“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today proposed a rule to rein in data brokers that sell Americans’ sensitive personal and financial information. The proposed rule would limit the sale of personal identifiers like Social Security Numbers and phone numbers collected by certain companies and make sure that people’s financial data such as income is… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Privacy
Feds Can Film Your Front Porch for 68 Days Without a Warrant, Says Court
Gizmodo: A federal court says your privacy is diminished due to the proliferation of video cameras throughout society. “…The federal court’s decision says that video cameras have become “ubiquitous,” and have therefore diminished our expectations of privacy. Police officers wear body cameras now, cellphones have cameras, and many doorbells record your porch. The court isn’t… Continue Reading
This Website Shows How Much Google’s AI Can Glean From Your Photos
Wired [unpaywalled] – “Software engineer Vishnu Mohandas decided he would quit Google in more ways than one when he learned the tech giant had briefly helped the US military develop AI to study drone footage. In 2020, he left his job working on Google Assistant and also stopped backing up all of his images to… Continue Reading
Tracking Indoor Location, Movement and Desk Occupancy in the Workplace
Cracked Labs. Case study “Tracking Indoor Location, Movement and Desk Occupancy in the Workplace” – “As offices, buildings and other corporate facilities become networked environments, there is a growing desire among employers to exploit data gathered from their existing digital infrastructure or additional sensors for various purposes. Whether intentionally or as a byproduct, this includes… Continue Reading
Senators Say TSA’s Facial Recognition Program Is Out of Control
Gizmodo: “A bipartisan group of 12 senators has urged the Transportation Security Administration’s inspector general to investigate the agency’s use of facial recognition, saying it poses a significant threat to privacy and civil liberties. Their letter comes just before one of the busiest travel periods of the year when millions of Americans are expected to… Continue Reading
Surveillance Self-Defense Tips, Tools and How-tos for Safer Online Communications
We’re the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an independent non-profit working to protect online privacy for over thirty years. This is Surveillance Self-Defense: our expert guide to protecting you and your friends from online spying. Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) is a guide to protecting yourself from electronic surveillance for people all over the world. Some aspects of this… Continue Reading
MS Word is Using You to Train AI
Medium unpaywalled – How to turn off AI-scraping from your Word documents and a 2nd unpaywalled option: “Microsoft Office, like many companies in recent months, has slyly turned on an “opt-out” feature that scrapes your Word and Excel documents to train its internal AI systems. This setting is turned on by default, and you have… Continue Reading
The Future of Online Privacy Hinges on Thousands of New Jersey Cops
Wired [unaywalled]: “Removing your phone number and address from the internet can be exceedingly difficult. A multibillion-dollar lawsuit led by an unlikely privacy crusader could soon catalyze change for everyone…In a pile of lawsuits in New Jersey—drummed up by a 41-year-old serial entrepreneur named Matt Adkisson and five law firms, including two of the nation’s… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 23, 2024
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 23, 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
The Technology the Trump Administration Could Use to Hack Your Phone
The New Yorker [unpaywalled] – “Other Western democracies have been roiled by the use of spyware to target political opponents, activists, journalists, and other vulnerable groups. Could it happen here? In September, the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) signed a two-million-dollar contract with Paragon, an Israeli firm whose spyware product Graphite focusses on breaching encrypted-messaging… Continue Reading
How to Add Extra Security Layers to Your Phone or Tablet
The New York Times [no paywall]: “Losing a smartphone or tablet stuffed with your life’s details can be a nightmare, but your privacy may also be at risk in less obvious situations — like if you leave your unlocked phone unattended or if the children know your tablet’s passcode. While apps for financial or medical… Continue Reading
What Is Browser Fingerprinting? Here’s Everything You Need to Know
John Mateer – Medium: “You’re browsing the internet without a care in the world — why shouldn’t you? You’re internet savvy, after all. You take your privacy seriously. That’s why you pay $20 a month for a rotating VPN. Surfshark, NordVPN, Google One — ever heard of them? You’re ahead of the game. But you didn’t… Continue Reading
