How To Geek: “Key Takeaways Firefox provides many advantages over Chrome, including being more efficient, so your laptop battery lasts longer. Firefox doesn’t track your internet activity for advertising purposes. Firefox has better privacy controls, including container functionality and VPN, enhancing your privacy and security online. Google Chrome is the most popular web browser by… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Privacy
Unsure if a link is safe?
PCWorld – Use these anti-phishing tools to check: “A friend emails you a strange-looking link. Your mom sends you a text with an unknown website. A social media post promotes a new page. You might wonder about how safe it is to click these links…and then blank out on where you can turn to for… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 24, 2024
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 24, 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… Continue Reading
Meet the shady companies helping governments hack citizens’ phones
Fast Company: “Named for the winged horse of Greek mythology and often sent by text message, Pegasus can burrow into your phone without your knowledge or even your click, hiding for days or weeks inside, surreptitiously recording everything—messages, photos, encrypted chats, and video and audio—in real-time. Exactly where your data is going often remains a… Continue Reading
FTC Order Will Ban Avast from Selling Browsing Data for Advertising Purposes
“The Federal Trade Commission will require software provider Avast to pay $16.5 million and prohibit the company from selling or licensing any web browsing data for advertising purposes to settle charges that the company and its subsidiaries sold such information to third parties after promising that its products would protect consumers from online tracking. In… Continue Reading
Survey Finds Workers are Putting Businesses at Risk by Oversharing with GenAI Tools
InsideBigData: “Our friends over at Veritas just released a new survey revealing that workers are oversharing with generative AI tools, putting businesses at risk. Nearly a third (31%) of global office workers admitted to inputting potentially sensitive information into generative AI tools, such as customer details or employee financials. Other key findings include: 61% of global… Continue Reading
DOJ funding pipeline subsidizes questionable big data surveillance technologies
Via LLRX – DOJ funding pipeline subsidizes questionable big data surveillance technologies – Professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson discusses how predictive policing has been shown to be an ineffective and biased policing tool. Yet, the Department of Justice has been funding the crime surveillance and analysis technology for years and continues to do so despite criticism from researchers, privacy… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley has its own ascendant political ideology. It’s past time we call it what it is.
The Rise of Techno-Authoritarianism by Adrienne LaFrance [The Atlantic; read free] “Silicon Valley still attracts many immensely talented people who strive to do good, and who are working to realize the best possible version of a more connected, data-rich global society. Even the most deleterious companies have built some wonderful tools. But these tools, at scale,… Continue Reading
US Census Bureau purposely fudges location data in census to protect people’s privacy
Via Kottke – The U.S. Census Is Wrong on Purpose: “…Full census data is only made available 72 years after the census takes place, in accordance with the creatively-named “72 year rule.” Until then, it is only available as aggregated data with individual identifiers removed. Still, if the population of a town is small enough,… Continue Reading
This Tiny Website Is Google’s First Line of Defense in the Patent Wars
Wired: “TDCommons is a free space for inventors to lay claim to breakthroughs without having to file a patent. Why is it so off the radar? A trio of Google engineers recently came up with a futuristic way to help anyone who stumbles through presentations on video calls. They propose that when algorithms detect a… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 17, 2024
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 17, 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… Continue Reading
Service Jobs Now Require Bizarre Personality Test From AI Company
404 Media: “Applying to some of the most common customer and food service jobs in the country now requires a long and bizarre personality quiz featuring blue humanoid aliens, which tells employers how potential hires rank in terms of “agreeableness” and “emotional stability.” If you’ve applied to a job at FedEx, McDonald’s, or Darden Restaurants… Continue Reading
