Category: Global Domination

Netflix app update for Windows PCs will ditch downloads and offline viewing but give you stuff you never wanted.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In the past few weeks, users have received notifications on their Netflix Windows indicating that a new update is coming. The update will ship with many new features and quality-of-life improvements, including support for watching live events, improved streaming quality, compatibility with ad-supported plans, and more. Wait – who wants any of this stuff? What Read more about Netflix app update for Windows PCs will ditch downloads and offline viewing but give you stuff you never wanted.[…]

Adobe threatens to sue Nintendo emulator Delta for its look-alike logo

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Delta, an emulator that can play Nintendo games, had to change its logo after Adobe threatened legal action. You’d think it would face trouble from Nintendo, seeing as it has been going after emulators these days, but no. It’s Adobe who’s going after the developer, which told TechCrunch that it first received an email from Read more about Adobe threatens to sue Nintendo emulator Delta for its look-alike logo[…]

Top EU court says there is no right to online anonymity, because copyright is more important

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A year ago, Walled Culture wrote about an extremely important case that was being considered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the EU’s top court. The central question was whether the judges considered that copyright was more important than privacy. The bad news is that the CJEU has just decided that Read more about Top EU court says there is no right to online anonymity, because copyright is more important[…]

Patent troll hits Microsoft with $242 million US verdict in Cortana lawsuit

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Microsoft (MSFT.O) must pay patent owner IPA Technologies $242 million, a federal jury in Delaware said on Friday after determining that Microsoft’s Cortana virtual-assistant software infringed an IPA patent. The jury agreed with IPA after a week-long trial that Microsoft’s voice-recognition technology violates IPA’s patent rights in computer-communications software. IPA is a subsidiary of patent-licensing Read more about Patent troll hits Microsoft with $242 million US verdict in Cortana lawsuit[…]

iPhone users report deleted photos reappearing after update – turns out for Apple, delete doesn’t mean delete

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Some iPhone users are reportedly seeing photos they had previously deleted resurface on their devices ever since updating to the latest version of iOS. The user reports originate from Reddit, and it’s not just a couple of Apple users experiencing issues. By our count, 16 people who deleted their photos say they’ve come back. The Read more about iPhone users report deleted photos reappearing after update – turns out for Apple, delete doesn’t mean delete[…]

FCC fines America’s largest wireless carriers $200 million for selling customer location data without permission

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Federal Communications Commission has slapped the largest mobile carriers in the US with a collective fine worth $200 million for selling access to their customers’ location information without consent. AT&T was ordered to pay $57 million, while Verizon has to pay $47 million. Meanwhile, Sprint and T-Mobile are facing a penalty with a total Read more about FCC fines America’s largest wireless carriers $200 million for selling customer location data without permission[…]

Helldivers 2 PC players suddenly have to link to a PSN account and they’re not being chill about it

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Nintendo sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice for over 8,000 GitHub repositories hosting code from the Yuzu Switch emulator, which the Zelda maker previously described as enabling “piracy at a colossal scale.” The sweeping takedown comes two months after Yuzu’s creators quickly settled a lawsuit with Nintendo and its notoriously trigger-happy legal team Read more about Helldivers 2 PC players suddenly have to link to a PSN account and they’re not being chill about it[…]

Nintendo blitzes GitHub with over 8,000 emulator-related DMCA takedowns

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Nintendo sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice for over 8,000 GitHub repositories hosting code from the Yuzu Switch emulator, which the Zelda maker previously described as enabling “piracy at a colossal scale.” The sweeping takedown comes two months after Yuzu’s creators quickly settled a lawsuit with Nintendo and its notoriously trigger-happy legal team Read more about Nintendo blitzes GitHub with over 8,000 emulator-related DMCA takedowns[…]

Russia arrests in absentia former world chess champion Garry Kasparov on foreign agent and terrorist charges

