We initially identified apps for investigation based on how many users they had and how much data they could access. Now, we also identify apps based on signals associated with an app’s potential to abuse our policies. Where we have concerns, we conduct a more intensive examination. This includes a background investigation of the developer Read more about Facebook suspends apps belonging to 400 developers for slurping user data[…]

Whenever you sign up for a new app or service you probably are also agreeing to a new privacy policy. You know, that incredibly long block of text you scroll quickly by without reading? Guard is a site that uses AI to read epically long privacy policies and then highlight any aspects of them that Read more about This Site Uses AI to Find Issues in Privacy Policies[…]

The names of more than 120 companies secretly served FBI subpoenas for their customers’ personal data were revealed on Friday, including a slew of U.S. banks, cellphone providers, and a leading antivirus software maker. Known as national security letters (NSL), the subpoenas are a tool commonly used by FBI counterterrorism agents when seeking individuals’ communication Read more about FBI Served Valve, Symantec, 120 companies with secret surveillance National Security Letters[…]

Cities in China are under the heaviest CCTV surveillance in the world, according to a new analysis by Comparitech. However, some residents living in cities across the US, UK, UAE, Australia, and India will also find themselves surrounded by a large number of watchful eyes, as our look at the number of public CCTV cameras Read more about The world’s most-surveilled cities – China, US, UK, UAE, Australia and India: you are being spied on![…]

Smart-home devices, such as televisions and streaming boxes, are collecting reams of data — including sensitive information such as device locations — that is then being sent to third parties like advertisers and major tech companies, researchers said Tuesday. As the findings show, even as privacy concerns have become a part of the discussion around Read more about Smart TVs, smart-home devices found to be leaking sensitive user data to all kinds of companies[…]

Spotify knows a lot about its users — their musical tastes, their most listened-to artists and their summer anthems. Spotify will also want to know where you live or to obtain your location data. It’s part of an effort to detect fraud and abuse of its Premium Family program. Premium Family is a $15-a-month plan Read more about Spotify wants to know where you are and will be checking in[…]

Medical images and health data belonging to millions of Americans, including X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans, are sitting unprotected on the Internet and available to anyone with basic computer expertise. The records cover more than 5 million patients in the United States and millions more around the world. In some cases, a snoop could use Read more about Millions of Americans’ medical images and data are available on the Internet[…]

Period tracker apps are sending deeply personal information about women’s health and sexual practices to Facebook, new research has found. UK-based advocacy group Privacy International, sharing its findings exclusively with BuzzFeed News, discovered period-tracking apps including MIA Fem and Maya sent women’s use of contraception, the timings of their monthly periods, symptoms like swelling and Read more about Period Tracker Apps: Maya And MIA Fem Are telling Facebook when you last had sex and more[…]

The UK government is planning to collect “targeted and personalized information,” on anyone who visits the government’s various websites, according to a new report from BuzzFeed News. Politicians in the UK are being told that it’s a “top priority” and that the information is needed to prepare for Brexit, the UK’s departure from the European Read more about UK Government Plans to Collect ‘Targeted and Personalized’ Data on Internet Users to Prepare For Brexit: Report[…]

For years the antisocial media giant has claimed it doesn’t track your location, insisting to suspicious reporters and privacy advocates that its addicts “have full control over their data,” and that it does not gather or sell that data unless those users agree to it. No one believed it. So, when it (and Google) were Read more about Facebook: Remember how we promised we weren’t tracking your location? Psych! Can’t believe you fell for that[…]

If you’re at all concerned about the privacy of your data, you don’t want to leave the default settings in place on your devices—and that includes anything that runs Windows 10. Microsoft’s operating system comes with a variety of controls and options you can modify to lock down the use of your data, from the Read more about The Windows 10 Privacy Settings You Should Check Right Now[…]

London cops have admitted they gave photos of people to a property developer to use in a facial-recognition system in the heart of the UK capital. Back in July, Siân Berry, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, asked London Mayor Sadiq Khan whether the Met Police had collaborated with any retailers or Read more about Cops did hand over photos for King’s Cross facial-recog CCTV to 3rd parties after all – a property developer, between 2016-2018[…]

