PC Mag: “A little-known company in Florida allegedly lost records on 2.9 billion individuals to hackers, according to a class-action lawsuit. National Public Data specializes in background checks and fraud prevention. But the data it collects appears to have ended up in the hands of a hacking group called “USDoD.” It began selling access to… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Privacy
My journey into the surreal, infuriating future of homeowners insurance
Business Insider: “I take privacy and surveillance extremely seriously — so seriously that I started one of the leading think tanks on the topic, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. But while I study surveillance threats around the country for a living, I had no idea that my own insurance company was using my premium dollars… Continue Reading
Why you should use a VPN on your mobile device
ProtonVPN: “Growing public awareness about the threat posed to our fundamental right to privacy by online trackers has fueled a surge(new window) in VPN adoption, a trend that has been boosted thanks to people spending more time online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although VPN use is at an all-time high, many people still associate… Continue Reading
Google is finally taking action to curb non-consensual deepfakes
MIT Technology Review [unpaywalled]: “…Last week Google said it is taking steps to keep explicit deepfakes from appearing in search results. The tech giant is making it easier for victims to request that nonconsensual fake explicit imagery be removed. It will also filter all explicit results on similar searches and remove duplicate images. This will prevent… Continue Reading
What do people really ask chatbots?
Washington Post [unpaywalled]: “…The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 promised to usher in a new age of artificial intelligence. But until now, we’ve had little insight into how AI chatbots are actually being used in the wild. So The Washington Post looked at nearly 200,000 English-language conversations from the research data set WildChat,… Continue Reading
How to find your oldest social media posts and delete them
The Verge: “We’ve been living with social media for a long time now — Facebook opened up to the public in 2006 — and that means a lengthy trail of posts stretching back through the years. While this does let you take a nostalgic trip into the past with just a few clicks, it can… Continue Reading
CrowdStrike, Antitrust, and the Digital Monoculture
EFF: “Last month’s unprecedented global IT failure should be a wakeup call. Decades of antitrust inaction have made many industries dangerously reliant on the same tools, making such crises inevitable. We must demand regulators break up the digital monocultures that are creating a less competitive, less safe, and less free digital world. The Federal Trade… Continue Reading
Apple says Safari protects your privacy. We fact-checked those claims.
Washington Post via Yahoo: “…Apple deserves credit for making many privacy protections automatic with Safari, which you probably use to browse the web if you have an iPhone, Mac computer or iPad. But Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, said Safari is no better than the fourth-best web browser for… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 2, 2024
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 2, 2024 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex… Continue Reading
Can ChatGPT-4o Be Trusted With Your Private Data?
Wired – OpenAI’s newest model is “a data hoover on steroids,” says one expert—but there are still ways to use it while minimizing risk. [unpaywalled]: “…On the face of it, OpenAI’s privacy policy does show a large amount of data collection, including personal information, usage data, and content provided when you use it. ChatGPT uses… Continue Reading
How To Check Whether You’re Chatting With a Real Person or AI
Make Use Of – Quick Links The Conversation Style Is Overly Formal Refusal to Answer Phone Calls or Video Chats They’re Unable to Answer Complex or Probing Questions Attempts to Gain Access to Your Personal Data They Try to Redirect You to External Links Lack of Humor in Responses Key Takeaways You can tell you’re… Continue Reading
New Details About Automakers’ Sharing of Driver Information with Data Brokers
“U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and hold responsible automakers and their data broker partners, for disclosing data on millions of Americans, without consent in a letter today. An investigation by Wyden revealed new facts regarding automakers’ disclosure of driving data, such as… Continue Reading
