“In the wake of the 2024 election in the United States, many people are concerned about tightening up their digital privacy and security practices. As always, we recommend that people start making their security plan by understanding their risks. For most people in the U.S., the threats that they face and the methods by which… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Internet
Misinformation exploits outrage to spread online
Science. 28 Nov 2024. Vol 386, Issue 6725. pp. 991-996. DOI: 10.1126/science.adl2829 – “Misinformation remains a major threat to US democratic integrity, national security, and public health. However, social media platforms struggle to curtail the spread of the harmful but engaging content. Across platforms, McLoughlin et al. examined the role of emotions, specifically moral outrage (a… Continue Reading
How ChatGPT Search (Mis)represents Publisher Content
Columbia Journalism Review – “ChatGPT search—which is positioned as a competitor to search engines like Google and Bing—launched with a press release from OpenAI touting claims that the company had “collaborated extensively with the news industry” and “carefully listened to feedback” from certain news organizations that have signed content licensing agreements with the company. In… Continue Reading
Never give a cop your phone and other security tips
The Silicon Underground – “The political climate in the United States means everyone, but especially marginalized groups, need to be thinking about phone security. It’s not just something security professionals and people who handle sensitive information for a living need to worry about anymore. In light of that, I present five phone security tips I… Continue Reading
FTC Bans Location Data Company That Powers the Surveillance Ecosystem
“The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed order bans use or sale of data associated with military installations, churches, healthcare facilities, or other sensitive locations. The Federal Trade Commission will prohibit data broker Mobilewalla, Inc. from selling sensitive location data, including data that reveals the identity of an individual’s private home, to settle allegations the data… Continue Reading
I deleted thousands of tweets from X with this new tool – for free
ZDNET – “Now you can easily migrate from X with this powerful tool that deletes tweets, likes, and DMs, while backing up your data for a fresh start elsewhere. Social media users increasingly seek ways to regain control of their digital data. As platforms like X (formerly Twitter) become less popular, many users turn to… Continue Reading
FTC – Examining the Data Practices of Social Media and Video Streaming Services
Examining the Data Practices of Social Media and Video Streaming Services, September 2024. In December 2020, the Federal Trade Commission issued 6(b) Orders to nine of the largest social media and video streaming services—Amazon, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Snap, ByteDance, Discord, Reddit, and WhatsApp (“Companies”). At the time, a bipartisan group of Commissioners issued a joint… Continue Reading
Most Americans continue to say media scrutiny keeps politicians from doing things they shouldn’t
“As they have for the past four decades, most Americans say criticism from news organizations keeps political leaders from doing things they shouldn’t, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in September 2024. But Republicans’ and Democrats’ views on this question often shift depending on which party controls the White House. And Republicans became… Continue Reading
AI, huge hacks leave consumers facing a perfect storm of privacy perils
Washington Post gift article – “Hackers are using artificial intelligence to mine unprecedented troves of personal information dumped online in the past year, along with unregulated commercial databases, to trick American consumers and even sophisticated professionals into giving up control of bank and corporate accounts. Armed with sensitive health information, calling records and hundreds of… Continue Reading
Associated Press 100 Photos of 2024: An epic catalog of humanity.
AP – In nearly 100 countries and all 50 U.S. states, visual journalists with The Associated Press are eyewitnesses to the world’s news, and have won 36 of AP’s since the award was established in 1917. They assembled a visual catalog of our civilization as life in 2024 hurtled directly at us at every speed… Continue Reading
The Great Scrape: The Clash Between Scraping and Privacy
Solove, Daniel J. and Hartzog, Woodrow, The Great Scrape: The Clash Between Scraping and Privacy (July 03, 2024). 113 California Law Review (forthcoming 2025), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4884485 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4884485 Artificial intelligence (AI) systems depend on massive quantities of data, often gathered by “scraping” – the automated extraction of large amounts of data from… Continue Reading
CFPB Proposes Rule to Stop Data Brokers from Selling Sensitive Personal Data to Scammers, Stalkers, and Spies
“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