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Russia has arrested Garry Kasparov and charged him in connection with foreign agent and terrorist charges – much to the former chess champion’s amusement. The city court in Syktyvkar, the largest city in Russia‘s northwestern Komi region, announced it had arrested the grandmaster in absentia alongside former Russian parliament member Gennady Gudkov, Ivan Tyutrin co-founder Read more about Russia arrests in absentia former world chess champion Garry Kasparov on foreign agent and terrorist charges[…]

People Are Slowly Realizing Their Auto Insurance Rates Are Skyrocketing Because Their Car Is Covertly Spying On Them

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Last month the New York Times’ Kashmir Hill published a major story on how GM collects driver behavior data then sells access (through LexisNexis) to insurance companies, which will then jack up your rates. The absolute bare minimum you could could expect from the auto industry here is that they’re doing this in a way that’s clear to car Read more about People Are Slowly Realizing Their Auto Insurance Rates Are Skyrocketing Because Their Car Is Covertly Spying On Them[…]

Ring Spy Doorbell customers get measly $5.6 million in refunds in privacy settlement

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In a 2023 complaint, the FTC accused the doorbell camera and home security provider of allowing its employees and contractors to access customers’ private videos. Ring allegedly used such footage to train algorithms without consent, among other purposes. Ring was also charged with failing to implement key security protections, which enabled hackers to take control Read more about Ring Spy Doorbell customers get measly $5.6 million in refunds in privacy settlement[…]

When You Need To Post A Lengthy Legal Disclaimer With Your Parody Song, You Know Copyright Is Broken

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In a world where copyright law has run amok, even creating a silly parody song now requires a massive legal disclaimer to avoid getting sued. That’s the absurd reality we live in, as highlighted by the brilliant musical parody project “There I Ruined It.” Musician Dustin Ballard creates hilarious videos, some of which reimagine popular Read more about When You Need To Post A Lengthy Legal Disclaimer With Your Parody Song, You Know Copyright Is Broken[…]

Europol asks tech firms, governments to unencrypt your private messages

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In a joint declaration of European police chiefs published over the weekend, Europol said it needs lawful access to private messages, and said tech companies need to be able to scan them (ostensibly impossible with E2EE implemented) to protect users. Without such access, cops fear they won’t be able to prevent “the most heinous of Read more about Europol asks tech firms, governments to unencrypt your private messages[…]

EDPS warns of EU plans to spy on personal chat messages

Posted on by Robin Edgar

This week, during the presentation of the 2023 annual review ( pdf ) , the European privacy supervisor EDPS again warned about European plans to monitor chat messages from European citizens. According to the watchdog, this leads to ‘irreversible surveillance’. At the beginning of 2022, the European Commission came up with a proposal to inspect Read more about EDPS warns of EU plans to spy on personal chat messages[…]

US Hospital Websites Almost All Give your Data to 3rd parties, but Many just don’t tell you about it

Posted on by Robin Edgar

 In this cross-sectional analysis of a nationally representative sample of 100 nonfederal acute care hospitals, 96.0% of hospital websites transmitted user information to third parties, whereas 71.0% of websites included a publicly accessible privacy policy. Of 71 privacy policies, 40 (56.3%) disclosed specific third-party companies receiving user information. […] Of 100 hospital websites, 96 […] Read more about US Hospital Websites Almost All Give your Data to 3rd parties, but Many just don’t tell you about it[…]

How private equity has used copyright to cannibalise the past at the expense of the future

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Walled Culture has been warning about the financialisation and securitisation of music for two years now. Those obscure but important developments mean that the owners of copyrights are increasingly detached from the creative production process. They regard music as just another asset, like gold, petroleum or property, to be exploited to the maximum. A Guest Read more about How private equity has used copyright to cannibalise the past at the expense of the future[…]

Dutch investigation into Android smartphones leads to new lawsuit against Google Play Services Constant Surveillance

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Mass Damage & Consumer Foundation today announced that it has initiated a class action lawsuit against Google over its Android operating system. The reason is a new study that shows how Dutch Android smartphones systematically transfer large amounts of information about device use to Google. Even with the most privacy-friendly options enabled, user data Read more about Dutch investigation into Android smartphones leads to new lawsuit against Google Play Services Constant Surveillance[…]

