Now, instead of plugging in an address, you can sync up your contacts and choose a friend’s name. The lucky buddy will receive a request from Uber—via push notification if they’re an Uber user, and via text message if they’re not—to provide their location. If they accept, their location is then transmitted to the driver, Read more about Uber’s Latest Update seeks location and phone info from non Uber-using friends[…]
Privacy Badger is a browser extension that automatically blocks hidden third-party trackers that would otherwise follow you around the web and spy on your browsing habits. Privacy Badger now has approximately 900,000 daily users and counting. Third-party tracking—that is, when advertisers and websites track your browsing activity across the web without your knowledge, control, or Read more about The New and Improved Privacy Badger 2.0 Is Here | Electronic Frontier Foundation[…]
Instantly get a list of all your accounts, matched with direct links to delete them Source: deseat.me
Maps and database of 802.11 wireless networks, with statistics, submitted by wardrivers, netstumblers, and net huggers. Source: WiGLE: Wireless Network Mapping Can be used to find the physical address of someone’s wifi ssid
The app update (it’s 3.222.4, for those keeping track) changes the way Uber collects location data from its users. Previously, Uber only collected location information while a user had the app open – now, Uber asks users to always share their location with the ride-hailing company. Uber says that, even though it can harvest your Read more about Uber begins collection of rider location data – whether using the app or not[…]
While the UK was obsessing with Brexit and its aftermath, parliament quietly passed a contentious snooping law that gives authorities, everyone from police and spies to food regulators, fire officials and tax inspectors, the right to legally look at the internet browsing records of everyone in the country. […] Which government agencies have access to Read more about These Are The 48 Organizations That Now Have Access To Every Brit’s Browsing History[…]
The Photo Scan app launched by Google today for iOS and Android lets you scan printed photos in just a couple of seconds, using machine learning to correct imperfections in the capture process that they look great every time. Here’s how it works: Download the app, and open it up. You’ll see a viewfinder. Hold Read more about Google’s Photo Scan App Makes Backing Up Old Snapshots Easy as Hell[…]
Once installed, Shazam automatically begins listening for music, Most (security-conscious) users probably don’t want Shazam listening all the time. Shazam appears to oblige, seemingly providing an option to disable this listening: However, sliding the selector to ‘OFF’ did not generate the expected, “Mic was deactivated” OverSight alert. My first thought was perhaps OverSight had ‘missed’ Read more about Shazam listens to you on macs, even when you turn the mic off[…]
Scientists say they can deduce the lifestyle of an individual, down to the kind of grooming products they use, food they eat and medications they take, from chemicals found on the surface of their mobile phone. Experts say analysis of someone’s phone could be a boon both to healthcare professionals, and the police. “You can Read more about Chemical traces on your phone reveal your lifestyle, scientists say[…]
According to Facebook, if you send a message to a company, they then have permission to send you sponsored messages—or as we humans call them, ads. These will be unprompted “highly targeted, in-context” ads. Businesses that already have chat bots set up can start using the new feature immediately. Source: Facebook Will Let Brands Send Read more about Facebook Will Let Brands Send You Ads If You’ve Messaged Them Before[…]
In the case of Nvidia, Telemetry gets installed alongside the driver package. While you may — and should — customize the installation of the Nvidia driver so that only the bits that you require are installed, there is no option to disable the Telemetry components from being installed. These do get installed even if you Read more about Nvidia Tracking you on Windows now – and how to stop it (for now)[…]
The page tells you they take privacy seriously, but with that I guess they mean they seriously don’t think you should have any. I guess this is the reason it’s only available for OSX or iphone – only Apple people would be dumb enough to send literally all their data to some company. Source: Atlas Read more about Atlas Recall will slurp your data and allow you to find it back from any (cough) device[…]
The underlying technology in question is known as ultrasonic cross-device tracking, or uXDT. Cross-device tracking has been called a ‘holy grail’ for marketers, allowing them to, for instance, tell your phone when you’re watching a particular TV show, or share data about laptop web browsing to your tablet. […] The UCL team says the lack Read more about Inaudible Soundwaves Expose a Spooky New Pathway for Hackers[…]
