Data Hacking’[…]

Labor has backed down completely on its opposition to the Assistance and Access Bill, and in the process has been totally outfoxed by a government that can barely control the floor of Parliament. After proposing a number of amendments to the Bill, which Labor party members widely called out as inappropriate in the House of Read more about Australia now has encryption-busting laws as Labor capitulates[…]

Back in 2015, Facebook had a pickle of a problem. It was time to update the Android version of the Facebook app, and two different groups within Facebook were at odds over what the data grab should be. The business team wanted to get Bluetooth permissions so it could push ads to people’s phones when Read more about Facebook Well Aware That Tracking Contacts Is Creepy: Emails[…]

: No, your phone is not “listening” to you in the strictest sense of the word. But, yes, all your likes, dislikes and preferences are clearly being heard by apps in your phone which you oh-so-easily clicked “agree” to the terms of which while installing. How so? If you are in India, the answer to Read more about Your phone indeed has ears that you may not know about – the companies that listen to noise in the background while apps that contain their software are open[…]

Next time you’re chatting with a customer service agent online, be warned that the person on the other side of your conversation might see what you’re typing in real time. A reader sent us the following transcript from a conversation he had with a mattress company after the agent responded to a message he hadn’t Read more about Be Warned: Customer Service Agents Can See What You’re Typing in Real Time on their website forms[…]

UK authorities should not be granted access to data held by American companies because British laws don’t meet human rights obligations, nine nonprofits have said. In a letter to the US Department of Justice, organisations including Human Rights Watch and the Electronic Frontier Foundation set out their concerns about the UK’s surveillance and data retention Read more about US told to quit sharing data with human rights-violating surveillance regime. Which one, you ask? That’d be the UK[…]

When Shan Junhua bought his white Tesla Model X, he knew it was a fast, beautiful car. What he didn’t know is that Tesla constantly sends information about the precise location of his car to the Chinese government. Tesla is not alone. China has called upon all electric vehicle manufacturers in China to make the Read more about In China, your car could be talking to the government[…]

Businesses using fingerprint scanners to monitor their workforce can legally sack employees who refuse to hand over biometric information on privacy grounds, the Fair Work Commission has ruled. The ruling, which will be appealed, was made in the case of Jeremy Lee, a Queensland sawmill worker who refused to comply with a new fingerprint scanning Read more about Companies ‘can sack workers for refusing to use fingerprint scanners’ in Australia[…]

Uit het rapport van de Nederlandse overheid blijkt dat de telemetrie-functie van alle Office 365 en Office ProPlus-applicaties onder andere e-mail-onderwerpen en woorden/zinnen die met behulp van de spellingschecker of vertaalfunctie zijn geschreven worden doorgestuurd naar systemen in de Verenigde Staten. Dit gaat zelfs zo ver dat, als een gebruiker meerdere keren achter elkaar op Read more about Dutch Gov sees Office 365 spying on you, sending your texts to US servers without recourse or knowledge[…]

If it seems as though the app you deleted last week is suddenly popping up everywhere, it may not be mere coincidence. Companies that cater to app makers have found ways to game both iOS and Android, enabling them to figure out which users have uninstalled a given piece of software lately—and making it easy Read more about Now Apps Can Track You Even After You Uninstall Them[…]

It’s no secret that mobile apps harvest user data and share it with other companies, but the true extent of this practice may come as a surprise. In a new study carried out by researchers from Oxford University, it’s revealed that almost 90 percent of free apps on the Google Play store share data with Read more about Oxford study claims data harvesting among Android apps is “out of control”[…]

It’s increasingly difficult to expect privacy when you’re browsing online, so a non-profit in the UK is working to build the power of Tor’s anonymity network right into the heart of your smartphone. Brass Horn Communications is experimenting with all sorts of ways to improve Tor’s usability for UK residents. The Tor browser bundle for Read more about SIM Cards That Force Your Mobile Data Through Tor Are Coming[…]