New evidence submitted for an investigation into Google’s collection of personal data in the European Union reportedly accuses the search giant of stealthy sending your personal user data to advertisers. The company allegedly relays this information to advertisers using hidden webpages, allowing it to circumvent EU privacy regulations. The evidence was submitted to Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, Read more about Google has secret webpages that feed your personal data to advertisers, report to EU says[…]

This week, Privacy International published a report—Your mental health for sale—which explored how mental health websites handle user data. The digital rights nonprofit looked at 136 mental health webpages across Google France, Google Germany and the UK version of Google, according to the report. They chose websites based on advertised links and featured page search Read more about Online Depression Tests Are Collecting and Sharing Your Data[…]

On Tuesday, Mozilla said it is not planning to change the ad-and-content blocking capabilities of Firefox to match what Google is doing in Chrome. Google’s plan to revise its browser extension APIs, known as Manifest v3, follows from the web giant’s recognition that many of its products and services can be abused by unscrupulous developers. Read more about Mozilla says Firefox won’t defang ad blockers – unlike Google Chrome, which is steadily removing your privacy from 3rd parties[…]

Microsoft emitted a fresh preview of command-line darling PowerShell 7 last night, highlighting some additional slurping – and how to shut it off. PowerShell 7 Preview 3, which is built on .NET Core 3.0 Preview 8, is the latest step on the way to final release at the end of 2019 and a potential replacement Read more about PowerShell 7 ups the telemetry but… hey… is that an off switch?[…]

Contractors working for Microsoft have listened to audio of Xbox users speaking in their homes in order to improve the console’s voice command features, Motherboard has learned. The audio was supposed to be captured following a voice command like “Xbox” or “Hey Cortana,” but contractors said that recordings were sometimes triggered and recorded by mistake. Read more about Microsoft Contractors Listened to Xbox Owners (mainly kids) in Their Homes – since 2013[…]

On Wednesday, Google, Apple, and Mozilla said their web browsers will block the Kazakhstan root Certificate Authority (CA) certificate – following reports that ISPs in the country have required customers to install a government-issued certificate that enables online spying. According to the University of Michigan’s Censored Planet project, the country’s snoops “recently began using a Read more about Google, Apple, Mozilla end Kazakhstan internet by blocking root CA[…]

Facial recognition is being extensively deployed on privately owned sites across the UK, according to an investigation by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch. It found an “epidemic” of the controversial technology across major property developers, shopping centres, museums, conference centres and casinos in the UK. The investigation uncovered live facial recognition in Sheffield’s major Read more about facial recognition ‘epidemic’ across UK private sites in conjunction with the police[…]

Facebook outsourced contractors to listen in on your audio messenger chats and transcribe them, a new report reveals. Bloomberg reports that the contractors were not told why they were listening in or why they were transcribing them. Facebook confirmed the reports but said they are no longer transcribing audio. “Much like Apple and Google, we Read more about Also Facebook Admits Yes, It Was Listening To Your Private Conversations via Messenger[…]

In a presentation at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas James Pavur, a PhD student at Oxford University who usually specialises in satellite hacking, explained how he was able to game the GDPR system to get all kinds of useful information on his fiancée, including credit card and social security numbers, passwords, and Read more about Talk about unintended consequences: GDPR is an identity thief’s dream ticket to Europeans’ data[…]

Simple Opt Out is drawing attention to opt-out data sharing and marketing practices that many people aren’t aware of (and most people don’t want), then making it easier to opt out. For example: Target “may share your personal information with other companies which are not part of Target.” Chase may share your “account balances and Read more about Deep links to opt-out of data sharing by 60+ companies – Simple Opt Out[…]

If you use Skype’s AI-powered real-time translator, brief recordings of your calls may be passed to human contractors, who are expected to listen in and correct the software’s translations to improve it. That means 10-second or so snippets of your sweet nothings, mundane details of life, personal information, family arguments, and other stuff discussed on Read more about Skype, Cortana also have humans listening to you. The fine print says it listens to your audio recordings to improve its AI, but it means humans are listening.[…]

The cards that are used to connect families in provinces in the Benelux as well as the family trees are published online are hugely anonymous, which means it’s nearly impossible to connect the dots as you don’t know when someone was born. Pictures and documents are being removed willy nilly from archives, in contravention of Read more about Genealogists running into AVG[…]