OpenAI and Google train AIs on transcriptions of YouTube videos – YouTube and NYTimes desperately try to profit somehow without doing anything except lawsuit

Posted on by Robin Edgar

OpenAI and Google trained their AI models on text transcribed from YouTube videos, potentially violating creators’ copyrights, according to The New York Times. Note – the New York Times is embroiled in copyright lawsuits over AI, where they clearly show they don’t understand that an AI reading content is the same as a person reading Read more about OpenAI and Google train AIs on transcriptions of YouTube videos – YouTube and NYTimes desperately try to profit somehow without doing anything except lawsuit[…]

Academics Try to Figure Out Apple’s default apps Privacy Settings and Fail

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A study has concluded that Apple’s privacy practices aren’t particularly effective, because default apps on the iPhone and Mac have limited privacy settings and confusing configuration options. The research was conducted by Amel Bourdoucen and Janne Lindqvist of Aalto University in Finland. The pair noted that while many studies had examined privacy issues with third-party Read more about Academics Try to Figure Out Apple’s default apps Privacy Settings and Fail[…]

Roku’s New Idea to Show You Ads When You Pause Your Video Game and spy on the content on your hdmi cable Is Horrifying

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Roku describes its idea in a patent application, which largely flew under the radar when it was filed in November, and was recently spotted by the streaming newsletter Lowpass. In the application, Roku describes a system that’s able to detect when users pause third-party hardware and software and show them ads during that time. Read more about Roku’s New Idea to Show You Ads When You Pause Your Video Game and spy on the content on your hdmi cable Is Horrifying[…]

Google will delete data collected from private browsing

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In hopes of settling a lawsuit challenging its data collection practices, Google has agreed to destroy web browsing data it collected from users browsing in Chrome’s private modes – which weren’t as private as you might have thought. The lawsuit [PDF], filed in June, 2020, on behalf of plaintiffs Chasom Brown, Maria Nguyen, and William Read more about Google will delete data collected from private browsing[…]

The Digital Identity Wallet approved by parliament and council

Posted on by Robin Edgar

On the 28th February, The European Parliament gave its final approval to the Digital Identity Regulation, with 335 votes to 190, with 31 abstentions. It was adopted by the EU Council of Ministers on 26th of March. The next step will be its publication in the Official Journal and its entry into force 20 days Read more about The Digital Identity Wallet approved by parliament and council[…]

Soofa Digital Kiosks Snatch Your Phone’s Data When You Walk By, sell it on

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Digital kiosks from Soofa seem harmless, giving you bits of information alongside some ads. However, these kiosks popping up throughout the United States take your phone’s information and location data whenever you walk near them, and sell them to local governments and advertisers, first reported by NBC Boston Monday. “At Soofa, we developed the first Read more about Soofa Digital Kiosks Snatch Your Phone’s Data When You Walk By, sell it on[…]

Mass claim CUIC against virus scanner (but really tracking sypware) Avast

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Privacy First has teamed up with Austrian NOYB (the organisation of privacy activist Max Schrems) to form the new mass claim organisation CUIC founded. CUIC stands for Consumers United in Court, also pronounceable as ‘CU in Court’ (see you in court). […] Millions spied on by virus scanner CUIC today filed subpoenas against software company Read more about Mass claim CUIC against virus scanner (but really tracking sypware) Avast[…]

Amazon fined almost $8M in Poland over dark patterns

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Poland’s competition and consumer protection watchdog has fined Amazon’s European subsidiary around $8 million (31.9 million Zlotys) for “dark patterns” that messed around internet shoppers. The preliminary ruling applies to Amazon EU SARL, which oversees Amazon’s Polish e-commerce site, Amazon.pl, out of Luxembourg. Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection said the decision, subject to Read more about Amazon fined almost $8M in Poland over dark patterns[…]