Facebook and Google are being sued in two proposed class-action lawsuits for allegedly deceptively gathering location data on netizens who thought they had opted out of such cyber-stalking. The legal challenges stem from revelations earlier this year that even after users actively turn off “location history” on their smartphones, their location is still gathered, stored, Read more about Facebook, Google sued for ‘secretly’ slurping people’s whereabouts – while Feds lap it up[…]

Genetic testing has helped plenty of people gain insight into their ancestry, and some services even help users find their long-lost relatives. But a new study published this week in Science suggests that the information uploaded to these services can be used to figure out your identity, regardless of whether you volunteered your DNA in Read more about Ancestry Sites Could Soon Expose Nearly Anyone’s Identity, Researchers Say[…]

Instagram is currently testing a feature that would allow it to share your location data with Facebook, even when you’re not using the app, reports app researcher Jane Manchun Wong (via TechCrunch). The option, which Wong notes is being tested as a setting you have to opt-in to, allows Facebook products to “build and use Read more about Instagram explores sharing your precise location history with Facebook even when not using the app[…]

Lawyers representing Vizio TV owners have asked a federal judge in Orange County, California to sign off on a proposed class-action settlement with the company for $17 million, for an affected class of 16 million people, who must opt-in to get any money. Vizio also agrees to delete all data that it collected. Notice of Read more about Lawyers for Vizio data grabbing Smart TV owners propose final deal, around $20 per person. Lawyers themselves get $5.6 million.[…]

Customs laws in New Zealand now allow border agents to demand travellers unlock their phones or face an NZ$5,000 (around US$3,300) fine. The law was passed during 2017 with its provisions coming into effect on October 1. The security conscious of you will also be pleased to know Kiwi officials still need a “reasonable” suspicion Read more about New Zealand border cops warn travelers that without handing over electronic passwords ‘You shall not pass!’[…]

Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, thinks it’s broken and he has a plan to fix it. The British computer scientist has announced a new project that he hopes will radically change his creation by giving people full control over their data. Tim Berners-Lee: This is why I have, over recent years, Read more about Tim Berners-Lee Announces Solid, an Open Source Project Which Would Aim To Decentralize the Web[…]

Once again, Google has rankled privacy-focused people with a product change that appears to limit users’ options. It’s easy to miss the fact that you’re automatically being logged-in to Chrome if you’re not paying attention. Chrome 69 released to users on September 5, and you likely noticed that it has a different look. But if Read more about Google Chrome Is Now Quietly Forcing You to Log In—Here’s What to Do About It […]

/e/, a Google-free fork of Android, reached a milestone this month with its initial ROM release. It’s available for download, so you can kick the tires, with nightly builds delivered via OTA (over the air) updates. El Reg interviewed the project’s leader, Gael Duval, in the summer. Duval launched and led the Linux Mandrake project. Read more about Open-source alt-droid wants to know if it’s still leaking data to Google[…]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled this week that the United Kingdom government’s surveillance regime violated human rights laws. The matter first came to light in 2013 when NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed British surveillance practices—namely that the government intercepts social media, messages, and phone calls regardless of criminal record or suspicions of Read more about Top European Court Rules UK Mass Surveillance Regime Violates Human Rights[…]

As the recent revelation over Google’s background tracking of your location shows, it’s not as easy as it should be to work out when apps, giant tech companies and pocket devices are tracking your location and when they’re not. Here’s what you need to know about how location tracking works on a phone—and how to Read more about How Location Tracking Actually Works on Your Smartphone (and how to manipulate it – kind of)[…]

Bloomberg reports that, after four years of negotiations, Google purchases a trove of credit card transaction data from Mastercard, allegedly for “millions of dollars.” Google then reportedly used that data to provide select advertisers with a tool called “store sales measurement” that the company quietly announced in a blog post last year, though it failed Read more about Google Reportedly Bought Your Mastercard Data in Secret, and That’s Not Even the Bad News[…]