By installing a back door into encrypted communications and storage, they not only allow the government unfettered access, but also criminals. Although I’m not sure where the distinction lies, nowadays. WhatsApp and iMessage could be banned under new surveillance plans – News – Gadgets and Tech – The Independent.

Ah the wonders of big data. Needlessly scaring twice as many people as guilty people you find with a valid search warrant and invasion of innocent people’s privacy is being lauded as a success by the NL Government and will result in 30000 people’s houses being needlessly searched next year. 30.000 onschuldige Nederlanders opgejaagd door Read more about Dutch gov sends cops to 3 times as many houses as there are guilty parties at those houses, scares 4500 people witless, will scare 30000 next year[…]

This site looks at surprisingly few browser attributes to see how unique you are. Currently you are being compared to 37753 other browsers, but as more people check on the site, the representation will be more accurate. It’s pretty scary to see how individual your browser settings are, even with javascript disabled. via Am I Read more about Am I unique? – see how identifiable you are by your browser fingerprint[…]

The fourth reich is inevitable! GOP rep attempted late bid to kill spy bill | TheHill.

Egocentric cameras are being worn by an increasing number of users, among them many security forces worldwide. GoPro cameras already penetrated the mass market, and Google Glass may follow soon. As head-worn cameras do not capture the face and body of the wearer, it may seem that the anonymity of the wearer can be preserved Read more about Identify the maker of a movie by the way the screen shakes[…]

The European Parliament has reached a deal with national ministers to introduce a mandatory “eCall” system for all new cars from April 2018. However, although the system would automatically call the 112 emergency number in the event of a crash, euro lawmakers say that cars will not be continuously tracked. “It will be illegal to Read more about EU Mandates eCall tracking system in your new car from 2018[…]

This site is a huge country and brand directory listing of surveillance cameras that are online and still have the default password or no protection set. It’s bizarre to see how many of them there are. View net surveillance online cameras.

The addresses and domains you email to, your search terms, how often you use your Mac. And this with a few hours of poking. Apple keeps saying it’s leaving users alone, but really? fix-macosx/yosemite-phone-home · GitHub.

The Dutch province Utrecht has signed a deal with City Wireless that allows people free wireless. They can log in with their Facebook profile, which is then harvested for information for marketing purposes. City Wireless has since changed its’ homepage, removing the grizly details, but the Dutch paper still has the screencaps. Article in Dutch. Read more about NL Provice of Utrecht buys citizen Facebookprofiles for marketing by offering free WiFi.[…]

A recent AP survey of 10 leading voice biometric vendors found that more than 65 million people worldwide have had their voiceprints taken, and that several banks, including Barclays PLC in Britain and Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, are in the process of introducing their customers to the technology. via Banks harvest callers' voiceprints to fight fraud. Read more about Banks harvest callers’ voiceprints without their knowledge[…]

They found that if Friendster had used certain state-of-the-art prediction algorithms, it could have divined sensitive information about non-members, including their sexual orientation. “At the time, it was possible for Friendster to predict the sexual orientation of people who did not have an account on Friendster,” [….] The problem Garcia identifies lies in something called Read more about Not on a Social Network? You’ve Still Got a Privacy Problem[…]

Adobe’s Digital Editions 4 ebook reader software is collecting detailed information about the reading habits of its users – and sending it back to the company in a format that’s easy for others to slurp. An investigation by Nate Hoffelder of The Digital Reader blog showed that ADE 4 was collecting telemetry on which pages Read more about Adobe spies on readers: EVERY page you turn, EVERY book you own leaked back to base[…]

Nearly half of the people on the U.S. government’s widely shared database of terrorist suspects are not connected to any known terrorist group, according to classified government documents obtained by The Intercept. Of the 680,000 people caught up in the government’s Terrorist Screening Database—a watchlist of “known or suspected terrorists” that is shared with local Read more about US Terrorist-Tracking System tracks many many non-terrorists[…]

With privacy concerns being raised more and more about the use of cloud storage, tech giants are turning to the age old scare tactic of using child porn as an excuse to burrow through users data. Google Spotted Explicit Images Of A Child In A Man's Email And Tipped Off The Authorities – Business Insider. Read more about Child porn used to justify reading of cloud data by Google, MicroSoft[…]

“to ensure users’ rights to privacy of their personal data and personal information, and information security for government agencies and corporate clients” Google Translate.

In a court case in which the government (mr Plasterk) was taken to task for using NSA data – private information gotten through illegal means according to Dutch law – the NL courts have ruled that secret services can use this data freely, because “it’s important”. This is a bit like allowing evidence gained under Read more about NL courts allow illegally gotten private info to be used by secret service with no oversight.[…]

The Dutch organisation for small / medium sized businesses (MKB Nederland) has set up a quick scan for companies dealing with private data, to have a look at the risks of using this kind of data. Privacy Quick Scan.

invisible.im is backed by some pretty big names in IT security. It’s not foolproof and it’s in the first stages, but it’s a start with great potential. New Instant Messenger Plans to Leave No Metadata Worth Harvest​ing.

Basically the interpretation is that since the servers on which these services are hosted are in foreign countries, they are classed as “external communications”, which allows them to intercept them indiscriminately as opposed to needing a warrant. This also applies to webmail services and Google searches. UK intelligence forced to reveal secret policy for mass Read more about UK Gov reveals legal framework for intercepting all citizens’ social media communications[…]

When you ask them for your own details, you also get all the personal details of the people who have interacted with your account! This data should be anonymised. Mag niet: Marktplaats deelt IP-adressen en NAW-gegevens – Webwereld.

A recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union found that certain users can ask search engines to remove results for queries that include their name where those results are inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed. In implementing this decision, Read more about Google starts to implement right to be forgotten[…]

If you have over 3000 daily visits, you have to register. You remove anonymity and you have to keep all your data in Russia for at least 6 months. This after a few laws that ban 4 words from being used in the arts and allow the state to shut down websites – promptly used Read more about Russia Quietly Tightens Reins on Web With ‘Bloggers Law’ – NYTimes.com[…]

We crawl the web to find the companies that track people, then Disconnect blocks those companies’ tracking requests in your browser. Click the items below to learn more about Disconnect’s features. via Private Browsing.

From a man who has done plenty wrong in privacy recently, this is a very very good idea. People who want the source code do have to sign a NDA. I don’t know what’s in the NDA, but this seems reasonable. Plasterk geeft broncode Basisregistratie Personen vrij – Webwereld.