ProPublica: “Reflecting rising concerns that Big Tech’s infatuation with artificial intelligence threatens privacy and economic competition, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has begun investigating Google’s efforts to swoop up medical information derived from biopsy specimens of millions of military service members. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and the chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, wrote… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Privacy
New Tool Shows if Your Car Might Be Tracking You, Selling Your Data
Vice: “A new tool that is free to use for consumers aims to better inform people about the types of data their particular car manufacturer might be collecting and sharing about their identity and driving patterns. The Vehicle Privacy Report tool, made by automotive privacy company Privacy4Cars, is based on a manual and automatic analysis… Continue Reading
AI Watches Millions Of Cars Daily And Tells Cops If You’re Driving Like A Criminal
Forbes: “Artificial intelligence is helping American cops look for “suspicious” patterns of movement, digging through license plate databases with billions of records. A drug trafficking case in New York has uncloaked — and challenged — one of the biggest rollouts of the controversial technology to date… Rekor’s big sell is that its software doesn’t require… Continue Reading
How to Tell If an Image Is AI Generated
How to Geek: AI photos are getting better, but there are still ways to tell if you’re looking at the real thing — most of the time. An AI-generated photograph is any image that has been produced or manipulated with synthetic content using so-called artificial intelligence (AI) software based on machine learning. As the images cranked… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 22, 2023
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 22, 2023 – 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 scary world of online behavioral advertising
Lifehacker: “Instead of eavesdropping and storing your voice as many assume, your apps, phone, watch, game system, computer, and probably your oven are greedily collecting every data point they possibly can, including but not limited to your: Location information (both through your device’s location settings and IP address) Search history Browsing history Purchase history Physical… Continue Reading
Amazon’s palm-scanning payment system is coming to all Whole Foods stores by the end of the year
Fast Company [so this is scary – 500 stores – palm recognition is the new facial recognition?]: “Amazon has announced that its palm-scanning payment technology, called Amazon One, will roll out to all 500-plus Whole Foods locations by the end of 2023. Amazon first introduced the contactless Amazon One payment system in 2020, but its… Continue Reading
Proton Mail is Fighting Back Against Tracking Links
How To Geek: “Emails are full of tracking links, especially in newsletters and promotional mailing lists, which can pass sensitive information about you to the sender. They’re such a problem that Proton Mail, the privacy-sensitive alternative to Gmail and other email platforms, is trying to prevent it with a new “Tracking Links Protection” feature. When… Continue Reading
FTC probe of OpenAI: Consumer protection is the opening salvo of US AI regulation
Via LLRX – FTC probe of OpenAI: Consumer protection is the opening salvo of US AI regulation – As a researcher of social media and AI, Anjana Susarla recognizes the immensely transformative potential of generative AI models, but believes that these systems pose risks. In particular, in the context of consumer protection, these models can produce errors,… Continue Reading
How to Use Browser Extensions and Add-ons in Incognito Mode
MakeUseOf: “Extensions are helpful tools that make it easier to complete certain tasks as you browse. When you’re using Google Chrome or Firefox, your extension will appear in the toolbar, allowing you to access them whenever it’s necessary…But sometimes, you might prefer to browse in incognito or private mode. When you’re browsing in private mode,… Continue Reading
Google’s Bard AI chatbot has learned to talk
Engadget – It understands 40 languages and can speak its responses. “Google’s Bard gained a handful of new features and functions Thursday in the chatbot AI’s latest round of updates, including expanded linguistic knowledge, more nuanced response controls and the ability to respond with spoken word in addition to text. In all the AI can… Continue Reading
Blocking unknown callers and other WhatsApp privacy features you should turn on right now
Popular Science – You can now access the app’s security and privacy tools more easily. “WhatsApp’s new Privacy Checkup menu gives you the ability to block unknown callers, but that’s not the only way it will protect your one-on-one conversations and thriving group chats. The messaging app has come a long way in terms of… Continue Reading
