In 2014, some very pervy creeps stole some very personal iCloud photos from some very high-profile celebs and put them on the open web, creating one very specific PR crisis for Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook. The company was about to roll out Apple Pay as part of its latest software update, a process that took Read more about Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Feature Doesn’t Stop Tracking[…]
WhatsApp didn’t fully explain to Europeans how it uses their data as called for by EU privacy law, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said on Thursday. The regulator hit the messaging app with a fine of 225 million euros, about $267 million. Partly at issue is how WhatsApp share information with parent company Facebook, according to the commission. Read more about WhatsApp fined over $260M for EU privacy violations, failng to explain how data is shared with Facebook[…]
UK ISP Sky Broadband is monitoring the IP addresses of servers suspected of streaming pirated content to subscribers and supplying that data to an anti-piracy company working with the Premier League. That inside knowledge is then processed and used to create blocklists used by the country’s leading ISPs, to prevent subscribers from watching pirated events. Read more about Sky Broadband sends Subscribers browsing data through to Premier League without user knowledge or consent[…]
Apple on Friday said it intends to delay the introduction of its plan to commandeer customers’ own devices to scan their iCloud-bound photos for illegal child exploitation imagery, a concession to the broad backlash that followed from the initiative. “Previously we announced plans for features intended to help protect children from predators who use communication Read more about Apple stalls CSAM auto-scan on devices after ‘feedback’ from everyone on Earth – will still scan all your pics at some point[…]
Facebook, Netflix and Google have all received reprimands or fines, and an order to make corrective action, from South Korea’s government data protection watchdog, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC). The PIPC announced a privacy audit last year and has revealed that three companies – Facebook, Netflix and Google – were in violations of laws Read more about Facebook used facial recognition without consent 200,000 times, says South Korea’s data watchdog. Netflix fined too and Google scolded.[…]
[…] The new “Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China” comes into effect on November 1st, 2021, and comprises eight chapters and 74 articles […] The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said, as translated from Mandarin using automated tools: On the basis of relevant laws, the law further refines and perfects the Read more about China puts continuous consent at the center of data protection law[…]
The problem with harvesting reams of sensitive data is that it presents a very tempting target for malicious hackers, enemy governments, and other wrongdoers. That hasn’t prevented anyone from collecting and storing all of this data, secure only in the knowledge this security will ultimately be breached. […] The Taliban is getting everything we left Read more about Sensitive Data On Afghan Allies Collected By The US Military Is Now In The Hands Of The Taliban[…]
Online researchers say they have found flaws in Apple’s new child abuse detection tool that could allow bad actors to target iOS users. However, Apple has denied these claims, arguing that it has intentionally built safeguards against such exploitation. It’s just the latest bump in the road for the rollout of the company’s new features, Read more about Apple’s Not Digging Itself Out of This One: scanning your pictures is dangerous and flawed[…]
In a new blog post for the International Monetary Fund, four researchers presented their findings from a working paper that examines the current relationship between finance and tech as well as its potential future. Gazing into their crystal ball, the researchers see the possibility of using the data from your browsing, search, and purchase history Read more about Your Credit Score Should Be Based On Your Web History, IMF Says[…]
Photos that are sent in messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram aren’t scanned by Apple. Still, if you don’t want Apple to do this scanning at all, your only option is to disable iCloud Photos. To do that, open the “Settings” app on your iPhone or iPad, go to the “Photos” section, and disable the Read more about How to Stop Apple From Scanning Your iPhone Photos Before iOS 15 Arrives – disable photo backups. No alternative offered, sorry.[…]
Zoom has agreed to pay $85 million to settle claims that it lied about offering end-to-end encryption and gave user data to Facebook and Google without the consent of users. The settlement between Zoom and the filers of a class-action lawsuit also covers security problems that led to rampant “Zoombombings.” The proposed settlement would generally give Read more about Zoom to pay $85M for lying about encryption and sending data to Facebook and Google[…]
Hamburg’s state government has been formally warned against using Zoom over data protection concerns. The German state’s data protection agency (DPA) took the step of issuing a public warning yesterday, writing in a press release that the Senate Chancellory’s use of the popular videoconferencing tool violates the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) since Read more about Stop using Zoom, Hamburg’s DPA warns state government – The US does not safeguard EU citizen data[…]
Most Spotify users are likely aware the streaming service tracks their listening activity, search history, playlists, and the songs they like or skip—that’s all part of helping the algorithm figure out what you like, right? However, some users may be less OK with how much other data Spotify and its partners are logging. According to Spotify’s Read more about How to Limit Spotify From Tracking You, Because It Knows Too Much – and sells it[…]
[…] an AI on your phone will scan all those you have sent and will send to iPhotos. It will generate fingerprints that purportedly identify pictures, even if highly modified, that will be checked against fingerprints of known CSAM material. Too many of these – there’s a threshold – and Apple’s systems will let Apple Read more about Apple’s iPhone computer vision has the potential to preserve privacy but also break it completely[…]
If you’re concerned that Amazon might misuse palm print data from its One service, you’re not alone. TechCrunch reports that Senators Amy Klobuchar, Bill Cassidy and Jon Ossoff have sent a letter to new Amazon chief Andy Jassy asking him to explain how the company might expand use of One’s palm print system beyond stores Read more about Senators ask Amazon how it will use palm print data from its stores[…]
[…] In “Pretty Good Phone Privacy,” [PDF] a paper scheduled to be presented on Thursday at the Usenix Security Symposium, Schmitt and Barath Raghavan, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Southern California, describe a way to re-engineer the mobile network software stack so that it doesn’t betray the location of mobile network Read more about Boffins propose Pretty Good Phone Privacy to end pretty invasive location data harvesting by telcos[…]
China has drafted new rules required of its autonomous and networked vehicle builders. Data security is front and centre in the rules, with manufacturers required to store data generated by cars – and describing their drivers – within China. Data is allowed to go offshore, but only after government scrutiny. Manufacturers are also required to Read more about China stops networked vehicle data going offshore under new infosec rules[…]
Google Pay is an online paying system and digital wallet that makes it easy to buy anything on your mobile device or with your mobile device. But if you’re concerned about what Google is doing with all your data (which you probably should be), Google doesn’t make it easy for Google Pay has some secret Read more about Have you made sure you have changed these Google Pay privacy settings?[…]
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[…]