and that data is ending up in the hands of bounty hunters and others not authorized to possess it, letting them track most phones in the country – via Motherboard: “…Motherboard’s investigation shows just how exposed mobile networks and the data they generate are, leaving them open to surveillance by ordinary citizens, stalkers, and criminals,… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Privacy
New Library Bill of Rights Provision Recognizes and Defends Library Users’ Privacy
American Library Association – “The Library Bill of Rights — first adopted in 1939 and last amended in 1980 — has been updated to include an article focused on the concept of ensuring privacy and confidentiality for library users.The new article of the Library Bill of Rights, Article VII, states: “All people, regardless of origin, age,… Continue Reading
Shoshana Zuboff on the Age of Surveillance Capitalism
The Intercept: “…An unavoidable takeaway of “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” is, essentially, that everything is even worse than you thought. Even if you’ve followed the news items and historical trends that gird Zuboff’s analysis, her telling takes what look like privacy overreaches and data blunders, and recasts them as the intentional movements of a… Continue Reading
Chrome can tell you if your passwords have been compromised
engadget: “Given the frequency of hacks and data leaks these days, chances are goo at least one of your passwords has been released to the wild. A new Chrome extension released by Google today makes it a little easier to stay on top of that: Once installed, Password Checkup will simply sit in your Chrome… Continue Reading
“Do Not Track” Setting Doesn’t Stop You from Being Tracked
DuckDuckGo Report: “Most browsers have a “Do Not Track” (DNT) setting that sends “a special signal to websites, analytics companies, ad networks, plug in providers, and other web services you encounter while browsing, to stop tracking your activity.” Sounds good, right? Sadly, it’s not effective. That’s because this Do Not Track setting is only a… Continue Reading
Hackers Are Passing Around a Megaleak of 2.2 Billion Records
Wired: “When hackers breached companies like Dropbox and LinkedIn in recent years—stealing 71 million and 117 million passwords, respectively—they at least had the decency to exploit those stolen credentials in secret, or sell them for thousands of dollars on the dark web. Now, it seems, someone has cobbled together those breached databases and many more… Continue Reading
Baker’s Dozen: 13 Policy Areas that Require Congressional Action
POGO: Promoting Ethics and Addressing Corruption Improving Transparency and Accountability in US Immigration Detention and Exploring Alternatives Placing Proper Checks and Limits on Invasive Surveillance Slowing the Federal Revolving Door Smarter National Security Spending and Policy Reprioritize and Revitalize Work of Federal Inspectors General Commonsense Contracting Reforms to Protect the Taxpayer Ensuring Good Stewardship of… Continue Reading
One Lawyer, One Day, 194 Felony Cases
The New York Times – “High-level felonies carry sentences of 10 years or more and should each get 70 hours of legal attention, according to a workload study. For Mr. Talaska, that’s more than two years of full-time work. Mid-level felonies require 41 hours each.A few of Mr. Talaska’s clients faced life without parole. Such… Continue Reading
Huawei Is Blocked in U.S., But Its Chips Power Cameras Everywhere
Bloomberg [paywall – alternate free article via Gadget Hours]: “Pelco, a California-based security camera maker, set lofty sales targets last year for a model with sharper video resolution and other cutting-edge features. That was until Congress derailed its plans. In August, updated legislation barred the U.S. military and government from buying tech gear from firms… Continue Reading
26.3 billion robocalls made to U.S. mobile phones in 2018
Robocall Radar – Spam Trends: 2018 Report “Unsolicited robocalls are the #1 source of consumer complaints to the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission. Hiya analyzes more than 11 billion incoming mobile calls per month globally and then leverages its proprietary rule-based algorithm to identify these calls for consumers. Hiya’s Robocall Radar is calculated… Continue Reading
Court’s Biometrics Ruling Poses Billion Dollar Risk to Facebook, Google
Fortune: “The Supreme Court of Illinois on Friday ruled that an amusement park, Six Flags Great America, must pay damages to a boy for collecting his thumbprint without proper consent. The decision in the closely-watched case opens the door for the possibility of huge payouts in related cases against technology companies whose face-scanning policies breached… Continue Reading
Cisco 2019 Data Privacy Benchmark Study
Cisco newsroom: “Organizations worldwide that invested in maturing their data privacy practices are now realizing tangible business benefits from these investments, according to Cisco’s 2019 Data Privacy Benchmark Study. The Study validates the link between good privacy practice and business benefits as respondents report shorter sales delays as well as fewer and less costly data… Continue Reading
