Ars Technica: “Texas has sued insurance provider Allstate, alleging that the firm and its data broker subsidiary used data from apps like GasBuddy, Routely, and Life360 to quietly track drivers and adjust or cancel their policies. Allstate and Arity, a “mobility data and analytics” firm founded by Allstate in 2016, collected “trillions of miles worth… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Privacy
Apple auto-opts everyone into having their photos analyzed by AI for landmarks
The Register: “Apple last year deployed a mechanism for identifying landmarks and places of interest in images stored in the Photos application on its customers iOS and macOS devices and enabled it by default, seemingly without explicit consent. Apple customers have only just begun to notice. The feature, known as Enhanced Visual Search, was called… Continue Reading
Open Port Chronicle: What Port 80 Revealed About The Internet
“At RedHunt Labs, we conduct extensive internet-wide studies as part of Project Resonance to stay ahead of the evolving cyberspace and enhance our Attack Surface Management (ASM) platform. This blog highlights our recent research, where we analyzed billions of IP addresses to check for port 80 open, uncovering fascinating insights. The internet is massive –… Continue Reading
Inside the Black Box of Predictive Travel Surveillance
Wired – “Behind the scenes, companies and governments are feeding a trove of data about international travelers into opaque AI tools that aim to predict who’s safe—and who’s a threat… In Europe, at least four technology companies—Idemia, SITA, Travizory, and WCC—offer governments around the world software that uses algorithms on traveler data to profile passengers.… Continue Reading
Here is a list of every app on your phone selling your location data
Via Austin Corbett @austincorbett.bsky.social– Here is a list of every app on your phone selling your location data to advertisers, interested unknown 3rd parties, and the US government. Thanks to 404 Media and @josephcox.bsky.social There are 12, 373 apps on this Google doc as of today – the apps are used by children and adults… Continue Reading
US Cyber Trust Mark launches as the Energy Star of smart home security
The Verge: “Consumers shopping for new smart home devices will soon be able to look for the official stamp of trust from the US government: the US Cyber Trust Mark. Similar to how an Energy Star label on home appliances denotes a certain level of energy efficiency, the Cyber Trust Mark is meant to be… Continue Reading
Study Finds Consumers Are Actively Turned Off by Products That Use AI
The Byte: “Researchers have found that including the words “artificial intelligence” in product marketing is a major turn-off for consumers, suggesting a growing backlash and disillusionment with the tech — and that startups trying to cram “AI” into their product are actually making a grave error. As detailed in a new study published in the… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 4, 2025
Via LLRX – 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 and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and… Continue Reading
I Configured These 5 Firefox Settings for Optimal Security
How to Geek: ” Enhanced Tracking Protection Website Privacy Preferences Website Advertising Preferences Use Primary Password Deceptive Content and Dangerous Software Protection I’ve been a Chrome user for the longest time, but I recently switched to Firefox because of its advanced security settings. If you’re considering switching to Firefox or are already using it, I… Continue Reading
Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M
Ars Technica: “Apple has agreed (PDF) to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its voice assistant Siri routinely recorded private conversations that were then sold to third parties for targeted ads. In the proposed class-action settlement (PDF) — which comes after five years of litigation — Apple admitted to no wrongdoing. Instead,… Continue Reading
To kick off 2025, Netherlands throws open archive of suspected Nazi collaborators
JTA – Dutch privacy laws shielded the names from public view until the end of 2024: “A massive trove of documents about suspected Nazi collaborators in the Netherlands is now open to the public for the first time. For the past seven decades, only researchers and relatives of those accused of collaborating with the Nazis… Continue Reading
A Spy in Your Pocket?
DemocracyNow – Ronan Farrow Exposes Secrets of High-Tech Spyware in New Film “Surveilled” – “Is that a spy in your pocket? In a holiday special we speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow and filmmaker Matthew O’Neill about Surveilled, their new HBO documentary looking at how high-tech surveillance spyware is threatening democracy across the globe.… Continue Reading