Images representing 117 million American adults – almost half the grownups in the country – can be found in the facial recognition databases maintained by US law enforcement agencies, according to a study conducted by the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law School. That figure is expected to grow as facial recognition technology Read more about Meanwhile, in America: Half of adults’ faces are in police databases[…]
Investigators in Lancaster, Calif., were granted a search warrant last May with a scope that allowed them to force anyone inside the premises at the time of search to open up their phones via fingerprint recognition, Forbes reported Sunday.The government argued that this did not violate the citizens’ Fifth Amendment protection against self incrimination because Read more about Using search warrants to get into fingerprint-locked phones[…]
The mysterious Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which oversees Blighty’s snoops, has ruled that the bulk collection of personal data — conducted by GCHQ and MI5 between 1998 and 2015 — was illegal. Responding to a claim brought by Privacy International, the 70-page judgment handed down this morning [PDF] found that the spooks’ surveillance activities had been Read more about Court finds GCHQ and MI5 engaged in illegal bulk data collection[…]
The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR) is intended to prevent a repeat of faulty Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) silicone breast implants scandal in 2010, in which fraudulently manufactured silicone gel implants affected thousands of women. Its establishment is in response to recommendation 21 in Sir Bruce Keogh’s Review of the Regulation of Cosmetic interventions, Read more about UK wants to monitor fake boobs, claims event 6 years ago is catalyst[…]
Yahoo, as detailed in an explosive new report, does precisely that that. According to Reuters, in 2015, the company built, at the U.S. government’s request, software that scans literally all emails for certain information provided by either the National Security Agency or the FBI. It’s not clear how often it was used, or why this Read more about Apple, Microsoft: We Have No Govt Email Scanning Program Like Yahoo’s[…]
Malicious code used to press-gang IoT connected devices into a botnet was leaked online over the weekend.The Mirai malware is a DDoS Trojan and targets Linux systems and, in particular, IoT devices. A botnet formed using the malware was used to blast junk traffic at the website of security researcher Brian Krebs last month in Read more about Source code unleashed for junk-blasting Internet of Things botnet[…]
Signal has resisted a FBI subpoena and gag order that demanded a wide range of information on two users resulted in a federal grand jury investigation in Virginia. The makers of Signal, Open Whisper Systems, profoundly disappointed law enforcement. The app collects as little data as possible and therefore was unable to hand anything useful Read more about Encryption app Signal wins fight against FBI subpoena and gag order[…]
Every time you type a number into your iPhone for a text conversation, the Messages app contacts Apple servers to determine whether to route a given message over the ubiquitous SMS system, represented in the app by those déclassé green text bubbles, or over Apple’s proprietary and more secure messaging network, represented by pleasant blue Read more about Apple Logs Your iMessage Contacts — and May Share Them With Police[…]
A thourough and scary analysis of what you can do with just metadata, applied to the hacking team leak. A great case for mistrusting metadata storage by anyone. https://labs.rs/en/metadata/
Nvidia’s GeForce Experience 3.0 is better than ever before, but you need to sign up to use it. Source: Nvidia’s faster, better GeForce Experience 3.0 launches with mandatory registration | PCWorld Sigh. We buy their products already, so they don’t actually need to monetise our private lives 🙁
The FCC has been formally regulating behavioural advertising since the 1990s. You’d think they’d be all over Google and Facebook, then, right? Actually, no. The FCC is now run by a former Obama fund-raiser, Tom Wheeler, and it can’t do enough for Silicon Valley, whether it’s collectivising songwriters rights or disaggregating TV. What the FCC Read more about Google’s become an obsessive stalker and you can’t get a restraining order[…]
NO, there is no opt out! The Dutch government has passed a law allowing insurance companies to access medical files with a “suspicion of fraud” (whatever that is) and only have to tell the person who’s privacy has been infringed three months later. Medical privacy is one of the last untouchable bastions of privacy, I Read more about NL Gov gets rid of medical confidentiality[…]