A database containing the phone numbers of more than half a billion Facebook users is being freely traded online, and Facebook is trying to pin the blame on everyone but themselves. A blog post titled “The Facts on News Reports About Facebook Data,” published Tuesday evening, is designed to silence the growing criticism the company Read more about Facebook Says It’s Your Fault That Hackers Got Half a Billion User Phone Numbers[…]

Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems has filed a complaint against Google in France alleging that the US tech giant is illegally tracking users on Android phones without their consent. Android phones generate unique advertising codes, similar to Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), that allow Google and third parties to track users’ browsing behavior in order Read more about Google illegally tracking Android users, according to new complaint by Max Schrems[…]

In a recent released research paper, titled “Mobile Handset Privacy: Measuring The Data iOS and Android Send to Apple And Google” [PDF], Douglas Leith, chairman of computer systems in the school of computer science and statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, documents how iPhones and Android devices phone home regardless of the wishes of their Read more about Android, iOS beam telemetry to Google, Apple even when you tell them not to[…]

For years we’ve talked about how the fact that no one really understands privacy, leads to very bad attempts at regulating privacy in ways that do more harm than good. They often don’t do anything that actually protects privacy — and instead screw up lots of other important things, from competition to free speech. In Read more about Privacy Laws Giving Big Internet Companies A Convenient Excuse To Avoid Academic Scrutiny – or not? A Balanced argument[…]

[…] utting a couple of middle men between the app data and the purchase of data helps agencies steer clear of Constitutional issues related to the Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision, which introduced a warrant mandate for engaging in proxy tracking of people via cell service providers. But phones aren’t the only objects that generate a Read more about Data Broker Looking To Sell Global Real-Time Vehicle Location Data To Government Agencies, Including The Military[…]

New rules for social media companies and other hosts of third-party content have just gone into effect in India. The proposed changes to India’s 2018 Intermediary Guidelines are now live, allowing the government to insert itself into content moderation efforts and make demands of tech companies some simply won’t be able to comply with. Now, Read more about India’s New Cyber Law Goes Live: Subtracts Safe Harbor Protections, Adds Compelled Assistance Demands For Intermediaries, Massive surveillance infrastructure[…]

A new extension for Google Chrome has made explicit how most popular sites on the internet load resources from one or more of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon. The extension, Big Tech Detective, shows the extent to which websites exchange data with these four companies by reporting on them. It also optionally blocks sites that Read more about Extension shows the monopoly big tech has on your browsing – you always route your traffic through them[…]

In an online world in which countless systems are trying to figure out what exactly you enjoy so they can serve you up advertising about it, it really fucks up their profiling mechanisms when they think you like everything. And to help you out with this approach, I recommend checking out the Chrome/Firefox extension AdNauseum. Read more about Use AdNauseum to Block Ads and Confuse Google’s Advertising[…]

Boffins based in Belgium have found that a DNS-based technique for bypassing defenses against online tracking has become increasingly common and represents a growing threat to both privacy and security. In a research paper to be presented in July at the 21st Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS 2021), KU Leuven-affiliated researchers Yana Dimova, Gunes Acar, Read more about CNAME DNS-based tracking defies your browser privacy defenses[…]

We all know that our cell phones constantly give our location away to our mobile network operators; that’s how they work. A group of researchers has figured out a way to fix that. “Pretty Good Phone Privacy” (PGPP) protects both user identity and user location using the existing cellular networks. It protects users from fake Read more about Cell Phone Location Privacy could be done easily[…]

[…] Apple only lets you access iPhone apps through its own App Store, which it says keeps everything safe. It appeared to bolster that idea when it announced in 2020 that it would ask app makers to fill out what are essentially privacy nutrition labels. Just like packaged food has to disclose how much sugar Read more about I checked Apple’s new privacy ‘nutrition labels.’ Many were false.[…]

Instagram is adding a new “Recently deleted” folder to the app’s menu that temporarily stores posts after you remove them from your profile or archive, giving you the ability to restore deleted posts if you change your mind. The folder includes sections for photos, IGTV, Reels, and Stories posts. No one else can see your Read more about How to Restore Recently Deleted Instagram Posts – because deleted means: stored somewhere you can’t get at them[…]

Not content to only wield its creepy surveillance infrastructure against warehouse workers and employees considering unionization, Amazon is reportedly gearing up to install perpetually-on cameras inside its fleet of delivery vehicles as well. A new report from The Information claims that Amazon recently shared the plans in an instructional video sent out to the contractor Read more about Amazon Plans to Install Creepy Always-On Surveillance Cameras in Delivery Vans[…]

Encrypted service providers are urging lawmakers to back away from a controversial plan that critics say would undercut effective data protection measures. ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota — all European companies that offer some form of encrypted services — issued a joint statement this week declaring that a resolution the European Council adopted on Dec. Read more about ProtonMail, Tutanota among authors of letter urging EU to reconsider encryption rules[…]

The Indian government has sent a fierce letter to Facebook over its decision to update the privacy rules around its WhatsApp chat service, and asked the antisocial media giant to put a halt to the plans.In an email from the IT ministry to WhatsApp head Will Cathcart, provided to media outlets, the Indian government notes Read more about Indian government slams Facebook over WhatsApp ‘privacy’ update, wants its own Europe-style opt-out switch[…]

Beginning, January 11, 2020, draft surveillance technology impact and use policies will be posted on the Department’s website. Members of the public are invited to review the impact and use policies and provide feedback on their contents. The impact and use policies provide details of: 1) the capabilities of the Department’s surveillance technologies, 2) the Read more about NYPD posts surveillance systems and use and requests comments[…]

WhatsApp said on Friday that it won’t enforce the planned update to its data-sharing policy until May 15, weeks after news about the new terms created confusion among its users, exposed the Facebook app to a potential lawsuit, triggered a nationwide investigation and drove tens of millions of its loyal fans to explore alternative messaging Read more about WhatsApp delays enforcement of privacy terms by 3 months, following backlash[…]

WhatsApp updated its privacy policy at the turn of the new year. Users were notified via a popup message upon opening the app that their data would now be shared with Facebook and other companies come February 8. Due to Facebook’s notorious history with user data and privacy, the new update has since then garnered Read more about Turkey launches antitrust probe into WhatsApp and Facebook over the new privacy policy. Still can’t export Whatsapp chats.[…]

In the wake of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by scores of President Trump’s supporters, a lone researcher began an effort to catalogue the posts of social media users across Parler, a platform founded to provide conservative users a safe haven for uninhibited “free speech” — but which ultimately devolved into a hotbed Read more about Every Deleted Parler Post, Many With Users’ Location Data, Has Been Archived. Parler goes down. Still can’t export your Whatsapp history.[…]